By Debora Mordkowski

Isabel Nuñez de Velazquez. Danilo Villaverde. Susana Wolinsky de Kreiman. Rita Worona. As my sister read the names of these victims at this year’s New York commemoration of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Organization (AMIA) bombing on July 15, my mind drifted to that day in 1994 when a terrorist organization blew up the biggest Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people were killed. Although none of my family members were hurt, I remember the shock and sadness we endured. For a brief period, I was afraid to go to any social or religious functions. We felt paralyzed by a lack of control over our community’s safety. All Jewish schools, including mine, hired guards, installed metal detectors and a barricade system, and held monthly evacuation drills. Fifteen years have passed since this atrocity occurred. Yet, after numerous legal proceedings and investigations, the perpetrators have not been brought to justice.

Unfortunately, we are constantly reminded of this harsh, unjust reality. In September, Iran’s parliament confirmed Ahmad Vahidi, one of five Iranians wanted by Interpol in connection with the attack, as the country’s defense minister. The fact that a person who assisted in the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians was appointed to a high governmental position is outrageous.

In 2006, Alberto Nissman, the Argentine prosecutor, officially accused the Iranian government of authorizing the bombing, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group, of carrying it out. According to an extensive investigation, Vahidi, who was commander of the Quds Force, an influential division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard responsible for supporting terrorist organizations operating worldwide outside Iran, authorized the attack at a meeting in Iraq on Aug. 14, 1993.

Since November 2007, the Interpol has placed a red notice for Vahidi and four other Iranians. The alert informs all 187 of Interpol’s member countries, Iran included, that Argentina has issued a warrant for the arrest and extradition of Vahidi and his accomplices. Interpol does not intervene in sovereign states, but it does urge members to act and hand the suspects to the requesting authorities. Tehran has repeatedly denied its involvement in the bombing, condemned the attack, and refused to hand in the suspects. Instead, it awarded Vahidi a senior position in the presidential cabinet on Sept. 3. “Iran has always protected terrorists, giving them government posts,” Prosecutor Nissman recently told the Associated Press, “but I think never one as high as this one.”

“Irán should answer to Argentina’s judicial request, which is what we have been waiting for for 15 years, so the dead can rest in peace,” said Guillermo Borger, the president of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Organization, in response to the appointment. His words and Argentina’s official reactions brought back memories of the numerous demonstrations that followed the attack during the years before I came to the United States. It was not safe for me to participate in them, as I was an adolescent. But, I watched them on television saying to myself: “My parents are there. They are demanding justice, so this does not happen again.”

Argentinean justice; however, has been very slow. Legal undertakings have been marred by corruption, accusations, and cover-ups despite attempts to pass sentence on those engaged in the attack. In September 2004, all Argentinean suspects, among them members of the Buenos Aires Police, were acquitted. In August 2005, judge Juan Jose Galeano was removed from his position after offering a witness $400,000 in exchange evidence.

However unsettling Argentina’s mishandlings may have been, they do not compare to Iran’s alarming actions. The fact that Vahidi, a person who allegedly oversaw the brutal murder of so many innocent people, has now assumed the responsibility of coordinating the country’s armed forces and arsenal is frightening. Vahidi was not only involved in the AMIA attack, but also in the 1996 Khobar Tower bombing that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia. There is no guarantee that he would not direct another attack.

On June 24, 2008, the European Union classified Vahidi as someone involved in Iran’s nuclear proliferation activities and ordered member states to freeze his funds and prevent him from entering their territories. The international community should follow Europe’s example. Vahidi should be apprehended if he travels abroad, and his appointment should be condemned to help bring him to justice. Without international support, Argentina’s efforts in this regard are inconsequential as long as Iran is not cooperating.

At a time when the world’s priority is to deal with Iran’s development of nuclear weapons, the international community should demand that Vahidi is brought to justice, not only for the sake of the AMIA victims, but also to protect the world’s security and ensure a better tomorrow.