Enemy Number One?

The problem will not go away if Iran is shattered to pieces

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Enemy Number One?
by Fariba Amini
07-Sep-2012
 

It was in 1987, 25 years ago, that Yitzhak Rabin, the late PM of Israel said, "Iran is Israel's best friend and we do not intend to change our position in relation to Tehran, because Khomeini's regime will not last forever." 

Things have changed quite a bit since then. 

A year ago, in a classroom, I was giving a talk about Iran when a young woman asked me a question.

She was a Jewish Iranian-American who had never set foot in Iran. Yet she had very strong views, as if she had spent quite some time there. She thought Iranians deserved Ahmadinejad and that Iran was the number-one threat to Israel.

I respectfully disagreed with her and brought up the example of the thousands who turned up during the aftermath of the rigged elections of 2009. I argued that Iranians deserved better and had proved it through their sacrifices during that period.  She was so upset with me that she did not even bother to look at the books I had brought to class.

Was she brainwashed? Yes. Are many Iranians brainwashed inside Iran about the West and Israel? Yes.

In a different classroom -- on journalism, covering the Middle East -- which I took, mostly out of curiosity - Iran dominated some 80 percent of the course. The Middle East began and ended with Iran. Surely, the Iran hysteria has overtaken all rationale even in simple classrooms. Who is channeling this hysteria?

After hearing that as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu's latest fear-mongering, many Israelis were buying masks to protect themselves from a possible confrontation with Iran, I decided to go on the website of AIPAC, America's most powerful pro-Israel lobby.  It was astounding to see that every other article on their website mentions Iran. It actually begins with a photo of Ahmadinejad and Iran's Foreign Minister in one of Iran's nuclear power plants. The titles were: "IAEA to press Iran," "Iran struggles to reflag oil tankers," "Iranian universities shut female students," "Prevent a nuclear capable Iran," and "Congress approves new Iran sanctions."

The war with Iran did not begin after Ahmadinejad's various infamous and irresponsible statements about Israel, the Jews and the Holocaust. It began the day the Islamic Republic following the Revolution closed down the Embassy of Israel in Tehran and handed the key to the late Yasser Arafat.

At the same time, relations between the two countries have seesawed between secret collaboration to public vilification, often simultaneously.  

In the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, the Israelis sold arms to Iranians who were fighting Saddam's army. The Islamic regime's nature was no different then but selling missiles to your enemy to fight another enemy was alright in their eyes. One hundred TOW missiles were sold to Iran. In his book, Treacherous Alliances, Trita Parsi writes, "Kimche [a British born Israeli diplomat and a Mossad deputy director] inquired whether the United States would replenish Israeli missile arsenals if Israel were to go ahead and make a deal with the Iranians." Reagan happily agreed. 

That was then.

Today, Israel blames Iran's unsavory activities abroad and has continuously pointed the finger at the IRI for supporting Hezbollah and Hamas. It has blamed Iran for the bombings in Argentina and lately the Jewish tourist bus in Bulgaria.  Iran, on the other hand, blames Israel for the assassination of its nuclear scientists and for supporting and funding some separatist groups.

Iran never used WMDs in its war with Iraq; but Saddam, with tacit approval of the U.S. and its allies used mustard gas and deadly weapons against the Kurds and the Iranian army. Joost Hiltermann, a researcher on the subject of the Iran-Iraq war wrote some years ago, "Today the world faces the prospect a nuclear-armed Iran, which never again will allow itself to be caught so dangerously exposed to superior arms, illegal methods of warfare, and the world's tolerance of such." 

According to some Israeli and American nuclear scientists and the IAEA, Iran is far from having the capability of building the bomb. On the other hand, Israel has close to 300 nuclear warheads. As of 2012 and contrary to a barrage of misinformation, Iran has NONE

What prompted America to go to war in Iraq was an endless stream of misguided advice by neo-cons working for Washington think tanks who on false premises pushed the Bush administration into war. Quite a few names come to mind: Ledeen, Perle, Wolfowitz, Abrams. Even the famous Princeton scholar, Bernard Lewis, became a regular guest at the Bush White House. The mantra was that the Iraqis would welcome the Americans as liberators. History proved them wrong. Once we have invaded Iraq, then Iranians would beseech us, "Come this way," Lewis proclaimed.

