Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Big Pharaoh has an interesting post about a friend's trip to Iran that's well in keeping with what Nicholas Kristof reported in his series from Iran -- that the only negativity he encountered as an American was from a group of Europeans in an Iranian teahouse -- as well as with Natan Sharansky's remark that a friend of his told him that Iran today is just like the Soviet Union before the wall came down, where the government hated America and the people loved it.
The Big Pharaoh: My friend just came from Iran
"What the hell were you doing there man, you turned into a Shia?" I asked laughingly.
"No, I went there on a business trip. We had a meeting with a number of Iranian businessmen who are going to import our products. My American colleague John (not his real name) came with me. Man, I was scared to death before going there. I mean here I am an Egyptian guy accompanied by an American on a trip to Iran. You sure know that relations between Egypt and Iran are not so good, not to mention the US!! I was also afraid lest I break some religious rule and regret it! Or we get arrested because of John" he said.
"So, tell me about it" I asked.
"Well, I stayed there for 5 days. I got drunk in the first 3! Man, there ain't a house or an office I entered that didn't have a mini bar in it full of smuggled booze from Smirnoff vodka to Heineken beer! I was shocked. Everyone drinks there. Their private life is the complete opposite of what you see on the street. We went up a mountain with a group of Iranians and had all the fun there. When they knew that John was American, they were like flies around him. They took his email, phone number, and stuff" he said...
(via Daily Scorecard)
Kristof's old piece is available now only as a pay for article. However, its a great piece outside of course of his can't help himself swipe at the 'hardliners' in the White House despite him mentioning that people in Iran were favorable of Bush and the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions.
It would be interesting to know how many people are able to connect to the Internet in Iran and how American books and movies are sold openly. Apparently there has been a level of freedom there despite the Mullahs trying to clamp down on it by closing hundreds of independent newspapers.
Congressman Harold Ford was on Imus this morning talking about a critical letter he wrote to Bush after Ford visited Iraq and Jordan.
One point he made was that everyone he spoke with in Jordan wanted al Qaeda to win and the US to lose. As if that is surprising, or something that a US president could do something about.
Now if Ford took an informal poll in Iran (or even Syria?) of the common folk, I wonder what answer they would give?