Letters: Santorum doesn't understand Iranians
Rick Santorum presents a very cogent and heartfelt explanation for why he believes that President Obama is wrong in not supporting and funding the pro-democracy movement in Iran ("Obama's failing Iran policy," Thursday). But his logic is based on a terribly flawed, and very dangerous, misunderstanding of Iran's political culture and history. Although promoting, supporting, and praising democracy movements around the world has been part of U.S. foreign policy for decades, and was seen to work during the Cold War in Eastern Europe, Iran is a very different place.
Iranians have a proud and strong national identity that is not connected to the current regime. Most Iranians loathe their leaders, as evidenced by the summer uprising. The national identity is very powerful, especially when Iranians feel threatened. They have felt threatened ever since their country was surrounded by the U.S. military's actions in neighboring countries of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Turkey, and in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Combine this with the statements about Iran being evil, the need for regime change, and being ripe for preemptive attacks, and Iranians are reasonably justified in feeling threatened. Any U.S. meddling in Iranian politics will be justifiably perceived as an attempt to violate Iran's sovereignty.
It is for these reasons that the Iranian pro-democracy movement has asked the United States not to participate, why many Iranian reformist groups have not accepted U.S. aid, and why many Iranian expatriates and scholars have advised the United States to stay on the sidelines. Santorum either does not understand this, or is taking knowingly false potshots at U.S. policy to perpetuate Republican and right-wing obstruction of the president's agenda.
David Klein
Flourtown
