Iran's dissidents can put pressure on mullahs

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A well-educated group of young reformers does exist in Iran. They were demoralized by President Mohammad Khatami's failure to live up to his promises of reform and by his lack of support for the student uprisings of 1999. However, a growing popular disenchantment with the policies of current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is likely to re-energize them.

The United States and its allies should discreetly support all Iranian opposition groups that reject terrorism and advocate democracy by publicizing their activities both internationally and within Iran, giving them organizational training, and inviting them to attend international conferences and workshops outside Iran.

Educational exchanges with Western students would help to bolster and open up communications with Iran's restive students, who historically have played a leading role in their country's reform movements.

The United States should covertly subsidize opposition publications and organizing efforts, as it did to aid the anti-communist opposition during the Cold War in Europe and Asia. However, such programs should be strictly segregated from public outreach efforts by the United States and its allies, in order to avoid putting Iranian participants in international forums at risk of arrest or persecution when they return home.

The United States should not try to play favorites among the various Iranian opposition groups, but should instead encourage them to cooperate under the umbrella of the broadest possible coalition.

The U.S. government therefore should launch a public diplomacy campaign to explain to the Iranian people how the regime's nuclear weapons program and hard-line policies have hurt their economic and national interests.

Iran's clerical regime has tightened its grip on the media in recent years, shutting down more than 100 independent newspapers and jailing journalists. It also has closed down Web sites and arrested bloggers.

The United States and its allies, therefore, should work to defeat the regime's suppression of independent media by increasing Farsi broadcasts by such government-sponsored media as the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe -- Radio Farda -- and other information sources. The free flow of information is essential to the free flow of political ideas. The Iranian people need access to information about the activities of opposition groups, both within and outside Iran, and the plight of dissidents.

The incoming U.S. administration of President-elect Barack Obama also should prepare for the use of military force as a last resort.

Obama has wisely promised that "we will never take military options off the table."

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(James Phillips is senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, and Peter Brookes is senior fellow for National Security Affairs in the Davis Institute, at The Heritage Foundation.)

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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)