Rooz Online reports that a new line of activities have taken place in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that aims to organize those who have similar political views and ideologies.
Those who have similar views will become "Political Guides" whose main tasks are to boss the commanders of each unit.
It's very important to mention that the post-revolution armed forces of Iran are tightly monitored by the office of the supreme leader, Khamenei, through offices called "Idealogical & Political Bureaus" which are run by an Islamic cleric as well. Therefore commanders of each unit has some body to supervise him from the supreme leader's office. These clerics/agents have ultimate say in decision making of the Iranian military (Regular or Revolutionary). This sort of clerical supervision was put in place after the failed military coup, by the Iranian Air Force in July of 1980 against the regime, to prevent further disobedience or uprising within the armed services.
The purpose of this initiative, which is undertaken by the political bureau and particularly the “Political Guidance” office of the Passdaran is to coordinate and organize all other individuals at the senior levels of the Guards and provide them with ideological input.
These so-called political guides will act like SS Officers of the Nazi Germany and will supervise the entire armed forces for any possible uprising in time of any strike or conflict and also give feedbacks to the commanders of the armed forces.
That also means the regime is trying to find more LOYAL military personnel in its armed force branches and is also tightening its grip over the military for a day when it is engaged in a military conflict with either US or Israelis.
Cross-posted @ the Shotgun blog
6 comments:
Excellent informative post!
Well done!
Thanks! Will make sure to post this elsewhere!!!
This is great news. It demonstrates that the regime can't even trust and rely on its own revolutionary guards. Great job Winston.
Actually, I think a more apt comparison is with the Political Commissars of the Soviet Union. The officers were to watch their units for any sign of disobedience to the regime and were responsible for morale.
Interestingly enough, until the middle of the Second World War, they had the ability to countermand the leader of the unit's orders and even to issue new orders to a unit at their whim. I wonder if any such abilities have been granted these Iranian 'commissars'?
They sound more like the "Political Officers" in the Soviet Army (who could overrule the military officers) rather than SS Officers in the Nazi Army.
SS Officers led SS troops, not regular army.
Ya - Dante and the last anonymous post hit the nail on the head. The SS did not police the army per se, however the Gestapo kept abrest of the political opinions of high ranking army officers. It was only in 1945, at the close of the war, that the Nazis began to order units to elect (ya elect! alledgely many units purposely chose non-Nazis) politically reliable officers as Political Officers, and this was not a widespread activity.
Political officers are not necessarily an effective brake on resistance: the Gestapo failed to uncover the serious coup against Hitler (we don't learn much about it over here but in Paris Gestapo officers were arrested and in Berlin the War Offices ground to halt) and the Nazi political officers didn't hinder a coup attempt in Bavaria in 1945. Also- it should be noted the USSR's political commissars failed to prevent hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops from surrendering and tens of thousands from defecting to Germany and her allies.
So there's hope yet! Apparently the Crown Prince of Iran has been in touch with resistance elements within Iran, including within the Revolutionary Guards (the link used to be up on Bloggingtories.ca). Hence the need for commissars?
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