Wednesday, July 06, 2005
A View of Iran Americans Should Hear
William Beeman, an anthropologist from Brown, thinks that the new president of Iran was elected because he is seen as honest and competent, not for reasons of ideology. I want to see what he does before forming an opinion. But any honest assessment will begin by listening to Beeman's perspective:
What the neocons and the MEK [CUII: the probably Feith-funded terror group known also as Khalq that is used by various and sundry (including perhaps Saddam and the Russians) as a catspaw against Iran; the wheels within wheels of Khalq are truly dizzying] are trying to hide from the American people is that Ahmadinejad is in fact a departure from the Iranian regime of the past. He is a religious conservative but not a cleric, and he has embraced some of the domestic agenda of Iran's reformers. These include economic development, anti-poverty programs, and anti-corruption reforms—things vital to an Iranian electorate sick of the nepotism and outright theft that has crept into 27 years of clerical rule, liabilities that many saw embodied in Ahmadinejad's rival, Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani.
Ahmadinejad lacks practical experience in legislative matters. He has a Ph.D. in civil engineering specializing in transportation, and ran a tight ship as Tehran's mayor. His modest life style and sober demeanor gained him the trust of many Iranian voters. He might just be a bridge-builder to the world—if the world would meet him halfway.
More blogs about politics.
