Wadah Khanfar: Iran Strike Would Be A 'Disaster' For Fragile Arab Spring

A strike on Iran would be a "disaster" for the Middle East's burgeoning democracies, said Wadah Khanfar, the former director general of Al Jazeera, in an interview with The Huffington Post this week.

"What will happen is a disaster," Khanfar said. "An attack against Iran at this moment in time is first of all going to create new priorities, new alliances, new fears in the region and new complexities. No one can expect what the result will be."

Khanfar, who traveled to Washington, D.C., to discuss the ongoing transformations in the Arab world and his new project, the Sharq Forum, said he worried the fragile Arab Spring could become an unintended casualty of a war because the new, unstable political alignments could find themselves drifting back to old patterns should foreign intervention came into play, especially if Israel became involved.

"It will change a lot of what we see as a success story in the Arab world and in the Middle East," Khanfar said. "For the last few years the Arab world is transforming itself from within ... No one accepts foreign intervention as a tool of change. Then priorities change immediately."

One place Khanfar said some sort of intervention might be essential, however, is in Syria, where he fears the crisis could soon develop into all-out war, particularly as a desperate populace seeks any sort of protection from the assaults of the regime. The longer the world waits to help, Khanfar said, the greater the chances that the Syrians would accept the assistance of militant groups like Al Qaeda.

"The images that we see in Syria, we do not see anywhere else in the Arab world," Khanfar said. "Something has to be done, and I do believe that the delay in doing that might complicate the situation more and create some desperate attempts from the public and from other groups who might be coming and helping, and that is not in the interests of anyone."

Khanfar served as director general of Al Jazeera from 2003 to mid-2011, a tenure that began with the war in Iraq and culminated with some of the most aggressive coverage of the popular democratic uprisings in the Middle East. Last week, the network was awarded a coveted George Polk Award for a documentary about the government of Bahrain's attempts to repress protests, one of the last projects Khanfar managed at the network.

Even with his concerns about the region, Khanfar remains an optimist about the progress of the Arab Spring, particularly in Tunisia, where his new organization, the Sharq Forum, has been working to encourage dialogue among the region's newest stakeholders.

"It is going in the right direction," Khanfar said. "Overall I feel that the Arab world, after decades of marginalization, lack of respect for the human beings in the region, I think now we have a choice; now we have liberated ourselves."

Watch selected excerpts of The Huffington Post's interview of Wadah Khanfar, as well as the full video, by clicking on the player above.

Comments

[truthteller63]

08:45 AM on 03/31/2012

Arab "spring?" Arab autumn.
It's the Muslim Brotherhood takeover and Christians are being killed.
Iran wants to destroy free and democratic Israel.
They have every right to defend themselves

[sheilanovitz]

11:54 AM on 03/21/2012

It is beyond my understanding why the West uses reports and opinions from Al Jazeera. They are all biased towards Arabs and completely anti-Jewish. Israel would be long-gone if it did not have nuclear capabilities as deterrents. The world knows that Israel will NOT EVER use these weapons, but Arabs don't know it, and this stops the attacks against Israel from being even worse than they have been. Iran, on the other hand, is a vicious, Jew-hating, "infidel"-hating country that mistreats its own people & would blow up Israel in an instant if it thought it could get away with it. STOP using Al Jazeera. Why can we not use Western news sources? What is wrong with using AP or Reuters?

[truthteller63]

08:45 AM on 03/31/2012

Amen.

[jamesjv]

04:36 AM on 03/12/2012

"A strike on Iran would be a "disaster" for the Middle East's burgeoning democracies,"

You mean the take over by extremists?

What do you think is going to happen in the ME if the Brotherhood cancels Egypt's treaty with Israel?

Should Israel wait until Iran has nukes and all its enemies are prepared to at.tack it?

[edward60]

11:00 PM on 03/09/2012

America does not need to start another war.

[ArthroughpadNY]

12:10 AM on 03/03/2012

There is no doubt in my mind that Israel will most likely go it alone. Iran has stated that Israel is a one bomb country. The Mullahs are fundamentalists who believe that their messiah can only come with the destruction of their enemies. They have stated they are going to wipe Israel off the map. If someone states they are going to kill you it is prudent to believe them. The Jews have sworn not to let another Holocaust happen so they are on a hair trigger to begin with. If push comes to shove I would hate to be living in Iran since there is no doubt in my mind Israel must have H bombs also. Iran would make a good glass parking lot for the Israeli malls.

[ArthroughpadNY]

12:02 AM on 03/03/2012

Nonsense. The Arab Spring is already the Arab FAIL. Does anyone in their right mind think the Arabs are going to have a democracy? Not in our lifetime or theirs. Watch as the Muslim fundamentalists take over all the governments and then proceed to repress their own population. Don't blame it on a future attack by the west, blame it on the failure of Arabs to elect anyone besides fundamentalists. They always manage to shoot themselves in the foot.

[tolz0]

02:41 PM on 02/28/2012

Israel has admitted to "about" 200 nukes....half a dozen here and there....no more problem!!