William Kristol added, "We are already in a death struggle with Iran [...] and must also take the fight to Iran, with measures ranging from public diplomacy to covert operations."

Recently, the "internationally acclaimed scholar," Ledeen, wrote in one of his "brilliant" articles:

What do Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria have in common?  Mayhem, much of which flows from the terror masters in Tehran [...] WE, not the Israelis, are the prime targets of the terror masters and those two thousand Americans killed in Afghanistan were sent to their graves without the need for nukes.  Just like the nearly three thousand massacred in America on 9/11, in which the Iranians were similarly deeply involved.

Since 2003, Iraq has seen very little sign of democratic progress, its society is in total disarray, corruption is rampant, its infrastructure has been destroyed, millions have been turned into refugees, hundreds of thousands have been killed and daily suicide bombings occur in cities across Iraq.  The damage is not just in Iraq.  Thousands of American soldiers have lost their lives and in July of this year alone, 38 U.S. military personnel committed suicide.

War is tragic on all fronts.

There are few countries in the Middle East which are not battered by car bombs, assassinations, kidnapping, murder, and more bloodshed.

Iran is still functioning and yet it is not. Sanctions have crippled the economy and the nuclear issue is like a looming scarecrow. For every Iranian who is only trying to bring bread to the table while fighting surging inflation, life has become ever more depressing. Even for those of us who live in the West, the fear of an attack on Iran is never far from our minds.

In Israel itself, the discussion is heated. While Barak and Netanyahu are adamant that their rhetoric become real --

'We will do it even if the world says no,' Peres and other moderates such as Shaul Mofaz say, 'Wait a minute, not so fast.' Peres recently admitted that he cannot sleep at night over a possible war with Iran. Nor can we, Mr. Peres. 

On what grounds does Israel with its 300 nukes which at any minute can annihilate the entire Middle East, have the right to attack a sovereign country and wipe it really off the map?  Which international body gives it permission to do so?

Has the Israeli government's arrogance blinded the eyes of its citizens? We hope not. By and large, most Israelis are against a major confrontation with Iran. As recently as a few days ago, Israel's former Supreme Judge, charged Netanyahu and Barak with "endangering the country both physically and economically," reproaching Barak for saying that only 500 Israeli citizens will die in case of war. 

Iran is not an exemplary country by any measure, and it is far from having a representative government. It has a dismal human rights record but it is preposterous to claim that it is the biggest threat not just to Israel and the United States but to the world.  

At the end of the day, Iranians will have to find a way to overcome their many problems and make the ultimate changes. The problem will not go away if Iran is shattered to pieces.  The outcome is multidimensional and far worse. 

Just imagine that tomorrow, the beautiful and historic city of Isfahan, home to many Jewish-Iranians and several old synagogues, may vanish, with just one bomb, from the many Israel possesses. 

The Natanz nuclear power plant is not too far away.

First published in HuffingtonPost.com.

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more from Fariba Amini
 
MaryamJoon

Iran is Eastern, why should it have a Western lifestyle?

by MaryamJoon on

Perhaps Northern MUST adopt the Southern lifestyle.

And Western MUST adopt the Northern lifestyle.

And South-Eastern MUST become North-Western.

... GIVE IT A REST: NOT EVERYONE THINKS THE CULTURE PROMOTED BY JEWISH HOLLYWOOD, AMERICAN VALUES, OR PREDATORY WESTERN MODELS OF CAPITALISM ARE A GOOD THING.  AND THAT'S THEIR RIGHT.  DO INDIANS IN PERU, HAVE TO BECOME WALL STREET BANKERS BEFORE YOU ACCEPT THEM?  


hafez

Ms. Amini, you do not love Iran

by hafez on

Come on now.  Enough with this garbage about loving Iran.  Are you kidding me?  You and pseduo intelectuals like you, i.e. Ganji, Soroush, Kadivar, Sasegar, etc. were responsible for the cultural revolution, executtions, university closures and now you all claim to be loving Iran.   Ms. Amini, please do us all a favor and stop this hypocracy.    People like you fought against western culture, American way of life and brought us the Islamic Republic.  And then rather than staying in your homeland and take responsibility for what you did, you immigrate to the very same country and culture that you dispised all your life.

