The modern day superpower politics is
nothing but an art of deception. Depending on how well you deceive the populace
and your opponents confirm your stay at the top. Niccolo Machiavelli who is
considered the founder of modern political science said in his seminal work,
“The Prince,” “Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
He further writes, “men are so simple so obedient to present necessities
that he who deceives will always find someone who will let himself be
deceived…Being clever is crucial. A genuine person is not what matters. Are you
able to fulfil your ambition? Your survival and repression of others is
the key.”
It seems that the modern day politicians
have learnt their lessons well from Machiavelli. Winston Churchill, former
British Prime Minister, once said in his meeting with former Soviet President
Stalin, that the “truth is precious that it must be protected with a bunch of
lies.” The same reality applies to the global superpower today, America, which has
exploited every opportunity to manufacture consent among the masses about its
enemies and friends, so much so, that the world has today accepted the American
narrative and has begun to see the world through the fraudulent American lens.
The deceptions were and are prevalent in its policies and plans, be it the past
or the present.
‘Axis of Resistance’ is one such deception
which America propagated and aggrandised in order to serve its own interests.
This article is an attempt to unveil what agenda did the “Axis of Resistance”
brouhaha served for America.
‘Axis of Resistance’ was the term first
used by a Libyan newspaper Al-Zahf Al-Akhdar in response to the term
“Axis of Evil” used by the US President George W. Bush in his State of the
Union address on January 29, 2002. Axis of resistance came out to be known as
anti-Israel and anti-western alliance between Iran, Syria along with Lebanese
militia Hezbollah. In May of the same year, the undersecretary added another
term “Beyond the Axis of Evil” and included Syria in it. In short America
declared to the world that Iran and Syria are its enemies and attempted to
manufacture this feeling among the masses. It is interesting to note that the
inclusion of Iran and Syria in the axis of evil came at the time when Syria was
providing America with useful counter-terrorism intelligence and Iran had
played a significant role in the ouster of Taliban in Afghanistan.
Let us look at the historical events in
order to get a sense of the US – Iran relations.
There is no doubt that the Shah of Iran
was brought to power by the British backed coup (Operation Boot) known as “28
Mordad Coup” in Iran, which led to the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime
Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh. However, things began to change in the
late 1970s when the masses jointly rose against the Shah.
Though Russia was making inroads in
Afghanistan by attempting to export its communist ideology at least since the
1950s, it was only during the middle of the Cold War phase, that Russia planned
to put boots on the ground in order to get access to the warm waters. The alert
Americans engaged the Mullas who were busy ousting Reza Shah Pahlavi in
Iran. Initially the revolution was an emotional outburst of the people against
the Shah and was not expected to change the regime in Iran. Even Khomeini did
not expect the success of the revolution and bought a house in France in order
to settle down in case of the failure of revolution. However, with the
engagement of American military and intelligence in the region, the revolution
turned out to be successful in overthrowing Shah.
Besides, America also gave the green
signal in July 1978 to the CIA to do promotional campaigns for revolutionising
people against the communist government in Afghanistan which was loyal to
Moscow. Meanwhile in Iran, America continued to give assurance to Shah that it
will defend him but eventually left him to fend for himself. The American
Ambassador to Iran at that time, William Sullivan, mentioned that the then
National Security Advisor, Zbignjew Brzezinski confirmed several times to Shah
that America supports him and will support him till the end. The White House
policy was contradicting their words as they had full knowledge that the Turban
Man – Al-Wali Al-Faqih – will take his place.
This is what exactly, Machiavelli mentions
under the heading “The Subtle Art of Lying” in his book “The Prince,” “Nevertheless
our experience has been that those princes who have done great things have
considered keeping their word of little account, and have known how to beguile
men’s minds by shrewdness and cunning. In the end these princes have overcome
those who have relied on keeping their word.”
America decided not to send their aircraft
carrier (US Constellation) to the Indian Ocean to support the infantry. This decision
created confusion in the Iranian camp and literally paralysed the Iranian army
from doing any action until the stability was brought back by Khomeini. Recently
revealed documents have also proved that Carter’s administration literally
paved the way for Khomeini and held the army back from launching a military
coup. This is what made the Shah weak as he was depending on US forces and it
allowed Khomeini to eliminate the top level officers who were loyal to the Shah.
