|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.forward.com/articles/what-was-once-a-revolutionary-guard-is-now-just-a/
What Was Once a Revolutionary Guard Is Now Just a Mafia
[Forward] Mohsen Sazegara - Today the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution - known in English as the Revolutionary Guard - is a mafia-like organization with a corrupting influence on Iran's army, police, media, industries, judiciary and government. As originally planned, the Revolutionary Guard was to be, quite literally, a people's army - not, as it has become, a force separate from the general public, let alone opposed to it. The Revolutionary Guard was no longer a people's army, just another coercive force at the service of the ruling establishment. Although I was involved with the Revolutionary Guard at its birth, in 2003 I was arrested and imprisoned by the secret intelligence unit run by the Revolutionary Guard. The writer served the Islamic Republic as deputy prime minister for political affairs and managing director of the National Radio of Iran. He is currently a visiting researcher at Harvard University.