Yeap, it's all talk.   My recommnedation to you is stop making a fool of yourself.  Enjoy your life and freedom here in the good old USA and keep quiet.  Travel with that American passport to all corners of the world and leave the rest of us alone.  And if you want to empathize with the people in Iran, just remember that Iranians need a visa to even go to Afghanestan!

My generation is much smarter than to listen to hypocrites like you.  By the way, I am neither a monorchist nor a member of the republican party.  Just someone with some common sense. 

 


iraj khan

Fariba Amini, Telling it like it is

by iraj khan on

May I also add:

Israel is the greatest threat to U.S. security.

Why? one may ask.

By manipulating U.S.'s foreign policy in Middle East, and pushing her own bankrupt agenda on a super power.

By occupying the third most holy city to Muslims, Al Quds (Jerusalem), and claiming it her capital and pushing the U.S. government to support it. This policy alone will help to alienate 1.5 billion Muslims of the world and turn them against U.S.

This destructive manipulation of U.S. foreign policy is best explained in the book by 2 American professors, Mearsheimer and Walt in a book called: The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy


Fariba Amini

War

by Fariba Amini on



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It was life frozen. Life had stopped, like watching a film and suddenly
it hangs on one frame. It was a new kind of death to me. You went into a room,
a kitchen and you saw the body of a woman holding a knife where she had been
cutting a carrot. (...) The aftermath was worse. Victims were still being
brought in. Some villagers came to our chopper. They had 15 or 16 beautiful
children, begging us to take them to hospital. So all the press sat there and
we were each handed a child to carry. As we took off, fluid came out of my
little girl's mouth and she died in my arms.

The Late Kaveh Golestan describing the Halabja massacre of Iraqi
Kurds by Saddam Hussein. Saddam also used WMD's against the Iranian army.  


Fariba Amini

Thanks

by Fariba Amini on

Dear Ashk II,

 Thank you for your words of encouragement.  I will certainly do as you say.    I will never stop writing. 

Unfortuantely, like many, I don't have a solution to this very complicated  situation. No one really does except that we hope sanity will take over hatred and anger.  I also know that war is destructive on all fronts and the damage will be unreversible.  Something, some of the commentators do not see or perhabs want to close their eyes to.   I know that the pressure on Iran is only hurting the ordinary people rather than the government.  Talk to anybody, family, friends in Iran. 

When the U.S. and its allies put sanctions on Iraq, it was the Iraqi people and children who hurt most, not Saddam and his henchmen.

I also believe that if we can sit here outside of Iran and have the audacity to prescribe war, attack and sanctions against our country and our people,  we are not the children of Sa'adi. 

War is destructive.  

 


Dr. Mohandes

A Grand suggestion

by Dr. Mohandes on

for those who are absolutely in love with their country and show it through and through in everything that they do and everything they write and say, to please overcome all the barriers in their way, make this grand effort and dare to come to their MOTHER land and start the devine process of making changes that they feel needs to be made, and start the process and create a situation which this huge project could get off the ground.

No more attacking and befriending and humiliating and then making peace with one another thorugh the the internet and meaningless and useless confrences and meeting in the world.

make that trip to iran, regardless of your past. DOn't say it is impossible because after all i have seen and read from you, you are all iron-willed men and women and CAN put your words where your mouths are and make things happen.

