Capitol Hill Mulls 'Regime Change' in Iran

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Fri Feb-04-05 10:58 AM
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Capitol Hill Mulls 'Regime Change' in Iran

WASHINGTON��Though the Bush administration denies it has any designs on changing Iran's theocracy, members of Congress are planning ways to assist in a possible "regime change."

Movements are afoot in both the House and Senate to pass legislation that would enable the U.S. government to support foreign and domestic pro-democracy groups opposed to the current Islamic republic of Iran.

Aides for Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said the senator is drafting legislation that would resemble a bill he introduced in the last congressional session, the "Iran Freedom and Support Act." (search) Though the language in the new bill is being worked out, it is expected to echo the prior bill in that it would include financial assistance for opposition groups. The original bill did not make it to the Senate floor.

"By supporting the people of Iran, and through greater outreach to pro-democracy groups, we will hopefully foster a peaceful transition to democracy in Iran," Santorum said in a statement regarding his new proposal. "The bill also notes the futility of working with the Iranian government."

Obviously, this is more of the president's 'outline,' in his language, that we need to encourage democracy for people everywhere and encourage liberty � all Americans share that broad vision," said Kurz. "But if we are talking about taking concrete steps to aid dissidents in whatever country, that's going to require a lot of review and also the question of how do we achieve that when we are stretched very thin in Iraq."

Mona Yacoubian, a Middle East expert for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (search), said it is unclear whether the United States has enough credibility in the region to pursue another regime change now, even if it is a non-military one. She said any group seeking to overthrow the dictatorial ayatollahs � who have rendered seemingly moderate President Mohammad Khatami virtually powerless � might not want to have the United States linked to their efforts.

"My gut reaction would be any time an opposition party in that part of world is somehow associated with the United States, its credibility suffers," she said.

Yacoubian said that while a strong underground democracy movement exists, and anti-Americanism is not nearly as high in Iran as it is in places like Saudi Arabia or Egypt, the U.S. invasion of Iraq and reports that the United States may next focus its attention on Iran have not warmed Iranians to the American cause.

But not everybody thinks the Americans would be unwelcome, said Stephen Schwartz, author of "The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror." He said regime change led by the United States in Iraq will no doubt have a domino effect of democracy across the region, beginning with Iran.

"The vocabulary I would use is 'accelerating transition,'" he said. "I believe the success of the Iraq election will be a tremendous encouragement of the reform movement in Iran. The Iranians will say, 'If the Iraqis can have this, why can't we?'"
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