WE DID NOT START THE FIRE
(The torch is being passed from one generation to another for over a Century)
On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Constitutional Revolution of Iran (August5, 1906); Iran remains the world’s number one despotic regime
in the world which is second to none for its track record of human rights violations, dictatorship and state sponsorship of terrorism.
Thanks to inept western strategists, Iraq has been presented to Iran on a silver platter! With growing Iran’s influence in Iraq, use of the petroleum, nuclear
and terrorism weapons, Iran is well on its way to become the evil empire!
With removal of Saddam Hussein, the regional balance of power eliminated. The Americans and the British have been unable to keep Iran in check due
to Iran’s meddling in Iraq and thus creating a quagmire for the westerners. Iran’s support for the Iraqi turmoil is actually being given to their co-religionists the Shiites. The leading Shiite party in Iraq the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution (SCIR) is led by by people who spent the Hussein years in Iran while their private army the Badr brigade is funded by Iran. Of course Iran could and probably is playing both sides of the street by giving aid to the insurgency as a means of pressuring the USA to leave. The US in fact is powerless to do anything about Iran's meddling in Iraq or its nuclear ambitions. One of the unintended consequences of the Iraq war, combined with the spike in oil prices, has been to make Iran the pre-eminent power in the Middle East and one that is untouchable by the US or its client state Israel because of the potential impact on oil supplies. Neither would US or world opinion tolerates another US inspired pre-emptive war in the Middle East. The Bush administration's actions in Iraq have, to use the technical term, left us screwed. Their general dumbness in the Middle East and in the wider effort to contain terrorism is breathtaking; every action they take seems to be aimed at increasing the effectiveness of our opponents.
With ever increasing west’s dependence on the Middle Eastern oil, geopolitically speaking the Persian Gulf must become a safe zone to insure free passage of oil
through the Straits of Hormuz . Geographically it dominates the northern shores of the Persian Gulf, with command of the Strait of Hormuz, the most important chokepoint in the globe. It is within easy striking distance of about 50 percent of the world's oilfields: those in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE. It also is a bridge between two very important energy zones of Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
The West has vital interests in the Middle East. The Middle East is the center of gravity of international politics. Iran is the center of gravity of the Middle East. None of the current problems in the Middle East and the Islamic World can be resolved unless there is change in Iran. Iran is run by a very nasty regime of fundamentalist but corrupt religious zealots that threat the security of the region as well as the rest of the world. It is imperative that the Iranian problem
be solved by the Iranian hand and the international community to help them to get rid of this geopolitical tumor.
In order to topple the IRI regime, Iranians need to revert to Mashroteh (constitutional) movement platform, an ideal that was never realized and our great ancestors dreamed, planned and wished for our beloved Iran. It is not about monarchy or republicanism; it’s about the true “Constitution.” For which many of them laid their lives for it. The future political system of government shall be decided by the Iranians in a free and unbiased referendum. This paper will represent the first in series of papers to follow regarding the true “Constitution.” At the end, our national heroes were assassinated, defeated, forced to exile, ridiculed or destroyed. Their true “Constitution” was hijacked, revised, and diluted. The new version, executed by Mullah’s, written and backed by the British government was implemented.
THIS IS THE STORY OF REAL MASHROOTEH. NOT WHAT HAS BEEN INTRODUCED TO THE PUBLIC AS “MASHROOTHEH”. THE REAL STORY AND THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION WRITTEN BY OUR FOREFATHERS.
Quest for Freedom
An idea is born
It is the turn of the century. The world has officially welcomed the 20th Century. The Industrial Revolution is in full speed in Europe. Persia (Iran) had missed the boat through inept Government, bad management, corruption, religious ignorance, closed door policy and foreign intervention / domination. It is worth noting that during the period of 1850 to 1875 the corrupt Ghajar dynasty was ruling Persia (Iran). The majority of the land was under a Feudal system of ownership with the people living/working on that land. The tribes in Iran are numbered in millions. They are called “Ashayer.” Some of the tribes are ruled fairly but the rest fair no better than their Feudal cousins. The entire population is under the grips of Mullah’s and their traditional Maddrassa teachings through their local mosques. The Mullah’s have the support of the Shah and the Feudalist. For a country that does not speak Arabic, The Mullah’s are sole Middlemen between people and God. It is they who interpret the words of God from Arabic to Farsi. It is they who instruct people of “do”s and “don’t”s of every day life. The Mullah’s function is to keep the people in total ignorance benefiting every one else except the General Public. In return The Mullah’s are rewarded by the foreign powers wishing to maintain their holdings by having masses to be silent, by the Shah and his court and finally, the major Feudal land owner and their immediate families.
The foreign powers active in Persia at that time were the Imperialist English and Russians. Unofficially, Iran was divided into two spheres of influence, the czarist Russian were influential in the Northern part of Iran and the English in the South.
