Saturday, September 29, 2007
Iran matters. (Or is it manners?)
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John Freivalds
Freivalds runs an international communication firm in Lexington. He previously worked in Iran and Afghanistan and speaks Farsi.
The worst thing you can say to someone in Farsi, the language they speak in Iran, is adap naderi -- you have no manners. So the rude manners shown in the reception that Iran's President Ahmadinejad got at Columbia University reinforced all the stereotypes that people in Iran if not the Middle East, had about the U.S.
Columbia President Lee Bollinger, who introduced Ahmadinejad, wanted to have it both ways, allowing Ahmadinejad to address students in the name of free speech, but then introducing him with all kinds of insults, many of which were erroneous. Bollinger called Ahamadinejad a "petty dictator" when the position he has in Iran is ceremonial; the robed, bearded clerics have the real power. And Bollinger ignored the fact that the Iranian president was elected two years ago to his post.
Bollinger's comments also point out U.S. penchant for being for democracy when it is on our side, while questioning the election results when the U.S. guy loses; Palestine, Bolivia and Venezuela are just a few examples. And of course that we are happy to support dictatorial regimes when they side with us, and are against them (Cuba) when they are not. Remember Saudi Arabia, a "staunch ally" is run by one family, that represses people in every way possible, is totally corrupt and is a country that supplied 15 of the 16 hijackers involved in 9/11. The Chinese and Russians are more intellectually honest about international affairs; they are for any regime in power that allows them to make a buck.
Some perspective on Iran might be in order. Iranian attitudes toward the U.S. have been bad for decades. In 1953, the CIA led a coup to oust a popularly elected president who was perceived as a communist. A fellow called the Shah was put in his place and he proceeded to Westernize the country and become an ally of the U.S.; then-President Jimmy Carter called him a "beacon of light" in the Middle East.
We showered him with arms and huge development projects, one of which I worked on in southwestern Iran where I learned to speak Farsi. The Shah and his rapid Westernization was deemed out of step, and he was replaced by a bunch of clerics who in effect said "shah mat." Translation: the "king is dead" and the linguistic origin of the term "check mate" we use today in playing chess.
The U.S. embassy was seized and hostages taken when the U.S. allowed the shah to come to the U.S. for medical treatment. Then Saddam Hussein decided to start a war with Iran that lasted from 1980 to 1988; millions died. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld then went to Baghdad and shook hands with Saddam Hussein (who President Bush later said was a threat to world peace) to thank him the for being a " good ally."
Iranians today don't understand how we could support Saddam Hussein in that bloody war and then decide to topple him years later.
It gets worse. When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the Iranians were against them and amazed that the U.S. would invite them to Houston to discuss building a pipeline. Yep, that's true; the Taliban were once U.S. guests of honor in Houston.
Meanwhile the dictator of Pakistan, who Bush regaled as being on the "front lines on the war on terror," harbors Osama bin Laden, a Saudi lest we forget, and allows madrassas, religiously intolerant schools, to operate in his country that spew out hatred of the U.S. as part of its curriculum.
And we say nothing about the Pakistani suicide bombers who drive cars into crowds, killing scores of people in Iraq. It was Pakistan that sold nuclear technology to the North Koreans and who knows to whom else. I can't keep any of this straight; can you?
The worst thing we could do right now would be to "bomb Iran" as Sen. John McCain says we should do. I am sure the shock-and-awe bomb targeting is all set to go, but this would probably create a wider war throughout the Middle East that could threaten the existence of Israel. I don't even dare to guess what gas prices would be then.
Let's see if anyone in the U.S. takes up Ahmadinejad's offer to go address people in Iran on what the U.S. position is and see how adap naderi plays out for an American.
