By Kenneth R. Timmerman
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 17, 2006
(Jerusalem - Aug. 16, 2006) - A newstudy of 115 Iranian school textbooks concludes that Iran ispreparing its children for war, and is willing to risk massivecasualties for the opportunity to defeat America in a world-widecataclysmic confrontation.
"Iran's is a war curriculum," the study said. "Iran prepares itsschool children to fight the West &endash; America in particular&endash; as an indispensable complementary phase of the IslamicRevolution."
From the Fifth grade on, Iran's revolutionary regime portraysitself in government textbooks "as the champion of all non-Westernnations, Muslim and non-Muslim, in a fateful struggle against Westernhegemony in the world," the study concluded.
In the vision of Iran's leaders that is indoctrinated into youngIranians from an early age, "the Muslims, and the world oppressednations in general, should wage a global war against the infideloppressors, especially America," the study reports, using languagedrawn directly from the Iranian textbooks.
Prepared by scholars Arnon Groisse and Navid Toobian of theCenter for Monitoring the Impact of Peace in Jerusalem, the studywill be released in the United States by the American JewishCongress.*
This is the first comprehensive look at how the Islamic Republicof Iran has attempted to indoctrinate two generations of childrensince seizing power from the Shah in 1979. Until now, many MiddleEast experts and intelligence analysts who have studied the rants ofleaders such as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or SupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have pooh-poohed their anti-Westerntirades as mere made-for-the-masses propaganda.
This study shows that they are much more than just show. On thecontrary, defeating America has been the goal of this Islamo-fascistregime from the very start.
Highly-respected Princeton University scholar Bernard Lewis warnedrecently that Ahmadinejad's choice of August 22 for his response tothe U.S.-backed ultimatum on Iran's nuclear program could have areligious significance.
In an oped in the Wall Street Journal, Prof. Lewis pointed outthat August 22 coincides with the date in the Muslim religiouscalendar when the Prophet Mohammad traveled to Jerusalem in a dream,tied up his horse, and ascended to the 7th heaven to speak with Allahdirectly.
(By the way, Muhammad's dream adventure is the only claim theMuslims have ever been able to lay on Jerusalem as a city holy toIslam. On the basis of that dream, Muslim armies invaded Palestineand conquered Jerusalem after Mohammad's death).
Prof. Lewis argues that the West must take such things seriously,not as mere coincidence, and warns that Ahmadinejad could use theopportunity to unleash "the apocalyptic ending of Israel and ifnecessary of the world."
In support of his conclusion that Ahmadinejad and his followers inIran are not wild-eyed fanatics but represent the mainstream of theIslamic Revolution since 1979, Prof. Lewis cites a well-knownadmonition by Ayatollah Khomeini that is found in an 11th gradeIranian textbook, Islamic Viewpoint.
"I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if theworld-devourers [i.e, the infidel powers] wish to standagainst our religion, we will stand against their whole world andwill not cease until the annihilation of all them," Khomeini says."Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedomwhich is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at thevictory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal lifeand martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
This and other chilling passages that reveal the intent of Iran'scurrent leaders can be found in this new study of Iranian textbooks.Indeed, the main finding of the new study is that Iran's entireeducation system is focused "on fighting American world hegemony inthe name of Islam."
The study points to two main themes within the overall mission ofworld Jihad against the West.
"One, a massive effort is made to portray the West, with Americaat its head, as the incarnation of evil. Two, much emphasis is put onthe three issues of preparing for war, Jihad, and martyrdom asIslamic ideals that should be followed in the present time."
It also notes that the struggle against America is "neitherreligious nor cultural, but rather political."
"The American danger threatening Iran is perceived to be imminent,which necessitates thorough preparation on a national scale," Groissand Tooobian write in their analysis of the textbooks.
How close in time must a threat be for our leaders &endash; andtheir opponents, and the press &endash; to agree that it isimminent?
And if they agree that the threat is imminent &endash; as Franceand Britain agreed of the threat from Hitler in 1938 &endash; willour leaders conclude as Daladier and Neville Chamberlin concludedthat they can still have "peace in our time" through appeasement?
After all, even the Bush administration decided to give diplomacyone more chance when it opted for a UN Security Council resolutionlast month that calls on Iran to give its definitive answer to theWestern nuclear ultimatum by the end of August &endash; well afterAhmadinejad's own chosen date.
As I discovered during in-depth discussions with top Israelnuclear experts shortly before Iran launched its proxy war againstIsrael through Hezbollah on July 12, no one really knows just howclose Iran may be to actually possessing nuclear weapons.
That uncertainty itself is disturbing. It shows, for one thing,that both the U.S. and Israeli intelligence communities have failedto penetrate top government circles in Tehran to gain insight intothe aims, intentions, and capabilities of Iran's radical Muslimleaders.
Studying the texts they have been teaching their children for thepast twenty-four years won't answer the question of how close Iranmay be to the bomb.
But it will tell you, with great precision, the goals of Iran'sleaders.: extermination of the Jewish state in Israel and thedestruction of America, even if this entails a catastrophic world warthat Iran will lose decisively.
The United States and its allies have squandered the opportunityto use the best possible tool to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran: aid topro-democracy forces inside Iran.
If Ahmadinejad and his Revolutionary Guards nuclear team reveal tothe world in the coming weeks or months that they have achievednuclear weapons capability, then we will be left with theworst-possible option, which is war.
And unlike Islamic Iran, we have not prepared our children&endash; or ourselves - for this fight.