"U.S. Funding Armed Groups to Overthrow
Iranian Govt"
Interview with Reese Erlich
03/20/07 -- -- BERKELEY, United States, Mar 16 (IPS)
- Author of the upcoming book "The Iran Agenda: the Real
Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis", due for
release in September from Polipoint Press, Reese Erlich recently
spent three weeks investigating Kurdish resistance organisations
in Iran and Iraq's Kurdish region. He tells IPS that "the United
States is officially funding armed groups to overthrow the
Islamic government" in Tehran.
In an interview with IPS's Omid Memarian, Erlich, who has
covered the Middle East as a freelance journalist for the past
20 years and co-wrote 2003's "Target Iraq", says that
Washington's strategy is primarily focused on media propaganda
-- such as websites and satellite television and radio stations
-- but also includes covert military training.
The Iranian government has itself accused opposition groups of
destabilising the border region, and recently warned Kurdish
Iraqi officials to expel armed bandits and anti-Iranian groups
from their province, or face military incursions.
IPS: What do the Kurdish opposition groups look like? What
constitutes the daily life of these small groups who are
fighting an established government?
Reese Erlich (RE): The Kurdish compounds are like small
villages. They have barracks for the single men peshmurga.
Political cadres live with their families in small homes, much
like Iraqi Kurds in that area. They have meeting halls and
offices. PJAK's [Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanê, or Party of
Free Life of Kurdistan] conditions are much more like
guerrillas, living in the cold mountains with more rudimentary
huts.
I described one PJAK leader as the "very model of a modern
guerrilla general." He has a cell phone, internet access and
satellite TV. The women guerrillas claim they only watch news
programmes, but I got them to admit they also like movies with
Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson.
IPS: Is the U.S. support limited to media or does it include
other activities, such as military operations?
RE: Secretly, U.S. intelligence services are also sponsoring
armed attacks within Iran. I discovered the U.S. and Israeli
support for PJAK in Kurdistan and from so-called former MEK
members. The U.S. asks a Mujahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MEK or
MKO) member if they have left and if they support democracy. If
they answer yes, they can be trained and armed for clandestine
actions inside Iran.
I believe that Kurds and other minorities within Iran have
legitimate grievances. They are not allowed to learn in their
local languages and face other forms of discrimination. But the
U.S. finds the most extremist of minority groups and encourages
them to engage in violence. The PJAK is affiliated with the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and has become a nationalist cult
built around the personality of Abdullah Ocalan. MEK is really a
cult, run by very secretive and authoritarian leaders. Both
these groups consider themselves social democrats, but
ironically, they receive the most support from extreme right
wingers in the U.S.
IPS: How do they get support from [sympathisers in] Iran when
the Iranian government has extensively shut down their
operations in the west of Iran?
RE: I met with three Iranian Kurdish opposition groups with
camps in northern Iraq. KDPI [the Kurdistan Democratic Party of
Iran] and Komala say they recruit new members from Iran and both
have peshmurga militias. But neither currently engages in armed
activity inside Iran. It's hard to know what actual support they
have inside Iran, but they historically certainly had supporters
in the Kurdish regions. PJAK is much smaller and more isolated.
But they have picked up some support from young people angry at
the oppression they face inside Iran.
>From my sources among Kurds, all three groups carry out
clandestine meetings with supporters inside Iran. When big
demonstrations broke out inside Kurdistan in 2006, all three
groups participated in the demonstrations. PJAK took a more
militant line, calling for armed struggle, and that appealed to
some youth.
IPS: What can they achieve while there are many dynamics to
reform the Iranian political system?
RE: All three groups agree on certain things. They say they
support a revolution in Iran with the ultimate aim of
establishing a democratic, federal system. They want the central
government to control major issues such as foreign affairs, the
military and economy. But local regions should control
education, health, police and similar local issues. They do not
call for separatism. The danger, of course, is that if Iraqi
Kurdistan becomes independent and the Iranian government
continues its current policies, the mood could shift in support
of separatism.
It's very hard to judge how much support these groups have in
Tehran. I met with some intellectuals, NGO leaders and others
who -- I suspected -- supported one or another group. But since
the groups are illegal, they can't be very specific. I think the
support for much greater local control or federalism is strong
among the Kurds I met.
IPS: Does the Iranian opposition, which is supported by U.S.
money, support any kind attack against Iran?
RE: KDPI strongly opposes any U.S. military attacks against
Iran, arguing it will just alienate Iranians, including those
who oppose the government. PJAK welcomes such attacks in hopes
they will topple the government. Komala says it neither supports
nor opposes such attacks. U.S. attacks might help topple the
regime, they argue, but they don't advocate it.
U.S. military officials I spoke with deny any U.S. support of
PJAK. The official position of the Bush administration is to
support Iranians to bring about a new government, but they don't
officially call for "regime change." In reality, the U.S. is
doing everything in its power to overthrow the Iranian
government and install one friendly to the U.S.
IPS: Is there any direct connection between the Kurdish
opposition groups and U.S. officials? Do they meet on regular
basis?
RE: In 2006, top Komala and KDPI leaders visited the U.S. to
meet with middle level State Department and intelligence
officials. It was an official meeting covered in the press at
the time. They wouldn't tell me the content of the meetings
except that the meetings were very friendly.
Hejri visited Washington in 2006 to meet with State Department
and other U.S. government officials. Hejri and other KDPI
leaders deny accepting U.S. financing, although he said KDPI
would accept such aid if offered.
Morteza Esfandiari, the KDPI representative in the U.S., told me
that KDPI had applied to get some of the 85 million dollars
allocated to "promote democracy" in Iran in order to improve its
satellite TV station.
The KDPI opposes U.S. or Israeli military attacks on Iran's
nuclear power facilities as counterproductive.
I think it will very hard for Iran to crush the Kurdish
opposition. Kurds are a very independent people who have never
liked repression from the central government. In addition, the
Kurdish guerrillas can retreat into Iraq, and return to fight
another day.
IPS: The Iranian government has a very friendly relationship
with Iraq's president, who is a Kurd himself and has strong ties
with Iranian officials. Why does the Iraqi government allow the
Kurdish opposition groups to operate in Iraq?
RE: The KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) allows Komala and KDPI
to maintain compounds in Iraq and train peshmurga, so long as
they don't carry out armed actions inside Iran. I think KDPI and
Komala agree to those terms. PJAK does carry out armed actions.
KRG officials claim they can't stop PJAK because of the rugged
mountain terrain. In reality, they just look the other way,
since PJAK has U.S. and Israeli backing.
Kurdish nationalism is very strong. The KRG, which has good
relations with Iran, can't ignore the plight of Kurds living in
Iran. So they compromise by not allowing the two major groups to
engage in guerrilla activity. But it's a situation that can't
last forever. Last year, on two occasions, Iran shelled Iraqi
Kurdish villages, killing five people as a warning to the KRG.
In the past, Iran has asked the KRG to shut down opposition
groups operating in Kurdistan. They even made a deal with one of
the Iraqi Krudish groups to attack KDPI's camp. But KDPI was
warned in advance and no one was hurt. Right now the KRG relies
on the U.S., and the U.S. wants Iran attacked. So I don't think
Iran's entreaties will go anywhere. If the general political
situation changes, however, who knows?
*Omid Memarian is an Iranian journalist and civil society
activist. He has won several awards, including Human Rights
Watch's highest honour in 2005, the Human Rights Defender Award.
His blog can be found at
http://omidmemarian.blogspot.com/. (END/2007)
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