The Los Angeles Times has three readers’ letters in today’s paper that all have to do with the treatment of the British sailors captured—and recently released— by Iran, versus America’s treatment of prisoners similarly snatched and held in Guantanamo and other far less pleasant places. The sentiment in all three missives can pretty much all can be summed up in the last line from the first of the reader notes:
“I think I’d rather be captured by the Iranians any day.”
Yeah. No kidding. Sadly.
_______________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Just to be clear, the above was more a comment on American policies, not Iranian. No, I don’t think for a second that Iran is any kind of paragon of civil liberties. Quite the opposite. As a longtime board member for PEN USA I’ve been involved in a number of initiatives to get Iranian writers—and in a couple of cases, bloggers—out of prison. Once or twice we’ve had an effect. But, with Iran, most times not.
According to Human Rights Watch here’s one of Iran’s most recent moments in trampling on civil liberties.
What an absolutely stupid comparison and conclusion.
Plus look at the all those lovely parting gifts!
The only thing that Iran needed was for Don Pardo to tell them what they won.
Mohammad Khoshzough spent 11 years in capivity as a political prisoner or IRAN
While working at the Bandar-Anzali shipyards on the Caspian Sea in the 1970s, Mohammad Khoshzough never missed an opportunity to observe the living conditions of the Iranian people. More an athiest and communist in spirit rather than someone who actively persued a philisophical or political ideology, he waited until the revolution in 1979 to become politically active. In 1980, he ran for election as a member of parliament in the country’s first democratic elections. The subsequent power grab by the Ayatollas ended any hopes for freedom for the country and marked the beginning of the repression of non-islamic political activists. After spending two and a half years in hiding, Mohammad is denounced and then arrested. Thus began 11 years of incarceration simply for having convictions different than those of the regime.”
“For 17 months, I was interrogated about my political friends and was tortured almost every day. In Iran, the reasons given for torturing prisonners are many. For example, refusing to pray or to accept gifts from the regime on the national holiday is sufficient. During my trial, I was given a death sentence orally by the judge. It was only 5 days later that I learned that the written verdict was actually 20 years imprisonment. In the meantime, the prison guards turned me into their favorite ‘hobby’ – every morning they would wake me, blindfold me, and then simulate my execution. There have always been people who laugh heartily at the screams of terror of the others.
http://www.iran-e-sabz.org/news/torture.htm
Sorry, Celeste. No clarifications are permitted. You need to teach your students that, before something is published, the facts need to be correct and that the intent be clear enough to be correctly perceived. I’m just going to have to consider you to be a flag burning, troop hating, America blaming, Taliban loving, communist appeasing professor.