ABOUT SANCTIONS

http://ghandchi.com/60-sanctions.htm

 

 

The following is a letter by some Iranian-Americans opposing sanctions against Iran:

 

http://www.payvand.com/news/00/jul/1054.html

 

In the last 20 years this issue has come up again and again.  Here are my thoughts:

 

On one side I understand the ones who say that sanctions hurt the people of Iran and not just IRI.  I would say actually, when one imprisons a criminal, the criminal's family also suffer, but would that be an argument for not punishing the criminal?  Actually these same kinds of arguments used to be brought up by Communists and their supporters in the West, when Soviet Union was under sanctions by the U.S.

 

On the other hand, I remember even Mandela till the last days of Apartheid regime, even when DW Clark was softening apartheid in the South African state, still Mandela asked the West , *not* to lift the sanctions against South Africa, until apartheid was totally eradicated.

 

Then why Iranian opposition, who are against Islamic Republic, have condemned the West's sanctions against Iranian government. Basically I think Iranian theocracy, which is molla's religious apartheid, is not being addressed the same way by Iranians, as apartheid was addressed by South Africans. I think the following is the reason.

 

Simply put, I think the reason for many Iranians' lack of support for sanctions, is a general anti-Western attitude among Iranian opposition, which caused them side with molla's regime in many critical junctures in the last 20 years, that is by siding with hostage-taking at one time, and side with Iraq, during the Gulf War, at another time, although Iraq, before the Gulf War, had massacred Iranians during the Iran-Iraq War, and although Iranians knew that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait could not be defeated without the intervention of United Nations.

 

I believe the United Nations was doing the right thing to intervene in the Iraq-Kuwait situation, but most Iranian opposition sided with Iraq and I think it was their mistake, the same mistake they made when siding with hostage-taking and I think this is all because of a general anti-Western attitude among Iranian opposition, which causes it to side with the Islamic apartheid state.

 

Sam Ghandchi

July 14, 2000

 

P.S. Related articles:

http://www.ghandchi.com/319-IRISanctions-plus.htm

 

http://www.ghandchi.com/61-Again_Sanctions.htm

 

http://www.ghandchi.com/62-Effect_Sanctions.htm

 

http://www.ghandchi.com/index-Page12.html

 

 

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* The above article was first posted on SCI (soc.culture.iranian) Usenet newsgroup on July 14, 2000