24 AUG 14, Dr Raymond Tanter on Alhurra regarding ISIS, IRAN, & IRAQ

Описание: On 28 August 2014, President Barack Obama’s stated that Syria had given ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) “a safe haven…in ungoverned spaces” and that to roll back the group, “we’re going to have to build a regional strategy.”

Four days before the President spoke, Raymond Tanter was on Alhurra (the free one in Arabic) TV dealing with similar issues. He used the following talking points for his discussion on Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Tanter called for a regional strategy that incorporated the porous borders of Iraq and Syria as a point of departure.

But turning to Tehran to help stabilize Iraq would be like asking an arsonist to help put out the fire. So the road to stabilizing Baghdad does not run through Tehran. The road to Baghdad runs through a coalition of moderates in the region and in Iraq. And the road to Baghdad bypasses another "arsonist" in Damascus to provide more robust support to “moderate” Syrian rebels.

Likewise, Washington needs to pay attention to the plight of the moderate Iranian refugees who are held in prison-like conditions in Iraq. Because they have provided intelligence that helped save American lives in Iraq and maintain a capacity to do such similar deeds in the future, Washington should help resettle them to third countries, including the United States. Called the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), these Iranian dissidents are the largest unit within the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).