Aggressive right wing rhetoric toward Iran continues. Studies from Harvard reveal “less than half of Americans trust the mass media,” but everyone seems to believe Iran is a threat to the “free world.”
All I hear is “Bomb-Bomb Iran,” even after President Barack Obama embarrassed Sen. John McCain for popularizing the slogan during the last election. Former President George W. Bush declared Iran was part of the “Axis of Evil” — and I had to find out why.
In 1951, Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq was urged to nationalize Britain’s controlled oil industry within Iran in what became the Abadan Crisis. The CIA and British MI6 forced Mosaddeq out of office in 1952 during Operation Ajax.
The United States and Iran met last week for the first time in 30 years. It was 1979 when the Iranian Revolution ousted America’s brutal puppet Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In 1980, Saddam Hussein invaded the young Republic of Iran.
Then-President Ronald Reagan backed Iraq with economic aid, intelligence and arms until a stalemate was declared, delivering 30 years of resentment toward Iran for its self-determination.
I was reminded this summer of former-President George W. Bush’s first presidential victory in 2000 when Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was accused of election fraud. I can’t judge whether either cheated, but I believe American sanctions during global economic hard times fueled Iranian protests.
Ahmadinejad shouldn’t be held accountable for mistreatment of prisoners any more than Bush’s mountain of naked men in Abu Ghraib. People are hired to manage prisons and courts enforce laws.
The Times — a British tabloid Islamic Web site Innovative Minds found supports Israel — reported Hussein having “weapons of mass destruction,” which turned out to be false.
A cover story in The New York Times convinced the world that Ahmadinejad considers the holocaust a “lie,” but after going to YouTube with an open mind, I watched Ahmadinejad’s interviews with “60 Minutes,” Katie Couric, Charlie Rose and Brian Williams. I found no hostility in the man.
Countries like India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel possess nuclear weapons without signing the Nonproliferation Treaty and refuse International Atomic Energy Agency inspections. What is fair? The IAEA stated in a Sept. 17 report they have “no proof that there is or has been a nuclear weapon program in Iran.”
Michigan University professor Juan Cole explained recently on “To the Point” that Iran wishes to enrich uranium to cushion its economy like Japan, South Korea and France. The U.N. says Iran’s current enrichment level is 5 percent, while fuel for military purposes is only possible above 90 percent. Nuclear energy lowers oil prices, is renewable, clean and environmentally friendly. Time and time again Iran states, “We don’t believe in nuclear bombs.”
A Sept. 14 article in Newsweek stood testimony to an Israeli government full of corruption. According to Al Jazeera, Israel is working hard to convince our new administration to impose crippling sanctions on Iran, while the BBC reported Israel is “building 455 new homes for settlers in the West Bank — in defiance to Mr. Obama’s call for a complete settlement freeze.”
And yet, Israel — with 200 warheads — is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. How long will we Americans be blind under the umbrella of misconception that Iran is a threat to the “free world”?
Khalil Sheikh is a senior liberal studies major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.