While researching world, Arab, and Muslim reactions to the recent elections in Iraq, this blog may have inadvertently come across voices from within a Iranian newspaper, the Tehran Times, who saw the election as a positive and forward step in the region .... and then had those voices silenced. Read on and see if you concur.
A piece in the Tehran Times, dated February 2, 2009, entitled "Iraq’s Elections: Pointing the Way to the Future or a Return to Oppression?", a modified and altered copy of an op-ed written by Dr. Walid Phares, was quite insightful and upbeat regarding the potential positive aspects of the election both for Iraq, and the region. Additionally, the op-ed would easily be interpreted as a vindication of U.S. efforts to date in Iraq. Missing in the Tehran Times times version, was an entire paragraph which might easily be considered at odds with Iran's Islamic regime's beliefs and goals.
The missing paragraph: "Fundamentalism is said to have lost some support as an increasing number of Iraqis (41% in the latest poll) said they prefer secular parties over religious ones. But let’s be realistic, these are the early baby steps of Iraqi democracy, and as long as the Iranian and Syrian regimes are working on undermining the growing democratic culture inside their neighbor, and as long as Wahabis and Salafis are receiving Petro Dollars from the Arabia Peninsula to impose an Emirate in the Sunni Triangle — the menace against the “Democratic Republic” is as real as the difficult times experienced by Western democracies as they emerged in Europe and the Americas." The article by Dr. Phares was removed within hours of it's appearance, the URL link disabled, and could no longer be found within the search engine of the Tehran Times.
It is an opinion of this blog that an individual, or individuals within the Tehran Times, and likely at some risk, chose to knowingly run this article by Dr, Phares to generate some knowledge, and/or enthusiasm, and/or interest in the readers of the paper regarding the elections in Iraq. It would seem that, given the missing paragraph, the individual(s) clearly knew the content of the op-ed before posting, and were trying to remove the part they deemed most sensitive to the editors (and the regime) while still 'getting the message' out. Clearly, even after that, the editors disapproved of what remained. It would seem that there are voices within Iran, even within it's media, who are enthusiastic about events in Iraq and Iraq's new found self determining society.
Email thoughts on this matter were exchanged between Dr. Walid Phares and this blog. You may view his interpretations and assessments of the Tehran Times article in his homepage blog.
Click here to view his assessment
Click here to see his original un-edited article on the Iraq elections.
Click here to see an image of the the Tehran Times version of the op-ed by Dr, Phares
(** Note:Dr. Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies where he focuses on Middle East history and politics, global terrorist movements, democratization and human rights. Dr. Phares also leads the foundation's Future of Terrorism Project. A well known speaker, media contributor, author, and consultant on these issues, you may read him online at his website walidphares.com, or on the website of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies**)
The Tehran Times most likely is answerable to both the elected and religious government of Iran for the content of it's paper. Responsible to both because in the structure of Iran's government, the elected President answers to the Islamic Supreme Leader, and answerable in any case as the paper's origin is rooted in the 'Islamic Revolution' in 1979. A quote from the paper's 'about us' section. "The Tehran Times is not the newspaper of the government; it must be a loud voice of the Islamic Revolution and the loudspeaker of the oppressed people of the world.”.
The government of Iran has clearly been involved with attempts to disrupt and alter Iraq's progress towards a self determining future which would be at odds with Iran's goals for Iraq. Given the newspaper's ideological bent, and given the government's attempt to influence Iraq's future, it would seem that such a newspaper, and it's editors (censors) would be reluctant to publish an article seemingly approving of the opposite ... let alone implying success in U.S efforts in Iraq.
