Iran - It Could Be A Lot Worse

Iran and the United States are not friends.   In fact, it would not be a stretch to say they are enemies.   Because of that, a lot of Americans misunderstand Iran.   They assume that because the Iranians are muslims and are not friendly to the United States, they must be allies and supporters of al-Queda and the Taliban.   That is simply not true.

Even though they have a muslim theocracy, the Iranians understand the danger posed by muslim extremists like al-Queda and the Taliban.   Yesterday, the Iranian government announced the arrest of seven members of al-Queda near their border with Iraq.   And this is not the first time for them to take this kind of action.   They have arrested hundreds of al-Queda members.

After the United States invaded Afghanistan and knocked the Taliban out of power, hundreds of al-Queda members and their Taliban supporters fled the country.   Several hundred of them crossed into Iran.   They did not find a safe haven there.   The Iranians arrested them and expelled them from their country.   They also made copies of their passports and turned them over to the United Nations.   And they allowed the United States to interrogate some of the suspected al-Queda members.

I'm sure that surprises many Americans, who would like to lump all U.S. enemies (especially muslims) into the same group.   But muslims are not a homogenous group any more than christians are.   The Iranians are trying to become a modern developed nation, and they know the Taliban-type extremists would destroy any hope of that.

Years ago, when the USSR was struggling to support the communist-friendly government of Afghanistan, the United States supported the insurgents in Afghanistan.   The U.S. gave them money and weapons, which they used to expel the Russians and then take over Afghanistan.   Those insurgents became what is now known as the Taliban, and they supported al-Queda with their terrorist goals.

We now have the chance to make that same mistake again.   There are groups that would like to overthrow the Iranian government.   A couple of these groups are the Jundallah and the People's Mujahedeen.   These are groups who are the equivalent of the Taliban.   It would be a serious mistake for the United States to think these groups are friendly because they oppose the current Iranian government.   It would just be a repeat of the mistake the U.S. made in Afghanistan -- to turn an enemy into a terrorist state that would support attacks on the United States.

Iran is bad enough as it is, but it could be a whole lot worse.   We must be careful to not repeat past mistakes.   The truth is that the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend -- that was proven in Afghanistan.