Iran-Who Knew?

Looking for a great place to spend a vacation away from all the same old tourist traps? Tired of those luxury hotels and hot beaches? Seeking excitement? Then consider Iran as your vacation destination this summer!



Yes, Iran. In Iran, there is always something going on. Above is pictured one of the many street celebrations.




Iran is booming. Everywhere you look you see construction cranes dominating the skyline.




And don't worry, our friendly tourist police will be out in force to assist you as you wander the modern streets of Teheran. Here's a picture of our tourist police rushing to assist some lost tourists on Teheran's main thoroughfare.




Another thing you won't have to bother with are all those obnoxious gays you would have to put up with in other places like San Francisco. We've taken care of that problem here.




In fact, you will find that the Iranian people meet the highest moral standards-something we insist on in our well-ordered society.



So come to Iran this summer, where we have a long tradition of hospitality to foreigners. Bring the entire family. You may even decide to stay a lifetime.





Iran-Who knew?

The Islamic Society of North America Statement on Iran

I wrote recently on the lack of any public statement by the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) on the situation in Iran. To date, there is still no statement on the CAIR website. I did mention a brief statement by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which called on the Iran government on June 19, 2009 to release protesters, journalists and opposition leader Ebrahim Yazdi. (Yazdi was arrested in a hospital and subsequently returned to his hospital on June 22.) Since June 19, the same statement still appears on the ISNA website. Here it is:
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ISNA Calls on the Iranian Government to Release Journalists and Human Rights Activists (Plainfield, IN – June 19, 2009)

"The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is troubled by the recent arrest of 500 journalists, political opposition leaders, and human rights activists, including Ebrahim Yazdi, the Secretary-General of the Freedom Movement of Iran. Dr. Yazdi was taken from his hospital bed in Tehran, where he was undergoing treatment for recurring cancer.

ISNA calls on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release Dr. Yazdi and all political prisoners and to respect the civil rights of the members of the media and political activists. The government must respect the rights of all individuals to exercise their freedom of expression and peaceful protest, which Islamic values and traditions affirm, and which are guaranteed by the Iranian constitution.

Ebrahim Yazdi pursued his graduate work in the United States and later joined the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, with appointments in the Departments of Pathology and Pharmacology. He was a founding member of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) and the Islamic Medical Association of the United States and Canada (IMANA).

Dr. Yazdi served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in the interim government of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979. He opposed the hostile takeover of the US Embassy by Iranian students and resigned in protest when the Revolutionary Council endorsed the student takeover."

Contact
Louay Safi, ILDC executive director
louay@isna.net
317-839-1807
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Fousesquawk comment:

Maybe I'm just nitpicking here, but this seems to be pretty tepid and specifically concerned about one individual. Where are the follow-ups? Where is the outrage about those protesters shot down in the streets, like Neda Soltan? It would seem to me that additional statements would be forthcoming as the events have progressed since June 19. Or is this just a pro-forma "statement of concern" to be put on the record to show that they have "spoken out" against the government of Iran?

Pretty weak, if you ask me.

Blowing in the Wind

"...until they're forever banned....?


This July 4th, I was on the treadmill while our son was working in the garage on a cabinet. He had a tape going of Neil Young in concert. One of the songs was a rendition of "Blowing in the wind", a song written by Bob Dylan in the 1960s as a protest against war and injustice. It reminded me of that other hauntingly beautiful song of the 60s, "Where have all the flowers gone?" written by Pete Seeger as an anti-war song during the Viet Nam conflict. In both, the words are beautiful and mark their authors as great songwriters. Yet, when it comes to the subject of war, they are naive and simplistic. Let me tell you why on this day we commemorate our Independence, which was borne of a revolutionary war, and as we pause to honor our troops, past and present.

It is easy to talk of banning cannons (as Dylan does) or nuclear weapons as well. It is good to talk of outlawing war. But it is a Utopian vision that will never come to pass. What Dylan and Seeger have forgotten is that there will always be good and bad people in this world. Sometimes, extraordinarily bad people rise up to rule nations. Then you have bad nations with bad governments that mistreat their own people and usually, threaten and take over their neighbors.

Let's take Adolf Hitler, for example. One can write anti-war songs all day long and pass laws banning weapons and war in general. There was, indeed, a League of Nations in existence at the time, from which Hitler withdrew Germany. What did they do? What powers did they have to stop Hitler? It was up to the other European powers to stop Hitler. They chose not to-until he invaded Poland. World War Two was a war of survival for the Allies. We had to fight it, and we had to win it-both against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, two powerful nations ruled by evil governments. Had we not fought and won that war, no nation anywhere in the world would be living in freedom today-including those neutral nations like Switzerland and Sweden.

Today, we face other threats; Iran, North Korea, Islamic extremism. We are trying to deal with them in measured responses, but at some point, we may have to face them on the field of battle. (Of course, we are already fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.) Bob Dylan talked of banning weapons in "Blowing in the Wind". Seeger expressed the futility of sending soldiers off to fight wars in "Where have all the flowers gone?" Beautiful words, indeed. But are we not trying to ban "cannons" in Iran and North Korea (nuclear weapons)? If our current efforts through diplomacy and sanctions fail, what comes next? Do we wait until Seoul and Tokyo are wiped off the map and Tel Aviv as well? If that happens, do we continue to negotiate and pass sanctions in the UN? What then, Messers Dylan and Seeger? Or do we simply, in the name of peace, write off South Korea-a decent and developed nation and Israel and hope for the best in the "New World Order" to coin a phrase? Do you prefer to live under an international dictatorship?

Peace is grand, but war will never become a thing of the past, and anyone who thinks it will is naive. There is a lesson that the pacifist crowd has never learned; to quote Michael Medved, "pacifism never brings peace. What brings peace is a just and victorious war."

Happy 4th of July.