Speech [Value of the endurance of hardship; military personnel to refrain from political leanings; disregarding negative propaganda]

Human values are not revealed in normal situations. In the peaceful times in a country, when people are living their routine lives, the values of individuals and groups are not really exposed. During such times anyone can claim to be a man of values and a revolutionary. It does not hold any weight to speak of individual and group values after a revolution is staged and victory is achieved because once victory is gained, various groups come up and claim to be revolutionary offering their allegiance. All kinds of groups from all over the place gather to reap the fruits of the ready-made revolution. And more often than not, these groups or individuals who come to reap the fruits are not even prepared to share them with the actual owners of the orchards! They want everything exclusively for their own selves. You witnessed how, following the victory of the revolution, some groups and individuals surfaced and introduced themselves as revolutionaries, wanting to partake in the benefits of the revolution. And unfortunately, they refused to even recognize the actual revolutionaries as their partners. The real values of individuals and groups are revealed and proved in times of hardship and during danger.

On the day that you, honorable Air Force personnel, took to the scenes and opposed the taghouti regime, your true worth was recorded in the annals of history, the rewards of which are also safely preserved with Allah Almighty. Your action on that day is incomparable with your actions today. On that day, if you or anyone else chose to join the masses under the banner of Islam he would have to face hardship, the danger of death, and the satanic force of regime. On that day you emerged victorious from your test.

Similarly, people like you who appeared on the scenes and went on strike against the taghouti regime or demonstrated against it revealed their worth and value. However, since you were the personnel of the Air Force of the taghouti regime in those days, you proved your merit more than the others, by cutting off from the regime and joining Islam. The revolution owes its victory to the entire nation and to your efforts as well as those of the other forces that followed you and joined the banner of Islam, thus proving their worth and value. That day, too, should be counted as a yawmullah [`The Day of Allah']! A day on which Allah Almighty mobilized you brothers and this great mass of people, and you obeyed the divine command and joined this human-Islamic nation and the banner of Islam. All of us value that memorable day! That was a day which has been recorded in the annals of history and in the history of the air-force. And I express my thanks to all the forces- the Air Force, the Navy, and the Army- and all the armed forces that joined into the service of Islam even though they were then in the service of the taghouti regime. The entire Islamic nation deeply appreciates the services of all those forces.

A matter that I would like to remind our armed forces and especially the Army and the Gendarmerie as well as all those who are connected with the military forces is to be watchful of the presence of political leanings and political propaganda in Iran. Some groups or individuals may penetrate among you and may try to instigate you with political views that are not in alliance with Islam; or in other words, the politics of the East and the West. I suggest that you keep yourselves aloof from these political leanings and political issues. You may, of course, keep your political views and stay well-versed with political issues. However, the political leanings that these vested elements may discuss with you and may instigate you with by infiltrating into your groups may unknowingly separate you from the path that you have pursued thus far and through which you have left the taghouti regime and joined Islam. Politicians have access to certain political information that the common people do not. Some people may perhaps approach you from among such people who have political inclinations that may not fall in line with the politics of our country and may, God forbid, cause deviation among you with their propaganda, and deprive you of the precious reputation that you have in the world and in Islam and in your country. You should remain very alert against such evil forces that wish to swerve you- either toward the left or toward the right- even if it is under the name of Islam, Iran or under the name of this country. Stay very alert so that they do not- God forbid- succeed in causing you to deviate and part ways with beloved Islam.

Islam has brought along with itself a gift for you and for all mankind and for all the peoples of the world. A mutual gift for one and all! And alongside the Islamic agenda there is guidance that will guide you on a path that will salvage both this world as well as the hereafter for you. No other regime and no other government will be committed to human ethics and values like the Islamic government and the Islamic regime. There are many claims and no matter where you go, the leaders of countries, and especially the superpowers make a lot of claims; claims like concern for mankind and the welfare of the masses and the workers. There are many such claims and there have always been such claims; claims like respect and loyalty to human rights. Such claims are countless. They always existed and exist in our times too. However, examine the actions of these claimants and not their words. Their words are very appealing but their actions are more bitter than poison. Those same so-called champions of human rights and all those who claim that international agreements should be honored are the very first ones and the very first governments who pay heed neither to human rights issues nor to all those organizations that have been formed by them. Look at the actions of those who claim to have revolted for mankind and for the oppressed people and you will find that they are the ones who are anti-human in the first place and are even against the interests of their own nations. All their propaganda is in order to gain power. All the Eastern as well as the Western propaganda is polluted with the insatiable selfish desires in man. They trick people with their impressive words and their very appealing talks. They use people and enslave them to gain power for their own selves. Those same people who claim to be from the masses and for the masses, have imprisoned and killed millions of common and oppressed, once their revolution gained victory. And those same people who claim to be the champions of human rights have ruined mankind and have deprived all the oppressed people of the world of even their most basic human rights once they have gained power.

