The Roots of Animosity
November 4 marked the 30th anniversary of the Iranian takeover of the American Embassy. The government-sponsored "anti-America rally", while absurd, may be a palpable reaction to skewed American intentions throughout the modern history of Iran and the consequent distrust many Iranians harbor towards Americans.
The 1950s gave rise to harsh American intervention throughout the world. Most notably, the Central Intelligence Agency provided power to forces opposing the regimes of Arbenz of Guatemala and Mossadegh of Iran. The 1953 CIA overthrow of Mossadegh's Regime followed the prime minister's attempts in 1951 to nationalize Iran's oil industry - previously owned by the Western oil consortium. The shah propped up by the United States government and the CIA acted as a brutal kleptocrat. Resentment grew among the Iranian people directly fueling the 1979 Islamic Revolution and American diplomat hostage crisis.
Though Iranian resentment of the United States' interventions was astonishingly pervasive at the time of the 1979 Revolution, the succeeding war between Iraq and Iran and America's role would prove even more damaging to American-Iranian relations.
The highly-acclaimed memoir, Iran Awakening, by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, clearly delineates the effects of the decade-long war on the Iraqi-Iranian border:
"I must linger on the war just a bit longer, because its impact is largely what has shaped current Iranian attitudes about our future and our place in the world. First, skepticism and mistrust is reinforced in us about America's motives in the region. Imagine if you were an Iranian and watched the boys in your neighborhood board the bus for the front, never to return. Imagine staring with mute horror at the television screen as Saddam rained chemical weapons down on your boys, his death planes guided by U.S. satellite photos. Fast-forward about fifteen years. Now you are watching faded video footage of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam Hussein's hand, smiling at the butcher who made our capital's cemetery a city. Now you are listening to President George W. Bush promise he wants to bring democracy to the Middle East. You are hearing him address the Iranian people in his State of the Union address, telling them that if they stand for their own liberty, America will stand with them. Do you believe him?" - (p.92)
In an increasingly complex world, rational ignorance often takes hold of our capabilities to understand conflicts abroad. We may listen to a Western leader or syndicated news network, and take one-sided reports as fact. However, as policy-makers in the international arena, it is imperative that we never abandon our abilities to empathize with and learn from all parties involved. Sometimes personal historical accounts can be the most effective mechanisms to comprehend a situation and formulate a solution-based policy.
Photo courtesy of The New York Times Online Edition
