Why do they hate us?

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, it became commonplace to hear the question: "Why do they hate us?" Even though the "they" and "us" were never really defined, the Bush administration put forth the brilliant theory that they hate our "freedom". This seemed to strike a chord with the American people: a concise, almost unchallengeable explanation; end of discussion, that's the answer. If someone wanted a somewhat a slightly broader explanation, there was always the nearly as cryptic answer that they "hate our way of life".

It seemed implicit in this question and answer that there must be some mystery as to why "they" hate "us". I have even explicitly heard some people say that there's no substantive political reason for the hatred, because we "never did anything to them". To people who say that, I would suggest that perhaps they should find and read a good, unbiased (and recent) history book.

In November 1979, Iranian student militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, and took 53 Americans hostage. I, like many Americans, was shocked and dismayed that Ayatollah Khomeini's new government didn't intervene in this blatant kidnapping of innocent Americans. In December of that same year, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. That winter/spring, I observed some Iranian students in the lobby of Kern Building on the PSU campus, both defending Khomeini's government as well as decrying US policy in the region.

I stopped to talk with them, and expressed my concern about the actions of their government. I believed then, and believe now, that Iran's action wasn't in their best interest: It led to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, with Iran as their ultimate prize, because the Soviets ultimately wanted a port on the Mediterranean. I believe the Soviets decided, in part, to invade because the US and Iran were preoccupied with the hostage crisis, and maybe wouldn't react. (Ultimately, I believe that the Soviets' actions in Afghanistan had far more to do with the eventual fall of the Soviet Union than anything Ronald Reagan ever did, but that's a topic for a future blog.) I further think that the hostage crisis isolated Iran in a way that is still causing them internal political problems and unrest.

The Iranian student I talked to in Kern Building didn't accept or seem to understand my Afghanistan theory. But he did do something that ultimately made me see the excesses of American Mid-East policy: He handed me a few typed, stapled sheets of paper. He said it showed the reason why so many Iranians disliked the American government. I read with interest, but also with skepticism, about the CIA participating a coup in Iran in 1953 in conjunction with the British government. I no longer have the literature the student gave me, but I believe it stated something about the CIA harassing or trying to remove Shiite mullahs. That part may or may not be totally accurate, although perhaps US animosity toward the mullahs was. But the essential tenet of the students' literature was: That the US and British led a coup in Iran in 1953 with the intent of installing pro-Western Mohammad Rezi Pahlavi as the absolute leader (the "Shah").

The Shah's 26 year reign of terror in Iran, carried out by his secret police (SAVAK), is well documented.

The main reason for initiating the coup was maintaining US and British control of Iran's oil. In 1951, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh led a successful movement by the Iranian Parliament to nationalize the oil industry, effectively removing US and British royalties. It took the US a couple years to get on board with the British desire for a coup, but, as in many things Middle-Eastern, oil interests were all-powerful. Within the Eisenhower administration, the coup was further justified by implicating Mosaddegh as a Communist sympathiser.

This literature was a revelation to me. Although I didn't know for sure it was true, it did have that ring. This was something I had never heard in any history course. But, for then, I just tucked away these conjectures in my mind.

Fast forward a decade or more -- It was becoming apparent from international and Middle East scholarly journals that the Iranian students' claims were essentially true. Then, in the 90s, three different CIA directors agreed to release hundreds of pages of documents related to Project Ajax (the CIA's code name for the Iran coup). At present, only one sentence has been released. Fortunately for the truth, the NY Times leaked many of these documents in 2000:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html

The documents pretty much corroborated what the Iranian students had told me in 1979-80.

There have been other incidences of the US breaking promises with the Iranian government: According to a PBS documentary, George H. W. Bush promised, after some concessions were made to the US by the Iranian government, that he would release during his presidency assets frozen during the hostage crisis. When the political winds changed later in his presidency, the first Bush Administration reneged on those promises. Why would Iran trust the US now?

In these cases, the "they" (the "haters") are the Shiite Muslims in Iran, and the object of their hatred (the "us") is mostly the US government. I have read that Iranians don't generally dislike the American people, and are fair enough to realize that we don't always know or completely understand what our government is doing (which I'm sure is also true in Iran).

