by Ben Rhodes, former White House adviser
Washington, October 24 - The scenes from around the Islamic Republic over the last few weeks have generated the gamut of reactions: fear for the courageous women of the country; concern for regional stability; uncertainty over the future of the regime's nuclear program; worry regarding the integrity and continuity of government there; but perhaps most of all, anxiety whether, if the Ayatollahs' rule does end, any corrupt, autocratic brutes will remain whom we can shore up and provide with an economic political lifeline, rather than permit a free, representative system to emerge, for the sake of our nuclear-deal-dependent egos.
No one can fail to feel moved at the sight of hundreds, even thousands, of defiant protesters confronting armed regime enforcers. These images and reports evoke such inspiring precedents as the French Revolution, Martin Luther King's marches, and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Sheer moral courage may well prove the key to the overthrow of the mullahs - I just hope that, if or when it comes to that, some murderous thugs can still benefit from President Biden's accommodating arrangements to keep those thugs in power. The Obama administration, in which I served, perceived the necessity of not supporting or encouraging earlier popular protest movements in Iran, lest those movements derail negotiations over what became the JCPOA - an agreement to smooth a repressive, undemocratic regime's path to atomic weapons and grant that beleaguered regime an economic lifeline, for the sake of an achievement we could spin as a diplomatic accomplishment worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
When the time comes, I resolve to return to the role in which I served under President Obama, namely as the architect of a domestic political strategy to paint any and all opponents of any deal, no matter how horrible it is, as warmongers. Of course I will no longer hold the same official title, but duty calls, and I will enthusiastically take up the task of smearing those who object to the empowerment and rescue of thugs as narrow-minded bigots unable to tolerate peace. It worked in 2015, and it can work again now. With a Democrat in the White House, the US and global media by default provide sympathetic, uncritical coverage of administration talking points. I predict another triumph.
Every peace-seeking American understands that sacrificing the freedom, dignity, will and safety of tens of millions of Iranians is worth the price for not admitting we made a colossal, destructive mistake with the JCPOA.