Excerpts, editing by Carolyn Bennett

Reverberations in U.S./Iran (U.S.'s Afghanistan, Somalia, Iranian Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi), a Brit's inconvenient truths running up to war that won't go away

"Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create? .. Thirty years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories we do not express the same impatience with the persistent refusal of Israel to comply...

"Britain' positive role in the middle east does not redress the strong sense of injustice throughout the Muslim world at what it sees as one rule for the allies of the US and another rule for the rest. Nor is our credibility helped by the appearance that our partners in Washington are less interested in disarmament than they are in regime change ... That explains why any evidence that inspections may be showing progress is greeted in Washington not with satisfaction but with consternation: it reduces the case for war."

[From former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's 2003 resignation speech in the House of Commons - Cook died in 2005; he had been walking a hill in Scotland. In his time, the BBC writes in his obituary, "the Labour MP for Livingston was considered one of the Commons' most intelligent MPs and one of its most skilled debaters... His stance on the Iraq war - and his resignation speech - further enhanced his reputation as a man of principle and a great Parliamentarian." BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2859431.stm, 2003/03/18; http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4127676.stm, 2005/08/06]

War toll update (estimates) October 24, 2009
Iraq, Afghanistan (exact figures and costs of war are unobtainable)
American Military Casualties in Iraq ¨C "Human cost of occupation": since the war began March 19, 2003: 4,351; since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 123; Wounded 31,536-over 100,000; U.S. veterans with brain injuries: 320,000; 18 suicides a day [Anti-war dot com updated October 21: "Casualties in Iraq, The Human Cost of Occupation" (Edited by Margaret Griffis) [http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/]
Iraq Body Count figures: 93,571-102,096 [http://www.iraqbodycount.org/]
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count figures: IRAQ: U.S. Coalition total: 4,669; U.S.: 4,351

AFGHANISTAN: Coalition total; 1,468; U.S.: 885 [http://icasualties.org/oif/]
Just Foreign Policy: "The number is shocking and sobering. It is at least 10 times greater than most estimates cited in the US media, yet it is based on a scientific study of violent Iraqi deaths caused by the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003." Just Foreign Policy figures--Iraqi Deaths: 1,339,771.

"Iran under attack?"
Nazanine Moshiri from the Middle East, October 18, 2009:
"The Iranians say they are fighting a dual war against drugs smugglers and a Sunni group called Jundullah. This group has claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, which killed at least 31 people, including 11 Revolutionary Guards commanders.

"When I was in Zahedan, the provincial capital, it was also this group that young soldiers I spoke to feared the most...

"The Iranians don't think Jundullah is working alone. They have long complained of outside forces causing instability here, and they are using this attack to once again accuse foreign entities of interfering in Iran. They won't name these entities directly [but] they basically mean the United States and Britain; what they call ¡®the Great Satan and the Little Satan.'.."
[The Middle East Blog, http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2009/10/18/iran-under-attack]

Flashback Iran history made in the USA

Assisted by the United States, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (b. Iran October 26, 1919 - d. Egypt July 27, 1980), an army officer turned ruler of Iran (Shah of Iran 1941-1979), founder in 1925 of the Pahlavi dynasty, carried out what was known as the "White Revolution" for a time solidifying Iranian support.

The Iranian army under the shah "was the cornerstone of Iran's foreign policy" and thanks to American aid and expertise, the Iranian army had become "the most powerful, well-equipped force in the region and one of the largest armed forces in the world."

Over time, the shah faced mounting political and religions criticism: the one for reforms that "did not move far or fast enough," the other for "westernization antithetical to Islam." Personally the shah encountered opposition "based upon his autocratic rule, corruption in his government, unequal distribution of oil wealth, forced westernization, and activities of Savak (secret police) in suppressing dissent and opposition to his rule."

After Iran began taking in greater revenues from its petroleum exports beginning in 1973, the negative aspects of the shah's rule markedly accentuated.

"Widespread dissatisfaction among the lower classes, the Sh¨©ite clergy, the bazaar merchants, and students led in 1978 to the growth of support for the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shiite religious leader living in exile in Paris. Rioting and turmoil in Iran's major cities brought down four successive governments.

"On January 16, 1979, the shah left the country, and Khomeini assumed control. The shah did not abdicate but a referendum resulted in the declaration (April 1, 1979) of an Islamic republic in Iran.

"The shah traveled to Egypt, Morocco, The Bahamas, and Mexico before entering the United States on October 22, 1979, for medical treatment of lymphatic cancer. Two weeks later Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took hostage more than 50 Americans, demanding the extradition of the shah in return for the hostages' release. Extradition was refused but the shah later left for Panama and then Cairo, where he was granted asylum by President Anwar el-Sadat." [Edited from reference articles: Encyclopedia Britannica Deluxe Edition (2008) Chicago: Encyclopedias Britannica]

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