thedrifter
03-27-03, 03:44 PM
Mar 27, 2:57 PM EST
Though Fearful, Iranians Want Saddam Out
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian veteran of the Iran-Iraq war sums up his country's ambivalence over the U.S.-led war on Iraq: he hates Saddam Hussein and cannot wait to see him go. But he's worried about civilian deaths and U.S. domination of Iraq.
"No one will be happier than Iranians to see Saddam toppled," said Javad Feizabadi, a tailor scarred by shrapnel injuries he sustained in Iran's 1980-1988 war with Iraq. "I've been counting the days to see the Baghdad dictator go."
But, like his government and many of his countrymen, Feizabadi is deeply concerned about how allied forces are trying to oust the Iraqi president - and fear what will happen after Saddam is gone.
"The U.S.-led war is killing innocent men, women and children," he said. "And there is also a threat of U.S. domination in post-Saddam Iraq. For Iraqis, U.S. domination is no better than Saddam's dictatorship."
Iranian leaders have denounced the military strike as "satanic" and "a threat to humanity." They fear being drawn into the conflict after their own eight-year war with Iraq, which killed an estimated 1 million people on both sides.
They also do not want to lose political influence in the region after this latest war ends. President Bush declared that Iran, Iraq and North Korea constitute an "axis of evil." A pro-American government in Iraq would leave Iran surrounded by U.S. allies, with Afghanistan to the east and Pakistan to the southeast.
Despite these fears, there have been few street protests since the allied military action began last week. While large anti-war, anti-U.S. rallies have been held across the Middle East, Iran so far has seen only a small protest by families of those killed in the Iran-Iraq conflict.
The Iranian government, however, reacted strongly when stray missiles lobbed by both Iraq and coalition forces landed in Iranian territory.
Iran has put its armed forces on full alert and stationed more troops and artillery along its long western border with Iraq. Tehran summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires, and the ambassadors of Britain and Switzerland, which looks after U.S. interests in Iran, to protest the stray rockets and alleged airspace violations by allied planes.
Lawmaker Mohsen Torkashvand, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iran will continue to make its objections through diplomatic channels instead of taking military action "unless our borders are subject to an open aggression."
While they consider ordinary Americans generous, Iranians' view of the war is colored by their long, bitter history of poor official relations with the United States.
They recall CIA involvement in a coup that toppled the elected nationalist government in 1953 and Washington's support of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranian-U.S. diplomatic relations have been severed since Americans were taken hostage in 1979 at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held for 444 days.
Iranians also remember that the West supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
Ferdow Hajian, a teacher whose lungs were scarred by Iraqi chemical weapons during that conflict, fears Saddam could use the weapons again if he feels overwhelmed by coalition forces.
And he believes the U.S. was wrong to launch this war without United Nations' backing.
Said Hajian: "Human life and the world is in danger."
Sempers,
Roger
Though Fearful, Iranians Want Saddam Out
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian veteran of the Iran-Iraq war sums up his country's ambivalence over the U.S.-led war on Iraq: he hates Saddam Hussein and cannot wait to see him go. But he's worried about civilian deaths and U.S. domination of Iraq.
"No one will be happier than Iranians to see Saddam toppled," said Javad Feizabadi, a tailor scarred by shrapnel injuries he sustained in Iran's 1980-1988 war with Iraq. "I've been counting the days to see the Baghdad dictator go."
But, like his government and many of his countrymen, Feizabadi is deeply concerned about how allied forces are trying to oust the Iraqi president - and fear what will happen after Saddam is gone.
"The U.S.-led war is killing innocent men, women and children," he said. "And there is also a threat of U.S. domination in post-Saddam Iraq. For Iraqis, U.S. domination is no better than Saddam's dictatorship."
Iranian leaders have denounced the military strike as "satanic" and "a threat to humanity." They fear being drawn into the conflict after their own eight-year war with Iraq, which killed an estimated 1 million people on both sides.
They also do not want to lose political influence in the region after this latest war ends. President Bush declared that Iran, Iraq and North Korea constitute an "axis of evil." A pro-American government in Iraq would leave Iran surrounded by U.S. allies, with Afghanistan to the east and Pakistan to the southeast.
Despite these fears, there have been few street protests since the allied military action began last week. While large anti-war, anti-U.S. rallies have been held across the Middle East, Iran so far has seen only a small protest by families of those killed in the Iran-Iraq conflict.
The Iranian government, however, reacted strongly when stray missiles lobbed by both Iraq and coalition forces landed in Iranian territory.
Iran has put its armed forces on full alert and stationed more troops and artillery along its long western border with Iraq. Tehran summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires, and the ambassadors of Britain and Switzerland, which looks after U.S. interests in Iran, to protest the stray rockets and alleged airspace violations by allied planes.
Lawmaker Mohsen Torkashvand, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iran will continue to make its objections through diplomatic channels instead of taking military action "unless our borders are subject to an open aggression."
While they consider ordinary Americans generous, Iranians' view of the war is colored by their long, bitter history of poor official relations with the United States.
They recall CIA involvement in a coup that toppled the elected nationalist government in 1953 and Washington's support of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iranian-U.S. diplomatic relations have been severed since Americans were taken hostage in 1979 at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held for 444 days.
Iranians also remember that the West supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
Ferdow Hajian, a teacher whose lungs were scarred by Iraqi chemical weapons during that conflict, fears Saddam could use the weapons again if he feels overwhelmed by coalition forces.
And he believes the U.S. was wrong to launch this war without United Nations' backing.
Said Hajian: "Human life and the world is in danger."
Sempers,
Roger