TIRDAD'S LAST TIRADE

Submitted by DANIEL REDMOND (United States), Oct 31, 2008 at 16:40

Dear Tirdad, I must confess that you seem to be a pretty decent sort of person with a passion for supporting the United States, but your thinking on the subject of foreign policy is evidently so muddled that I don't even know where to begin in correcting it. Suffice it to say that your latest posting could best be described as a "convoluted rant" about a multitude of subjects, some totally unrelated to the others. Let me just point out that if you wish to spare the lives of more young Americans the best way to do it is to engage in diplomacy rather than in the military incursion of foreign lands. At present Iran does not present a nuclear threat to the United States or anyone else and there is absolutely no justification for invading that country. Ahmadinajad can say whatever he wants about Israel or anywhere else for that matter.....it's just talk.

A very good Iranian friend of mine in my college days returned to Tehran in 1979. It was a foolish thing to do and she ended up stuck there for eighteen years before she could leave again. While there she taught literature for a time at the University of Tehran. Her name is Azar Nafici and we attended the University of Oklahoma together many years ago. Her father had once been Mayor of Tehran back in the 1960s. She has written her memoirs in a book called "Reading Lolita in Tehran," formerly number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for non-fiction, and in reading her work it is clear that there are many people with pro-western sentiments living in Iran, despite the image conveyed by the media of extreme Islamic radicalism. It would be much more effective for the U.S. to cultivate a friendship with the citizens of Iran than to allienate them through military invasion. And it would spare countless lives as well. The perhaps the people themselves will rise up against the mullahs and form a new government.

In any case, I think we should just agree to disagree, Tirdad, and go our separate ways. Welcome to America, the land of diverse opinions where everybody gets to speak his mind.

- DANIEL REDMOND

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".