Iran: A nation of nose jobs, not nuclear war

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=449880&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=

For years we in the West have been looking for a new Evil Empire to fill the gap left when Russia - a genuine threat - retired from the job and deprived us of an enemy. What were all those spies to do? How could we justify those missiles and bombs? What should we be scared of now?


At one stage we were reduced to pretending that Panama's General Noriega was a menace to our way of life. Then it was Slobodan Milosevic. Finally, we inflated the piffling Saddam Hussein into a looming Hitler.

Now the same experts think they have found something to be afraid of in Iran. It is tempting to believe them. This is the land of the glowering ayatollahs, the book-burning mobs, the fatwas of death and the black chador. And Iran has just become even more frightening because in its secret vaults Islamic scientists are fumbling with atoms and testing long-range rockets.

http://imgred.com/tn/


Long and interesting article-- Peter Hitchens recent visit to Iran.

will stop being enemies the minute that the US decides they're not an enemy, and not one minute sooner or later.

It's a manufactured threat.

there is in that country to moderate and then fully secularize, all put on hold because the Boy Emperor keeps waving his dick around and telling them they're next on the PNAC list (they are).

It's just one of many overseas tragedies caused by this gang of incompetents, rabid ideologues and thieves.

as an AFS exchange student, the author's description of the general character of the people matches my memories. I lived with a barely-practicing Shi'a muslim family in Tehran. They were very western (this was during the Shah's reign) and not really religious other than praying 2 out of the 5 times per day that muslims are supposed to. I don't remember anyone in the family EVER going to a mosque during my entire visit. The choice to fast or not to fast during Ramadan was left up to each family member and I saw no one getting chastized for not doing so.

But the generosity and attitude towards strangers and love for westerners (esp. Americans) was always something that stood out for me.

I'm told that my host sister who became a university English teacher was reprimanded not long after the revolution for not adhering to Islamic rules. She told them the Farsi equivalent of "take this job and shove it" and left the job and the profession, as she had gotten married and decided to raise a family. I don't doubt that her children have all grown up to be the ones who thumb their noses at the rules on every occasion.

I wish more Americans would read this article than just DU members because this is the point I've been trying to make all along that the people don't really like the current regime and do like the west (people, not the governments) and that all an attack will do is cause them to unify against the "enemy", much like what happened here for the months immediately following 9/11.

I wish he hadn't mentioned sohan (the pistachio nut brittle made in the city of Qom). Now I have a craving and no possible way to get any. :(