I totally agree with this writer. The problem with most Americans is that they can't or don't want to think independently. Most of them live in their own little worlds which includes probably the town, or city they live in, or state at most in some cases, MLB, NBA, NFL, and the things of their own world. Just when you take these sports, it is funny how they call their own league finals the "World Championship". In any case, many of them just want to agree with their President or the people that govern them. I think that is very dangerous for a vibrant democracy that claims to be one of the largest in the world and most advanced.

I wonder where those middle eastern commentators could have possibly picked up the strategy of avoiding direct answers to questions, either by giving obtuse answers or completely changing the subject?

When is the last time a straight answer was ever given by President Bush, Alberto Gonzales or anybody in this administration?

Gonzales seems to never recall anything when he is pressed on a sensitive matter. Bush completely ignores questions or goes off subject.

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Enjoyed reading your article. Very true. Thanks.

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arrabbiato:
"someone who is perpetuating evil all over the world."
If you have been schooled in this country by any chance you should have learned who this title belongs to solely.
"Which is why we know, and have known since 1979: THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN HAS GOT TO GO!"
Iranian people are quite capable of making decision on their own and for the benefit of their own and please be assured they are not interested in any assistance from the people of a country which itself is controlled by Tel Aviv,.

Great comments. Well said.

Hey Ali-

Wake Up, America: Iran is Not What You Think

You're right about this. It's FAR WORSE. Which is why Columbia U's dean was so brilliant-he called out the evil he saw, and he knew, you can't prettify evil, and you can't use nice words of diplomacy to legitimize someone who is perpetuating evil all over the world.

Which is why we know, and have known since 1979: THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN HAS GOT TO GO!

It is a relief to finally hear some reason coming
out of the mainstream press. I was beginning to feel i was going crazy with all this warmongering and misinformation about iran. Wake up people! This is nothing but a play on our fear and ignorance. These are humans with families and dreams not the boggy monster.

Superb! The USSR mentality is taking over USA: CNN is the old TASS News Agency, Washington Post is the old Pravda, the Homeland Security Department is the American KGB, intrusive government in people's privacy, waves of massive financial mistakes, daily waives of new laws, and of course the Iraq war which also destroyed the Soviet Army's morale in Afghanistan.

VAMAN

You write: ... "Most people in this country is quite knowledgeable about Iran and they make up the....."

Tell me, jive man, ARE most people in America as well-versed with their mother tongue of the English Language? or have you just demonstrated a leading and stark example of the majority, all graduates of the George W. Bush school of neo-lingual grammer?

Given your demonstration and depth of education (that is to say, lack of it), I take your comments with the due weight and attention it deserves!

So, I tend to think the poster BIG BIJAN is right!

Vaman: Please clarify for me: We (the US) invaded a country (Iraq) and caused tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of deaths, all contrary to UN rules. Please do remember that we tried to get UN authorization BUT FAILED. What grounds do we have to complain about 440 people who were held, but were all released? Somehow, the relative scales are not equitable, and very much against us.

VAMAN
only 20% of Americans can locate USA on a world map and you say that most people in USA are knowledgeable about Iran......this must be the grand misrepresentation of the century....or in the words of your president Bush a "misunderestimation" of the century!

Be it as it may, looking back does not solve any problems. Uncle Sam and the "evil" USSR settled their differences within a few hours and it took a simple one-on-one talk between Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva. It took will, leadership and determination to solve problems of the past.

You Americans think that you can tell others what to do, and when you invite a president of a country you think it is right insult the guest.

So, you can stay in the dark and be isolated in the world. Who cares......? I bet you think that you are winning in Iraq too, don't you?

It is easy to point faults at USA as Iran hates USA. As long as Iran has taken embassy hostages in their country against the UN rules, it should not claim Iran is some how a grand country. Most people in this country is quite knowledgeable about Iran and they make up their opinion one way or other. It will really take a long number of years to convince people here that Iran is different than what we think. There is no reason for writing these articles to tell us.

Dear Mr. Ettefagh,

Thank you for your column. I truly enjoy reading it. It's refreshing to read in this part of the world (Washington, DC).

Many thanks.

A realistic article. We must deal with today and now the way it is.

Second, it is a bad assumption by Americans that Iranians need help, guidance, a push or other kinds of hollow offers or alligator tears, as one poster said.

