Everything You Need to Know about Iran But the Mass Media, the Republicans and Hillary Clinton Wouldn't Tell You

By Col. Ann Wright, TruthOut.org. Posted January 1, 2009.

In the Month Since Our Visit

Sparks fly over Iranian president's BBC Christmas message -- "Jesus Christ Would Stand Up to Bullying, Ill-Tempered and Expansionist Powers."

In what they surely knew would be a very controversial request, the British Broadcasting Company asked Ahmadinejad to deliver Channel 4's traditional "alternative Christmas message" to the Queen's Christmas address.

The head of BBC News and Current Affairs said the decision to ask Ahmadinejad was because "As the leader of one of the most powerful states in the Middle East, President Ahmadinejad's views are enormously influential. As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative worldview. Channel 4's role is to allow viewers to hear directly from people of world importance with sufficient context to enable them to make up their own minds."

It turned out that Ahmadinejad's 36-second message in Farsi, with English subtitles, broadcast on Christmas Day probably resonated with much of the world, but predictably provoked a British government hornet's nest with his comment that if Jesus Christ lived today he would stand up against bullying powers.

"If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly he would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers." Ahmadinejad, a devout Muslim, criticized the "indifference of some governments and powers" toward the teachings of the "divine prophets, including Jesus Christ" and said that "the general will of nations" was for a return to human values. He declared, "The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy … have come about because the prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God."

Ahmadinejad's remarks received very little media coverage in the United States, minuscule when compared to the news story of the month -- Bush's encounter with the Iraqi shoe thrower. However, a spokeswoman for the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in predicting anticipated Bush administration displeasure, said: "President Ahmadinejad has during his time in office made a series of appalling anti-Semitic statements. The British media are rightly free to make their own editorial choices, but this invitation will cause offense and bemusement not just at home but amongst friendly countries abroad."

Labor Member of Parliament Louise Ellman, chairwoman of the Labor Jewish Movement, said: "I condemn Channel 4's decision to give an unchallenged platform to a dangerous fanatic who denies the Holocaust while preparing for another and claims homosexuality does not exist while his regime hangs gay young men from cranes in the street." Conservative MP Mark Pritchard, a member of the Commons all-party media group, said: "Channel 4 has given a platform to a man who wants to annihilate Israel and continues to persecute Christians at Christmastime."

Media Relations Not a Strong Suit of the Iranian Government

It's almost as if Ahmadinejad, who is up for re-election in summer 2009, has hired lame ducks Vice President Dick Cheney and Israel's Olmert as his foreign policy, national security and media consultants. How else could the Iranian government have come up with so many incidents in recent weeks that give ammunition to those in the United States and Israel who do not want dialogue with Iran on nuclear and regional security issues, who want human rights issues to publicize and who wish ill to the Iranian government and people?

For example, on Dec. 22, the Iranian government closed down two human-rights organizations headed by 2005 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi. The government accused the organization of carrying out illegal activities, such as publishing statements, writing letters to international organizations and holding news conferences. The Center for Participation in Clearing Mine Areas helps victims of land mines in Iran, and Defenders of Human Rights Center reports human rights violations in Iran, defends political prisoners and supports families of those prisoners. Ebadi was taken into police custody briefly following the raids.

The first week in December 2008, in a campaign against Western cultural influence in Iran, Qaemshahr city police arrested 49 people during a crackdown on "satanic" fashions and unsuitable clothing and closed five barbershops for "promoting Western hairstyles."

And now, there is the predictable increased international criticism about the Russian government providing the Iranian government with anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, triggered by the Bush administration's decision to put a "missile shield" in Poland and the Czech Republic. On Dec. 23, United Press International reported that the Russian government had begun delivery to the Iranian government of some of its most modern anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, the S-300s. These missile systems can shoot down ballistic missiles and aircraft at low and high altitudes as far away as 100 miles. Iran conducted well-publicized air force and ballistic missile defense exercises in September.

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Ann Wright is a 29-year Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a colonel, and a former U.S. diplomat who resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December 2001, she was on the small team that reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

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