The Capital was in Tehran, since it was moved a while back from Tabriz. The State of the Country under the Ghajars’ Shahs was very tragic at best since the monarchy had no money and no real power. During this period the major source of income for the Shahs’ was selling the control of various branches of government, military and police positions in the country. By doing so, they gave free reigns to the people who have purchased the positions. They, in turn collected self imposed taxes and revenues to pay the Shah for keeping their positions and accumulating wealth. Thus, adding more to the corruption and the misery of the population. On the whole, The Shahs after years of ignorance resulting from their traditional schooling in Madressa and their Mullah teachings are no better than uneducated masses they rule. “Nasser al din Shah”, the third Shah in the Ghajar dynasty, discovered the pleasures of traveling abroad. This particular Shah exhausted the funds in the national treasury and asked his government to borrow money from abroad to pay for his ever increasing travels expenses to Europe. The repayment of these so called “Loans” had made Iran bankrupt, as all major sources of income for the country were in direct or indirect control of foreign powers.
The British East India Company with the total support of British government had taken charge of Iran’s southern ports and collection of customs / tariffs. The imperialist Russia had the same arrangements for the Northern ports and collection of customs/ tariffs. East India Company had the monopoly it had created for the major products used in Iran. They ranged from Tea to Sugar and Tobacco. In Persia (Iran), both England and Russia exercised a significant power which affected every aspect of Iranians society. The Shahs were being told by these countries who to select as Prime Minister as well as the members of his cabinet. The only thing the king did was keeping balance in the cabinet by selecting enough number of British backed politicians against the Russian supported ones.
The capitulation law was in full enforcement. Iranians were embarrassed by the fact that their justice system was powerless against the crimes British and Russians citizens did against Persians (Iranians).
There was no regular army as Shah had no money for salaries. The borders of the country were entrusted to the tribes of Persia (Iran) for defending against foreign invaders. Some of these local tribes were directly hired by British or Russians to carry out their missions inside the country. The Shah’s personal army consisted of a small regiment, courtesy of the Imperial Russian government. Who trained and paid the salary of the Kazakh soldiers. In turn the Russians had control over the Northern ports of Iran. The southern Police Force (Later the name was changed to Oman Scouts), controlling the Southern ports of Iran was paid and maintained by the British government and East India Company which was a quasi governmental agency.
Iranians traveling abroad
The only good point coming out of all these was the introduction of the outside world to Persians (Iranians). The isolation and “closed door” policy was no longer applicable. The country needed to establish embassies in Europe, people traveling with the Shah, tradesmen following them started to bring in ideas and products from the European countries which they called “FARANG”. To this date there are jokes passed on from generation to generation about Naaser al din Shah and his travels to Farang. The comical positions they would find themselves as the result of their stark differences between culture, traditions and the western way of life. The flood gates were now open despite the constant complaints, warnings and threats from the Mullah’s (Later, Nasser Al Din Shah lost his life while praying in a holly shrine, over this very same issue after ruling 50 years. The fanatical assassin was instructed and completely under the influence of Mullah’s, while carrying their orders).
The roads were extremely unsafe to travel as bandits were rampant. Each territory had their own set of bandits controlling the roads. The Central Government had no army or money to pursue and catch these road bandits or no desire to do so. Most of these bandits were under the direct control of the governor of that province or did pay money to him and in turn got protection from the governor.
In this environment, some of the well to do families decided to send their children to Europe for better education. At this time Iran’s first Technical school was established by a capable Prime Minister (Later killed by the order of the Shah and the support of Mullah’s) in Tehran. It was called Dar al Founon (founded by the well respected Prime Minister of the Shah’s Court, Amir Kabir) meaning the School for trade and knowledge. However, it was not enough. The elites wanted their children to get the first hand education and the knowledge from Europe or Farangestan. Traveling was not so easy and often very dangerous. There were four routes out of Iran. North, through Russian held territories and Caspian Sea. South, through Persian Gulf and the British controlled section. Going through Afghanistan into India, or through the Ottoman Empire (Present day Turkey) were other alternatives as well. The most frequently route used by these travelers was to go from Teheran to province of Mazandaran by the Caspian Sea. In Anzali Port (Later name changed to Pahlavi Port), take the Russian steamship across the Caspian Sea. Land in Baku, Azerbaijan (At the time, not long ago that province and many others were lost to the Imperialist Russia in the greatest embarrassment our nation ever faced, called Turkeman-Chaye). In Baku, the passenger would board the Trans Russian Railway and go to Saint Petersburg. From Saint Petersburg by steamship or train, they would go to other destinations in the Europe. This journey sometimes taking well over four months to complete as there were no roads or if there were, there was no money to maintain them and depending on the season, it was not easy to travel and always the danger from bandits. Although, once they got to Baku, the rest of the travel would be conducted with certain ease and safety.
The most popular destination for Iranians was France; the center of European civilization, founder of the new Democratic Republic and the keeper of democracy. Many students from Iran ended up in Paris; while there they were absorbed by the higher learning institutions in France. At that time the universal trade and travel language was French. Thus, people not even traveling to France, had started to study French in Persian (Iranian) schools and with private tutors. The well known French literally works were send to Persia (Iran), either in French or translated to Farsi and people began to read about France, the French Revolution, the idea of New Republic, equality, justice and fraternity. What Persian (Iranian) people were reading sounded amazing to them.
End of Part 1 of 3.
To be continued on Part 2 and Part 3 where you will get to see what the true Mashrooteh was all about. The real documents and how it was hijacked.
THE KEY IN SALVATION OF IRAQ IS IN FREEDOM OF IRAN!