On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 04:39:10 GMT, Fred J. McCall
wrote:

Steven James Forsberg wrote:

: While Iran is not exactly sparkling with freedom, it is one of the
:more democratic nations in the Middle East. Indeed, that is one reason the
:US fears it so.

You really are surpassing yourself in being an idiot for the holidays,
are you not?

I doubt the U.S. fears it-- the biggest problem is that the U.S.
often makes comments about Iranian reformers that the REFORMERS really
wish we could lay off-- kinda like the impact if Stalin had made a lot
of statements backing unions in the 1950's-- it can easily be used by
the opposition.
I would say that barring Isreal, Iran probably has the most
functional democracy in the Middle East, certainly far better than
many of our allies. It's not an american style democracy, by no
means, and it isn't a democracy where fundamental questions of policy
are open to public discourse, but it's still a damn site closer than
many.