[RandallFlagg]

*sigh*

Damned if we do...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A leading Iranian cleric has accused the US of trying to exploit the Bam earthquake for political gain.

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.

[.cnI redruM]

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

[r9etb]

"But it was given a slap in the face," he told worshippers to chants of "Death to America".

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

Those salamikazes just make me sick. Happily, they apparently make a lot of normal Iranians sick, too.

[SunStar]

We were still right to help the injured citizens, regardless of what the Islamic whackjobs say.

[gitmo]

anal sphincters

[KellyAdmirer]

"But it was given a slap in the face," he told worshippers to chants of "Death to America".

I understand nations being opposed to one another. However, people sitting in a house of worship and chanting "death" to an abstract concept like the US is just plain weird. Can anyone reading this really imagine sitting in a large group and chanting "death" to just about anyone or anything? Especially about a place that just sent relief supplies after a disaster? It's absurd. What is wrong with these people? Don't they have anything better to do, maybe something productive so they won't need any outside aid?

[katnip]

But it was given a slap in the face," he told worshippers to chants of "Death to America".

Worshipful chants of hate and death. Yep, their allah is the same G-d I pray to...... {rolling eyes to heaven}

[McGavin999]

The Mullahs want the people to chant "Death to America" while we are helping the earthquake victems? Are they nuts? Oh wait....of course they are.

[PogySailor]

Figures.

25k+ die because the theocracy of Iran cares not a lick for the serfs it rules over. But the lemmings still scream "Death to America!".

[moodyskeptic]

Middle East sand cockroaches are raised to see America as the Great Satan. But when they finally get contact with the US, our soldiers and doctors prove to be humane but strong. Many common Iranians, Iraqis and Afghanis now realize they've been lied to by their leaders.

There is a vast silent conversion under way. For some it's ideological, for many it is a conversion to Christianity, once the coast id clear and their lives are no longer threatened by Mullahs.

[Physicist]

Keep talking, mullah. As your people chant "Death to America", at your command, around mouthfuls of American bread, their minds are considering the real facts of their lives. You can bully the gratitide out of their mouths, but not out of their hearts.

[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?

[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.