He executed more than 200 of the Shah’s security officials which eventually led
to the collapse of the monarchy giving the reigns of the country to Khomeini.
Later the Hostage crisis was staged to present to the world that Khomeini’s
system was an enemy to the strongest colonial power in the world and to make an
impression that there is no connection between America and Khomeini.
The hostage crisis lasted for 444 days,
however with the election of the Republican candidate Ronald Regan, Khomeini
released the hostages on January 20, 1981. With the outbreak of the Iran – Iraq
war, America made a contract to secretly transfer advanced weaponry to Iran and
to release some of its hostages that were kidnapped during the Lebanese civil
war. The Iranians played a major role in the kidnapping of the hostages and
America cracked a deal with Iran to get the hostages released in lieu of
supplying weapons. The whole affair later came to be known later as “Contra
Affair.” The Jewish entity was taken in loop to transfer the weapons to Iran.
George Bush, the then vice president in the Reagan administration, arranged the
meeting with then Iranian vice president Abolhassan Banisadr in Paris in the
presence of the delegate of then Jewish entity’s intelligence Ari Ben Menashe,
who became instrumental in transferring weapons to Iran. In this way Khomeini
accomplished strategic benefits by making the latter accept its demands.
In this way, America got rid of Reza Shah
whom the British appointed to serve their interests. America further managed to
stem the tide of communism that was running through the middle of Asia. It also
began to kindle the fire of sectarianism in the region between the Shias and
the Sunnis. It made the Sunnis weary of the growing influence of Iran and its
desire to take control of the region by exporting its ideology in the region
and by changing the marja-e-taqleed from Iraq to Iran. The Sunnis began
to export Wahabbism in order to contain Iran’s ideological presence and
unfortunately it all led to Muslims losing the vision of thinking of the
caliphate – the divine political doctrine for the Muslims. The growing fear of
Iran led the weary Gulf States to fall in line with America in order to make them
secure from the regional threat.
The situation in Syria reveals a similar
kind of plot. The Alawites had been a major supporter of the French mandate
during their rule and in return the Alawites received political autonomy as the
French bolstered them and supported them against the Sunnis. Post Second World
War, it was a series of military coups in Syria which resulted in the
fluctuating influence of Britain and America in the region. After 5 military
coups, the final coup of 1970 brought Hafez al-Assad to power and this led the
situation to settle in favour of America when Hafez gave Al-Golan Heights to
the Jews. In doing so, America succeeded in spreading and consolidating its
wings in Syria.
A cursory glance at the events in Syria
unveils the myth and clears the air that it will never be part of the ‘Axis of Resistance’
to America. It is nothing but serving the American interests under the garb of
fighting American imperialism. The master-slave relationship blossomed with the
support of Al-Assad to America in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. It further
strengthened with America’s war on terror where Al-Assad’s son Bashar toed the
line of the US. Besides, the forty years’ rule of the Assad regime has not
witnessed a single bullet shot against the Jewish entity, hence maintaining the
American plan of the two-state solution, considering the safety of the Jews.
In
addition to it, the implementation of the Baker-Hamilton recommendations, which
put the onus of maintaining the stability of Iraq on the neighbouring Iran and
Syria, corroborates the great aid that both Syria and Iran are providing for the
realisation of American interests in the region. Syria has also helped in
maintaining the influence of American in Lebanon. The Syrian occupation of
Lebanon in 1976 led to the American influence in Lebanon and with the
initiation of the Cedar Revolution in 2005, Europe – France and Britain,
attempted to bring Lebanon under their influence. However, with their loyal
agent Assad who assassinated the opposition leaders like Rafiq Harir, Gibran
Tueni, etc., America managed to retain its influence in the region.
The beginning of the 21st century
saw America unleashing its military strength on Afghanistan and Iraq under the
garb of “war on terror”. Iran significantly helped America in both Iraq and
Afghanistan. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared this shameful act of Iran’s help
to America in Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany in 2002. Similarly, when America
found itself in the Iraqi quagmire, Iran offered to share the burden and the
political solution of dividing Iraq in to three factions Shias, Sunnis and Kurds
got impetus.