If stopped at the gates and at the airports, Tell them , hey, i don't like what you have done and are doing to my country and i am here to teach you a lesson. see what happens.

once you get down here, trust in your heart that there will be people who will greet you and join you and help you along the way.

because if you do otherwise and keep yappingng away about who is vindictive and whio does not understand the situtaion and proceed to stubbornly and idiotically label people, You are nothing but bunch of total hypocrites who only PRETEND TO FEEL BAD , and horrible for the economic situation in iran and all of whatyou say becomes null and void.

No matter how hard you try, There is absolutely no way in hell that you could make anyone believe that by sitting by your computers and typing away, oh so passionate and full of love letters and articles condemning this or that, you really care about those who live in iran,

een gooy va een meydan. Impress us. and show us what you got. the clock is ticking. 


Ashk Dovom

Dear Fariba Amini,

by Ashk Dovom on

You write like someone who is in love with her country; with all the devotion, passion and consideration that such a love entails. You don't want the slightest harm to come to your beloved Iran. You have to understand though that not everyone feels like you do. What kind of tears are the likes of Anglophile able to shed for bombing and destruction of a land whose past, present and future is paramount in your consciousness? What can anyone expect from these monarchists or whatever kind of creatures they are? Their hearts and minds are set on revenge. From the top of their ivory towers, Iranians appear to them not as human beings but as mere dots. And what would they care if a few thousand or a few million of those dots disappear overnight as long as it serves their vindictive purpose? More than anything, they should be pitied. Like those awful faces in Dante's inferno which are consumed by the fire of hatred. Your real audience as an author is that invisible reader who perhaps leaves no comments behind but is touched and swayed by the clarity and sincerity of your argument. And also, if I may say so, worry only about the integrity of your writing and not the name of your family. You are not here to defend your family honour or guard yourself against those who attack your name or your background. This will only sidetrack you from the main issue. Those who hurl insults and calumny at your family background do so because they have no argument and feel totally and miserably defeated. Furthermore don't be discouraged if Demo has no understanding of irony. I also want to thank you for coming into the comment box and passionately talking to your readers. Something high-minded authors do not do.  It shows how down to earth, modest and unselfish you are. Very much looking forward to your next article!


Oon Yaroo

Dear Fariba, these people are simply jealous of you!

by Oon Yaroo on

For decades and consistently, you have always been writing on the same topic and offered consistent facts on the same issue of Mosadeq was good and Shah was bad fully researched, analytically proven, and evidentialy supported by reliable data.It sort of reminds me of Soosan, my God rest her soul grand mother's parrot, who used to keep repeatedly saying khodeti, khodeti, ..., khodeti!


Demo

Mrs. Amini

by Demo on

Sorry. Read your article throughly & my original comment still stands unshakeable. Please take that only as an opinion & thanks for your further remarks. Regards.


Dr. Mohandes

Fariba amini

by Dr. Mohandes on

There can NEVER be a contructive discussion to the argument you are putting forward, so long as your motto is : The people of iran are the ones who need to overcome their problems, without even giving one single and simple solution! how can they go about doing that without acquring at least some help from a superpower?
It is a good thing that you openly admit that backstabbing and slander and deceitfulness are fixtures of national charactristics , and yet you really believe these same people can handle this?

Makes one wonder if the iranians really and truly wanted to go about this their own way and without any interference, then why is it thatthey have not lent their full and unconditional support to all sorts of garden variety counsils and freedom movements scattered all over the world!! 

One reason may have to do witt the fact thatthey have seriously given up on everything and they are just rolling with the punches and take what theyare given. trust me,. I see it everyday, i am in the heart of it all.  

so what is your solution really? You did not have to put us through the chronology of events really. any grade school kid iran knows about that by now, give us something we can get our upper beaks wet with! give us something tangible, credible, something we can hang our hats on to.

who is undermining you here? who took the issure so far as to insult your family? may have happened on other blogs, but in here? come on. do not divert the discussion. 

You are refusing to accept the realily, not you per se, all those who think like you, that people do not need a reason or for someone to tell them they should hate so and so, there is plenty of dissent and dissatisfaction flowing all over, you can fill a giant landfill with. Belive it. it is true.

