Tell the World the Truth About Iran, Says Richard Perle

Express full support for those hoping to end the dictatorship

[“America has a positive role to play in advancing freedom and democracy in the rest of the world,” is one of the themes here at The Editors. I’ve been reporting that out by soliciting, from a variety of thoughtful voices, answers to this prompt:

What are the most promising, concrete, specific steps America can take over the next few years to promote freedom, democracy, and rule of law in other countries? What places and people would you focus on, what’s the case for making the efforts, and how, practically, do you get it done given the constraints imposed by the American political and fiscal landscape?

Today’s response comes from Richard Perle. Perle helped win the Cold War in two significant ways. As an aide to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, he championed the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment that linked U.S. trade privileges for the Soviet Union to freedom of emigration. And as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during the Reagan administration, he played a key role in the Reagan administration’s policy debates, including at the October 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev summit at Reykjavik, Iceland. I’m honored and delighted to have a contribution from Perle to this forum. — Ira Stoll]

Just suppose that our government decided to promote freedom, democracy, and the rule of law in countries now ruled by dictatorial regimes. Recognizing the enormous size of the task and the limited resources available for this noble purpose, the president would order a short list of candidates.

From that list he would be wise to choose only countries where there already exists a popular desire to overthrow its oppressive regime and a cadre, almost certainly a mix of internals and exiles, passionate about individual freedom and ready to fight to achieve it. Without them there is no hope, and until such a cadre exists, the country should be off the list.

There is a second criterion as he studies the list. The country must be one whose transformation would be widely understood by the public to be in the interest of American national security. It’s better to fight for ideals and interests than ideals alone.

I believe that Iran would be at the top of the list. So let’s take Iran as a case that, while unique, presents issues and raises questions that will be found in many others. How might we promote democracy in Iran?

The first step would be to abandon the foolish conceit that diplomatic engagement with the mullahs in Tehran can advance our interests or the democratic cause. It hasn’t and it won’t. We have been outmaneuvered by the regime again and again, failing to contain Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons and actually enhancing its capacity to destabilize and terrorize. We have pulled our punches in the hope of moderating the regime. It is at last clear we have nothing to lose by helping those who wish to bring the regime down. So how do we do that?

We could begin by sharing with the world what we know about Iran’s perfidy, about the corruption, about its nuclear ambitions, about its involvement in virtually every terrorist organization in the world today, about its brutality at home. It is not enough to say that once. We should say it in print, on social media, in broadcasts, again and again. Have you heard an American president declare simply that Iran’s nuclear program is a military one, that the pretensions of peaceful purposes are a lie, that it cannot be trusted to honor any agreement that inhibits, much less contains, its ambitions?

This would not be empty rhetoric. It would be political warfare, much as Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” was, meant to deepen the illegitimacy of the Soviet rulers and undermine their grip on a captive people.

We could express full support for those hoping for an end to the dictatorship. We could encourage the millions who long for a future democratic Iran. President Obama’s silence when millions of Iranians risked their lives to beg for help is an indelible blot on his presidency.

Obama’s nuclear deal waived important sanctions on Iran. President Biden has caused billions to go to Iran, enabling it to support global terror.

Iranians who long for democracy desperately need to communicate among themselves and to the outside world. We have known how to help with that for a long time. Ask the Poles. Those ready to fight for freedom need material and logistic support. An organized opposition has to eat, to feed its families. We know how to do all of this.

All the presidents who have chosen not to mount such an effort believe that there is now no opposition organization to support. How could there be? We appear to support the regime. We push our allies to do the same. How can we expect anyone to fight for democracy when we are so visibly on the other side?

If we want to promote freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, we need a new policy. The first place to try should be Iran.

Other, earlier answers: “Don’t Lose Any Countries” Is Elliott Abrams’s Advice, by Elliott Abrams

Counter Communist China in the U.S. and at the U.N., Ellen Bork Recommends, by Ellen Bork

Help Ukraine and Israel Prevail, Says Carl Gershman, by Carl Gershman

Resist Redefining “Democracy” as Elite Preferences, Kontorovich Says, by Eugene Kontorovich

Spend More on Defense and Less on Everything Else, Mandelbaum Warns, by Michael Mandelbaum

More Building, Less Lecturing, Mansour Recommends, by Hussein Aboubakr Mansour