[Vision2020] Warm and Fuzzy Iran (was: Joan and Sunil)

[Joan Opyr]

Phil, et al.,

I don't think that anyone could read either my posts or Sunil's and 
make the case that either one of us supports the current regime in Iran 
or, indeed, that we are defending the Saddam regime in Iraq.  In the 
former case, I don't; in the latter case, I didn't.  In fact, I just 
attended a talk in Newcastle given by Peter Tatchell of Outrage.  He's 
been accused of being racist and imperialist for condemning the regime 
in Iran, which has lately executed a number of gays and lesbians, some 
of whom were young teenagers.  The regime in Iran disgusts me; Saddam 
Hussein disgusted me; I'm appalled by the governments of Syria, Egypt, 
Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Libya, ad 
infinitum.  I believe firmly in secular government.  It horrifies me 
that the United States is willing to sacrifice democratic principles 
for the sake of a steady oil supply.  We support all of the 
aforementioned dictatorships except Iran, Syria, and Libya, and we have 
backdoor dealings even with those.  (I have a friend who taught English 
in Libya during the Reagan years.  When that country was supposedly 
under full U. S. economic sanctions, Texan oil men were waived through 
customs in their Tony Lama boots and their Stetson hats with a nod and 
a wink.  And let's not forget that Dick Cheney's Halliburton was still 
negotiating with the Taliban not one month before Al Qaeda attacked the 
World Trade Center and the Pentagon.)

Now, that said, when I say I believe in secular government, I believe 
in it everywhere, both here and there.  I don't want to live under a 
fundamentalist religious regime here, and I don't think Iranians, 
Iraqis, or anyone else should have to live under one there.  I find the 
mix of fundamentalist religion and government appalling wherever it 
crops up.  You've seen the bumper stickers, I'm sure -- the last time 
we mixed religion and politics, people got burned at the stake?  I make 
no excuses for Saddam Hussein, though I do point out that he, like Shah 
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was once our puppet.  I also make no excuses for 
the government of Iran.  But anyone who imagines that we are in Iraq to 
bring the Iraqis secular democracy hasn't bothered to read the new 
Iraqi constitution.  Have you not heard the mutterings of our 
Republican brethren about women not having the vote when *this* country 
was founded, and so we must be satisfied with mere baby steps toward 
democracy in Baghdad?  Horse-puckey.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  
Either we deliver democracy, or we stop pretending.

We cannot, should not, and must not accept the President of Iran 
calling for the destruction of Israel.  We cannot accept the execution 
of gays, lesbians, and other non-conformists in any culture or under 
any regime.  This is the Amnesty International position, and it's my 
position.  Do I think, however, that Muslim governments have cornered 
the market on fundamentalist religious abuse?  Not on your nelly.  The 
problem is not Islam, anymore than George W. Bush's problem is 
Christianity.  The problem is the violent imposition of one's will on 
another, a problem as old as humankind.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com