Christopher Valeriano

Another Velvet Revolution? Implications of the 1989 Czech Velvet Revolution on Iran Christopher Valeriano

In a recent Washington Times article, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney provided commentary on potential US military courses of action to counter Iranian nuclear advances. The editorial published on 3 August 2010, quoted the General as stating'It will be primarily an air attack with covert work to start a 'velvet' revolution so [the] Iranian people can take back their country.' This thesis paper is proposed in response to that statement and to examine the validity of the premise. It is intended to provide critical analysis of the two part hypothesis inferred by Lt. Gen. McInerney in his statement. He assumes that the preponderance of Iranian people want change and are willing to 'take back their country' to make it occur. He also implies that US influence through air attacks and covert operations could set the conditions for a "velvet" revolution to take place.