What Iranians need is space and time and removal of any pressure to figure things out for themselves. Iran is an old civilisation and has faced many challenges and foreign attacks in the past. It has survived them all and there is no reason why it cannot survive again. This divide and dominate theory of western countries, and applying pressure is a short-sighted way. Iranians and people in the Middle East and the Far East think about the long-term and decades past and forward.

So, the best service the West and Americans can do to Iranians is to leave them alone.

Fate, I agree with your post and I hope my compatriots get to be a bit more open to discuss our differences. Afterall, we have all inherited all these problems. I know that the progressives and the NGO's in the U.S. are very active and that's encouraging. Everyone's number one priority right now should be to prevent a war between our countries.
If you all think we have grievances against each other right now, wait until a war takes place and there will be a million more grievances to shout about.
Our differences are big but not unsurmountable. If a war takes place, we will be forever separated. That would be a pity.

Wow....a great article!
But I cannot understand these Americans that they think they must give Iranians advice and tell us about the world. They elected a president that didn't have a passport!

IRONMAN
Good luck with your soon to arrive "new government". Just leave ours and us Iranians alone.

I don't blame you, really. You are a very young country that has gone from barbarism to arrogance without going thru civilisation. Just stay away!

Jeez, who would have thought there would be so many apologists for a brutal regime? Persia was great, Iran is a dump.

America is going to get a new government soon with real elections, Iran will get more mullahs with rigged "elections". You get the government you deserve. Enjoy yours!

To FATE

Please save us from your alligator tears. Leave us Iranians alone.
That will be best for every one.

FATE
Have you ever been to Iran? If not, I suggest you hold back your comments until you see reality, not parts of reality.
In your country that you think freedom of speech means insulting a visitor, the same country that has not taken care of its own people in New Orleans, only 20% can locate USA on a world map. So, who cares what you all do!

And arrest of journalists: See the story of Judith Miller of The New York Times....right there in your own country!
Among all angles and serious issues, your press took up the sex stories and homosexuals (perhaps 0.1% of all Iranians) as a keynote, when Ahmadinejad was talking about the fact that there is no need for a war. So I think the writer of the article has been precise with the mind set of America: a riddle and an enigma.

I agree completely with you Ahmed. And as an American, I do criticize my government. I saw a bumper sticker on the way home last night that said "Impeach Bush". Now how many bumper stickers are there in Iran calling for the removal of the council or Ahmadinejad. I also have watched the reports of newspaper shutdowns and arrests of journalists and students. Iran is more like Myanmar than like any democracy. I find it funny that some can only respond by insulting you or say "Rome was not built in a day". They fail to understand that it does not take much time to turn a country toward freedom and liberty. Asking for time while tyrants rein should never be a request from a civilized person.

Your country will be free one day because it is what the people want and people can never be kept down for very long. Continue the struggle, don't accept the injustice, support those who fight for freedom. You do it in Iran and I'll do it here in America, then both governments will be friends when they reflect the wishes of their peoples.

AHMAD:
Rome was not built in a day!

Long live Ahmadinejad....
Down with AHMAD!

Petty and Cruel Iranian:

Last thing I want to see in this debate is blinding nationalism (on either side). Yes there are many thousands of bloggers who write everyday in Persian and I read most of them. But add that to the fact that many bloggers have been jailed in the past few years, many many sites on the internet are filtered by "ministry of information", and there is a report of a newspaper closing almost everyday. I like you to show me one newspaper printed in Iran where they openly critisize high government officials (not the petty ones). I want to see one of these newspapers dare say anything negative about the "spiritual leader" and see if it's not going to be accused of "insulting high officials" and get shut down the next day and the editors thrown in jail. How many "reformer" newspapers have been shutdown in the past 4 years for the crime of "insulting high officials" and "questioning the pillars of the regime"?
Didn't Mr. Ahmadi-Nejad in his pre-election speech say: "Our biggest problem is not what women wear? It's an insult to the Iranians to tell them what to wear and what not to wear?" and then retracted his words when the crackdown on women began in the streets? If you have not seen it, go to YouTube and it's right there for everyone to see (sorry if you are in Iran YouTube is filtered). I must say here that I completely disagree with Columbia president that Ahmadi-Nejad is a dictator. How can he be a dictator when nobody in the government even listens to his words and they constantly poke fun at "Mahmoud"? Didn't he say that women are now allowed go to the stadiums and then the next day the "council of Ayatollahs" overruled the president? what kind of a republic is this where the president has zero power? No sir, he is not a dictator. He is a nobody!

