This audio excerpt is part of radio broadcast from a rally event in Paris – Friday 30 June 2017. Ahead of the Iran Grand Gathering of Resistance and Iranian Diaspora on, July 1, 2017. At Villepinte Pairs. From where we will also be reporting.
POLICY REVIEW ON IRAN – PANEL DISCUSSION SEGMENT
[ALSO LISTEN ON MIXLR]
TIMECODE [00:00:00.00] Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.: If they put the IRGC on the terrorism list. So many issues of whether Iran is actually seeking domination. Or is doing what Foreign Minister Zarif would probably say – is being a good neighbor and is not being a divisive sectarian force at all. So if you could council (directed at John Baird) the exiled community and scholars around the world on how to educate populations in Canada, United States, in Europe, what facts would turn this debate and confirm the analysis that you brought forth. What is it that you would want to tell your, sort of, capital cities? What is that... what is your frustration, what's the frustration in the United States Senate, where people just don't believe what other senators believe. They have two sets of facts. What do we do to overcome that? Minister...
A panel review of Tehran’s domestic and regional policies by the FEMO, the Foundation for Middle Eastern Studies (la fondation d'Etudes pour le moyen Orient) is an independent organization that provides analysis on the individuals.
TIMECODE [00:00:55.27] John Baird: I think first and foremost we've got to abandon any notion of trying to restrain the evil regime from doing evil things. We've got to abandon a policy of containing the actions of the regime. And we must think more broadly of how do we overcome or how do we transform the government in Iran. And what specifically can, not through foreign imposed military-backed regime change, but what we can do to inspire and intangibly support the people of Iran.
TIMECODE [00:01:32.12] John Baird: I once spoke to Natan Scheransky and he said – one morning when he was sitting in a Soviet Gulag – when Ronald Reagan called out the then Soviet Union for being an evil empire, that it did give them hope. It did inspire them. And, I come back to the speaking with greater moral clarity. I think it's so incredibly important. We must be much much more ambitious; than simply trying to restrain and contain the regime.
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TIMECODE [00:02:02.05] Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.: Senator Lieberman...
TIMECODE [00:02:03.20] Joseph Lieberman: Ah, the first argument I would make to doubters... of where we are, is that... what happens in Iran, though it half the world away from the United States, really matters to our security. It also matters to our values. But if people are skeptical about getting involved just because... other people's freedom is being compromised by an autocratic regime, as it is... in Tehran and Iran. Not withstanding the mission that our founding documents, particularly The Declaration of Independence gave us. Ok, let's say they're not gonna buy that argument... but people in the Iranian Diaspora have a personal connection to their homeland, as it were.
TIMECODE [00:02:54.05] Joseph Lieberman: So it's compelling to them. But I would argue to those that are on the other of this in the United States, it ought to be compelling to us too, in terms of our security. I mean... we got all the problems in the world today, that General (Jack) Keane (former Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army) talked about... rising big power competition with China and Russia... we have the insane regime in North Korea. But in my opinion, the most significant threat to world security and American security is the government in Iran today. And that is because it is the no.1 state sponsor of terrorism. It is creating havoc in the region. It has the blood of 100s, 1000s of Americans on it's own hands, beginning with all the American soldiers who were killed in Iraq by IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps) trained Shia militias. We can go back to marine barracks and Beirut in the 80's. The Khobar Towers. The line is a horrific one.
So it's not like this thing is way over there... it's not gonna affect Americans. It is gonna affect Americans. And I though (Amb.) Bob Joseph (Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until 2007) said something really compelling... often the most simple statement are compelling. Not that you're simple-minded (laughs)... but... (crosstalk)... which is... why do we think the government is building intercontinental ballistic missiles? They already can reach their enemies and the Arab States of Israel in the Middle East. They're building intercontinental missiles for one reason... so they'll be in a position to put nuclear weapons on them, and to threaten... which will... infeeble Europe and the United States.
And... but that... I'm going to get very personal. My wife was with me. When I think about the future and I think... what can I do to protect the security of my children and grandchildren in the decades ahead in America? There's nothing more important than to change the regime in Tehran.
TIMECODE [00:05:08.04] Amb. Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.: Thank you. Bob (Amb. Robert Joseph) thoughts on this...
Through its symposia, publications and reports, FEMO provides expert advice and insights on the complex issues of the Middle East and enrichies the debate on the strategic situation of this region.
FEMO is a reiable source of information for public authorities in European countries. In 2017, FEMO organized several debates during wich experts, researchers and academics presented their analyses on the situation in the Middle East.
Moderated by: Lincoln Bloomfield Jnr, Ambassador, Distinguished Fellow and Chairman Emeritus at the Stimson Center, former Assistant Secretary of State for Military Affairs
Panel speakers: – Denis Ross, Ambassador, former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region. Special Adviser for the Persian Gulf including Iran to the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
– John Baird, former Foreign Minister of Canada
– Joseph Lieberman, former US Senator and Vice Presidential candidate
– Robert Joseph, Ambassador, United States Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until 2007
– Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique of France