Lend your ears to neither the Western propaganda nor to the Eastern propaganda and do not pay heed to the political groups that wish to lead you and this nation to a path that is different from the path of Islam.

Open your eyes and your ears! Pay attention to the talks of people who approach you and may try to infiltrate among you and check if what they say is the same as what the nation had said at the beginning of the revolution; that is, unity of expression and focusing on God. Even though you were quite a small number, this same unity of expression ensured your victory against the superpowers and liberated your country from the prolonged domination of the foreigners and the despotic kings. It brought you independence and freed you and your country from the clutches and domination of others. You should stay alert and pay attention to what some people whisper into your ears and see whether they talk about disunity among different groups or they invite you toward unity and solidarity. If you notice that their invitation is toward unity among the various strata of the nation and if they do not intend to create rifts between you and the revolutionary guards, between you and the clerics, between you and your leaders and in fact invite you to what Allah Almighty invites you to, which is invitation to unity, Islam, and the cable of Allah and warn you against disunity, then you should know that they are sincere and what they say is Islamic and acceptable.

If, on the other hand, you notice that what some individuals or groups say is in contrast with the words of Allah Almighty:" And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah," «1» and that they intend to create rifts among you and a certain group of the nation or to instigate you to confront a particular stratum of the nation or the entire nation, do know that their invitation is against the call of Islam and the prophets of God (`a) as well as Allah's invitation to general unity. Groups that wish to make their presence felt in Iran, like what they attempted to do a couple of days ago, are the same ones who claim to be working and" sacrificing themselves for the masses" while you can clearly see that they have never been and are never present anywhere at the war fronts but are instead involved in creating problems for those beloved ones who are busy defending our country at the fronts. As a matter of fact, they have nothing to do with Islam, humanity, and the masses. They are the enemies of the masses and yet they call themselves the" fada'iyan-e khalq" [sacrifices for the masses]. They are using the same trick that the superpowers use in order to suppress the nations including their own. They claim to be the comrades of the masses and refer to each other as" comrade" while they are actually the enemies of the masses. Both the East and the West are against humanity and are not concerned with anything other than themselves and their own power.

Make a comparison between the leaders of the powerful countries and the early leaders of Islam, who commanded even more power; and see the vast difference between the two. Notice the difference between the Islamic and the non-Islamic rulers. It is most unfortunate that the evil forces did not allow Islam to be established in its true sense. They did not let the real face of Islam blossom. Islam was misunderstood from the very beginning and is misunderstood even now. And now that you, the Iranian nation and the beloved soldiers of Iran, intend to revive Islam in this country and to establish it for good, you can see that almost all the big powers are opposing you and condemn you whenever and wherever they can. Even though it is clear with this war that you have been afflicted with and with Saddam's invasion on our country and the massacre of many of our children, youth, women, and the aged that it was Saddam who first attacked our nation, he pleaded innocent at the Ta'if conference! And yet there was no one among them to remind him that it was he who waged the war upon Iran. It was a conference in which different countries got together and made an agreement to rise against Islam and the interests of the Islamic nations in the name of Islam itself. Many of them are known to us and you all know what they inflicted upon their own nations and Islam during their monarchies and premierships. Their alliance with the Zionists is also well-known. And yet they all get together for a meeting in which that person (Saddam) addresses them and gains approval from many of them. There are many claims and yet the truth is quite the opposite. There are many people who claim loyalty to Islam but when their actions are examined they are found to be completely in contradiction with Islam. There are many people who talk about nationalism and claim loyalty to their nations. But when they gain power, their actions are against the interests of their nations and against their claims of nationalism. One of such examples was Bakhtiyar. «2» He was a member of the" National Front" and was a so-called nationalist and yet you all saw what he did with our nation. And had you all not stood up and restricted him, it is not known to what extent he would go. Do not let words and claims deceive you. Think for yourselves. Open your own eyes and know that it is only Islam which supports nations.

It was only the early Islamic governments that provided support to the nations and were concerned about the masses. The rest just pay lip service while Islam takes action. The others simply sermonize on human rights while they act against them. Islam both respects and acts according to human rights. It does not undermine anyone's rights. It does not deprive anyone of the right to freedom. It does not allow anyone to dominate over others and to deprive them of their rights to freedom in the name of freedom and their rights to independence in the name of independence. Stick to Islam and strengthen your ties with Islam each day. Stay alert not to, God forbid, allow those evil forces that wish to sever your ties with Islam, to create rifts between you and the nation, and between you and the clerics who are your well-wishers, to succeed.

May Allah take our victory to its final destination and may He grant you dear brothers from various strata with success to see this journey on the Straight Path which is the divine path of humanity to its end! The final destination is Allah and His grand blessings. May you be blessed with endurance with His Will!

May God's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.