[BrutusHonestus]

06:02 PM on 03/02/2012

The difference is that Israel has never called for the destruction of another country

. . . Israel has held its nuclear arsenal as a credible deterent

. . . Israel's nukes are not for offensive purposes

. . . Israel only cares about/has designs upon the West Bank and Gaza strip

. . . Israel is only a threat to those of its neighbors in the Middle East who purport to threaten Israel's existence

. . . for some reason, most of the other countries in the area are quite hostile to nothing more than the existence of Israel

. . . and now that the most vocal and virulent of those countries, Iran, is defiantly developing a nuclear program

. . . since Iran obviously has no need for nuclear power, and the program is shrouded is secrecy, it is entirely reasonable to assume that Iran's nuclear program is intended as a means to develope an offensive nuclear military capacity, the use of which would disrupt the flow of oil from the world's primary petroleum production region

Translation - If Iran get's nukes, they are more likely to use them than any other country which has developed them . . . given that their leaders are a Theocracy of a messianic muslim sect which glorifies martyrdom . . . and them must be stopped before they succeed.

[hairsarnold]

02:07 PM on 02/28/2012

A strike on Iran won't make things complicated, it'll make it simple... don't mess with Israel!

[gentlemanscumbag]

07:56 PM on 02/28/2012

This is not a football rally. You are starting a pep rally for the opening of Pandora's box.

[bubbyejm]

09:26 AM on 03/03/2012

Yes, one would think that after all the wars the arabs have started with Israel and LOST - they would understand not to "mess with Israel" and yet the continue to do so - not the brightest bulbs on the shelf

[rsticks18]

01:34 PM on 02/28/2012

The Iranians have now expanded their nuclear program to the point where they not only have enough low-enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs but also have doubled their stock of highly enriched uranium of 20 percent. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently reported that Iran has added 3,000 more centrifuges to the Natanz facility, bringing the total to 9,000, and has started enriching to 20 percent at the previous secret site, the Fordow facility, which is deep within a mountain and secure against any attack. Such production could give Iran weapons-grade uranium for nuclear bombs within weeks

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/27/obama-iran-in-secret-nuclear-deal/#ixzz1nhdvuR6N

[rsticks18]

01:21 PM on 02/28/2012

fine, then tell the arab countries to come out in the open and stand with israel against nuke weapons for iran. there are tons of stories about the saudis and others privately being willing to give israel cover . if they are not willing to do anything to stop a nuclear armed iran they all can just shut up

[Latzy von Biron]

01:13 PM on 02/28/2012

I know it is perhaps not wise to try and suggest it in this context, but a wise quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson came to mind whilst reading the article - "When you strike at a king, you must kill him."

Surgical strike against facilities in Iran that may or may not work is far too risky an enterprise. Israel will disturb a very dangerous hornets nest and expose itself and other countries to years of retaliatory terrorism. Iran is not Falklands, but a threat at reaching distance - far too close.

I hate my own words here, fearing that there are only two extreme ways out of this mess, either one of the only two reasonable choices being far too risky, with huge and lasting consequences: 1 - to do nothing and wait , or 2 - to "go all the way" and do the job effectively. Both are too scary to allow the imagination to go any further.

[Jon Smith099]

01:09 PM on 02/28/2012

Anything like this is a disaster, not that I like Israel that much and Iran has threatened to nuke Israel many times. To me if someone states there intentions and then works to do that very thing well, what would you do ? If Iran did nuke Israel then what? That would be the turning point for the world maybe the end. Iran needs to grow up, shut up and use it resources for its people. This should apply to all countries. Politician's to me are the nastiest of children they lie and keep secrets and think very little of the people. A convoluted version of respect. As an individual I am damm tired of being a pawn for jerks in charge if they want a war let them fight each other in the school yard at 3 o'clock high. I would come watch.

[JasonWS]

12:55 PM on 02/28/2012

"after decades of marginalization, lack of respect for the human beings in the region, I think now we have a choice; now we have liberated ourselves"

The middle east marginalized itself. From the fall of the Ottomon empire, to a step further back when the Barbary pirates refused the entreaty of the American delegation, using Islam as the reason and shield for their actions. Arabs and Persians alike marginalized themselves by their choice of leaders, their rejection of secularization and frankly a rejection of diplomatic means to solve problems. The European world did sweep in during the colonial era and reshape many of these countries(Especially Egypt), but the starting weaknesses were inherent in the people there.

I congratulate the Arab spring on popular uprisings across the region. I stand with the rebels in Homs in Syria and hope that Assad will be torn from power, only slightly more humanely than Gaddaffi. I applaud the efforts of the Iranian protesters against all odds, but when I see a call to liberation, I do not merely applaud, I scold and say it's about time.

We tell children to own up to what they have done. We tell them that no one will respect you unless you respect yourself. We tell them to find reasons and correct them, not excuses.

[kitsmom1990]

12:48 PM on 02/28/2012

If Al Jazeera is diametrically opposed to a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, that's a really good reason to go ahead and make the strike.

[NetLoa]

12:19 PM on 02/28/2012

If Israel is so foolish as to launch such an attack, the blowback will be ferocious and not just from Iran.

Of course, it is possible that the Israeli regime is simply war mongering to distract the atttention of its populace from the problems at home, of which there are many.

[electtec]

12:37 PM on 02/28/2012

So you think Iran should have these weapons? r u serious? Do you not see how this imterfers with Our National Security? Foolish? We ought to thank them for keeping the peace in the region even if it appears as if they are War Mongering.

[Rosie2]

12:59 PM on 02/28/2012

Nuclear ...oops!

[Arthur Spooner]

01:01 PM on 02/28/2012

Simpleton. So attacking is your solution to all problems? Poster never indicated hat they thought it was OK for Iran to have nuclear weapons.

[kitsmom1990]

12:50 PM on 02/28/2012

So, you like the idea of 9 million people being slaughtered? Many of them MUSLIM by the way (just in case dead Jews don't bother you so much).