It is not a secret that Iran's Mullahs are engaged in developing a nuclear program to prolong their existence long enough to get their hands on the bomb, so that they would feel invincible and ultimately export their version of Shi'a Islam and terrorism around the globe.

It is not a secret that the Islamic Republic supplied their mercenaries in Iraq with armor-piercing projectiles that killed or maimed the coalition forces in Iraq. They have killed by proxy more than 200 American soldiers.

The mullahs' support for terrorism constitutes a high priority. Hizbullah in Lebanon was nurtured with funds, weapons and training from Iran. Hamas and Islamic Jihad were assisted in numerous ways, and a professional army of Shiite Iraqis was trained and armed to be used in the present Iraqi theatre. Separately, Muqtada al-

The Islamic Republic of Iran is faced with monumental threats.

Sadr and his militia thugs, the Mahdi Army, is directly funded, armed and controlled by the present Islamic regime.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is faced with monumental threats:

Internally, the great majority of the populace is against their misrule. Labor unions, teachers associations, student groups, women, religious and ethnic minorities, journalists and many others have suffered and continue to suffer inordinate hardship under this regime.

Externally, they are engaged in brinkmanship with the United States and Israel, and now a tug of war with Great Britain, while trying to wrestle the mantle of Islamic leadership from the Sunni Saudis and their Wahhabi counterparts. Yet, the Obama administration still persists on negotiating with this criminal regime, rather than the legitimate owners of Iran, the Iranian people.

Awash with petro-dollars, mullahs have become a major power in the Middle East. Equipped with a Holocaust denier, pathological liar and apocalyptic zealot such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Islamic Republic is determined to extend its version of "pure Muhammadan Islam" throughout the world. This is clear from many speeches Ahmadinejad has given during the last four years of his presidency, as well as his June 13 secret meeting with Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi in Qom about afflicting the world with the "light of Islam" soon after a favorable aftermath in the coup.

Rational citizens of the world are baffled as to why the cries of the Iranian opposition about the imminent threat of the Islamic Republic have not been heeded by the leaders of the world. Lucrative oil and trade contracts are perhaps one reason. But the world needs to stop appeasing the mullahs and change course before it is too late. There is indeed no better time for it than now.

Angered by so-called sham elections, the tolerant Iranian men and women, young and old, have found a common pretext to stage rallies and bravely defy the Basij, Hamas, Hizbullah and Sudanese-trained militias and mercenaries (who are paid $200 a day, by some accounts, to beat and kill peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators and destroy their personal property).

It is time to get off the fence and not waste such a golden opportunity. The people of Iran are fed up with this brutal and medieval regime that hangs its youth, shuts down newspapers, jails and kills bloggers, and silences dissent at any cost and by any means. Addiction and prostitution is at all time high in Iran. Unemployment is at 25%, according to the government's own figures. Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, with abundant natural and human wealth, and being the fourth largest oil-producing country, more than half of the Iranians live below the poverty line. Iran is still a Third World country. This is much bigger than Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. At stake is the future of this great nation, with over 5,000 years of history and civilization. The time to act is now.

The Iranians are an exceptionally productive, creative and educated people, in a region that has been identified with tyranny and suppression. Iranians do not need arms or military intervention. They just need some moral and logistical support.

All media is blacked out, thanks to profiteers such as Nokia and Siemens, and some other telecommunication giants, who have supplied the mullahs with sophisticated telecommunication jamming technology. Opposition televisions are jammed by the Islamic Republic and can no longer communicate with the people of Iran to show the mullahs' crimes, such as the killing of peaceful demonstrators such as Neda, who was brutally shot to death by a Basij sniper. We badly need to get them back on air to resume broadcasting. Please help us restore this valuable tool.

Cellphones and phone systems are shut down. We need cellphones to be working again, so that brave Iranians can call and share their eyewitness accounts of what is going on in Iran. We need help with Internet connectivity, so that horror stories of crime and massacre can be seen and heard by the world. Please pressure the telecommunication companies to back off.

Shortwave radio broadcasting to Iran is a must. The regime is confiscating satellite dishes and destroying them daily to prevent access to news from the outside. But people who own satellites constitute a minority. The great majority of Iranians listen to the radio in their cars, at work and at home. We need help to establish shortwave broadcasts to Iran.

A word of caution to our Arab neighbors: never think that you are safe from the Shi'a mullahs, that they are only after the West. On the contrary, for the past 1,400 years the Shi'a world has been bitter about Imam Ali who was denied of his "rightful succession" after the prophet Muhammad. In their eyes, Sunnis have committed the most despicable crime. I do not want to be an alarmist, but you connect the dots.

With the world standing with the Iranian people and with the mullahs out of the way, there just might be a prospect

A word of caution to our Arab neighbors: never think that you are safe from the Shi'a mullahs.

for peace
in the region - and in the world, for that matter. Without Iran's backing, Hamas will be forced to reconcile with Fatah and recognize Israel. Fatah can begin to negotiate with Israel without any distraction. Hizbullah cannot bully the Lebanese government, and will be forced to lay down their arms and behave like civilized people.

Nouri Al-Maliki will be motivated to pay attention to his country's various minorities, reconcile their differences and form an independent, democratic Iraq.

Iran and Israel can finally find peace and live as examples of flourishing democracies for other countries to emulate.

And with Iran as a free and democratic nation, the 70 million people of Iran who have suffered so much at the hands of killers will finally find their rightful place in the world, join the community of civilized nations, and live in peace with the rest of the world.

During these serious challenges - battered by two wars, ballooning debt and a faltering economy - the United States appears to have lost its capacity to think clearly. But we are reminded of Winston Churchill, who once said, "Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing... after they have exhausted all other possibilities." We encourage and implore Europe, the US and the United Nations to ultimately do the right thing. After all, for the past 30 years, if there has been a strong indication of anything, it is that their approach to Iran has been wrong and misguided. So this time around, let us hope for better.