Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 09 Irans hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been using the strategy of shock and awe to advance the Islamic Republics foreign policy goals, the head of the governments strategy centre said. Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 09 Irans hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been using the strategy of shock and awe to advance the Islamic Republics foreign policy goals, the head of the governments strategy centre said.
Dr. Ahmadinejad has been using the strategy of Shock and awe in foreign policy, Alireza Zaker Esfahani, who heads the Presidential Centre for Strategic Analysis, the governments principal policy advisory body, told the Persian-language website Khedmat. The website is run by Ahmadinejads aides.
The blitz of missiles and bombs that rained on Baghdad in March 2003 at the launch of the U.S.-led attack on Iraq was dubbed Shock and awe. The concept was reportedly formulated by the Pentagon to achieve quick victory through psychologically overwhelming the enemy.
Now, it seems, President Ahmadinejad has been developing his own Shock and awe strategy through a string of statements calling for Israel to be wiped off the map and denying the Holocaust.
After a long time that had been talking about détente in our international policy and as the world stage had been moving away from wars and bloodshed and bipolar relations, we began using our winning card, which is the issue of Palestine, Zaker Esfahani said, referring to Ahmadinejads recent statements against Israel and the Jews.
This is coming at a time when American strategists were saying that the end of history has begun and were giving the impression that liberal democracy led by the U.S. was the hegemonic force, the Iranian presidents chief adviser on strategy said.
Zaker Esfahani repeated Ahmadinejads recent assertion that his anti-Israeli tirade was part of a deliberate strategy by the Islamic Republic to win the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world.
Some initially thought that Dr. Ahmadinejads positions were just a series of propaganda slogans and that the status quo of the past 16 years will prevail after he comes to power, but they saw later that they were wrong. They [Western governments”> were criticising us and we were reacting passively, he said.
Zaker Esfahani said Ahmadinejads speeches are having an impact on the world stage, encouraging the developing nations to stand up for their rights.
Countries that have been described as the Third World or the South never thought they could challenge the West, but now they are demanding their rights from Western powers, he said.
