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From: reza@ihuxb.UUCP (Reza Taheri)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Understanding the Shiites
Message-ID: <1083@ihuxb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 2-Jul-85 15:47:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxb.1083
Posted: Tue Jul  2 15:47:20 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 20:25:43 EDT
References: <675@cadovax.UUCP> <681@rlgvax.UUCP> <727@ihlpg.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 58

> > 	The U.S. literally supports the economy and the armed forces of
> > 	Israel with it's generous aid. I am not surprised that the Middle
> > 	East nations have nothing but hatred for the U.S. They see Isreal
> >	[I have edited out the rest of his article. HRT]
> > 							- Raghu.
> 
> For your information, the United States has friendly relations with
> Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, North Yemen, Saudi Arabia,
> United Arab Emirates, Bahrein, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco,
> and Mauretania.  Even relations with Syria aren't all that bad.  What
> Middle Eastern nations are you referring to?  Only Libya's
> Kaddafi (a lunatic) and Soviet satellite South Yemen, of all Arab countries,
> hate the U. S.  Most of the hatred of the U. S. in the Mid-East comes from
> Iran, a non-Arab country which under the Shah had full and friendly
> diplomatic relations with Israel.  Khomeini's anti-Americanism has virtually
> nothing to do with the existence of Israel, but rather with U. S. support
> of the Shah and a general reaction against Western "decadence".
> -- 
> Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL  ihnp4!ihlpg!tan

   Raghu is absolutely right, so is Bill.  Well, OK, so are you.  All
of the countries Bill recounts ARE close friends of the US.  But most
of them (officially) consider Israel their greatest enemy.  This
contradiction might have come to being because what a country has to
give in return to US military aid is less than that in return to the
Soviet military aid.  So it may pay off to befriend you enemy's benefactor
if that's the least committing way to get weapons to fight that enemy.
It is also beneficial for the US to be friends to, and supply arms to,
both, say, Israel and Iraq as it keeps both countries in check and lets
the US keep a handle on the situation.

   Furthermore, even though the governments of these countries are
friends with the US, their people feel contempt for any country that
supports Israel.  Bill's problem is that he falls for a government's
official line.  How could you believe a friendship between Iraq and
the US when only two years ago ...  Now really!

   Or take Iran.  Of course Khomeini does not admit that his hatred of
the US has personal origins.  Unlike Bill's interpretation, he
(officially) is an enemy of the US because the US is a friend of
Iran's enemy, Israel.  But then, Israel is one of Iran's major trading
partners, supplying them with weapons in a war against Iraq!  You
never know if two governments are really friends or foes if you simply
read their official policies.

   So let's not fall for the official lines and try and go
underneath the surface and look for the people's feelings.  Muslim
Middle Easterns hate Israel.  It is plain and simple as that.  Now,
whether that's because of the anti-Israeli propaganda in their
countries in the past 40 years, or because Muslims and Jews were born
to hate each other, or any other reason, it's irrelevant to "this"
discussion.  Muslim Middle Easterns hate (OK, "dislike"?) Israel and
therefore they hate the US even though their governments may have been
friendly with the US for less than a decade.

H. Reza Taheri
...!ihnp4!ihuxb!reza
(312)-979-7473