You know, for years the Bush administration would make strong
efforts to distinguish the Iranian people and the Iranian government.
It would strive to demonstrate that fascists and regular Iranians and
regular Muslims are different. And yet, in doing so, it would create
names like “Islamo-fascism” which clearly remove that distinction by
tying a religion to a extreme ideology. And you wonder, therefore, why
high government officials would make such hateful remarks.
Last week a senior Bush official, Debra Cagan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary
Robert Gates, before visiting British MPs, states “in any case, I hate
all Iranians.” Not the Iranian government. Not Ahmadinejad. Not even
Iranian extremists. But rather “all Iranians.” Had she said “I hate all
Jews”, “I hate all Chinese people”, “I hate all Indians”, or “I hate
all blacks” would there be any question whatsoever that she would have
been immediately dismissed from her position? Absolutely not. And yet
this administration has made it ok to make hateful, racist, and
downright ignorant remarks against people from the Middle East, that
someone like Mrs. Cagan can make a xenophobic comment and get away with
it.
And honestly, if the Iranian community in the US doesn’t express disapproval then she will get away with it. So write to the President, sign this petition, call the Pentagon, do whatever you can and make sure people know that this is wrong because it absolutely is.
