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Targeting Iran
Barsamian, David
Publisher: City Lights, Open Media Series, San Francisco, USAYear Published: 2007 Pages: 206pp Price: $13.95 Resource Type: Book Cx Number: CX8152 A critical analysis of the Bush administration's policies towards Iran. Abstract: Targeting Iran edited by David Barsanian offers a critical analysis of the Bush administration's position. Interviews with Noam Chomsky, Iranian scholars Ervand Abrahamian and Nahid Mozzafari trace the historical patterns of U.S imperial policy. American interest in Iran goes back to world War 11 and before. Seeking to supplant Russian and British influence, the United States played a key role in the coup that overthrew the secular leader Mossadeh in 1953, installing the represive Shah Reza Pahlavi which in turn led to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. All three look at the Bush administration's obsession with the possibility of Iran controlling Shia influence across the region and Iran's nuclear threat. They point out that groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah all have their own interests and are not governed by Teheran. The United States has consistently refused to negotiate and resolve qustions over the nuclear question. All three remind us that the threat of inscreasing U.S hostility has repressed various reform initiatives coming from different sectors of Iranian society. The U.S. backing of Saddam Hussein and the toll the war had on the Iranian people, the sanctions imposed on Iran and the threats of attack by the U.S. have all contributed to a renewal of hard line conservatism. They accuse the U.S of double dealing, hypocracy and downright lying when it comes to justifying and preparing an Amercian public for a possible attack on Iran. Subject Headings
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