Equally appalling
Abu Ghraibs in Iran, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Morocco,
Algeria, Yemen, Cuba, or North Korea, Zimbabwe,
China, Russia... you get the picture
May 19, 2003
iranian.com
In response to Lawrence Reza Ershaghi's "When
they invade Iran":
You, sir, are another of those self-satisfied
socialists who do their denunciations from the comfort and security
of a liberal
democracy - which is doing its best to educate you; and I thought
you people were a figment of my imagination. Why don't you
go and do your PhD. in Iran? Your article has
all the words that set off the bullshit alarms in any liberal
mind: "colonial", "Chomsky" the
country's "sovereignty and honour", the "nation's
independence". The nation is a collection of individuals,
and generally better informed and discerning than you might imagine,
not some single, organic entity that does, and says and thinks
as you do, to the chagrin, I'm sure, of political commissars
like yourself, or MM. Chomsky, Algar and their ilk (you must love
Tariq Ali).
The lesson of history is that circumstances are never identical,
which is why we rarely heed the lessons of history. Iran today
is not the country of Mossadegh the demagogue and rabble rouser
who has become an abusive word people like you keep repeating to "prove" that
the United States is evil.
Thankfully today, we no longer have
the Soviet Union breathing down our national neck, and the Tudeh
and communist rabble have taken a good beating and, I hope, are
waiting in the antechamber of historical oblivion, though reading
and listening to many Iranians, one wonders sometimes.
I don't know if the most recent source of Iranian trauma
is the memory of SAVAK or Mossad's dastardly deeds. The pictures
from Abu Ghraib are appalling, certainly. They are equally appalling
to Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush. As Rumsfeld told Congress
members, the way democracies deal with such incidents is to investigate,
catch and then punish the culprits, and prevent future abuse. I
would say the United States is doing that now, unless you too are
subject to what you term "paranoia" and a "conspiratorial
political outlook".
Incidentally, could you send articles you must have written on
the habitual torture and murder of detainees, past and present,
in Iran, Iraq before the "occupation",
Syria, or Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, Cuba, or North
Korea, Zimbabwe, China, Russia... you get the picture. I look forward
to them. I'm sure you and your well-intentioned socialist
and intellectual friends are, if nothing else, consistent. Nobody
could accuse you of double-standards.
You ask if Iranians will stand by and sell-out if the Americans
invade Iran (but deplore "jingoistic patriotism"). I'm
sure you would have no dilemnas in such a situation. You, I am
certain, will immediately cease your studies at the American university
you attend, cast aside your Anglicised name with disgust, and rush
to fight the colonial engineers. How the peoples of the Middle
East must love and admire you, I can only wonder. May is Mamnoon
Iranian.com Month
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