US Accused of Exploiting Iran Quake

GoogleNews-AlJazeera ^ | 01.02.04

[Physicist]

gratitide=gratitude

[CFC__VRWC]

I think the attitudes of the citizens are much different than the attitudes of those who have a hold on them.

I think the mullahs need to put their money where their mouths are, and tell us to take our aid and our relief workers and get out of the country. They weren't shy about telling Israel to f*** off, so they should tell us that as well if they're so worried about us "exploiting" the earthquake.

[longtermmemmory]

Ayat Allah Ahmad Jannati must have better spider holes.

Do you think inteligence services are not watching every screw and penny that is sent over there?

[HarleyD]

"Wow, we've finally heard from someone nuttier than Howard Dean."

Personally they sound about the same to me. :O)

[theFIRMbss]

>We wouldn't be able to exploit it if the Iranian clerics were taking proper care of their people. When you don't do your job, you leave yourself open to being replaced.

I don't think it's that
simple. Giuliani told
the Sauis to shove

their millions to us
after they played politics
after 911.

The Saudis weren't
able to try that because
our leaders screwed up.

I think the truth is
in the modern world there are
many people who

have replaced God with
politics so everything
that happens they view

as political.
(It is bizarre that Muslim
"fundamentalists"

have so completely
embraced political games,
but the saying is,

When you step away
from God, inevitably
you find an idol...)

[Independentamerican]

We should not give them a damn thing..But on the other hand this is just 1 man speaking for an entire country..

[boris]

ping

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

The mullahs are pigs who have been overplaying their hand for years, revealing themselves to be corrupt brutal thugs time after time. Thus they have a large pool of domestic enemies to deal with. Fortunately for us.

The mullahs can still make points on the US government, however, which DID give Saddam considerable material and intelligence support late in his aggression against Iran from 1980-1988, which was very costly.
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php

During part of the war, the US also provided covert help to the Iranian government, apparently on the theory that it was good strategy to help two potential future adversaries of US interests (Saddam and the mullahs) beat the crap out of each other, and that the US could turn the war to its advantage in maintaining control (i.e., access to) the region's oil assets. Interesting summaries of the events can be found at:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/war/iran-iraq.htm
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/arabs/iraniraq.html
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580640/Iran-Iraq_War.html
http://www.ndu.edu/nwc/writing/AY01/5602/SeminarL5602BestPaper.pdf

Some specifics of US involvement:
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/united_states_iran_iraq_war1.php


In spite of their hatred of the mullahs, there are still plenty of Iranians with reasons for despising the US (and the other armorers of Iraq and Iran)- - - namely their dead relatives that the US and the others helped Saddam and the mullahs to kill in that decade long meat grinder of a war.

From their point of view, our interventions in their country, going back to our support for the Shah after helping to engineer the overthrow of the validly elected government that preceded him, is a cause for resentment for many (but also a cause for celebration for those who benefited from the involvement, like many 10's of thousands of Iranian nationals who received university and graduate school educations in the US). Americans, typically oblivious to history, are likely to forget these details. The Iranians, who were directly affected by them, don't.

Perhaps the opposition to the mullahs will outweigh the resentment of past US interventions (and be counterbalanced by the appreciation of those who have never forgotten the benefits they received from US involvement in their country). In fact, if we can prevail in helping the Iraqi ethnic groups develop a sustainable polity in Iraq, the mullahs will have a lot more to sweat about.

May the mullah's days be numbered with a small number.

[ArmstedFragg]

Death chants should be a regular part of any religious service.

I'm particularly fond of the midnight death chant we have on religious holidays.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Why
do
you
write
like
this?

It
is
an
affectation
that
is
extremely
ANNOYING
like
a
fake
Australian
accent
or
something.

It
is
so
annoying
that
I
am
not
going
to
even
bother
to
figure
out
what
the
hell
you
are
rambling
about.

[RightWhale]

It's absurd.

Not absurd in that there is no contradiction. They are annoyed that the concept, the idea, America is parallel and healthy competition to their concept, the idea, Persian Paradise in the Hereafter. They reject the material Paradise, not realizing that also is Idea. We're fortunate that we can have both ideas, Paradise now and Paradise later. They have only Paradise later, their loss. Not absurd, but limiting.

[theFIRMbss]

>Why
do
you
write
like
this?
------------------------------------------------------

I don't write like that!
I am not e e cummings!
I write like this! See?