Shadowboxing With the Devil

[John Lundy]

Tell me he's kidding.

The shah was trying to build a truly cosmopolitan society!!!!

Since when is corruptly syphoning off the wealth of a nation while your 
people are starving building a truly cosmopolitan society?

I'd say the author needs to undergo a sharp remedial history course.  In a 
nutshell, a guy called Mossadeq became prime minister of Iran in the 50s. 
 He introduced land reform, literacy programs, housing for the poor and for 
the first time - despite the vast oil wealth generated by Iran - public 
health initiatives.  He was no radical, (in fact Mosadeq came from quite a 
wealthy background and was not unsympathetic to the West).  What happened? 
 The Shah, concerned by Mosadeq's growing popularity, fled the country and 
asked the CIA to throw the bum out before he returned.  That's exactly what 
they did.  The anti-Americanism this generated prevails to this day.  It's 
the reason why the US felt it had to arm Saddam Hussein as a buffer against 
the so-called "mad mullahs".  Saddam invaded Kuwait.  The US repelled him 
but stayed in Saudi Arabia, pissing off mightily a Saudi called Bin Laden, 
who eventually fled to Afghanistan where he was trained and armed by the 
CIA to fight the Russians.  I'd say as far as foreign policy fiascos go, 
they don't come much bigger than this, but those with a closer knowledge of 
US intervention in Central America and SouthEast Asia may demur...

And, for the millionth time, this doesn't justify or diminish the 
unfathomable tragedy of last week.


On Wednesday, 19 September 2001 04:44, David Morris 
[SMTP:fqmorris at hotmail.com] wrote:
>
> 
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-091801scheer.column?coll=la%2Dnew  
s%2Dcomment%2Dopinions
>
> September 18, 2001
> Robert Scheer:
> Destined to Shadowbox With the Devil
>
> What is unfathomable to us is the depth of the terrorists' hate. From 
what
> has been revealed of their lives, these are the very people who should 
have
> been won over to modernity. They came from the oil-rich nations of the
> Mideast that the U.S. protected during the Cold War and they were
> welcomed--nay, courted-by our finest schools and business institutions.
>
> Yet how easily their wrath against the old Soviet Union after its 
invasion
> of Afghanistan was turned to even fiercer anti-Americanism. More intense
> even than their hostility toward Israel.
>
> From what we can tell about Bin Laden's followers, these are not people 
who
> would settle for the redrawing of national boundaries, even generously, 
so
> as to create a Palestinian state, or to expel the Russians from Chechnya.
>
> No, unfortunately they are driven by what to them appears clearly a 
higher
> purpose, to overturn the international modernization of the 20th century. 
In
> the name of God no less.
>
> In that respect, even Saddam Hussein is their enemy, someone they have
> called a "bad Muslim" because he has essentially presided over a secular
> state.
>
> The same was true of the last shah of Iran, derided by the religious
> fanatics who overthrew him as anti-religious because he was attempting to 
> build a modern cosmopolitan society.
>
>
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