Please stop painting a rosy picture. It doesn't wash anymore. Just be honest so you can contribute positively to the debate not detract from it. I also like to ask my American friends to critisize their own where they have to and not let this type ultra-nationalism get in the way of an otherwise great debate.

good points to debate

FATE
It is widely reported that Persian is one of the most blogged languages. Technocrati (the blog tracking service) reports that it is tenth most blogged language. Add this to the fact that about 45 daily newspapers are published in Iran, in Persian and not conveniently in English so you Yanks can understand....... and there are very open debates about lots of things. We didn't have this 30 years ago when America's man (as the article above mentions, that is the Shah) was around. So, it is change for the better.

As for religion being the centre of policy in the Middle East.....gee, holly cow! You seem to forget who started this trend ....... by creating a religious apartheid Jewish state in the region wrapped around a militarist doctrine of Zionism!

jcorco2862:
"When Iran cuts a check for $10 million to each American they kidnapped in 1979 and held until 1981, then it will be time to talk. Not before."

I trust this respectable writers refers to the Americans in US embassy in Tehran who had departed from their routine political representation of US to running Iran with their installed puppet and committing all sorts of crimes against Iranians and now with a verdict, worthy of no attention, that Iran always even refused to acknowledge and participate in the case, this writer has decided to display and brag about his or her intelligence.

Well, now that we have the pleasure of his or her company here, may be he or she can tell us when victims, dead or surviving at the hands of US could be compensated ? Shall we start with most recent ones exceeding One million and more than Four million dislocated in Iraq and how about their sovereignty when the US voided when they walked in to loot their only natural resources whom they had learned in advance to be the second largest reserve in the world ? Or shall we start with the Japanese when the US could have dropped the very same Two bombs on uninhabited areas and achieved same results ?

Could you enlighten us with the good news now ?

Abgoosht & Pizza wrote: "Wake up and grow up! Iran is the only country in the region that allows Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians their freedom of religion by law and in practice."

What has that to do with the foreign policy of any nation or its desire for regional power and dominance? Hitler did not restrict religions, except judiasm. In WW2 Germany you had Catholics working at concentration camps. The problem in the ME in general is that religion is linked with everything and that linkage is considered important. It is not and never has been. The lnkage is an illusion. The Iran/Iraq war should be a reminder that religion and its existence within a country has little to do with the country's goodness or badness.

Chaotician: it may be possible that you missed a cliche in your rant but I doubt it.

ITSNOTFAIR: Excellent points and a reasonable plan for going forward. Thanks.

Perhaps George and Dick can spell Iran, it is very doubtful that anyone has a clue about anything outside the beltway! You are confused if you think any American cares about anything outside his or her personal power and/or wealth; the more one has the more one wants! If you consider that all actions of Geoirge and Dick are purely for the increase of their Power; then you will undersatnd why all of these adventures are miserable failures from any sane perspective...but great successes in getting these evil men control of the American people and the nation's military power! These "Wag the Dog" escapades have destroyed all of the Constitutional safe-guards, the moral autority, the economic well-being, the capability to act of America.

It may be better to jaw-jaw, but Churchill did bring his nation to war-war when he could not see a better option. When Germany's militaristic desires for land and political thinking threatened to engulf Europe, he sent his country into war even though it had not been touched by Germany. Its always better to jaw-jaw, but that does not rule out war-war when necessary.

Also, can Mr. Ettefagh or some of the other Iranian supporters here point me to an Iranian newspaper where free blogging on subjects such as this are practiced? Any Iranians newspapers that are still around that is.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/75118b72-6f7e-11dc-b66c-0000779fd2ac.html

