Dave-
one reason for the anti-Iran sentiment in the Middle East has to do with
Islamic sects. Khomeini and the Iran mullahs are Shiite Moslems. The
leaders of Iraq and Saudi Arabia are Sunni Moslems. But I think the
majority of the population in these countries is Shiite. If the Islamic
fundamentalists rouse the peoples in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, they might
overthrow the existing governments, and replace them with more radical (and
anti-Western) Islamic states like the Taliban in Afghanistan. And the U.S.
is very afraid of that because of the impact on the oil markets.
-Ben
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Fobare [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 7:21 PM
To: CF-Community
Subject: RE: They (Americans) can't see why they are hated
Backing Saddam was a great idea back in the day. The long Iran-Iraq war
paid off handsomely for the west. Two nasty regimes at each other's throats
for 8 long, bloody years guaranteed the West a healthy, properly
functioning oil market. In Iran, the war accelerated a huge demographic
shift that eventually toppled the "hard-line" mullahs.
In fact, the Iran-Iraq war was a good thing for just about every country on
Earth save Iran & Iraq.
And the US didn't just back Saddam because of our own direct interests.
Every state in the Middle East was(and to some extent still is) terrified
of Khomeini. Both the secularists AND the religious Arabs were very
supportive of our actions. We definitely scored brownie points in the Arab
world during that war.
And what could be really wrong with supporting the Afghan resistance in its
fight with the Soviet Union? The effects of the Afghan war played a
critical part in the eventual fall of the USSR, easily the 20th Century's
greatest evil.
Dave Fobare
>Sadly, this is mostly too true. We also back and armed Saddam Hussein.
-Gary
> > I found this article to be very interesting...
> >
> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,551036,00.html
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