Panetta: The End Of The Iranian Regime (is only a matter of time)

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta thinks the "Arab Spring" will spread to Iran:

Panetta, a former CIA director who took over the Pentagon's top job in July, was asked on the Charlie Rose television show whether the Arab Spring might spread to non-Arab Iran. Panetta responded: "Absolutely."

"I think we saw in evidence of that in the last election in Iran that there was a movement within Iran that raised those very same concerns that we're seeing elsewhere," Panetta said.

"And I think in many ways, it's a matter of time before that kind of change and reform and revolution occurs in Iran as well."

Panetta's reasoning is that the Iranian reform movement is learning from revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria.

By the same token, of course, Iran is learning too--which is why Iran is helping out Syria put down the protests.

Besides, let's not forget the results of the last Iranian protests:

Iranian security forces crushed mass protests in the wake of Iran's disputed June 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Panetta acknowledged the difficulties supporting such protests given the potential for backlash.

"We should try to take every step to try to support their effort but at the same time, we've got to analyze each situation to make sure that we do nothing that creates a backlash or that undermines those efforts," he said.

It's a long distance between "Absolutely!" and "we've got to analyze each situation to make sure that we do nothing that creates a backlash or that undermines those efforts".

Maybe that is why the Arab countries are taking action on their own, with Turkey and Saudi Arabia apparently working together in the region.

They'd better be.
It takes time to "to analyze each situation to make sure that we do nothing that creates a backlash or that undermines those efforts"

Unfortunately, the fall of the Iranian regime is not a matter of time.
It is a matter of lives.

Technorati Tag: Iran and Leon Panetta.