The war between Iran and Iraq, known as the “imposed war” or the “holy war”, between Saddam & Khomeini, which took the lives of nearly 1 million, started in 1359 in the Persian calendar or on September 1980 and lasted till, if I am not mistaken, till August 1988.
The turning point of the war, for Iranians, was the recapturing of Khoramshahr in the province of Khuzestan, which was seized and captured by Iraqi forces at very early stages of the war and left Iranian military and the whole country and people in turmoil. The commander in chief of the “Operation Beit-ol-Moqadas” which led to the liberation of the city on the 24th of May and capturing nearly 15000 Iraqi POWs, was Colonel Mohammad Ali Jahanara, a faithful and patriot soldier from the city of blood, Khoramshahr. He is most definitely, confessed by so many, one of, if not “the one” bravest soldiers, the nation was blessed to have for a very long time. It is believed that Colonel Jahanara and his friends under his orders, almost single-handedly with the least resources, successfully seized the city and apprehended the Iraqis. Too sad that almost five months after the liberation of his city, him and many of his brave friends who were in the Beit-ol-Moqadas passed due to a flight malfunction on their way to Tehran from the front. His memory is and will always be with us. It is souls like Jahanara’s that give meaning to our land, Iran. May God bless his soul.
So many would want to disturb his patriotic character and essence of his spirit by distracting it and mixing up with his religious beliefs. There is absolutely no single doubt that he is a Martyr of Iran and had very strong and faithful religious and Islamic beliefs. There is absolutely no doubt that as a soldier he was under the command of Khomeini as the leader of his country and the war at that stage. But it is important to know that his bravery has nothing to do with these and everything to do with his nationalistic and patriotic principles.
Do you think if he was a secular of Buddhist Khoramshahri boy under no organised military service, he would not defend his home to his last breath? Do you think it was his faith in Islam that defined him or his love to his land? I hate to ask rhetorical questions but I am positive that his Islamic beliefs only shaped and strengthened his love for his land and Iran. I am myself a traditional boy and consider myself a Muslim. I would never disregard or belittle my faith but I also refuse to let my spiritual beliefs to upset my judgement for the TRUTH.
Khomeini was a great a man, there is no doubt about it that how capable and charismatic he was, otherwise he would never be able to do what he did in a zillion years but personally I do think he was categorically misguided in some aspects. He says: Nationalism (patriotism) is against Islam. I mean how wrong is that. If a man has no love for his mother or his mother land how do you believe he is going to be able to love his God?
A wise man once told me that there are only three true loves: Love for the creator, Love for your mother and love for your land... It is not that you love whatever created you! It means you will love whatever gives meaning to you, if it is your wife, well then so be it. If it is your car or a pair of denim pants..... I believe this is where the sense of care and solicitude, which comes from within relates to whomever or whatever defines you.
Well, I am terribly sorry I fell a bit far from the point. I wanted to talk about President Banisadr. At the very stages of the war, President Banisadr, who was the commander in chief of all Iran’s armed forces at the time, was discharged, expelled and banished from Iran to France, due to his conducts and disagreements with Ruhollah Khomeini, which led to his impeachment by the Iranian Parliament instructed by Khomeini. Before even Khomeini sign the impeachment papers, the revolutionary guards went after Banisadr but luckily he was smart enough to arrange for his own deportation.
Anyhow, the information we have about Banisadr as well as our judgement (by “we” I mean the second generation Iranian Juniors who grew up in Iran after the revolution) is very much tangled to the doped instructions and knowledge that were fed to most of us by the media or during our high school or tertiary education. As president Banisadr, himself, lucky for us, is present, I suggest we have to dig deeper to catch more legitimate and valid information to have a clear judgement of President Banisadr.
During my military service and especially during the first two months of the training, they were very keen to project a disloyal and betraying image of Banisadr. Even one instructor, poorly tried to tell a story to us of how Jahanara bravely slapped banisadr heavily in the face in a meeting and left the room. Well, as I was not present there myself and have not spoken to anyone with concrete knowledge about the meeting, if there ever was such meeting, I will not even try to judge regarding this matter. I am not saying Banisadr was not ever disloyal or a traitor or else he was a faithful president who was falsely accused!
What I am very much interested in, is this statement that is being associated with the name of Banisadr almost every time he is referred to in the Islamic Republic of Iran:
“We need to give land to buy time ... Khoramshahr and Abadan are neither politically nor logistically essential to us at this stage (early stages of the war)”
I have emailed President Banisadr, asking him regarding this statement, but unfortunately have not yet received any response. In case there is any, I will quickly post it for everyone to know.
I am very much concerned and curious about this single statement of Banisadr for obvious reasons.
I think I have written too long and am going to have to leave the rest to you guys to decide.
I only would like to raise this question: why after the liberation of Khoramshahr, the war still continued?Aand why it became awfully lengthy?
If you feel like you have an answer to these please let me know via comments or emailing me.
I certainly value a good debate here.
Good luck and good bye for the moment...
I must acknowledge "Ashoura" for the lovely poster.
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