Let the Swords Encircle Me (eBook)

Iran--A Journey Behind the Headlines

Scott Peterson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2010 | 1. Auflage
752 Seiten
Simon & Schuster (Verlag)
978-1-4165-9739-1 (ISBN)

Infos

NO OTHER COUNTRY SO DOMINATES THE HEADLINES: Iran is portrayed as a nuclear threat, a terrorist nation, a charter member of the Axis of Evil bent on the destruction of Israel. But behind those headlinesand the fierce rhetoric of Irans most hard-line leadersis a proud nation with a 2,500-year history of Persian poetry, art, and passion.

Based on more than thirty extended reporting trips to Iran, including the turbulent aftermath of the disputed June 2009 election, Scott Petersons portrait is the definitive guide to this enigmatic nation, from the roots of its incendiary internal struggles to the rise and slide of Irans earthshaking 1979 Islamic Revolution.

This prize-winning American journalist with unparalleled experience in Iran takes us there, inside a country where an educated and young population is restlessly eager to take its place in the world, where martyrs of the 'sacred' Iran-Iraq War are still mourned with tears of devotion, where the cultural and religious forces of light and darkness are locked in battle. Peterson brings stunningly alive the diversity within Iranfrom the hard-liners who shout 'Death to America' to the majority who comprise the most pro-American population in the Middle East.

Let the Swords Encircle Me gives voice to Iranians themselvesthe clerics and the reformers, the filmmakers and the journalists, the True Believers and their Westernized and profane brethrento understand the complexities of Iran today. Through dedicated and in-depth reporting, Peterson shows how every word, image, and sensibility in Iran is often deliciously unexpected and counterintuitive. Ideology matters. So does 'resistance.' And azadi: freedom.


Peterson deftly holds a mirror up to both sides of the U.S.-Iran conflict. Americans and Iranians, he writes, share a belief in their own exceptionalism and 'manifest destiny' (which for Iran includes its nuclear ambitions) and frequent need of an 'enemy' in political discourse. The same elements that have locked the United States and Iran in the most vicious of strugglesstretching back to the 1953 CIA coup in Tehran and the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage sagaare the same ones that could one day make Iran and the United States the most 'natural' allies in the region.


In this critical and personal account, Peterson illumines the latest episodes of Irans century-old quest for democracy and freedom. He explains how the Islamic Revolutionlaunched as a beacon of justice and resistance for Iranians and all the worlds Muslimshas not lived up to its ambitious promise. He shows how the violence of 2009 damaged the regimes legitimacy and marks the start of an irreversible decline.

Let the Swords Encircle Me takes us into the minds and hearts of Iranians today, and will be a crucial guide as Americans and Iranians attempt to overcome their bitter estrangement.

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NO OTHER COUNTRY SO DOMINATES THE HEADLINES: Iran is portrayed as a nuclear threat, a terrorist nation, a charter member of the Axis of Evil bent on the destruction of Israel. But behind those headlinesand the fierce rhetoric of Irans most hard-line leadersis a proud nation with a 2,500-year history of Persian poetry, art, and passion. Based on more than thirty extended reporting trips to Iran, including the turbulent aftermath of the disputed June 2009 election, Scott Petersons portrait is the definitive guide to this enigmatic nation, from the roots of its incendiary internal struggles to the rise and slide of Irans earthshaking 1979 Islamic Revolution. This prize-winning American journalist with unparalleled experience in Iran takes us there, inside a country where an educated and young population is restlessly eager to take its place in the world; where martyrs of the "e;sacred"e; Iran-Iraq War are still mourned with tears of devotion; where the cultural and religious forces of light and darkness are locked in battle. Peterson brings stunningly alive the diversity within Iranfrom the hard-liners who shout "e;Death to America"e; to the majority who comprise the most pro-American population in the Middle East. Let the Swords Encircle Me gives voice to Iranians themselvesthe clerics and the reformers, the filmmakers and the journalists, the True Believers and their Westernized and profane brethrento understand the complexities of Iran today. Through dedicated and in-depth reporting, Peterson shows how every word, image, and sensibility in Iran is often deliciously unexpected and counterintuitive. Ideology matters. So does "e;resistance."e; And azadi: freedom. Peterson deftly holds a mirror up to both sides of the U.S.-Iran conflict. Americans and Iranians, he writes, share a belief in their own exceptionalism and "e;manifest destiny"e; (which for Iran includes its nuclear ambitions) and frequent need of an "e;enemy"e; in political discourse. The same elements that have locked the United States and Iran in the most vicious of strugglesstretching back to the 1953 CIA coup in Tehran and the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage sagaare the same ones that could one day make Iran and the United States the most "e;natural"e; allies in the region.In this critical and personal account, Peterson illumines the latest episodes of Irans century-old quest for democracy and freedom. He explains how the Islamic Revolutionlaunched as a beacon of justice and resistance for Iranians and all the worlds Muslimshas not lived up to its ambitious promise. He shows how the violence of 2009 damaged the regimes legitimacy and marks the start of an irreversible decline.Let the Swords Encircle Me takes us into the minds and hearts of Iranians today, and will be a crucial guide as Americans and Iranians attempt to overcome their bitter estrangement.

