<p>Has anyone ever been to Iran?</p>
<p>Someone sent me this video and wow, I was moved.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Iran: Another Perspective A Photo Tour](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkkt7_dGW-s]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkkt7_dGW-s)</p>
<p>Buildings don’t make a country, people do. Here is a more accurate view of Iran. Let’s start with a 16 Year Old Iranian Girl Executed by Islamic Police. Oh, and what was her crime?
[YouTube</a> - (1of6) A 16 Year Old Iranian Girl Executed by Islamic Police](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jqQVqsOw4U]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jqQVqsOw4U)</p>
<p>How about the thoughts of an Iranian woman about Iran. The audio is poor but the message is clear.
[YouTube</a> - Iranian Woman Speaks about Today’s Iran (9-24-07 nyc) Part 1](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVzCzuQ5P3Q]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVzCzuQ5P3Q)</p>
<p>How about the revolunary guard and youth in Iran. Not a pretty picture.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - brutally offensive of iran revolutionary guards on youth](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPsAhEHYbA8]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPsAhEHYbA8)</p>
<p>Of course there are horrible things in Iran. I’m sure if you try, you can find examples of horrible things in our own country. </p>
<p>The point is that both good and bad exist in Iran, just as both good and bad exist in most of the world. They are people. It’s easy to want to kill a lot of people when you don’t see their faces and they are dehumanized.</p>
<p>I never doubted Iran has beautiful landscapes, just as Cuba has beautiful beaches…but, sorry Leal, when the leader of the country says we have “no gays” at a televised forum (Columbia), no tourism video would ever want me to visit a country that is ignorant :(</p>
<p>We crossed post.</p>
<p>I think you are jumping the gun, I don’t know of any invasion plan…do you?
Nobody in the military that ever took a life doesn’t think about it, they do not dehumanize at all, we as Americans do everything not to attack non-combatants</p>
<p>The difference, which I am sure you will admit, is we respect other religions, we respect different cultures, we allow people to burn our flag. We do not make women be 2nd class citizens, we have Hillary running. We as a society do not respect or tolerate anyone perfoming murderous acts (homicide bombings, I refuse to say suicide).<br>
Iran and Cuba can be beautiful, it does not excuse their injustices that they impose upon their citizens</p>
<p>I didn’t say I wanted to visit them…</p>
<p>What do you mean by no invasion plan???</p>
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Yes, and it’s also easy to want to kill people who want to destroy one of our allies (Israel) simply because Iran are a country of religious bigots. Here is one person’s view:</p>
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<p>[Iran</a> wants to destroy Israel - so what else is new?](<a href=“http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000400.htm]Iran”>Iran wants to destroy Israel - so what else is new?)</p>
<p>While you are busy looking at their pretty buildings built with petrodollars, Iran would be very happy looking at the nuclear cloud over Israel and enjoying the Jewish genocide.</p>
<p>Leal,</p>
<p>You are saying you want to humanize them following a comment about killing people. I took it wrong…SORRY</p>
<p>Thanks, bullet…(you are bullet, right?)</p>
<p>It was not my intention to start a thread debating whether we should bomb Iran or not. Obviously Iran has a lot of things wrong…so do China and many other countries. I didn’t know much about the Iranian people and was astonished to find…they don’t look too terribly much different from ourselves…Maybe if we all tried to see the good in one another and in other cultures, we’d have better communication and less violence. (Oh wait, didn’t Ron Paul say something like that?) Getting violent to solve problems is so…primitive, actually.</p>
<p>As usual, it’s the extremists and the evil governments who are the evil ones in countries like Iran…I think, generally speaking, people are pretty much the same everywhere in the world. They want the same things we all do…take care of their children, laugh with their friends and families…love…</p>
<p>If you want to know my opinion about Iran and Israel, just listen to Ron Paul speak. Pay special attention to the part about how we give 3 times more aid to Israel’s enemies than to Israel.</p>
<p>That said, I’m out of the Iran/Israel discussion.</p>
<p>Nah, that was Pima. Bullet was too busy running around the living room celebrating the Giant’s victory.</p>
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<p>Hitler was a pretty handsome man if you like hair on the lip and inspiring speeches. German has some pretty nice buildings and a lot of wonder full people. What a mistake it was for people to dehumanize Hitler and Germany just because Hitler and the Germans wanted to bake other people in ovens. How could Germany have been so misunderstood?</p>
<p>Did I not say ‘the evil leaders?’ </p>
<p>I said, generally, most PEOPLE are basically the same. There’s no question that there are evil people in the world, many of them in positions of power. But all too often, an entire nation or culture is judged based on the actions of their political and religious leaders, and in these cases, those same leaders are oppressing and misrepresenting their own people.</p>
<p>ok bullet, now I’m really confused.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I got a pm from pima, so I’m on to you. ;)</p>
<p>Razor, please tone the rhetoric down. I completely understand your point, but I also understand Leal’s. I know people with those horrible tattoos, but they would not want us to engage into another war b4 trying every possible solution. On the flip side, Iran is not innocent and they should be watched closely, if their citizens support their president we should worry about the Mid-East even more, no matter how beautiful.</p>
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<p>That is the key. If you have a hornet’s nest in the middle of your vegetable garden, think about how it will affect your produce before you blast it with toxic chemicals.</p>
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<p>XD as soon as I heard that I thought of the political satire group Capitol Steps…they do a song called “bomb Iran” to the tune of “bopper anne.” So funny.</p>
<p>Ok, I’m done threadjacking now. <em>exits quietly</em></p>
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Sorry if I offended. You are right that I should town down the rhetoric, unfortunately it truly bothers me when I read that some people think we should stick our heads in the sand a pretend like we don’t have real enemies who believe their god wants us murdered. That appeasement approach is what lead many countries to do nothing about Germany while Hitler killed millions. It is important to stop enemies every way possible and Iran is one of our biggest enemies.</p>
<p>I have not been to Iran but I do have some views on it, if you’d care to lend an ear :)</p>
<p>I believe Iran is being painted in a negative light, it is not as much of a threat (or at all, no nuclear weapons!!!) as we are lead to believe. I don’t understand why we always have to have an enemy in the Middle East, don’t we have other things to worry about, like our own nation, education, infrastructure, poverty, … etc? And the ‘Iran Navy’ incident really disheartens me- it is improbable, insensible and unlikely Iran would “bother” our navy with a few speed boats and tell us ‘We will bomb you’ or whatever in a wannabe Arab accent. Yes, I smell something fishy. I just hope we don’t make any ‘mistakes’ on our foreign policy and intelligence if we do plan to go in (hopefully not), like we did in Iraq. I am putting it lightly, I don’t want to start up an Iraq debate. </p>
<p>Other than that something cool happened. My parents went on their Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca, SA, and guess who else was doing his Hajj?.. Yeah, Ahmedinejad.</p>
<p><sigh> Why do people have such an ‘all or nothing’ mentality? Bomb 'em or appease 'em…if ya don’t strike first, you’re burying your head in the sand…</sigh></p>
<p>Does this sound like burying our head in the sand?</p>
<p>[Iran:</a> The Next Neocon Target](<a href=“http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2006/cr040506.htm]Iran:”>http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2006/cr040506.htm)</p>
<p>Whoa Whoa!</p>
<p>Can you please give me evidence, maybe in the Holy Book, that their God wants us murdered? Or was that a machination of our media?</p>