Iran's heritage deserves respect from America and Europe.

"Few nations present more of a justification for the study of history." This is a nation that has survived turmoil, has suffered from it, and has in its day several times brought order out of turmoil in the Middle East. In another time of troubles, it would be a wise course on both sides if empire could indeed speak unto empire.

Source

An empire that made contributions to humanity by inventing the cookie, bricks, sword, guitar, windmill etc... Aswell as several other dozens inventions should atleast be approached respectively by the West.

I would agree with you that the history and culture of Iran is worthy of respect. Afterall beer was invented there.

However, the ruling clique of Mullahs are at best not worthy of such respect.

Originally posted by FredT

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However, the ruling clique of Mullahs are at best not worthy of such respect.

seconded, now, who or what preceded the mullah regime in Persia? a pro western one? perhaps that's more than just coincidence, another good example would be Cuba (of course with a different brand of religion) and my warning for all it's worth is that Turkey will inevitably be next if things aren't properly understood. just for the record, Iraq, better yet, its territory is already in the mullah camp.

Before the mullahs took power the Iranian Shah ran the show. He was a brutal dictator put in power by the CIA after nationalist Mohammed Mossadegh was overthrown (he tried to nationalize the country's oil, which made US corporations rather unhappy). His autocratic rule led to the rebellion that put the Mullahs in power, setting the stage for our current problems with Iran.

Another example of Cold War blowback coming back to haunt us...

Originally posted by FredT
I would agree with you that the history and culture of Iran is worthy of respect. Afterall beer was invented there.

However, the ruling clique of Mullahs are at best not worthy of such respect.

Just like the ruling cliques of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, Iraq, Libya, Somalia...

Your point?