IF IRAN’S PRESENT REGIME IS OVERTHROWN, CONSIDER THIS
Of course I am all for the overthrow of Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme religious leader (a higher rank than president). But I am very concerned about what kind of leadership will evolve in the interim, that chaotic period between the downfall of one regime and the rise of a new and hopefully a better one.
My concern is based on the fact that while Ahmadinejad and the theocratic leadership are losing ground in favor of a growing democratic mentality there exists in Iran a shadowy element that covets power and authority at any cost. They are radical in the strictest Islamic tradition, and ruthless, they control the military and are business savvy—an ominous set of characteristics when considering possible outcomes of a government overthrow. The organization of which I speak is of course the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), think Delta Force, CIA, FBI and Warren Buffett all wrapped up in a bit of fascism. The IRGC was originally formed by the Ayatollah Ali Khomeini in 1979 during the fall of the Shah and the resurgence of theocracy in Iran.
This Khomeini (now deceased) should not be confused with the present supreme leader Khamenei—note the slight difference in spelling of the name.
The IRGC was given powers commensurate with the needs of a supreme religious leader. Since then those powers have grown substantially and today their influence is both feared and respected.
My concern is an obvious one, as they say—“It isn’t rocket science.” What if during the turmoil of a regime change the IRGC decides it doesn’t like what it sees for its future and decides to intervene. Lets not fool ourselves, they are powerful enough to do it and their propensity toward fanaticism is unmistakable. And the IRGC leadership makes no bones about their nuclear ambitions. What happens then?
Marvin Wiebener