In a posting on the reformist website www.elaph.com, Iraqi reformist Dr. Abd Al-Khaleq Hussein, whose articles are regularly posted on the site, criticized the Iranian and Syrian regimes and their actions in Iraq and Lebanon. He wrote that these regimes were fascist in the true sense of the word, and that no stability, democracy, or economic prosperity would be possible in the region as long as they existed.

The following are excerpts from his article: [1]

The Syrian and Iranian Regimes are Fascist - Literally, Not Metaphorically

"Some believe that describing the Iranian Islamic regime and the Ba'th Party's Syrian regime as fascist is offensive, provocative, or, at the very least, exaggerated. In actual fact, there is no exaggeration. I call a spade a spade, in accordance with the scientific definition of the terms 'Fascism' and 'Nazism.'

"Italian Fascism, like German Nazism, was a racist movement that discriminated among human beings on the basis of their racial or national affiliation, and had a totalitarian ideology which intervened in every aspect of one's life...

"The common denominator defining an ideology or policy as Fascist or Nazi is discrimination among human beings for reasons that the victims can do nothing about... After all, I inherited my affiliation from my parents and from the environment in which I was raised; I did not choose it...

"Since both the Iranian and Syrian regimes discriminate among the various groups within their peoples on the basis of religion and ethnicity, they are no different from any other fascist or Nazi regime. These two regimes are therefore fascist in the true, literal sense of the word, not metaphorically...

"The Ba'th regime in Iraq employed various forms of the most despicable racial and sectarian discrimination among the different elements of the Iraqi people. The list of its crimes is long and is already known to all. [However,] despite the fact that, along with the Iraqi people [themselves], the Iranian and Syrian regimes are among those who stand to gain the most from the downfall of the Iraqi Ba'th party, they opposed its downfall because of their hostility to the democratic alternative in Iraq, [because of] their hostility to regional stability, and because it was America that helped the Iraqi people attain these two noble causes [i.e., democracy and stability]. They opposed the downfall of the [Iraqi] Ba'th party out of fear that their own regimes would suffer the same fate.

"For this reason, the Iranian and Syrian regimes made a strategic pact to oppose democracy in Iraq. The regimes made a pact to fight America, 'the Great Satan,' on Iraqi soil and with Iraqi blood, and to turn Iraq into 'a new Vietnamese quagmire,' in which, they said, the arrogant Americans would sink. [They made this pact] in order to spare [themselves] the fate of Saddam Hussein and his tyrannical regime.

"This is their constant strategic goal [of the Iranian and Syrian regimes], and they will not renounce it under any circumstances, even though they feign solidarity with the Iraqi people, and even though top-ranking officials from both countries deny - at international gatherings and over the media - that they support terrorism in Iraq...

"The Iranian and Syrian regimes were hysterical after the fall of the Ba'th [regime] in Iraq, and devoted their best military, intelligence, and media efforts to thwarting the democratic regime in Iraq. [They did this] by helping terrorism in various ways, and by working to prevent the stability of the regime and to destroy its economic institutions.

"The Iranian and Syrian regimes' acts of sabotage are not restricted to Iraq, but include Lebanon, which is suffering the same kind of terrorism - namely political assassinations, support for the militias, and in the past, the Syrian occupation itself... Syria and Iran will continue to undermine stability in Lebanon and Iraq until they achieve their criminal goals. The wave of assassinations perpetrated by Syria's agents [in Lebanon] will not cease... It should be noted that all the victims of assassination were opponents of Syria in Lebanon..."

Just as Nazism and Fascism Fell in Europe, History Will Inevitably Grind Down the Remaining Fascist Regimes

"Come what may, we are optimistic about the future... and trust in the ability of the peoples of the region to face all challenges. In the final analysis, victory will be on the side of the peoples. The first domino has already fallen, when the fascist Ba'th Party fell in Iraq. The rest of the dominoes will follow. Just as Nazism and Fascism fell in Europe, and the rest of the totalitarian, tyrannical regimes followed, it is inevitable that history will grind down the remaining fascist regimes and will liberate the peoples from their acts of injustice...

"Politics operates on the basis of interests, and is the art of the possible. The American interest is to spread democracy and [wage] a war against the tyrannical governments in the region, and the national forces should take advantage of this opportunity. However, those infected with the disease of hatred and hostility towards the West, and with stagnation in matters of faith, do not understand this. On the contrary, they are willing to fight against the democracy they yearn for, and to support tyranny, merely because they hate America - even if such a rash policy brings calamities upon them and their peoples.

"To conclude, it is clear that the peoples of the region will not enjoy stability, democracy, or economic prosperity until the fascist Iranian and Syrian regimes disappear, and until democracy is realized in their stead."