Iran's top leader says hatred for U.S. runs deep

Thursday 30th October, 05:10 AM JST

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yabits at 10:41 PM JST - 30th October

We still haven't received an apology for the taking of our citizens hostage in 1979.

It would be hypocritical to expect an apology without first offering one for helping overthrow a freely elected government in the 1950s and then holding millions in the country hostage to a brutal dictator for over 20 years.

Then again, such is the craven hypocrisy of some Americans.
timorborder at 10:49 PM JST - 30th October

Just another quick point, leaving a debate about the current Teheran regime aside for the moment, it is rather easy to understand why the United States makes Teheran nervous. Namely, a large part of the US military is deployed in Iraq. Moreover, the current administration in Washington has shown its willingness to invade and occupy other nations (Iraq) at the slightest provocation (on the flimsiest of evidence). Before the current malaise in Iraq, there were calls among the more hawkish chickenhawks of the US establishment to "turn right and invade Iran." Whether or not such a strategy is realistic is besides the point, such beating of chests just helps jack up Teheran's paranoia that much more. I often wonder if US policy vis-a-vis Iran is somewhat misguided, perhaps the way to remove the Iranian threat to the region is to unleash market forces rather than treat them as a non-existent entity. Just an idea.

On the other hand, talking tough to Iran isn't going to get very far. The US has this historical trait of beating its chest only to retreat when the going gets tough. How many dead in Iraq, less than 10,000 but the US is already talking about "Vietnamisation" of the war (handing control back to a clique who understand little about the common people in Iraq). This reminds me of Vietnam, and the long succession of elitist fools that Washington parachuted into the South Vietnamese presidency. If you are going to make threats on the world stage, you have to be willing to take your opponent to the mat, and not start bitching because a few of your boys are coming home in body bags. If America is not willing to take the casualties, it should not allow its leaders to beat their chests and led the country into ill-considered conflicts. Then again, as they say in the army, "the price of democracy is free when somebody else is doing the dying."
cracaphat at 11:29 PM JST - 30th October

With Obama, the Wild West gung ho attitude that has rendered the U.S.politically and morally lame for the last 8 years,will come to an end. And only then will Iran and other tinpots listen, because they have to.
usaexpat at 12:04 AM JST - 31st October

Hatred runs deep among the Mullahs and aging fundies who supproted the revolution. Young people in Iran would like to see their country open up and do not as a rule "hate America"
ptolemy at 01:15 AM JST - 31st October

Excuse me Mr. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but I don't think the USA loves you and the other mullahs too much either. So why don't you and the next president put on a great record and listen to the words real close, it's a song by Cat Stevens, a fellow Muslim:

"...Oh peace train sounding louder. Glide on the peace train. Come on now peace train. Yes, peace train holy roller. Everyone jump upon the peace train. Come on now peace train..."

You boys play nice now.
bushlover at 01:42 AM JST - 31st October

Who was that last leader that spewed hate in such a fashion? Oh wasn't his name Adolf? What a parallel universe.
taikan at 02:22 AM JST - 31st October

Except when prodded by their leaders, most people don't have the time or the energy to "hate" the people of another country unless the countries are neighbors that previously have been involved in one or more wars against each other (and the atrocities that so commonly are perpetrated in connection with a war). It's likely that the vast majority of Iranians are more concerned with earning a living and providing for their families than they are with "hating" the US.
SuperLib at 03:47 AM JST - 31st October

The poetry the radical left pens in support of Iran can be incredibly eloquent at times. It has the ability to make me temporarily forget that they're a gay killing holocaust denying terrorist/genocide supporting hardline theocracy. For others it's more of a permanent thing, I suppose.
Helter_Skelter at 04:55 AM JST - 31st October

Who actually cares what countries like Iran and other despotic nations think of the US? As SuperLib so aptly stated, "they're a gay killing holocaust denying terrorist/genocide supporting hardline theocracy."

The libs ask, "why don't they like us?" The answer, "who cares." Now, get over it.
bushlover at 05:31 AM JST - 31st October

I guess what taikan said above rings true on both sides of the fence. The ones on our side of the fence that spew hate like this are seen as a weird bunch that will never hold power. Unfortunately for us and the world the ones who spew it on the other side are the ones who hold power. That is the dangerous fact in this equation. Who was the last government leader to put a bounty on a head that wasn't already a terrorist. George Bush put a bounty on Bin Laden but Binney was a proven mass murderer. Ayatolla Khomeini put a fatwa on Salman Rushdie for a work of fiction. But some will come here telling us how safe Iran is in possession of nuclear technology that has the potential to make that fatwa come true 100s of 1000s of times. In all the arsenal the USA has I haven't heard of any being used to threaten or intimidate anyone directly.
Everton2 at 06:02 AM JST - 31st October

The Iranian nation could do with some therapy. To try and work out the material value of this hate they carry for America. To understand the destructive nature of long term hate and its potential for cardiac disease and blind projection. I wonder if we could arrange some kind of mass intervention?
SezWho2 at 07:36 AM JST - 31st October

ptolemy,

The Iranians don't have their military stationed all over the world. It only takes one to be peace but it still takes two to make peace.
SuperLib at 10:06 AM JST - 31st October

Ayatolla Khomeini put a fatwa on Salman Rushdie for a work of fiction.

Yeah, but if you ignore things like this then technically you can blame the US for everything. Just like how some people ignore the fact that Iran is a gay killing holocaust denying terrorist/genocide supporting hardline theocracy. Once you take that off the table you can operate from a revised reality where Iran is a peaceful and loving nation being harrassed for no reason.
bushlover at 11:39 AM JST - 31st October

I hope Obama wins because I really want to see who the lefties blame for any continued hate. I can see it: "...the irreversible damage caused by the Bush regime...blah blah blah...". And those kinds of things. I see the US is strictly responsible for almost all the world's problems these days based on historically what they did via the CIA (which could be fact or could be speculation and conspiracy theory...but doesn't really matter if proof is available if the USA is the cause of this bad situation according to the theories.). I can see Iran telling how much they hate the USA to Obama and the excuses coming out of the left's keyboards. And I believe that deep rooted hate to be only the really "religious" dudes that like to declare fatwahs all over the place. If only the USA had those each time a flag were burned.
yabits at 09:53 PM JST - 31st October

I see the US is strictly responsible for almost all the world's problems these days based on historically what they did via the CIA (which could be fact or could be speculation and conspiracy theory...but doesn't really matter if proof is available if the USA is the cause of this bad situation according to the theories.)

Well, plenty of proof IS available of the CIA's role in the overthrow of Iran's democratically-elected government in the early 50's. And there is no doubt that the US helped and supported the Shah for decades, with his brutal prison and torture regime, conducted through Savak.

The additional irony is that in order to counteract democratic forces in Iran, the Shah turned to helping build up the hardline religious segment of Iranian society, via the mullahs. Isn't this the way right-wingers work with religious fundamentalists everywhere?

The main problem with many right-wingers in the US is that they are so completely devoid of any real knowledge of history.