A Short History Lesson
Do you recognize this man?
His name is Mohammed Mossadeq. He was the popularly elected leader of Iran. Here are a couple of quotes from Wikipedia about him:
"From an aristocratic background, Mosaddeq was an author, administrator, lawyer, prominent parliamentarian, and statesman, famous for his passionate opposition to foreign intervention in Iran. He is most famous as the architect of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry....
Mosaddeq was removed from power in a 19 August 1953 coup supported and funded by the British and U.S. governments...."
The result of that coup? Decades of vicious, repressive rule by an abominable dictator who called himself the Shah, followed by further decades of rule by intolerant religious fanatics who were the only ones who could muster enough power to overthrow the Shah.
This is what the United States gave the Iranian people in place of their democratically elected government- and all to protect the stranglehold of oil companies on Iranian oil supplies.
Why, I ask you, should these people have anything but distrust and hatred toward our country?
Here's an idea. How about if we elect a decent man to be our President, who can prove to the Iranian people that we as a country are ready to face up to our responsibility for their plight, and work to reintegrate them into the world community?
No, that would be crazy, right? It would be weakness to admit the truth, and craven appeasement to try to help these people rather than bullying them. It will be far better to react to the country of Iran with more decades of mindless belligerence. Bush and Cheney certainly proved how well that works.
Comments
Wasn't there some kind of candlelight march in Tehran after 9/11 that 100's of thousands participated in?
I want to say that I spent some time living in Israel (job-related, not religious), where I dealt with a number of Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and Bedouins. I fount them, too, to be ordinary human beings, just like us, trying to live a decent life, and not the fanatical lunatics they are portrayed as in the Western press.
There's so much hope for all of us if we can just stop the Dick Cheneys of this world from their mindless reliance on violence to solve every problem.