Saturday, September 22, 2007

Why Hate Iran?

It's all about oil. No, I'm just talking about the recent rumblings of war towards Iran. The whole history of modern Western involvement in Iran has to do with oil.

In 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union occupied Iran to secure the oil fields and supply lines. The reason Britain was so invested during and after the war, was that British Petroleum (then, Anglo-Persian Oil Company). In 1951, the pro-western prime minister Ali Razmara was assassinated by the Fadayan-e Islam organization. Mohammad Mossadeq, a nationalist, was elected as prime minister. He helped the Iranian government nationalize the oil reserves. The British government considered the oil reserves a vital resource and petitioned the act to the International Court of Justice, but was dismissed.

The crafty Brits devised a plan to overthrow Mossadeq using the paranoia of America towards the Soviet Union and communism. They gave the Americans falsified evidence that Mossadeq was plotting to join with the Soviet Union's communist influence. In 1953, President Eisenhower approved a CIA plan to overthrow the government. The coup d'etat against the democratically elected government was considered a huge success by the CIA. So, the US conducted the first strike of terrorism against Iran.

The pro-western Shah was put in place of a democratically elected prime minister and ruled until 1979, when Iranians revolted. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took hostages for 444 days.

I do not condone what those students did. I also do not condone what the US did when they overthrew Mossadeq. Basically, I simplify it to a prank war that the US started. The score is 1-1. Why not call a truce? Why continue to hate Iran?

Is it because Iran is basically a theocracy? Is it because they supposedly support terrorists? Is it because Iran is trying to develop nuclear technology? None of those reasons seem valid.

The US has replaced many governments that were elected democratically, with ones that are either dictatorships or basically puppets. We even support Saudi Arabia, another theocracy.

The US State Department define terrorism as "the unlawful use of -- or threatened use of -- force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies, often to achieve political, religious, or ideological objectives." Do I need to even go into this one. The US has been doing this one forever.

No, I don't want to see a nuclear Iran. I think it's bad for a region that is already not stable. But, there's no reason to huff and puff over something that's years away from happening. There are peaceful ways to resolve such a situation. It would also help if we tried to improve relations with Iran instead of threatening to use force against them.

So, why do we hate Iran? I can't think of any good reason. Can you?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Iran sucks!!!