While denouncing the Orlando shooter, Iran
regime leads
the world in attacks - Gov. Tom Ridge
The Iranian regime's condemnation of the Orlando mass shooting
must be viewed against a backdrop of its status as the world’s most active
state sponsor of terrorism, former United States Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Times on Thursday
"It’s
hard to imagine an expression of sympathy more disingenuous," he wrote, adding that
the West must not fall for the deceptive smiles of the terrorist regime in
Iran.
"The
Orlando condemnation was issued by the administration of President Hassan
Rouhani, known to wear a much friendlier face in public than its predecessor.
This was most obvious during the nuclear negotiations last July. But neither
the nuclear deal nor any subsequent statements justify claims that Mr. Rouhani
and his colleagues represent a trend toward moderation."
"Indeed,
just last week, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency
confirmed that traces of man-made uranium were found at the Parchin facility,
southeast of Tehran, indicating that Tehran was pursuing a weapons
program."
"Mr.
Rouhani himself has contributed to a recent surge in propaganda, declaring at
the end of May, for instance, that the nuclear negotiations represented an
“historic turning point,” specifically because they constituted the defeat of
'the plots of Zionism and [Western] arrogance.'"
"Mr.
Rouhani came to power amidst promises of not only a new opening with the
international community, but also of domestic reforms, the release of political
prisoners, and a generally freer Iranian society. Three years later, and one
year prior to his re-election bid, none of these has come to pass. Quite the
contrary, the situation has only gotten worse in several crucial ways,
according to experts, such as the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in
Iran."
"The
rate of executions has skyrocketed. Some 2,600 people have been executed since
Mr. Rouhani took office, in a country that already held the record for the
highest number of executions per capita in the world."
And
yet, it is sadly possible, Gov. Ridge added, "that those not paying
attention to circumstances inside the Islamic Republic might be lulled by the
Orlando statement into more wishful thinking that domestic reform is still just
around the corner. Some Western policymakers embraced that sentiment after Mr.
Rouhani’s election, and then again after the conclusion of the nuclear
negotiations."
"Such
predictions have been proven false at every turn. It would be ridiculous to
allow the Rouhani administration’s latest hollow statements to renew that
optimism. At this point, we should know better than to pay any mind to
disingenuous comments from Tehran. We would be better served to pay attention
to the voice of the Iranian people, like the tens of thousands of Iranian
dissidents who will gather in Paris on July 9 for a major international rally
in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran."
"In
contrast to Tehran’s attempts at masking ongoing abuses under an outpouring of
empty sentiment, the gathering will highlight an array of concrete examples of
the Iranian regime’s human rights violations, terrorist acts, its continued
support of the Assad regime that has killed a quarter-million people, and
expressions of the very same poisonous ideology that apparently motivated the
Orlando shooter."
"All
of this will serve to emphasize a point that the National Council of Resistance
of Iran has expressed repeatedly as Western policymakers sought openings with
Iran: We cannot hope to defeat Islamic extremism on a global scale until and
unless we confront it everywhere, whether in the cold-blooded murders of a lone
gunman or the deceptive smiles of a terrorist state," he added.
Tom
Ridge was the U.S.'s first Homeland Security Secretary and a governor of
#Iran #Tom Ridge was the #U.S.'s first Homeland Security Secretary and a #governor of #Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania.
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