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February 27, 2004 Page 4 * Lincoln and Mossadegh? At the risk of being presumptuous, I believe I know Dr. Majid Tehranian's fine and sincere heart in suggesting that America and Iran need more Lincolns and Mossadeghs in the present plight of both countries in terms of a dearth of national leadership. [Conspicuous absence] At the same time, I believe that Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo's fine bestseller, The Real Lincoln, effectively debunks the mythology that surrounds the 16th President of the United States. Dr. DiLorenzo presents an alternative view of Lincoln with copious documentation--a view that the American establishment has deliberately hidden from its own public and the world, for its own utilitarian purposes. He illustrates that Lincoln was himself a racist and white supremacist, who unnecessarily prosecuted an American War Between the States designed primarily to centralize American political power in Washington, D. C. at the expense of the states and the people; who forcibly destroyed freedom of the press; arbitrarily arrested lawful opponents; suspended habeas corpus; merged the power-drunk designs of the central government with corrupt mega-conglomerate corporate interests; and aggressively pursued a military strategy designed to criminally attack unarmed civilian populations to produce horrific casualties while concurrently inducing psychological mass terror and intimidation. Dr. DiLorenzo effectively insists that the present neo-conservative movement in the United States government, dedicated to: 1) suspending individual rights vis a vis the Centralized State (the USA Patriot Act); 2) using covert and overt means to expand the power of the American Empire at the expense of foreign nations (the CIA in Iran, 1953; the present preemptive American military action and occupation of Iraq); and 3) lining the wallets of crooked Presidential advisors with direct ties to multinational conglomerates, has Abraham Lincoln to thank as the Founding Father of these evil methodolgies and their tragic consequences. The legitimate moral issue of racially-based slavery was notably resolved in every other industrial nation in the West without civil war. DiLorenzo thus makes an airtight case for the notion that Lincoln's War Between the States was not simply unnecessary, but introduced a new form of slavery to tyrannize white, black, and Asian alike--a slavery promulgated by an American Empire slavishly devoted to centralized power at home, and perpetual war and military expansion abroad. Lincoln and Mossadegh? I believe Dr. Mossadegh is ill-served by this well-intentioned, but erroneous comparison. My review of The Real Lincoln may be found at MarkDankof.com. [See reply below] * Cannot judge on moral grounds alone Dear Mark (if I may), [In reply to above] I am grateful for your thoughtful comments on my op-ed. Although I haven't read THE REAL LINCOLN, I have studied Lincoln's career. As a politician, he was heir to the many contradictions of his time. He certainly wished to keep the union at any cost, including the continuation of salvery. No politician, including Mosaddeq, is blameless. But we cannot judge politicians on moral grounds alone. The role requires a willingness to resort to violence. History's ultimate jugement hinges on the degree to which they managed to minimize violence and bring about positive change. Despite the above, I am anxious to learn grom you about Lincoln and his policies. Majid Tehranian * Echoing George Bush I am very disappointed by your selection of picture of Governor Howard Dean in this article "Dean's deathwish", not to mention the article itself that echoes the right-wing policies of George W. Bush.I call this trash journalism. Mansi Sabet, Chicago * Not a prince A correction to an item on the site. In the Quiz section, under "Gammaas Gammaas" it is mentioned that Mirza Malkom Khan was a Qajar Prince. I believe that is incorrect. Malkom got his start as the chief of staff to Farrokh Khan Amin-O-Doleh, who was NaserEdin Shah's emissary to Europe. Malkom was not a Qajar prince, but moved up through the ranks to the prominence he attained towards the end of his life. Professor Eskandari can correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe so. [Also see below] Mahmoud Ghaffari * Honorary prince Mr. Ghaffari is correct [See above]. Malkam Khan was of Armenian origin, son of Yaqub Khan. Both father and son were confidants of Nasser-ed-Din Shah. The father a liaison to the Russian embassy, the son a liaison to the French. Malkam Khan or Malkom Khan, as he was called, was an early supporter of Nasser-ed-Din Shah's vision of a reforming and modernizing monarch with strong central control. He was awarded the title Prince by Nasser-ed-Din Shah as a result of his services to crown and country. Though at first a strong supporter of Nasser-ed-Din Shah, he had a parting of the ways with the shah and later became a chief opponent of the shah's policies. He was among four individuals who had not been of royal blood to receive the title of "Prince" from Qajar shahs. The other prominent " Prince" in the Qajar era was Prince Arfa'-ed-Dowleh, who received his title from Mozaffar-ed-Din Shah, about whom Mr. Farhad Diba and I have written two articles for the Iranian already. (See: "Tabriz in Monaco" and "Villa Danesh"). * Why inevitable? This is a comment regarding the polls that you conduct on Iranian.com. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I feel like sometimes there are options in the polls that are in a different context from the rest of the options and effect the result of the poll or wastes some votes. For example in the last poll about the 1979 revolution. There is an option which says "The revolution was inevitable" .While the rest of the options are about whether the revoltion was a "good" thing or "not", the last option is about whether it was "inevitable" or not, this option belongs to another poll and a reader who chooses it doesn't contribute at all to the main purpose of the current one. And anybody whether they think the revolution was "right" or "wrong" can agree with it and choose it. For example someone who thinks that the revolution was wrong could think that the revolution was also "inevitable" since there was a Western "conspiracy" against the shah that would do anything to overthrow him sooner or later. On the other hand, someone who thinks that the revolution was a "good" think might also think that it was "inevitable" and choose the last option by arguing that the shah's actions harmed the people so much that they would sooner or later overthrow him. So the last option doesn't really match the other option that seem to have another purpose. And that makes the poll more confusing to the reader and the results harder to interpret and analyze for conducter. I personaly think that a last option that would suggest that "the revolution was wrong from the start but then went on the right way" instead of "the revolution was inevitable" would better complete the set of options. Please correct me if I am wrong and let me know why. Thank you for these polls and forum. They are extremely hepful to everybody * Time is overdue It is now more than twenty five years since a brutal religious regime has dominated our beloved country and, for the first time in our long history, has led to a massive immigration of Iranians to various countries in the five continents of the world. Terrorism, poverty, and brain drain as well as drug addiction and insecurity is destroying the fabric of our nation. Every opposition voice or movement has been brutally extinguished by the regime. Foreign governments and international human rights organizations have ignored the situation, and some have cooperated with the regime for financial gains. Iranian communities abroad have mainly been quiet, and kept a low profile. Enough is enough. Time is overdue. As quoted by Megabiz's friend in Iranian.com, "If Iranians just sneeze together, it would make a hurricane that will wash out these parasites to the history garbage (Zabaale daan-e taarikh)". [Collectice sneeze] It is time that all Iranians boycott any election under this regime, and by sending massive emails and letters to the international media, the UN, International Human Rights Organizations, and Heads of foreign countries, show their desire for the separation of religion and state, and ask for a internationally controlled referendum in Iran. * Low-class If foreign persons look at your picturs [Market forces] they would think they are from Afghanistan, because they are only from the low-class traditional parts of the country. If you love your
country you have to
show the reality -- the modern section and the traditional section --
so that anyone looking at them would get the real picture of Iranian
society. * Small business I just finished reading an article posted on your site, written by Afshin Abedi, PhD, Director of Advanced Technologies & Operations at Telnet, Inc., entitled "Leveling the playing field" - What do Koreans, Pakistanis, and Tongans have that Iranians don't?" He mentioned, among other things, that his company, Telnet, was having trouble with the US Small Business Administration (SBA). My company has a wonderful relationship with the SBA and can work with Dr. Abedi. * Magnificent voice I have these 2 most beautiful pieces on tape. I never get tired of listening to Khonsari. You said it, his voice is truly magnificent and amazing. I am listening to 158 0n my lap top right now. Just wanted to say thak you. * Very complicated site Your site is very complicated and there are too many steps/links to go through to get to see what I want. I would prefer all the pictures to be together, available as thumbnails with an option to enlarge and information attached to the enlargement, thanks, hopefully you will not be offended by my opinions. * Wonderful romantic style The story "Coming
down" was a pleasure
to read. I
think we will be hearing more about her (Heather-ley) and her romantic
stories. She is decriptive and she has a wonderful romantic style. She
captures the reader! Good luck to her! * Congratulations Dear Dr. S. Noori, We've read your fantastic poem [Nah deegar....!]. Congratulations for your point of view and expression. Definitely it makes Iranians satisfied. TopMore
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