Don't give them history lessons and whoes fault it was! Don't tell it is all up to them to fix things , cuz here is the thing, NO ONE IN IRAN Belives that anymore.

 

 

 


Fariba Amini

Mr. Demo : you did not read my article!

by Fariba Amini on

Sorry Mrs. Amini. Your article is quite boring, offers no solutions with
our country's problems & worse than all your desciption of the #1
neocon warmonger, i.e. Ledeen, as the "internationally acclaimed
scholar," raises serious doubts about your journalism integrity
 

 

I am making fun of Mr. Ledeen.  I am not praising him for God's sake. Read the damn thing more carefully.  Ledeen is after one goal now, to bring about regime change at the expense of destroying Iran while he was the middle man in the Iran-Contra Affair and for the love of $$$ dealt with the IRI.

Here is what I wrote a few years ago:  

 //www.payvand.com/news/05/oct/1235.html

 

 


Fariba Amini

insults and lack of argument

by Fariba Amini on

Jealousy, slander, lies, backstabbing, are all part of our national characteristics.  Some of us try to get away from them and prove them wrong.  

Instead of making arguments against my article ( No idiot, I don't get paid-- I do it out of love for Iran- but sometimes I tell myself why? why do I even bother), these monarchists and their collaborators, come back everytime, as if looking to slander someone, in this case me, and start their usual bad mouthing. First they start with me and then they end up with my family.  

There is never a good discussion and constructive argument or very rarely.

They are so blinded by hatred and jealousy and they embark on this never ending crusade.  They try to undermine the writer in order to intimidate her not to write anymore.  

I have news for you,  Man beedi nistam ke ba in badha belarzam.

As for compaing me to Sara Palin,  she is your kind of woman, a Republican without intelligence. It doesn't stick Mr. amir khosrwo parviz or whoever you are. 

The other guy, Mr. ang is full of it....  you don't get a response because we have a saying in Persian,  Javabeh Ablahan Khamoushist. 

 Thank you for your words of encouragement to those who supported my argument.  When Iran is attacked (God forbid)  I would like to see the tears on these monarchists' face-though maybe they will be very happy.  


jirandoust

Missing the Point

by jirandoust on

You people on this site are either missing the point or like to insult the writer of this blog just for the heck of it. The point, if you are missing it, is simply this:

"..it is preposterous to claim that it (Iran) is the biggest threat not just to Israel and the United States but to the world."  

It is under such premises that bombing Iran or even worse, invading Iran can easily be justified as the case was for Iraq's invasion.

And yes, how can Iran with no nuclear bomb be an existencial threat to Isreal, a acountry with 300 nuclear warheads in its arsenal?

Hafez, young Iranians will never rise up aginst IRI regime as long the threat of bombing, invasion and war is looming over their heads. Take that element out of the equation and see how fast "Iranian Spring" will bloom.


amirparvizforsecularmonarchy

How did this ramble get First published in HuffingtonPost.com?

by amirparvizforsecularmonarchy on

Fariba did you get paid for this?  I guess if the USA has sarah palin, we can have fariba! 

Fariba How do you submit articles to get into circulation?


anglophile

آفرین بر حافظ

anglophile


 

 

بزرگ‌ترین دشمن ایران و ایرانیان رژیم ضّد ایرانی ولایت فقیه و آنانی‌ هستند که از رهبر این رژیم پشتیبانی کرده و جاده ساز این رژیم سفاک شدند و هنوز پس از گذشت بیش از سه‌ دهه نسل پس مانده آنها در تلاش مذبوحانه خود برای توجیه خیانت نسل پیش زوزه می‌‌کشند.

