Great links, thanx y’all.
If interested, a book by Amir Taheri called “The Persian Night - Iran under Khomeinist revolution (published in 2009)” is a good read & is well referenced. This book combines history and analysis of more recent events.
In Chapter 7 entitled “Unwelcome Faith” he writes:
“Iranian chroniclers have recorded the utter amazement caused by the Arab “passion for loot, plunder & destruction”... They cut down trees, laid waste to the artful walled gardens known as paradais (the origin of the English word “paradise”), and pulled down any building that was taller than a camel standing up. Abu-Ubaida bin al-Jarrah, one of the Arab generals, was outraged to see that the Iranian capital had countless buildings that were grander than Allah’s Precinct at Mecca (i.e the Ka’aba).
Among the many innovations that the invaders introduced into Iran was slavery.
According to one study, the Arab invasion, the active part of which lasted 15 yrs, cost Iran the equivalent of half a century of its gross domestic product in modern terms. Many of the underground water channels, known as Kariz & qanat, and Iranian invention, were never repaired, leaving vast tracts of once cultivated land exposed to desertification. As for the windmill, another original Iranian invention, it all but disappeared from the plateau. The invaders destroyed hundreds of dams that had enabled Iranians to develop a sophisticated irrigation system in a land that depended on seasonal rain. The result was the loss of agricultural production on a vast scale, especially in Khorassan & Central Asia. The systematic chopping down of trees by the invaders, especially on the central Iranian plateau, led to a rapid extension of Iran’s two inner deserts, Dasht e Kavir and Kavir e Lut, enabling Arab desert-dwellers to feel more at home.”
In reference to Fred Nerks’ post #13, mullahs’ in Iran & more than a few in the moslem world are descendants of the same Arabs. They at least subscribe to the same culture, mentality & ideology, and yes they will use western technology to bring about death & destruction.
IMO, they have 2 major strengths: 1) a unifying ideology i.e. Islam, and 2) at least for some of them, natural resources e.g. Oil, hence $$$. If we continue to remain complacent, and/or feed & provide support to the mentioned strengths, then we should expect catastrophic results, sooner or later.