Friends,
Reading all these comments one thing is obvious. You don't have to go very far to find faults with the government of Iran and same goes for the U.S. government. It seems like we all first need to solve problems within our own countries before being able to engage in "moral advisory" conversations with the other side.
Unfortunately, what happens with smaller countries is that quite often the big powers try to agitate the situation until "their interests" are met. Now this doesn't mean that the governments in smaller countries are outstanding entities who are being victimized (as they like to portray it). Quite the contrary, in Iran we suffer from a theocratic regime that quite often exhibits 0 tolerance policy towards it's own citizens. But at the same time we have to realize that the last 30 years have been turbulant times in Iran and things keep changing day by day. The policies of the Iranian government today are not comparable to the ones even 15 years ago. So as an Iranian citizen I like to ask the big powers to lay off for a while. Let us resolve our own problems and then see if we can build a better friendship. Agitating the situation will not help anyone. There are fundumental unsolved issues between Iranian people and it's government. Those need to be sorted out first. Insults and threats from the outside are not helping. They push people to one side or the other. Moreover, the government can use those external threats as an excuse to crack down on all dissent. The same thing happens when a foreign national critisizes the U.S. government. Even if you are against this administration, you tend to rise up and defend them, essentially you are being pushed into defending something you really don't believe in.
Meanwhile, building the friendship bridges between the "people" of Iran and the "people" of the U.S. seems more important than defending failed government policies of either side. It's up to all of us to define how our governments interact with each other.
Peace!

GooZoo - Iran is not the beacon of light and advancement you say it is. Iran is a religious tyranny which is doomed to fall apart just like all intolerant regimes. It will happen from the inside not from the outside. Watch it and weep.

IRONMAN
When read objectively, Abgoosht & Pizza is reflecting the view of a majority of Iranians, in Iran or outside.
More important is that he was addressing the post of an Iranian and his moaning.
So, I don't think it is envy or hate, just a clear showing of pure facts, also showing that America and the West has showed that it has no goodwill to Iranians that wanted democracy and advancement for themselves.

I think the article above is right. Americans don't want to accept Iran as it is and they want to bring back an idea from 50 years ago and it is now just an old fossil. Iran and Iranians are not just about oil and gas.

I think what Victoria really wants to say is that she hates George W. Bush.

Abgoosht & Pizza - You seem to have a lot of hate and envy.

Michael Ledeen is another Israeli douche bag that is trying to suck blood and treasure out of the US and pipe it into Israel. While our Social Security is nearing bankruptcy and our infrastructure is crumbling (our bridges are falling, Manhattan is literally falling apart), we send Billions of dollars of our tax money to Israel. We are bleeding money and the blood of our sons and daughters in Iraq, because Israeli lobby took us to war.

Watch any of the presidential debates on either party. There is a litmus-test that each candidate must pass in order to be able to be a candidate for presidency. They must all pledge their unconditional surrender to the Israeli lobby.

I’m sick of it. @#$% enough is enough

Victoria:

So I guess your argument is that since America is a wealthy country and you hate our foreign policy so much you have to shout it in caps, there should be no recognition of those views that don't hate America?

Gee, that makes sense. Can you please let us know what other positions you hold, so we can avoid printing any articles that disagree with them?

Why are liberals so afraid of any views that are not rabidly anti-American? I guess you guys think that we should have a dialogue with Iran, but not with any Americans who don't hate America?

Great writing and excellent observations. Thank you Dr. Ettefagh!

ARDESHIR GILANSHAH:
Take some blood pressure medicine.
Since you say that you travel abroad, surely you can go outside Iran and stay out of Iran..... if you don't like your own home country.
There are many opportunities for you in the pizza delivery and cab driving industries! In those Arab countries that did not exist 30 years ago or USA. We Iranians like to live our way in our own home country, and unlike before, we can change it.

Otherwise, try to be a bit more positive and respectful about your own home country.
There is no place like home. Even if you end up in USA and take an American passport and a blood American wife, they will still call you and Iranian-American, never a full American: always separated from Americans with a (-) and they will call YOU a terrorist when a wild Arab from Afghan mountains kills Americans, as the president of Columbia University showed the world. Been there!

well, looking at the comments of JCORCO2862, it looks like the bidding has started. I knew there was some cash stuck in this whole story. Let's see $10m for 444 days $938.44 an hour for each of the 52 hostages.

So, what is good for the goose, must be good for the gander, right? So:

1979-1953 coup = 26 years or 9490 days x 24 hours x $938 x about 30 million Iranians =
$ 6'409'166'400'000'000 plust about 50+ years of interest + refund of all that military hardware junk that America sold to Iran + $100 million for every Iranian that USA killed by shooting down an IranAir Airbus.....If you pay in cash, we can give you a 2% discount.

Don't confuse this with those zero-down mortgages now!

When Iran cuts a check for $10 million to each American they kidnapped in 1979 and held until 1981, then it will be time to talk. Not before.

