Smithsonian Magazine Finds Iranians Still Like Americans

[Herbaholic00]

http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/1237/Smi...Like_Americans

Iran is actually one of the least Anti-American Muslim countries around, the Smithsonian finds.


America has played an outsized role in Iran over the past century, and is now criticizing the government over the countryâ??s nuclear program.

This January, Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran was â??right at the top of the listâ?� of potential trouble spots. Yet, despite the current turmoil and decades of anti-American propaganda from the Iranian government, many Iranians express admiration for the United States.

In the March issue of Smithsonian magazine, the article â??A New Day in Iran?â?� finds that Iranians say they admire, of all places, America.

â??The paradox of Iran is that it just might be the most pro-American â?? or, perhaps, least anti-American â?? populace in the Muslim world,â?� says Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst in Tehran for the International Crisis Group.

Smithsonian commissioned Afshin Molavi, an internationally recognized authority on Iran, to write the article. Born in Iran, Molavi grew up in the United States and returned to the region to research his 2003 book, â??Persian Pilgrimages: Journeys Across Iran.â?�

A Washington, D.C.-based journalist, Molavi spent two weeks in Iran doing research for his Smithsonian article, which touches on the pro-American attitudes of Iranâ??s youth, the escalating tensions between America and Iran, and Molaviâ??s surprising take on Iranâ??s future.

As the Smithsonian article documents, many Iranians who said they welcomed the ouster of the American-backed Shah 26 years ago are now frustrated by the revolutionary regimeâ??s failure to make good on promised political freedoms and economic prosperity. Government mismanagement, chronic inflation and unemployment have also contributed to mistrust of the regime and, with it, its anti-Americanism.

Though hard-line officials urge â??Death to America,â?� most Iranians seem to ignore the propaganda. In a recent survey, nearly three-fourths of the Iranians polled said they would like their government to restore dialogue with the United States.

Itâ??s apparent that Iranâ??s youth are the most disenchanted with the current government. Young people in Iran make up the bulk of the population, 70 percent of which is under 30. Students on todayâ??s college campuses tend to shun politics and embrace practical goals such as getting a job or admission into a foreign graduate school. Some 150,000 Iranian professionals leave the country each year, one of the highest rates of brain drain in the Middle East.

In 1953 the United States engineered a coup to overthrow the government and then in the 1960s backed a modernization effort under the Shah government. These ventures led to a surge in anti-American sentiment in the 1970s. Today, however, those under 30 are too young to remember the anti-American sentiment and share little of their parentsâ?? ideology.



Peace

Herbaholic00 Reviewed by Herbaholic00 on 02-25-2005. Smithsonian Magazine Finds Iranians Still Like Americans http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/1237/Smithsonian_Magazine_Finds_Iranians_Still_Like_Americans Iran is actually one of the least Anti-American Muslim countries around, the Smithsonian finds. America has played an outsized role in Iran over the past century, and is now criticizing the government over the countryâ??s nuclear program. This January, Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran was â??right at the top of the listâ?� of potential trouble spots. Yet, despite the current turmoil and Rating: 5

[amsterdam]

that's because more than half the population is under 30 and have absolutely no desire to live under a religous regime.enough people get together in that country and it will fall from the inside.does anyone else see the international stategy there or is it just me?

[F L E S H]

and have absolutely no desire to live under a religous regime

That's absolutely true, but not just in Iran.... Unfortunately, that's where Bush is taking Americans

[Delta9]

Actually your right about B_sh trying to get Americans to be religious. And that is not good because religion is a trap. Don't fall into the religious trap, or an appeal to the heart and emotions.

And fucking 'A' security thats all they spend money on, I don't wan't to live in a fucking security compound were I can't break the fucking law.

[Delta9]

...But, given that a Niggard killed 4 Israelies outside a club in Israel I will still say:

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck You, Iran!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Libertarian Toker]

That's absolutely true, but not just in Iran.... Unfortunately, that's where Bush is taking Americans

Can you show me how bushy is making a theocracy out of the USA? .

Toker

[pisshead]

i don't see how bush is forcing any religion on people. his faith based initiative federalizes churches and brings them under government control...and that started as least in the 60's...as far as i've seen...

he's as religious as any despot you see in history...

[nomorenarcs]

Banning stem cell research, saying "creationism" without laughing, encouraging federal money to go to jesus lovers under the guise of "faith based inititives", saying the word god all the time, trying to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage. Having thought police run the FCC because of a bunch of full time jesus whiners complain about boobies. If any of this shit happened in a muslim country you people would call it islamofascism. I am waiting for bush to say women are their husbands property

[pisshead]

christians are just as much under attack as all religions...
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/feb...rutaltruth.htm

Audio and Video: Christians Face 47 Year Prison Sentence For Praying, Reading Bible During Homosexual Protest
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/articles/...onsentence.htm

bush isn't a christian. well, he's as much a christian as hitler was i guess.

[amsterdam]

i hate to break it to some people, the conspiacy idea's are the down fall of the left.the only person who could even get some point's in '08 is billary and she is SPRINTING away from the whacko side of her party.SPRINTING!If the dem's ever want to see a seat in congress again they had better ditch the idiot's.