Ted Koppel gets their side of the story in ``Iran -- The Most Dangerous Nation,'' which airs on the Discovery Channel Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. New York time.
Try to watch it.
Ted Koppel, in Iran, Finds Dissidents, Paris Hilton, Blogs: TV
By Dave Shiflett
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration calls Iran a member of the ``axis of evil.'' Some may wonder what the Iranians think of us.
Ted Koppel gets their side of the story in ``Iran -- The Most Dangerous Nation,'' which airs on the Discovery Channel Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. New York time. This is fascinating television of the type that might get Koppel a spot on a Department of Homeland Security watch list.
The veteran newsman, who covered the 1979-81 hostage crisis, is trim and energetic these days, looking a bit like a late- blooming graduate student in jeans and running shoes.
He travels widely and finds a nation that treasures its 2,700-year culture, believes it has the right to develop nuclear power and finds much in the U.S. not only to admire but also to emulate.
Iran also carries a reasonable grudge against the U.S. and would strongly resist military adventurism, Koppel discovers.
Many Iranians, he begins, have never forgiven the U.S. for its key role in installing the much-despised shah in 1953. Interestingly enough, he adds, the U.S. promised to provide nuclear technology to that West-leaning strongman.
Nor have Iranians forgotten American support of Saddam Hussein in the 1980s Iraq-Iran war, which claimed upward of 900,000 Iranian lives, some taken with chemical weapons.
The Nuclear Question
What about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his nuclear program?
Koppel interviews political admirers and dissidents, intellectuals and ``grass-roots'' Iranians, who all agree that Iran has as much right to nuclear power as the States. They argue that Pakistan, with its links to terrorist organizations and its arsenal of nuclear weapons, is a far greater cause for concern.
The two-hour special, while focusing on U.S.-Iran relations, also provides a sweeping overview of a society in transition.
Koppel visits Ahmadinejad supporters in the countryside whose accommodations are decidedly stark. ``If they could see where I live,'' says one, ``they would weep.''
His family subsists in a one-room mud hut with an old black- and-white television, a fan and little else. He brings in $5 a day making bricks, yet greatly admires his president, not only because he ``stands up'' to the U.S. but, perhaps equally important, because Ahmadinejad's political apparatus paid for his uninsured wife's vitally needed operation.
Tehran, meanwhile, suffers problems common to large cities: high unemployment and widespread drug addiction. Down in the subway, Koppel notes riders have ``the look'' common to London and New York passengers, though there is one missing ingredient: most women ride in separate cars.
Cyberspace Sex
While women are not equal to men -- one woman complains that, among other indignities, they can receive only half as much family inheritance -- 60 percent of university students are women. Their heads must be covered but their faces need not be, and Koppel's cameras find women of breathtaking beauty.
In addition, 70 percent of the population is under 30, and in a series of interviews Koppel finds that many of the young worship ``all things American,'' even President Bush.
The young, whom Koppel characterizes as ``simultaneously spoiled and disgruntled,'' are up to their typical tricks, including hanging out at cybercafes. In the holy city of Qom he interviews a young woman who keeps her back to the camera while simultaneously chatting and tooling away on her keyboard. At discussion's end, the interpreter reveals she has been carrying on a sexually graphic conversation with her boyfriend over the Internet.
The nation is fairly well wired, Koppel notes: There are ``at least 70,000 blogs,'' and while the Internet is filtered it is filtered strangely -- Paris Hilton can be accessed but not the Voice of America.
Minefields Marching
Koppel quotes one older citizen who notes that in the ``old days we prayed at home and went out to drink''; these days ``we drink at home and go out to pray.''
Nevertheless, Islam remains central and religious fervor would make Iran a resolute foe. This is a nation, Koppel says, that deeply reveres its martyrs. During the war with Iraq, Iranians were not averse to clearing minefields the hard way: They simply marched in until all the mines had been detonated.
Iran, one citizen promises, would be ``10 times tougher than Iraq'' to conquer.
(Dave Shiflett is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this story: Dave Shiflett at dshifl@aol.com
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