I do not wish to engage in a "pissing" match with "visceral" America haters who most probably live in one of the 50 states, hold green cards/passports, travel without difficulty, have had "girlfriends", got an education and making a bit of cash here and there.

What bothers me the most is this: No one but the the so-called Islamic and Marxist intellectuals many of whom were educated in the West is more responsible for the:

1. sanctions
2. the war with Iraq
3. economic mismanagment
4. executions in the thousands of men, women of different persuasion
5. stoning to death
6. killings of opposition figures in Germany, France, the US
7. Taking over a sovereign nation's embassy
8. Mass hysteria and ecstacy in welcoming Khomeini and his rabid ideology
9. In short, taking Iran to the edge of the abyss

Don't blame the US and the West for the miserable state of the Iranian economy. Blame your America haters who got rid of a corrupt system just to substitude it with a much worse one.

With respect to Persian Gulf nations, I travel to the region quite a lot. The Arabs may be not as smart as Iranians, but they know one thing: Pay for talent and import it. Not a day goes by in Dubai when a skyscraper goes up, whereas in Tehran it takes forever to construct a multi-family building.Just do a banking transaction in Iran and you face an avalanche of paper work and signatures, but then you checks get bounced and signature forged. I can give you images of today's Iran but it would fill volumes. Too bad, you don't live here to see young boys and girls selling chewing gums at intersections; or the begger whose infant is perrenially asleep under the influence of opiom so the mother can arouse passing cars' sympathies for a mere 50 cents.

More fundamentally, why don't you ever measure the happiness of the people? Come to Iran, you dishonest and pathological America haters and see how the common man's back is brokern under the burden of inflation, corruption, nepotism, favoratism and "agha zadehs".

I have seen women dragged from streets in the heat of mid-day Tehran by uniformed men and women (the Gestapo) who insult them, abuse them and then lock them up in a hot stifling van--just to be taken before a clergy man and be "guided"...

If Iran's sistuation and the regime are so good, please come over here; find a place to rent, get a job, breathe the polluted air, get your wife's insulted on the street.

You people make me sick. You are the ones who fooled a nation 30 years ago and then ran off to the comforts of California, Chicago, DC, New York.
Leave your pseudo-nationalism in your local Kebab place in the States and let the Iranian people join the world as a "normal" nation.

Great Analysis Dr. Ettefagh, and a good debate posters.
This is what it should be and we could all help ourselves by lowering the temperature and be more civilised. It is the 21st century.

ARDESHIR GILANSHAH & Others;

Well, let's see if we can use a (neutral) Taiwanese calculator: Iran exports 2.6 million barrels of oil a day, population 72 million. Saudi Arabia exports 8.5 million barrels, population about 22 million. Qatar, UAE and Kuwait together export about 4.5 million bbls for a total population of less than 10 million. You can do the math,.... I hope!

As for your other rants and raves, did any of them suffer thru a war of 8 years? When export of medication to treat chemical weapon injury was banned? How about stupid sanctions? Does any other country in the world have living victims of chemical weapons amongst its population, all courtesy of Uncle Sam?

If Iranian cars are bad, why is it that Iran is now the 12th largest car producer in the world? and it has production in Egypt, Venezuela, Belarus (for the Russian market) and Syria?

Israel has no problems with Iran? What are you smoking??!
Then, please help me understand who is this AIPAC thing and what are the all about as they have occupied Capital Hill in your USA? And the funniest part is that their best "sources" on Iran are a few charlatans-- some guy that skipped prison town on a prison break program, another guy that used be a revolutionary guardsman and has now flipped, and an assortment of others that are trawling for Yankee cash. There was also a guy that was a convicted low level fraud artist from Isfahan that had claimed to have seen Israeli prisoners in Iran....!!!

Finally, it is fair to say that Iran has advanced its economy, its production base and business structure and its unversity capacity despite:
(a) a doubling of population,
(b) a destructive 8 year war,
(c) announced and unwritten sanctions,
(d) bad publicity and, finally.....
(e) not having any relations with USA, a blessing in disguise.

If it was the old Shah and the old B.S. of the past, there would have been no elections, no parliament and no debate. There was no electricity a mere 20 miles away from the Shah's grand palace. All for what? To appease Israel and its 6 million extremists-- as the writer said, half of Tehran's population?