‘Axis of Resistance’ is now known to all
as an agenda that serves the interests of America clandestinely. The countries
in the axis have proved themselves as good as the master wants his slaves to be
in serving the imperialist goals of America in the region. America knows the
importance of these slaves, especially Iran, and hence worked hard to maintain
them and helped them in getting rid of the problems they face. It saved Iran
from the pressures of Europe and the Jewish entity, as they were demanding
international sanctions against Iran. The Jewish entity even gave the hint of
military action against Iran. America’s efforts appears clear from the
following:
-
America
strived to save Iran from the threat of international sanction from Europe and the
Jewish entity. US Intelligence also declared that there was no Iranian nuclear
threat and maintained this stance from 2007 to 2010.
-
Millions
of demonstrators descended to the streets in support of the reformist candidate
against Ahmadinejad in what is known as the Green Revolution, however America turned
a blind eye to what the Iranian administration did when they attacked the
peaceful demonstrators.
Today the false veil of animosity between
America and Iran is beginning to rip off. The statements from America are now
all the more direct in praising Iran so as to make Iran work more directly and
openly with America. On January 16, 2016 it was said that the International
Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran has completed the necessary steps under
the Iran deal that will ensure Iran’s nuclear program is and remains
exclusively peaceful. US President Obama said, that the diplomatic boycott of
Iran will not serve the American interests. In order to pacify Europe and the
Jewish entity, he further said that because of the agreement Iran will not have
nuclear weapons, assuring that the deal with Iran will make the world a safer
place. On the other hand, Iran welcomed this deal and its President Hassan
Rouhani described the agreement as a great victory for Iran. He further called
the American people as well as the world to invest in his country. Hence
America helped Iran by relieving it from the sanctions and at the same time obliged
Europe and other entities to accept it.
As for the Bashar Al-Assad regime,
America’s silence on his crimes speaks volumes. It has been five years since he
has been maiming citizens of his own country, torturing them, using chemical
weapons, destroying homes, yet America has allowed the situation to prolong in
its quest for an alternate to Bashar. In order to further the rule of Bashar,
America uses Iran to support and bolster the falling Assad regime because
Assad’s fall before America finds an alternate would be a negative outcome for
America. In addition to it, America called in Russia to bomb and destroy the
sincere Mujhahedeen in order to pressurise them to come to negotiating
tables to come to a compromise. At the same time, it used its agent Saudi
Arabia to bring the Mujahedeen to table through conferences in Riyadh
during the end of the year 2015. All these efforts are done in order to
maintain the Ba'ath regime till the time America finds a solution to this
quagmire by getting someone from its agents to take the place of Bashar.
America should understand that it's too late now and soon the tide will turn
against it and all of its agents.
Finally:
To conclude, the Axis of Resistance is nothing against America, but rather it
is a coalition of countries waiting to serve America at the drop of the hat and
in any issue, even if it means killing millions of their own citizens. America
saw in the Mullahs of Iran and in the Alawites of Syria a Trojan horse
serving its benefits in the Middle East. Iran significantly provides America a
helping hand in all its tasks in the region and so does Syria by being a slave
to America. Hezbollah too is a stick in the hands of America which it wields as
per its convenience.
With the understanding
related to Iran and Syria with respect to America becoming clearer with every
passing day, it becomes necessary for the faithful people to destroy and
dismantle their plots and plans. It is required to work hard to get rid of the
agents and to achieve the great victory that awaits us. Time has now arrived to
tear down the curtains of this corrupt system and announce the death of the
international capitalist system, which has become the cause for all the misery
in the world. It is time to raise the calls and work hard for the return of the
Khilafah as foretold through the noble narrations of the Prophet. It is time to
say good bye to America and its cronies and present and spread the light of
Islam to the whole globe.
﴿وَيَقُولُونَ
مَتَىٰ هُوَ قُلْ عَسَىٰ أَن يَكُونَ قَرِيبًا﴾
“They
say: When will it be? Say: it will perhaps be soon.”
[TMQ Surah Isra: 51]
Written for the Central Media Office of
Hizb ut Tahrir by
Ibn Ansari
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