The Real Iran, What Many People Don't Know

So how do we help the good people of Iran/Persia overthrow the evil tyranny of Islam? That's my question.

On the part of the U.S., what can we do to prevent another GW from ever getting elected again? How do we take our nation back from the IC's who are doing such a good job of convincing enough of the people for enough of the time to support really bad ideas, like invading Iraq in the first place.

Then again, sometimes good comes out of bad situations, and it looks like Iraq might actually develop a representative government Then again radical Islamic Extremists will continue to kill innocent civilians until they get their way. How can we protect good people in the Middle East from bad people in the Middle East? We are lucky to hold on to what liberties we still have here in the U.S..

Originally posted by astronomine
This is such an important thread, thank you.

The flipside of everything. I'm sure most people looked at these like... "what??? they are... normal... just like us"

I didn't finish reading the thread yet, so apologies if this has already been covered, but I find it quite disturbing that so many posters are literally wetting themselves to find out that Iranians are 'normal' people.

I mean come on, some of you are veteran posters. Aren't you supposed to pride yourselves in being open minded and sophisticated, yet the surprise that civilisation actually exists 'out there' is hard to comprehend!

Do you guys also think that wilderbeast roam the streets of Cape Town?

Streuth

I found an excellent blog that like this thread tries to dispel some of those Western misconceptions and notions about Iran:

Take a look: amix.dk...

Could be a real eye-opener for those who are spoon-fed knowledge of the outside world via Faux News and CNN.

I think some of you guys just misunderstand the media. The media says Iran could be helping Iraq make roadside bombs, EFP's (explosive formed penetrator). EFP's are an advanced weapons capable of penetrating most if not every type of US vehicle being USed in Iraq at this point in time. Nobody is accusing them of living in huts an playing in the sand. If that is the picture that you got from the media in your head then I am sorry but you were wrong.

It is known that Iran is on it's way to having nuclear technology. If from this you got the picture of Iranians living in caves then I am sorry but you were wrong.

Anyone who has looked at the geography of Iran knows they have mountains. They are on the western side of the country which boarders Iraq. They do have similarities to the mountains in Colorado, this is due to the fact that they are both in fact mountains.

Basically what I am trying to say is that some places in Iran are very nice. Iranians may drink cappuccinos out of paper cups made from recycled materials. That dose not change the fact that they have a leader that makes outrageous claims and publicly states that "The big powers are going down". For the good of all Iranians I suggest that they put someone on power who is a bit better with PR. But just because the Iranians act "civilized" doesn't change anything.

If another country was going to attack the US they people could take wonderful pictures to show the world how down to earth and human like we are. They could take a big picture of you, standing in your front yard with your family yet the attack would still take place.

Furthermore, what dose continuing on with the attitude that we shouldn't attack them because they look like us say? What about the people that don't live like us? Are they fair game? What if their streets aren't clean like our and they are filled with trash? Send them the bomb?

reply to post by Styki

The media says Iran could be helping Iraq make roadside bombs, EFP's (explosive formed penetrator).

Which media FOX news?

Fact of the matter is, Washington has yet to conclusively link Iran to the bloodshed in Iraq.
It's all speculation, they've presented little hard evidence apart from a few artillery shells with serial numbers from Iran.
So what?

They could have been stolen, bought on the black market from an Iranian arms dealer, they could have fallen of the back of a truck.

There's no conclusive evidence linking Iran to supplying roadside bombs...

It is known that Iran is on it's way to having nuclear technology.

Known by who? The hawks in the Bush Admin? Well of course they've convinced themselves of that because they've got a hard-on for Oil..

You can't speak for everyone else though.
There's a lot of evidence to the contrary, that Iran stopped it's Nuclear programme in 2003 and hasn't attempted to restart:
www.boston.com...
www.telegraph.co.uk...

That dose not change the fact that they have a leader that makes outrageous claims and publicly states that "The big powers are going down".

So the Ahmadinejad speaks for all Iranians?

Do all Americans then consider the constitution "just a god-damned piece of paper" like Bush does?

Your getting confused here. Their President may be outspoken, the people are not.
Making outrageous claims is not concrete proof of a Nuclear programme. Everyone makes outrageous claims these days.

Bush says god told him to invade Iraq, so what if Ahmadinejad voices his personal opinions publically?
Is it not the job of a politician to be transparent & honest?

It's not an excuse to invade someone, tone down the Hawkishness.

For the good of all Iranians I suggest that they put someone on power who is a bit better with PR. But just because the Iranians act "civilized" doesn't change anything.

Right. Sure.
They'll just flip a switch and change leaders.

They have a democratically elected government, just like the US.

And just like the US they have to stick with their President for his elected term no matter how unpopular he is.

Funny you talk about Public Relations there, less than 1/4 of your country agrees with him and still he's in power.
Don't be hypocritical.

What about the people that don't live like us? Are they fair game? What if their streets aren't clean like our and they are filled with trash? Send them the bomb?

