The Persian quest for freedom

"Give me liberty or give me death!" are the words of our Founding Fathers that galvanized the American colonies to fight against the tyranny of King George III and forge a great nation. Today, 234 years after the Declaration of Independence, our politicians would no sooner risk their next Washington, D.C., lunch – usually bought and paid for by a lobbyist – than risk their own lives for freedom. The American spirit as embodied in our leaders has withered since our founding, and no more is this reality more evident than in both the Democratic and Republican parties – the two factions – the "American League" and "National League" of the "National Political League."

The real courage to fight for freedom still exists, however, in some quarters today. Nowhere does the fire for freedom burn so bright as in the Persian people, many of whom, having fled the tyrannical Islamic regime in Iran over the last 31 years, now live in the United States. Indeed, it is industrious Persian-Americans who largely built Los Angeles into the great city it is today, cultivating the entertainment industry (our biggest and most influential American export), medicine, the law, sciences, media, entrepreneurship and business, and other fields.

The Persian Empire once ruled the world and gave it so many riches. Over time, ancient Persia was invaded by the Arabs, but the hearts and minds of the Persian people never let go of their sophisticated and highly advanced culture, and they resisted Arabic influence. The religion of Persia was not Islam, but Zoroastrianism, which was the precursor to Judaism and Christianity. (The religion is monotheistic, believes in the coming of a messiah and that oneness with God comes by loving thy neighbor.) It's no wonder, with this proud heritage, that the youth of Iran are fighting Islam and are dying for freedom in the "streets of Tehran," with no support from either the United States or the West. They and their brothers and sisters in the United States and countries such as Sweden and Germany (where many fled over the years) have seen and experienced the cancerous effects of Islam on their proud country – through barbaric imprisonments, torture and executions in the name of Allah. They are the greatest inspiration for freedom, and no other people currently come close in spirit or courage!

That is not to denigrate other Middle Eastern peoples and cultures in particular; but the rare unique and proud sophistication of the Persian experience, and its ability to accept democracy and freedom, is far greater than in any country in the region except Israel, which is its equal. And, indeed, one can see this today with the opposition freedom movement in Iran and throughout the Persian Diaspora.

Get Larry Klayman's fascinating account of his battle with the powers that be: "Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment"

Let's compare this movement to what is occurring in Iraq, for example. Now, "miraculously," after our thousands of deaths of American servicemen, tens of thousands of young heroes maimed and wounded, and trillions of U.S. taxpayer dollars squandered, both the Bush and now surprisingly even the Obama administrations – with the help of the naïve and inattentive American media – have proclaimed that "democracy" is finally taking hold in Iraq. The National Political League proudly declares that the recent parliamentary elections have shown that "democracy can happen" in an Arab country.

But wait! No sooner than the ink was dry on the Iraqi vote, as reported recently by The New York Times and other news outlets, the winning factions, comprised largely of Shiite Muslims including the terrorist-gone-"Democrat" soon-to-be-Ayatollah Al Sadr, go on a pilgrimage to Tehran to get their "marching orders" from the likes of the illegitimate degenerate Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the supreme leader. Primarily, Bush and now Obama, thanks to their futile "efforts" at nation-building in Iraq, have just legitimized radical Islamic Shiites and given them control in the one Arabic state that was sacrificed and engineered, with spilled American blood, to be the road to democracy in the Arab world. Indeed, it comes as no surprise that Iran dumped tens of millions of dollars of "campaign contributions" into and otherwise subverted the Iraqi elections, and it bought the result. So what have we accomplished in Iraq? Worse than nothing; at great cost we have disastrously and stupidly created and legitimized a democratic surrogate of the radical mullahs in Iran, whose origins, not coincidentally, are Arabic, not Persian.

It is in this context we must view what is happening with the Persian freedom movement. If successful, and there is "regime change" in Iran through revolution or other means, it would not only eliminate Iran's nuclear threat, but change the entire dynamic of the Middle East, and the world. A free and secularized Iran – which is the goal of the Green Movement and other opposition groups – would become a natural ally of Israel (in recent protests, Iranian students chanted "We don't care about the Palestinians, we care about Iran!") and the West, and serve as a buffer to the radical Arab states, such as Syria, Libya and Saudi Arabia (yes, Saudi Arabia is radical). This in turn would further the potential for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as Arab terrorist groups, like Hamas and Hezbollah, could no longer count on Tehran for financial and logistical support. Without the Islamic regime's backing, these terrorist groups could not effectively wage war against Israel.

It would also send a message to freedom fighters in oppressed nations, such as Venezuela. A free Iran would in effect give a jolt of energy to the lethargic Venezuelan freedom movement, demonstrating that it can follow the Persian revolution by getting more courageous and toppling its tyrant, Hugo Chavez, who not coincidentally has formed an alliance with the Islamic regime in Iran. Other peoples, in other countries still burdened by the yoke of slavery, could be inspired to fight for freedom from communists like Chavez. In effect, success in liberating Iran from Islam and its Nazi-like leaders – who have threatened to wage and are in fact waging a jihad to not only destroy the "real Persian people" but annihilate Israel and all Jews, Christians and moderate Muslims, for that matter – could start a chain reaction around the world. These are the high stakes in Iran.

During our Revolutionary War – our war for independence – great American heroes like Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson risked their lives on the high seas to travel to France to engage King Louis XIV and win his support in our fight for freedom. Not having a real navy, the American colonialists had to rely on the French armada in defeating the British at Yorktown and forming a new nation. Simply put, without France, we could still be under British rule.

American freedom was thus forged with French help. And American freedom changed the world dramatically and ironically led to the French Revolution just a few years later. It started a chain reaction.

What is so tragic is that our leaders – our gutless and insensitive politicians – have forsaken the Persian people, decry direct support for their valiant efforts to remove the Islamic regime and instead endlessly follow a policy of appeasement, Neville-Chamberlain-style, with these tyrants. Sadly, they have disgraced and trampled upon our own great American heritage.

And, if you think that the foolish "Jimmy Carteresque" naivete of the Obama administration is solely responsible for this, then remember that it was President George W. Bush who put all of "our chips" into the Iraqi sinkhole and forgot about Iran for the next eight years of his tragically failed presidency, which left the nation and the world in ruins, leaving us with Obama. During this time, the cancer grew and metastasized, most notably the nuclear threat of the Islamic regime.

So it is important for all Americans to remember where we come from – brave heroes who risked their lives and created that shining beacon of freedom known as the United States. Now, we owe it to another brave people, the Persian people, to give them real support in their quest for liberty. And, in so doing, we will not only be remaining true to our heritage, but paving the way for our own greater national security.

The Persian people, so rich in culture and heart, deserve our real support, not just for themselves, but for ourselves. They are the modern-day founding fathers of a new and real world order. They are today's "Americans"!