I hope to cover the perceived grievances of Sunni Muslims in a future blog post.

I am thankful that we live in a country that would allow Iranian students to protest their grievances against us, fostering the enlightenment of at least one US citizen. As we saw on news reports last year from Iran, that is not a right widely shared in Iran. Although we are far from perfect, we do live in a great country with a multitude of rights, privileges, and freedoms, and we should always cherish that.

My Dad, Charter member of the "Greatest Generation"

Two years ago today, my dad was just being moved from the hospital to to a skilled-care nursing home. He was 85 years old, suffering the after-effects of a broken hip and resulting (or possibly, coincident) stroke. He had not been his former self for at least a couple years before the, then recent, fall. He had been showing some dementia -- it was sometimes unclear what or who he was talking about -- but he had always maintained his good-natured, uncomplaining, outlook. But, other times, he was as sharp as a tack.


My mom had become his full-time nurse -- and, like him, never complained. Only a year younger, but in much better shape, she almost cheerfully accepted this role. After all, they had celebrated their 60th anniversary with a nice catered family dinner only the year before. With her generation, taking care of a frail spouse was just what you were "supposed to do." I trust that there was nothing special about them (even though in my heart I think there was) -- their story has probably been played out a million other households.

My dad was one of the several million US World War II soldiers. He fought in Europe, in the Huertgen Forest between Belgium and Germany, in the 9th Infantry Division. I'm pretty sure he saw unspeakable horrors, in part because he almost never talked about it. The Battle for Huertgen Forest was one of the longest and bloodiest battles in military history, but it is seldom talked about today. Opinion is split on whether this battle even made sense. Historically, it seems that it was totally nonsensical, but looking through the prism of history sometimes simplifies events in misleading ways. In any case, he had to fight in a dense pine forest in the middle of winter with German ordnance fracturing trees all around him. He soon learned the survival strategy of "hug a tree." Even in at mid-day, visibility was often near zero.

In relative terms, my dad got "off easy," seeing active combat for less than 90 days. My father-in-law, by constrast, had 4+ years of combat. In absolute terms, though, I'm sure my dad lived through total horror. On December 12, 1944, he was shot through his shoulder by a German sniper while leaning back to look out of the shell hole he was in. My uncle told me that they immediately captured his attacker. Interestingly, my dad told me that he was first treated by a captured German physician. My uncle also told me that the commanding officer offered my dad first "dibs" on killing his attacker, and my dad refused. While his refusal sounds right, I'm not sure I totally believe this story. Shooting anyone would have been difficult or impossible for my dad, who had just had his right shoulder almost blown off, and I'm not sure why they would have killed the German soldier, anyway, as opposed to capturing him. But it was consistent with the personna of my dad to not want to kill an enemy soldier.

He spent the better part of the following year in and out of hospitals in Europe and the US (Fort Dix), even though the telegram my grandmother got said he was "slightly injured."

Back to two years ago, my dad lived only a little more than a week in the skilled nursing home in the Fall of 2008. His death, in many ways, was a relief. I have trouble saying that, even now, but we were all ready for his suffering to end. And I know he still lives through me and the rest of my family. I will always value the years I had with him, and the sometimes unspoken things I learned from him.

Back in the Saddle Again (Hopefully)

Even though I set up this blog in February 2008, I have never actually posted anything to it. I hope to change that now.

Some changes in my life since February 2008: My Dad died (by far, the most important); our daughter got married to a great guy, and our son finished a PhD at Cornell and got a teaching job at Indiana University (tied for 2nd most important); I quit bowling (soon to change); I've gotten more into photography; I'm still a surprisingly novice birder (guess that's not a change); and have had gout several times. I was elated when Barack Obama got elected (still am), and have been dismayed, but not totally surprised, at the "rise" of the Tea Party. I have expanded my nonblog social networking presence (joining Facebook & Flickr), and I have probably gotten even more opinionated. I look to this blog partially to express these opinions, because I feel that is hard to do on Facebook & Flickr.

We went to France in July, our first non-USA trip in almost 15 years, and first European trip in more than 30 years. I hope to post reflections on that in the near future.

In the spirit of making "baby steps", I'm going to go ahead and post this!