Contents
Prologue |
|
9 |
Chapter 1 |
Before the Fall |
15 |
Chapter 2 |
Iranian History up to World War II |
19 |
Chapter 3 |
Iran from World War II to 1979 |
37 |
Chapter 4 |
The 1979 Revolution |
49 |
Chapter 5 |
Khomeini, Torture, and Terror |
53 |
Chapter 6 |
The Lives of Women and Children in Iran |
71
|
Chapter 7 |
Khatami's Iran: Home Base for Terrorists |
83 |
Chapter 8 |
Iran, al Qaeda, and 9/11 |
95 |
Chapter 9 |
Iran's Secret War in Iraq |
101 |
Chapter 10 |
The Iranian Government's Crimes Against America |
105 |
Chapter 11 |
Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program |
113 |
Chapter 12 |
Iran Missile Program |
129 |
Chapter 13 |
American Policy Toward Iran |
133 |
Chapter 14 |
The Mullahs Are Incompetent Leaders |
147 |
Chapter 15 |
An Alternative to the Khomeini Outlaw Regime |
155 |
Chapter 16 |
Why the Iranian People Want Democracy |
159 |
Chapter 17 |
Why Iran Must Become a Nuclear Democracy |
167 |
Chapter 18 |
The Solution to the Problem is Democracy |
171 |
Appendix A: |
Maps of Iran & a Few Nuclear Facilities |
177 |
Appendix B: |
Zoroastrian Teaching on Good and Evil |
180 |
Appendix C: |
State of the Union Address 2002 |
181 |
Appendix D: |
Known Iranian Terrorist Acts Against the U.S. |
192 |
Appendix E: |
Human Rights Declaration of Cyrus the Great |
193 |
Terms Used |
195 |
Key Players in Iranian Politics |
196 |
Endnotes |
199 |
Excerpt
Prologue
It was the fourth Tuesday in January, and my eyes were glued to the TV screen. President Bush was delivering his State of the Union address for 2002, and the words rang true. After years of doubt and uncertainty, America's leaders were openly admitting that terrorism is a serious threat to life, love, and the future of the human race.
"We have seen the depth of our enemies' hatred in videos where they laugh about the loss of innocent life. And the depth of their hatred is equaled by the madness of the destruction they design. We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities, detailed instructions for making chemical weapons, surveillance maps of America and throughout the world ... Thousands of dangerous killers, schooled in the methods of murder, often supported by outlaw regimes, are now spread through the world like ticking time bombs set to go off without warning."
As an American raised in Iran, I knew how much this tide of evil and destruction came from there. It made me cry to think how far Iran had fallen morally and spiritually in less than twenty-five years. It was not like that before ...
Iran in the '60s was a magical place. Those years were filled with peace, prosperity, and optimism. Cars moved along wide, uncrowded city streets, lined with tall trees. Crime was low, and almost everybody had food to eat, a place to live, and clothing to wear. There was still poverty in some rural villages, but many villagers were becoming homeowners, for the first time in thousands of years. The British and Russian occupation forces were gone, and Iran was moving rapidly into a bright new future. And everyone loved Americans.
An American visitor could go almost anywhere and be invited for tea or dinner with an Iranian family. We were fascinated by these people and eager to learn more about them. Our country's leader, Shah Reza II (Pahlavi), encouraged us to befriend Americans and learn to dream big dreams, just like they did. And he lead us by his personal example.
The Shah was a friend and ally to America for more than thirty years. His friendship with President Kennedy was legendary, and the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, was widely revered and loved through Iran.
We were devastated by the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Adults and children wept openly, and in Iranian schools children wrote poems and songs honoring the memory of President Kennedy. We felt as if one of our own family had died. He wanted Iran to succeed and prosper, just as we did.
The Shah was firmly pro-American, even when it was not popular with Iran's neighbors. He also insisted in religious tolerance, creating a climate in which Moslems, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Bahais, Buddhists, and others were able to practice their religions freely without fear of going to jail. We American tend to take religious freedom and tolerance for granted because we have had it for centuries, ever since the founding of Rhode Island by Roger Williams and Pennsylvania by William Penn. But in Iran such freedoms have been a on-again, off again sort of thing.