با اندکی‌ تصرف در شعر جاودانی خواجه شیراز:

 

به خوبان دل‌ مده‌‌ حافظ ببین آن خیانت ها 

که بر ایرانیان کردند ترکان قجر وندی

 


Ashk Dovom

To Hafez

by Ashk Dovom on

وقتی شما میگویید اینهایی که بر ایران حکومت میکنند ایرانی نیستند منطق شما همان منطق جزم گراهای جمهوری اسلامیه که میگویند هر که مثل ما فکر نمیکنه بیگانه وبیگانه پرسته  و جاش اینجا نیست و یا منطق آریامهر که میگفت هر که مثل من فکر نمیکنه بیاد پاسپورتشو بگیره و بزنه بچاک. شما یک برداشت رویایی از ایران دارید که ربطی با واقعیت موجود نداره. فروغ فرخزاد در مورد اینگونه برداشت  و اینگونه طرز فکر پاستوریزه و استرلیزه از آنچه در پیرامونمان میگذره در یکی از نوشته هاش اینچنین هشدار میده : "من نمی‏توانم وقتی‏ می‏خواهم از کوچه‏ای حرف بزنم که پر از بوی ادرار است، لیست عطرها را جلویم بگذارم و معطرترینشان را انتخاب کنم برای توصیف این بو،این حقه‏ بازی‏ست.حقه‏ایست که اول آدم به خودش می‏زند، بعد هم به دیگران". شما هم برای توصیف ایران و شرایط لازم برای ایرانی بودن میخواهید لیست عطرها را جلوی خودتون بگذارید و بهترین هاش را انتخاب کنید این ربطی با ایران واقعی آنچنان که هست و میبینیم و لمس و استشمام می کنیم نداره.


hafez

IRI is Enemy Number ONE

by hafez on

The trouble with Ms. Amini and people like her is that they provide no solution.  Just ramble on and on and on.   And yes, blame Isreal and the United States for everything. 

Having just returned from Iran only a few weeks ago, I am happy to report that not a single person I spoke with blamed the United States or Isreal for Iran's miseries.  

How can you blame Isreal for being afraid of a Nuclear Islamic Republic?  For the past eight years Ahmadinejad has been very consistent about one thing: the anihilation of Isreal.  This is included in every single speech he gives.  Proclaiming in a single sentence that Isreal must be anihilated and Iran is entitled to be a nuclear state.   IRI is an anti-semetic government.   If you don't beleive this, I'm not sure in what fantasy land you live.

Beware of this: Iran is an occupied country.  These people look like us and speak Farsi, but they are not Iranian.  When I was in Iran, the earthquake in Azabaijan happened.   Ahmadinejad left to have fun in Saudi Arabia.  Yet, when two people are killed in the Gaza or the Westbank, notice what the he does.

Islamic Republic must be destroyed or it will detroy Iran.  It is as simple as that. 

People like Ms. Amini have no say about the future of Iran.  It was her generation that handed my generation the Islamic Republic and then left to have a nice life in America.  I have found today's generation of Iranians to be very smart, engaging and patriotic.  Totally unlike Ms. Amini and her friends who handed IRI to us.   Iran's young generation does not need advice from people like Ms. Amini.  They are doing just fine. 

  


Akbarmashti

Israel is just trying to

by Akbarmashti on

Israel is just trying to assassinate witnesses, so no one can testify against her in court of law. It is just unfortunate that the numbers of witnesses are in billions. However, that is not going to deter the will of a great nation. So stop blaming Israel for every little thing.


anglophile

Now Afsaneh jan this is really unfair

by anglophile on

I know you are relatively new to this site and may not have 'met' Ms Amini as such but please search under the lady's contributions and you'll find that nine out of ten of her writings contain at least one of these key terms: Mosaddeq, coup, Shah, Pahlavi, 1953 and of course Prespolis! 

Now for the first time in a year, if not longer, the lady has written an article without a single mention of any of the above terms (unless I missed something).  But now Afsaneh of all people, our precious Hafez-therapist, should drag the debate into such muddy waters (usually this is a privilege reserved by yours truly :)). 