Your echoing precisely the attitudes and ignorant misconceptions this thread was aiming to eliminate.

You see while you may be a rational and well-educated individual, far too many people get all their outside perceptions of the world than the media.

And since mass media is controlled by corporate interests and run by private organisations, they're more often than not simply propaganda outlets and offer heavily biased information.

And far too many gullible, narrow-minded folk take their word as fact. So when FOX News says Iran is dangerous, hostile and their regime is oppressive and the people are fanatics, many people take that to heart.

They don't bother to actually rationally analyse that and see for themselves whether it's true or not because that would require a lot of effort and thinking on their part.

You see through the propaganda Good for you. Others don't hence they need to be spoon-fed information literally to see that Iran is not some backward, degenerate, hostile nation.

The Iranians are a bunch of fun people. I have an Iranian relative (through marriage) and they sure know how to party and have a good time with drinks and dancing. We need to set up some student exchange programs to help our countries learn about our cultures. Iran has some great culture and it would be a shame for it to be lost in war.

Just like how we Americans have a leader who appears to be a bit crazy some times, so does the Iranians. It would seem Iran and the U.S. are more similar than people think.

[edit on 12-8-2008 by curiousbeliever]

First and foremost I would like to apologize for the harshness of my last post. I also may have been a little misleading with my intentions of the post and where I stand. I hope to clear things up with this response.

Originally posted by The Godfather of Conspira

Which media FOX news?

Fact of the matter is, Washington has yet to conclusively link Iran to the bloodshed in Iraq.
It's all speculation, they've presented little hard evidence apart from a few artillery shells with serial numbers from Iran.
So what?

They could have been stolen, bought on the black market from an Iranian arms dealer, they could have fallen of the back of a truck.

There's no conclusive evidence linking Iran to supplying roadside bombs...

This could have been stated on fox news. I don't think the source of the news is all that important just that it was brought up. I can't say that Iran has helped with the development of IED's and some say that they got the idea from the IRA in the early 1900's. With the EFP's being a highly advanced design of IED's some believe that that they received help from Iranian sources. I would not lean towards the Iraqi insurgents getting the materials from Iran but more towards instructions on how to make the IED's . The materials can be found within Iraq.

However the original point of me saying this was that the media was saying that Iran may have helped with the development of EFP's in Iraq. With EFP's being an advanced weapon I don't see how the media is portraying Iranians as being an underdeveloped nation.

Known by who? The hawks in the Bush Admin? Well of course they've convinced themselves of that because they've got a hard-on for Oil..

You can't speak for everyone else though.
There's a lot of evidence to the contrary, that Iran stopped it's Nuclear programme in 2003 and hasn't attempted to restart:
www.boston.com...
www.telegraph.co.uk...

I was attempting to make the same point as above.

I was vary careful in how I worded this by saying nuclear technology and not weapons. I think nuclear technology in Iran would be ok, just as long as it is in the form of nuclear power and I also believe that the US should expand it's use of nuclear power along with more research in nuclear safety.

So the Ahmadinejad speaks for all Iranians?

Do all Americans then consider the constitution "just a god-damned piece of paper" like Bush does?

Your getting confused here. Their President may be outspoken, the people are not.
Making outrageous claims is not concrete proof of a Nuclear programme. Everyone makes outrageous claims these days.

Bush says god told him to invade Iraq, so what if Ahmadinejad voices his personal opinions publically?
Is it not the job of a politician to be transparent & honest?

No, he dose not speak for all Iranians. He dose speak for the country of Iran though. Bush may at some point have said that God told him to invade Iraq but he also had a lot of misleading intel to go of as well. I am not entirely convinced that he personally knew Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction before the start of the Iraq war. I am starting to believe that the intel was there but something went wrong, ok, horribly wrong.

Right. Sure.
They'll just flip a switch and change leaders.

They have a democratically elected government, just like the US.

And just like the US they have to stick with their President for his elected term no matter how unpopular he is.

Funny you talk about Public Relations there, less than 1/4 of your country agrees with him and still he's in power.

I could have worded that a bit different than put someone in power. Elect would have been better but I did state that they had the power. I didn't by any means want them to overthrow there current government.

Your echoing precisely the attitudes and ignorant misconceptions this thread was aiming to eliminate.

Throughout this post I was trying to point out something different. These pictures may look nice and the people in these pictures look harmless. I am not trying to say that they are not but at some point in time the US may have to go to war with a civilized nation. A nation who looks like us but has different ideas. We must be prepared to do so.

I do not wish for the US to attack Iran at this time but I do not trust that countries ideas. I believe that they should have access to nuclear power but it has to be out in the open. Along with that I believe that the US should allow Iran to have nuclear power so they don't have to hide nuclear facility's.

On a side note, I didn't vote for Bush.

Thought I had seen a post just like the most recent one that is on the boards now.

And here it is. What has happened to the search feature?

Don't people use it anymore?