My reply to Shishir

Submitted by Debanjan Banerjee (India), Apr 26, 2012 at 23:04

" I wonder if such military purges are better in the long term in that it undermines the current Islamist government's ability to conduct war."

My reply : Dear Mr. Shishir military purges hardly do undermine any committed government's efforts in the war. History refutes you. Remember before the WWII J Stalin had purged almost half of top Red army officer corps including senior generals such as Marshall Tuckachevsky on ideological grounds. But it was the red army which managed not only to survive the onslaught of the Third Reich but ultimately erase the Third Reich from the pages of history almost single handedly.

If you look at the current scenario , these generals have been charged with conspiring along side US and Israeli officials for overthrowing the elected Turkish government of the time. To me this is something which should be given serious investigation.

"The Iranian military machine was almost devastated when the Ayotollah foolishly dismissed many pro Shah officers thus inviting Saddam Hussein depredations."

My Answer : I must remind you that Iran survived any depredations that you allegedly speak of. Ultimately war is fought by human beings and not western-trained strategies or technologies. The young Iranian commanders who cut their teeth in fighting Saddam are today's leaders. That illustrious list includes people like Ayatollah Khamenei , Mohsin Rajei , Mehmud Ahmedinajad etc. However the Iraqi regime is no more. Saddam is gone. So ultimately Iran did not got devastated as much as you say from eliminating the Shah order.

My request to you is read and observe history very carefully before you take up the pen.

Take care

Debanjan

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".