By BEILA RABINOWITZ
October 28, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Yesterday, the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Philadelphia hosted former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle and Iranian dissident Amir Fakhravar, the Secretary General and founder of the Confederation of Iranian Students for a presentation entitled, "The Fight For Human Rights In Iran And Its Implications For U.S. National Security."
The event began with a sober introduction by Craig Snider, the director of the Freedom Center who characterized the current situtation in Iran as, "probably one of the most urgent matters on the planet." Snider told the audience that, "the private sector has an opportunity to assist the Green Movement (government opposition) outside of the traditional channels of government support whether it be overt or covert."
Mr. Fakhravar said that he was part of a group of lawyers who had put together a second draft of a new Constitution for Iran which was posted online in Farsi and now is being translated for wider dissemination
Before his general remarks, he showed a video clip highlighting the importance of Iranian bloggers and by extension the digital age in propelling the revolution in Iran. He asked people to separate the people of Iran from the government of Iran saying that the new generation, "means that more than 70% of the Iranian population is under 35 and that they love America and they love Israel."
When challenged for proof of this during the Q and A he showed a video clip in which protesters held up government distributed signs with Death to Israel crossed out and Russia and China substituted.
Fakhravar said that the first thing needed for the revolution was to cut Iran's oil revenues . Secondly he noted the importance of involving the media. He singled out the Voice of America saying that the taxpayer funded broadcasts, while greatly needed, were counter-productive to the cause as they are presently constituted. He cited as an example the fact that they were displaying the Islamic Republic of Iran's flag on their website saying that "I don't think the United States has any diplomatic relationship with the Islamic Republic." U.S. government officials had been contacted and a change in VOA policy was anticipated soon.
Fakhravar concluded, saying "We need help."
Dr. Perle [a leading voice in the Reagan administration, advocating a hard line stance against the Soviet Union] spoke of the need for the American government to support the Iranian opposition movement, stating, "The regime in Iran is both monstrous and unpopular which is a very promising combination for change."
He went on to say that if the regime continues in power Iran will become a nuclear state and will feel free to conduct its foreign relations with impunity. Perle worried that they could then share their nuclear capability with terrorist organizations and said that "it is unimaginable where that could take us" adding that "stopping that development was of paramount importance."
He predicted that the regime would "collapse" and that "there would be change." Concern about who would take over when this happened "should motivate the United States government to do a great deal more than it is now doing."
© 2010 Beila Rabinowitz, PipeLineNews.org LLC. All rights reserved.