Originally Posted by
jerk
From what I have heard from friends who know what is going on in the annals of our State Department as well as pals over in Iran- The United States was caught pretty unaware by the Iranian attack. They failed to shoot down a single missile despite knowing that Iran would likely respond is just such a manner. The Iranians also hit their targets with a far great accuracy than US intelligence believed possible.
Iran's response was incredibly measured and showcased two important things to the United States, the World and their own population. Firstly, Iran behaved like a first world "civilized" country. It hit military targets, did not target civilians, and showed a great deal of restraint. Typically in asymetrical conflict- weaker antagonists don't play by the same rules. The Iranians flipped the script- and came across as being the more measured and moral party to the conflict while the United States looked like the terrorist, the instigator, the ends justify the means, and the weaker more desperate and unhinged party.
Even the US government recognized this and basically praised Iran for deescalating the conflict in response to their attack on American military assets with multiple missiles!
Watching what has happened in Iran regarding the tragedy of the downed Ukrainian 737 is truly a fascinating and even more telling experience. It telegraphs to the world a couple of things: firstly- Iranians generally have faith in their government and believe it to be legitimate and not evil and generally well intentioned. They also believe it to be generally out of touch, lagging behind the populace in terms of values, policies, and opinion on how the country should be run. Iranians came out in the millions for the the services celebrating the life of their murdered general. They also came out in incredibly large number to protest the tragic downing of the Ukrainian passenger jet. The fact that they waited to do this until their government completed its investigation and admitted responsibility is amazing. It shows a civic trust that one would naturally assume is missing in a "dictatorship" an " illegitimate regime", a "bandit terrorist state" as Americans generally view it. People were enraged that this accident happened and were comfortable with coming out on the streets to protest. To me this shows an incredible stability and legitimacy in the system in Iran. People do feel that it is their country and their government.
The second interesting thing is that this happened just days after Iran was the subject of belligerent rhetoric threatening war, attacks on its civilian culturally important places, and the overthrow of its government by the government of the most powerful nation in the world- a nation who coincidentally just murdered an important general in cold blood.
Iran is truly coming across as a civilized, modern, educated, and democratic nation because of all of this. Nothing that has happened could occur in a dictatorship or in a country where the population didn't feel empowered or viewed their government as oppressive and illegitimate. It's truly been an example of civic responsibility and democracy in action. Iran is messy- it's plagued by a disproportionate amount of power being in the hands of elderly right wing mullahs who are generally far more conservative than the the population as a whole. On the other hand, there are vibrant democratic institutions at work in Iran and much power lies with folks who were elected by and represent the Iranian people. The country demographically is extremely young- and Iranians can vote at a younger age than just about any country in the world. Khomeini's ideas concerning women, personal freedoms, and economics- which were always far more progressive than Sunni Islamists- and were often even more progressive than self declared secular socialist Middle Eastern governments- are now the view of a decreasing number of mostly older, less educated, more rural Iranians. The vast majority of the country even the vast majority of young urban Iranians- still fully support the Islamic Republican form of government. They don't want a Western European style government- but they do want Political Shia Islam to evolve with the needs and material conditions of the Iranian people. It's incredibly encouraging to see this young, giant country finding its place in the world and its people moving their country towards where they want it to be while in the crosshairs of the most powerful nation on earth. The fact that they were able to stand up to America, endure the horrible tragedy of this civilian air tragedy, and be where they are- is a credit to the Iranian people and their democracy.
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