Window on Iran - Part 27

Fatemeh Kashevarz

Current Issues

If you are concerned about the “Islamic threat,” and particularly the horrible things that Iranians are capable of doing to the world, here is another sobering and neglected study that shows the reality may be very different. This study, which would have made it to the headlines if its result pointed a finger at Iran or the Muslim Middle East, was carried out by the European Police Office (Europol) as its first major report on terrorism in EU. According to the study, there were 498 incidents in eleven EU countries last year described as “terrorist attacks.”  The Basque separatist group ETA carried out 136 terrorist attacks one of which was deadly killing two in Madrid. The remaining 497 fortunately cost no human lives. How about the Islamic terrorists then? According to Europol report, Islamists carried out ONE out of the 498 terrorist attacks in the European Union in 2006. If you wish to read the rest of this report or visit the Europol web site, click on http://www.counterpunch.com/larsson04212007.html. My thanks to Ahmet Karamustafa and Frank Flinn who both sent me this article.

For some, like Professor John Lewis, facts seem to have little to do with reality. Professor Lewis will deliver a talk titled “No Substitute for Victory” at George Mason University, on Tuesday April 24, advocating a US attack on Iran.  For event details see http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/events.asp.  He has suggested connections between Iran and the 9/11 tragedy and advocated a nuclear attack on Iran using Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a model. Such an attack would be a genocide. Please speak up.  If you are in the vicinity, or have friends who live in the vicinity, please attend and support our friends at CASMII ( the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran) next Tuesday at GMU as they leaflet at the event and raise questions about Mr. Lewis’s “facts.” Location: <>The Johnson Center Cinema is located at 4400 University Drive, a short distance from Ox Road (Route 123), which also intersects Braddock Road nearby.

Mr. Lewis does not seem to be the only one taking genocide lightly. This week, Senator MaCain, who many, regardless of their political leanings, might have viewed as a mature and thoughtful politician, found bombing Iran funny. Noticing the effect of his joke, however, the Senator may not be laughing anymore: http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/20/new_ad_slams_mccain_for_bomb_iran_song

Relief from Current Events

This window has been heavily focussed on current events. Let us close with some fun cultural and artistic issues. To begin with, here is a historical breakthrough. New traces appear to have been found of Cyrus the Great! Here is an article on that courtesy of my friend Pamela Barmash. Thanks Pamela: http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=7079

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Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures
Washington University in St. Louis