Wake up and grow up! Iran is the only country in the region that allows Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians their freedom of religion by law and in practice. It is the only country in the region, including Turkey, that has a special line item of government budget as aid to religious minorities for schools, places of worship, cemetaries, etc.
I dare you to find a church or synagogue in any of your listed Arab countries, the ones you think they are better off, or equality of Muslims under Israeli law-- racist system of government!

well mike, since our benefit has been disproportionate to our population and needs-
(and energy expended) it is only just that our responsibilty for these benefits also be disproportionate.

to those whom great wealth is given, great responsibilites are expected

I AM AN AMERICAN AND I REALLY REALLY HATE THE FOREIGN POLICY OF MY GOVERNMENT

REALLY HATE IT

AND I LOVE MYSELF
and most (but not all)of the people i love dearly are americans-

so, your contention is simply illogical as i am a real life example of its wrongness.

it is possible to love someone dearly and still recognize their faults.

It is quite discouraging when one experiencing difficulty on net to get through National Inquirer accidentally drops by here and delivers, I sincerely believe out of ignorance, the ultimate insult to the Persian by comparing Four Particular Persian Gulf nations to Iran.

This forlorn is so out of touch and clueless that he does not know those Four particular nations combined are yet incapable to produce a light bulb on their own and everything with the exception of sand is imported over there including human skill, while Iran with its own faults, cut off by Western countries since 1980 makes revolutionary advances in science consistently and has proven to be very self sufficient in military hardware too.

I trust Dr. Ettefagh will not compromise his class and intelligence by taking notice of this strayed helpless.

As for President Ahmadinejad, not only he came out as a decisive winner last week, nothing out of ordinary, his consistent vilification in US can solely be attributed to his independence and disobedience of US and rest, a primary quality a Persian needs to possess to qualify as one, has also secured himself a title shared by another grand Persian, the late Doctor Mossadegh.

Ardeshir Gilanshah:

Excellent analysis - thank you!

See how simple the American-Iranian crisis is? It's all America's fault. Now that is some impressive dialogue!

So when is there going to be a stridently pro-American voice on PostGlobal? We have this large cast of stridently anti-American pundits, but no contrasting view.

I guess the "conversation on global issues" isn't large enough to include any of those who don't blame America exclusively for the world's problems.

I am Iranian-American and no fan of Ahmadinejad. Reading about Ahmadinejad's appearance in Columbia University and the way he was treated I felt outrageous and very disappointed..

Ignoring Lee Bollinger's introduction of Ahmadinejad's extremely rude, insulting, vulgar and way off the norm of any common courtesy to hostile audience, his questions was absolutely idiotic. He only regurgitated, the baseless acquisitions of neocons.

One wonder where does he live and get his information. He is not even updated with the day's news, forget about recent history. It is shame that this man is at the top of Prestigious institute such as Columbia University.

Just look at the fact that Americans in last 4 years with all their powers, resources and might, as hard as they have tried, not been able to find any evidence to connect Iran to support of resistance in Irag . They have been so desperate that have done any thing including kidnapping and arresting any Iranian and other nationals in Iraq without any regard to international law or wish of Iraqi's government; yet, have not been able to present any acceptable evidence to the word to somehow connect Iran to their failure in Iraq.

The man opened his mouth and showed how uneducated, shallow and ignorant he is. He may not be as ignorant, but knew the facts, just was trying to make certain people happy; He is still condemn.

I'll be ashamed to even be student in the University that has such a president. Any professor with an average intellects and self respect need to be ashamed to have such a person as a boss. He need to acknowledge his mistake or ignorance and resign. It may bring creditability to that Institution.

