September 15, 2007:
There
is a growing anti-government terrorist movement in southwest Iran. The
government blames it on the U.S. and British, but the local rebels, nearly all
local Arabs, blame the non-Arab Iranians. Although Arabs comprise only about
three percent of Irans population, they constitute much of the population an
area that produces 70 percent of the nations oil. Arabs used to be the majority
in this area, but in the last 80 years, more ethnic Iranians (linguistic
cousins of Indians and Europeans) have moved into the oil territories, and are
now the majority. While the Iranian Arabs fought bravely against the Iraqis in
the 1980s, suffering, per capita, four times as many casualties as the rest of
Iran, they did this because they despised Saddam more than they disliked the
ethnic Iranians that ruled them. This hatred is well deserved, as the
government has responded to the Arab unrest with heavy handed police state
tactics.
The Arabs never saw any
rewards for their bravery in fighting Saddam, just the same old discrimination
and abuse Arabs have long received from ethnic Iranians (who see themselves as
racially and culturally superior to the Arabs.) Then Saddam was overthrown in
2003, and soon the Shia Arabs were in charge. OK, the Sunni Arab minority that
propped up Saddam were still killing people, particularly Shia Arabs. But the
Iraqi Shia Arabs were fighting back, and the Iranian Arabs (who were also Shia)
noticed. Suddenly the fact that most Iraqis were Arab, Shia and in charge meant
a whole lot to Iranian Arabs. New political parties and pressure groups began
to form among the Iranian Arabs. But asking the Iranian government for better
treatment only unleashed the secret police, and thousands of Iranian Arabs were
arrested, many never to be seen again. Thus for the last two years, there's
been a growing rebellion in southwest Iran. All the rebels down there have been
Arabs, and the Iranian government is in no mood to talk with the local Arabs,
much less negotiate anything. The government blames America, and keeps
arresting and killing Arabs.
It's believed that U.S.
Army Special Forces are providing some assistance to the Iranian Arab rebels.
But the Iranians have provided no proof, and the U.S. is not saying anything
specific. Iraqi Arabs are apparently providing some aid, if only because
several Shia tribes still have branches on both sides of the border. The Iranian
Arab rebels are not numerous, but they aren't going away.