by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 20, 2005
All Rights Reserved.

racking down on pro-Western influences, Iran's extremist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad banned all Western music stations, turning back the clock to the days of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whose fundamentalist ways reversed Iran's progress under Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi [1919-1980]. Pro-Western influences spread under Iran's reformist past presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hashemi Rasfanjani. Ahmadinejad's June 24 elections spelled trouble for the U.N. and Mohammed ElBaradei's International Atomic Energy Agency, hoping to pressure Iran to discontinue its nuclear enrichment program. Since Ahmadinejad took office, only hardliners called the shots, insisting that Iran possesses the right to enrich uranium for “peaceful purposes.” By “peaceful purposes,” Ahmadinegad means developing atomic bombs to deter aggression.

      Ratcheting up the rhetoric, Ahmadinejead called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” insisting the holocaust was a “myth.” Already forcing Iran's youth into caves to don makeup, Ahmadinejad's repressive step to ban Western music parallels the gulag atmosphere in Kim Jong-Il's North Korea—the planet's most repressive regime. “Blocking indecent and Western music form the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is required,” read a statement on the official Revolutionary Council's Web Site. During the height of the Islamic revolution in 1980, Khomeini outlawed all music as “un-Islamic,” eventually permitting only light classical music. Eight years of reform has given way to a sadistic repression, in part caused by worldwide pressure to abandon Iran's nuclear ambitions. Unwilling to yield on enriching uranium, Iran's radical clerics have hunkered down.

      Begging for liberation, Iran's youth play a waiting game living under the thumb of a radical theocracy. Like Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network, Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khameini prostitutes Islam to control its populace. Under the Koran's cover, enriching uranium to build the next Islamic bomb becomes Iran's sacred duty. Borrowing from Pakistan's atomic bomb maker, the notorious A.Q. Khan, Iran seeks nuclear weapons to neutralize U.S. influence. With Ahmadinejad threatening to “wipe Israel off the map,” the U.S. can no longer sit idly by while Iran feverishly pursues atomic bombs. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already telegraphed that the stakes are too high for Israel to ignore a growing Iranian nuclear threat. Unless the U.S. aggressively joins the process of containment, Israel will have to act unilaterally, taking out Iran's nuclear sites.

      Calling the Holocaust a myth, Ahmadiinejad hopes to divert attention away from Iran's atomic ambitions and onto pernicious propaganda about the Jewish state. For beaten down Iranians, fingering Israel gives the hateful motivation needed to vent collective rage for today's repression. It's beyond ironic that before Khomeini's Islamic revolution, Persian Jews were an integral part Iranian society, thriving for nearly 100 years. Denying the Holocaust places Ahmadenjad into the same mold as Bin Laden who frequently makes anti-Semitic remarks to direct the Islamic world's frustration toward Jews. Widespread poverty, unacceptable unemployment and atrophied economic opportunity forces Iran's clerics to insulate itself from the outside world. Ahmadenjad's hateful remarks mirror those of leading Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, calling the Holocaust a “false rumor.”

      Iran's crackdown on Western music reflects the siege mentality, buying radical clerics more time to enrich uranium. As Pakistan's infamous bomb maker A.Q. Kahn points out, once they get the bomb outside pressure becomes meaningless. Kahn believes all third world countries should have atomic bombs to keep the peace. When Pakistan got the bomb around 1990, India could no longer threaten its borders, especially in the disputed Kashmir region. Khan once called accusations about Pakistan's nuclear program a “Zionist fiction,” insisting its nuclear ambitions were for peaceful purposes. Khan's belief in Mutual Assured Destruction gives him the twisted rationale for selling nuclear technology to the third world. Iran's support for Hezbollah, its purchases of North Korean and Russian missiles and involvement in Iraq's insurgency, raises the stakes should they get the bomb.

      Banning Western music stations reflects the latest effort by Iran's radical clerics to seal off the country from outside influences. Busy enriching uranium and feverishly pursuing its first A-bomb, Iran seeks more distance from the outside world. Ahmadinejad's hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric diverts attention away from its nuclear ambitions onto the smokescreen of politically incorrect rhetoric. Bogged down in Iraq, the U.S. has too much on its plate to devote 100% to containing a growing Iranian nuclear threat. All indications point toward Iran's obsessive pursuit of its first atomic bomb. Whether Iran would threaten Israel directly or blackmail the oil-rich Persian Gulf is anyone's guess. Before Israel is forced to act unilaterally, the U.S. must wrap up its mission in Iraq and devote more time to Iran. With or without Western music, Iran can't be ignored.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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