One can clearly understand the outrage most Iranians felt from differnet viewpoints by very harsh and blatant attacks as well as unsubstantiated and inflamatory comments leveled against their president by Mr. Bollinger. However the events that led to Mr. Bollinger theatrical provocation deserves more attention. Prior to Mr. Ahmadinejad speech, a choir of Israel enthusiasts within the administartion, congress and media began a frenzy to stop president Ahmadinejad from addressing the American people on the eve of a very positive report by IAEA acknowledging Iran's peaceful nuclear activities. Thus, the pressure mounted on Mr. Bollinger to withdraw the invitation which resulted in his introductory speech hoping to cause sufficient outrage in Mr. Ahmadinejad to leave the auditorium. However his prudence and estraint prevailed and he achieved his major objectives of his visit and dealt a major blow to his Isralei opponents by posing cleraly defined questions and challenging the intellectuals and academics to confront them. Mainly whether Paletinians should be the subject of a sixty year old attrocities and pay the price of western committed crime against humanity better known as holocaust and what western liberal democracies fear over further research on the issue and subject people to prison who wish to do so, specially when no other subject regardless of how controversial it may seem initiates any legal barriers. His emphasis on peace,global brotherhood, justice and compassion was indeed a knockout blow to anti iranian handfuls and warmongers who had enjoyed massive coverage by the media. Regardless of "don't show, don't tell" enthusiasts spin on his comments about gays in Iran, there were three major outcomes as well. namely his arab and muslim audience who according to most feedbacks found his comments soothing, the domestic audience in Iran which were left with a mixed feeling of approval and raised eyebrows at times and the last which was quite unintended on his part and actually delivered by Mr. Bollinger to anti zionists opposition when he objected to the boycott movement of Israel's educational instituions. His Pathetic speech and ridiculous performance dropped Columbia's credentials to a new low and gave more validity to the boycott initiative.

Dear Mr. Ettefagh,

I think it was sensible of Columbia University's officials to invite Mr. Ahmadinejad to speak at the School. However, in view of the massive protests againt the decision to invite Ahmadinejad, the School's president punched below the waist:

You simply don't insult a guest whom you have invited. It lacks decorum and does not benefit anyone and certainly does not advance the cause of understanding.

However, your comments about Iran of today being implicitly better than Iran of the Shah's days are patently false. I live here and see that despite the largest oil/gas revenue ever recorded in Iran's history, the country is mired in 20% inflation, 15% unemployment, 40% liquidity expansion, drugs, prostitution and most of all, people's increasingly "double" lives. Exterior modesty and religiousity and interior hedonism.

For comparison, I invite you to visit the Persian Gulf nations and see for yourself how far advanced you have become: Qatar, Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia.

After all, they also reaped the benefits of higher oil/gas prices, but how is that they have from $1 to $2 trillion worth of liquidity, whereas in Iran, people's income in real terms have declined?

Is it also the fault of America? or Israel?

Since when Iranians and Israelis have ever been in a state of mutual antagonism? Never, till the advent of the Islamic Revolution.

Has Israel ever done to cause Iranian people's wrath? Not to my knowledge.

The tomb of Esther is in Hamedan; Cyrus freed the Jews from Captivity and allowed his subjects to worship their own Gods?

How far have we degenerated to prevent the Bahaiis not to worship as they like? and treat them as non-persons?

You probably remember that under the Shah, people used to drink in public, but do prayers in private. Now, it is just the reverse: prayers in public, but sex/drugs/whatever goes in private.

This does not bode well for any society, especially one whose government claims to be the vanguard of Islamic "democracry".

I am reminded of the good old "Soviet" days in Moscow. And whatever became of that??

Please ask yourself this question? What kind of society do you wish to leave for the youth of Iran?

Please, next time, be a bit reflective instead of "knee-jerk" anti Americanism. It is not the Americans that sell Iranians cheap French-made cars that catch on fire and burn their passengers? It is not the Americans that keep delaying completing the Bushehr Nuclear Plant while sending us bills for jobs not complete?

Stop your visceral anti-Americanism.

You could be a friend of America or at least neutral to it, but not deprive your people of educational opportunties that a generation of us obtained in America's schools, including Columbia.

Let the youth of Iran speak their mind and please let your generation of venomous old men step aside. You have done enough damage!

Thank You.

Faramarz Fathi:
America is a republic which means our government is our people, Iran is someother thing run by mullahs who hide behind a facade - they are not the voice of the people. If you hate American foreign policy then you hate Americans.

The Dude:
Your statements indicate that you believe that the Iranian nuclear power program is peaceful. If that is so you are the only one.

We cannot wake up and face reality...too buxy watching TV!

Bravo AWABNAVI! Well said....!

"Your militant, totally inflexible leaders having been singing the same tune for years and show no signs of bending to the international complaints" --- There we go again. The term "International" is being time and again abused. Who are the "international" community. We don't hear of India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and scores of other countries calling for the scalp of Iran. It is only a handful of western countries, calling themselves the "international community", who are calling for the scalp of Iran. Americans, wake up.