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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (93777)	4/15/2003 10:12:57 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 281500

The young people at the upscale party I attended that evening, all of them U.S. educated, were pleased about the fall of Saddam. A couple of them, sipping their illegal whiskeys, claimed with pride, "We are no Afghanistan or Iraq. America will never attack us. But these guys are scared, they know things have to change." This matches accurately with what I have heard from people who've recently returned from Iran. They balanced that with saying that the middle age and older crowd are not so favorable towards US. By far the most telling sign of the ruling elite's fear that Saddam's fate may befall them was former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's declaration that a referendum should be held to see if the people want reconciliation with the Americans. Up to now, any talk of referendum was dubbed as treasonous by the hardliners. But when one bully falls so swiftly, within earshot, other bullies lose rest. There is a feeling of imminent change in Tehran. Also accurate, although the next day the hardline newspapers wrote editorials about relationship with US is the red line that must not be crossed. Rafsanjani is a very powerful figure and a conservative. But he is also very pragmatic. ST