Hey buddy:, how are you?
I can't wait to one day visit Iran, even more so now.

    I appreciate the E-Mail, it was a good read and I agree with you 100% I
love my country but what you say is true. I would just like to say, for the
record, that there are many like you in America. There are a lot of people
who see the flaws and lies in eth government, we're not all brainwashed. We
can see though a lot of things, I'm not saying you didn't know this, I'm
just saying it.
     It's almost funny in a way how the Administration is now trying to act
like the whole reason we went into Iraq was for freedom. I and many others
here in the States saw through this. However it is sad how some News
Pundits, most Republicans, and some others buy this. It is not a valid
reason in my book. Is freedom for others worth American lives? I don't mean
to sound cruel but it is not. It's not a valid reason to war with another
nation, plenty of nations isn't free, and is it America's job to police the
world? I say no.
      The only reason America is even remotely interested in the Middle East
is for Oil. I'm not saying that's necessarily a "bad" thing, but I'll get
into that in a bit. If the Middle East did not have Oil, we couldn't care
less about what some crazy Wahhabi Muslims in the middle of the Arabian
Desert do. Like you said, economic reasons are the main concern.
       Now I'd like to say, this is not unique to America, we are just lying
about it, in a way. As you know the British, French, Spanish, and other
European nations who now criticize America are guilty of the same things in
the past. The British for example controlled about ¼ of the Earth's land
mass. So what I'm trying to say, no country is a nation of "Angels". Now I
personally, and this is NOT the view of many Americans, is that America
should protect its economic and political interests abroad. In order to
maintain out lifestyle we need to get some blood on our hands from time to
time, as sad as that may sound. You said it perfectly! How we didn't get
where we are today without doing so. Plus the U.S. only gets 3% of our Oil
from Iraq at the moment. Plus, even if we started the war for oil it doesn't
matter, we have liberated a people and given them a chance to fight for
their right to exist as a sovereign nation that is ruled by self
determination and democracy not through fear and tyranny. You, being Iranian
should know 1st had that Iraq wasn't a "barrel of laughs" before we got
there.. Speaking of that I was meaning to ask, do you remember the Shah of
Iran? The Revolution? The Iran-Iraq war? I would love to hear about these
things from a man who actually experienced it.

You bring up many good points; I just want people to understand the America
isn't such a bad place. That's all. We have done a lot of good and evil of
course.
Thomas