Textauszug

Introduction

'Because for us, the war is not over . . .'

FROM HIS FIRST BREATH, the bearded Believer invokes divine power, for among the most devout every communication begins: 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate . . .'

This Iranian holy warrior chooses his words deliberately, speaking to me in 1998 in a cramped office in the mosque at Tehran University, where the threadbare furnishings and plain walls mark a monastic preoccupation with issues of the spirit.

His eyes are fearless. And with the certainty of an evangelist on a mission of conversion, Dr. Alireza Zakani is about to take me back with him to the marshy, trench-laced battlefields of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. He was wounded ten times and survived fifteen major offensives that remain among the bloodiest engagements in modern warfare.

Zakani was just fifteen when he volunteered for the carnage, breaking the age rules to join what he believed to be a 'sacred' war. The fight had sparked a spiritual reckoning for Iran, deepened zeal for Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, and forged a militant ideology that today forms the bedrock of the Islamic Republic. In their eagerness to get to the war--to prove their faith, their purity of heart--young men would alter the birth date on their identity cards so they could 'legally' sign up for combat.

Zakani was as religious as he was eager. His forehead is marked with the indelible dark smudge of a life spent in daily prayer, by the clay disk that Shiite Muslims bend down and press with their heads five times a day, to physically connect with the earth from whence they came.

'We didn't enter the battlefield to become martyrs, only to defend Islam and the Revolution,' intones Zakani, his paralyzed right hand resting limply by his side.¹ 'But we knew that if we died, we were going to be martyrs, and that was important to us. So we would have victory either way. If we died, we still won--martyrdom is the highest aim.'

Still today, that collective war experience is alive, and affects every aspect of Iran's politics and worldview. Iranians call it the 'Imposed War,' launched in 1980 when Iraqi forces invaded Iran. The turbulent Islamic Revolution ushered in by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was still young and vulnerable. Then it was beset by a horrific war of attrition and Iraqi chemical weapon attacks that left one million dead and wounded on both sides.

The Revolution survived, but even Saddam Hussein felt obliged to mark the scale of the slaughter. Halfway through the war, in Baghdad, he built the towering crossed-swords monument, its hands larger-than-life metal replicas of those of the Iraqi dictator. When I first saw it in the late 1990s, what struck me most was not the magnificence of the swords, but the nets filled with five thousand Iranian helmets from the battlefield.²

The Iranian beliefs forged in that crucible--where the Iraqi enemy drew overt and covert support from the West--are one cause of the still-bitter estrangement between the United States and Iran. The war became a vehicle to enhance hatred for both sides. In Iran throughout those eight years of conflict, anti-American vitriol became more and more a pillar of Iranian policy. And in America, anti-Revolution disdain led the United States to provide Saddam with satellite intelligence, to make Iraq's chemical weapon attacks even more lethal.

Inside Iran, the trauma of the conflict meant that ever afterward, True Believers like Zakani would seek to impose their grip on the rest of Iran's diverse society. After such wartime sacrifices, these ideologues saw themselves as Iran's self-appointed moral authority, tasked with...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.9.2010
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft
• ISBN-10: 1-4165-9739-5 / 1416597395
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-9739-1 / 9781416597391