Besides, you made so many assumptions in your comment that it takes a full blog to have them rebutted. To name but a few: Mosaddeq was toppled by a coup? Unless you want to believe our resident Mossadeghollahists (e.g. Ms Amini or Ashk Dovom - hello where have you been old chap, Arj was missing you :)) or a growing genre of American appeasers of the Islamic republic (Ms Albright being one). Sure there was a coup being planned but was it ever executed or succeeded? (see the sqaubblings here: //iranian.com/main/2012/aug/day-history)

Ms Albright never apologised for anything. She merely acknowledged intervention (thanks to a meeting held at the invitation of an Islamic regime lobbyist) 

//www.fas.org/news/iran/2000/000317.htm

And finally for a person coming from a diplomatic family I am sure you should know better that foreign embassys are there to promote and protect the interests of their own countries - particularly when it means to prevent the host country from falling into the lap of a hostile neighbouring country.

 

Let's continue with Hafez - but please not on this site. 

 

 

 


vildemose

Iranian nuke-firster

by vildemose on

Ms. Amini's solution is to let the IRI go nuclear and remove the sanctions so  IRI can get there faster. The probelm with nuke firsters is identical to those Israelis who truly perceive Iran as their number one "existential threat".

Nuke-firsters such as many fake and real anti-war contributors on IC suffer from the same paranoia as the Israeli do; two sides of the same coin, trying to perserve their existence but going about it in all the wrong ways that will only guarantee war and their destruction.

 

 

 

All Oppression Creates a State of War--Simone De Beauvoir


Hafez for Beginners

Embracing one's role

by Hafez for Beginners on

"War is tragic on all fronts" - Thank you and agreed.

But the conflict with Iran didn't start with  statements on the "Holocaust", rather with the Revolution and espcecially, the Hostage Crisis. 99% of Americans have a false narrative when it comes to the "Hostage Crisis" - the story that started in 1953 out of the very same Embassy that conducted the coup and toppled Mossadeq. So... agree or disagree - in 1979, the same US Embassy was the first place that was stormed. The American narrative starts mid-chapter, in 1979, of a story that started in 1953.

For a country obsessed with "therapy" and going to the root of the problem, I've never understood the US's blind opposition to fully go back to the start of this conflict. Embracing the reality that just as Embassies should not be stormed, equally importantly - Embassies are not made for toppling governments. Going back to the root of the problem in 1953, and constructing a complete, all-inclusive  narrative.

 

Each side needs to fully embrace their role - for any hope of peace and change. What worries me, and any "therapist" will tell you, is that if you don't fully accept your role in a conflict, the conflict will continue. I never understood why America can't do the mature thing - and say: "OK, it was the Cold War - like "No WMD" in Iraq - this ended up being a costly decision." Not issue a minor apology (Madeleine Albright did) - but rather help change the US public's narrative. Just like most Americans now are aware of the "No WMD" narrative - make "We did something awful, out of that same Embassy, to Iran" - and have that become part of the public US psyche.

SARAH PALIN: Right now,  99% of Americans are disconnected from their own history with Iran. With Iran, the facts are so muddied that it reminds me of how Sarah Palin changed the narrative of Paul Revere - completely confusing his "The British are Coming" slogan. Paul Revere, on his "Midnight Ride",  was trying to warn the American Revolutionaries that the British were coming. Sarah Palin, however,  turned this on its head and claimed that Revere wasn't warning Americans, but warning the British that they can't take Americans arms/guns away - trying to justifiy her party's pro-gun 'right to bear arms' political position.  It sadly made her look very silly. Getting facts wrong, whether it's about Paul Revere, or a very incomplete Iran-US narrative, is always silly. 


Imam-e Zaman

Graet Article!

by Imam-e Zaman on

Thank you Ms. Amini. 


Ashk Dovom

Thank you Fariba Amini!

by Ashk Dovom on

Very interesting and timely article with reasoned arguments! It is not an article that would appeal to those with an axe to grind.


fullback

NO

by fullback on

Akbarmashti , I listed the reasons , what a democratic Society does  is not the subject  related to The Islamic occupiers of Iran .


Akbarmashti

fullback

by Akbarmashti on

You wrote:   They will use once aquierd a Nuclear weapon, as means to stay in power or they will use it to destroy the entire region if their existance is threatend.

Isn't that what so called democratic countries do also, if their existence is threatened? 


fullback

Another anti american RANT

by fullback on

 Let me Advise the author, Amini,  that Iran is an Occupied nation. Iran Is occupied by the Islamist( eslameeyoun).  Do Not refer To The Occupiers as Iranian Or Iran.

The Occupiers of Iran are a #1 threat to the entire humanity for the following Reasons

1)Executing Iranians since their take over of Iran , Excecutions took place on the Roof of your late Leader khomaini, No repersentation , No Trials . remenber That!!

2) Denying  education and carrier opportunities to Iranians , Unless they prove they are followers of the Revelution path and KHATEH Imam,  Nazi`s did the samething when they took over Germany in 1930`s ,remember that!!

3) Khomaini provocations in Najaf Iraq in 1979 sponsering Islamic uprising against Saddam, resulted,  Iraqies and Saddam forces to invade Iran as a deterrence to Khomaini`s attacks in Najaf and Karbala. Hence the Bloody 8 Year war in which gave the Islamist to settel in Iran. remeber that!!!

4) systematic Killing of Iranians in Iran and outside of Iran since the take over of our country, still continues to this day.remember that!!

5)Taking of US diplomats hostage in the US embassy grounds ,remember that!!!

6) Denying rights and imprisoning and killing of Bahai`s, Kurds, Baluchis, still continues to this day..remeber that!!

7) Denying basic rights and imprisoning, executing  of Iranians for defying the Occupiers  medival Rules remeber That!!

8)Sponsering political kidnapping throught their Guards , Lebonese Hezzbollah all over the world, in the 80`s , 90`s , then mediating for the release of these kidnapped by non other that The one and only Ali Akbar Velayati. remmeber that!!

9) purchacing long range missles form china to Threaten other nations.  it is ongoing ,remeber that!!

10) Funding terror groups with money and equipment to kill Coalitiuon forces in Iraq and Afganisatn remeber that!!

11)  Crushing the Iranian Opposition , in the last Election, although it was rigged never the less millions of Iranians pored into the streets of Iran demanding the occupiers to leave . remeber that!!

12) Threatening Isreal and other countries on constant bases. I have never heard one Isreali prime minister threatening Iranian Nation . remember that!! Per haps that is wht the Islamist Occupiers do not like!!

13) Supplying arms to seperatists, in oil reach regions of Africa in order to destablize the region further and  spiking the price of crude Oil ie, Nigeria , Gabon

 These are some reasons why the Islamist Occupiers of Iran are a threat to The entire world and the region, These Occupiers have not shown any mercy toward Iranians . They will use once aquierd a Nuclear weapon, as means to stay in power or they will use it to destroy the entire region if their existance is threatend.


MaryamJoon

Israel is enemy #1 of Iranians - 90% of which live IN Iran

by MaryamJoon on

The chatter of exiles (those who CAN'T go back) as opposed to immigrants (those who can) is irrelevant.  

The chatter of those pretending to be Iranians or serving a foreign government or organization (whether political, religious or both) is irrelevant.  

TO THE MAJORITY OF IRANIANS IN IRAN: Israel has done enough to show that it is enemy #1.  Iranians have a long collective memory - that won't change in any of our lifetimes.   


P_J

Demo! I could not agree with you more...

by P_J on

regarding the ULTRA Right Wing WACK JOB Michael Ledeen…a false profit of the worst kind…and a Skinhead Neo Nazi at heart, in a suit and tie.  

He does not seem to either follow or be bounded by any journalistic principles, i.e. truthfulness, integrity or honesty, he is a Machiavellian through-and-through....clearly NOT bothered by the shackles of honesty or principle.

Akbarmashti,

You were SO right, regarding the three GREEDIST nations on earth!

Although, always enjoy Ms. Amini’s writing; HERE I have to respectfully disagree! 


Akbarmashti

A great idea is worthless,

by Akbarmashti on

A great idea is worthless, unless it is executed.


 


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