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November
21, 1999
This is
Todd Borgie. Today we traveled from Esfahan, Iran to Hamadan, Iran.
Although we
had a rest day in Esfahan yesterday, it is really unfair to call it a
rest day. The Rovers rested, but we were whisked from site to site,
seeing all we could in Esfahan, a truly impressive example Iran's
deep-seated history, culture and art.
We got a
somewhat early start this morning. We are all concerned about Chanda, who
has had bouts with fever nearly every day for the last week or so. She
seems to be OK in the mornings but as afternoon strikes, so does the
fever. We are hoping this pattern will abate today.
Thankfully,
we did all the required maintenance on the vehicles last night, so all we
had to do this morning was eat breakfast, check out of one the finest
hotels we have stayed in, and load the vehicles. We left uneventfully and
proceeded northwest to tonight's destination: Hamadan.
Our drive
was like a rollercoaster as we proceeded through the Zagros Mountains.
Jeff must have been frustrated with the slow pace of the Land Rovers,
because with the help of a long, straight downhill, he set the trip speed
record at 125 kph. Kids, this is not recommended behavior. Don't try this
at home. But after driving for two months, we must consider ourselves
professionals.
Lunch was a
special treat today and our expectations were high, since Kamrand had
been talking about it for days. We stopped in Golpayegan for the best
Kebabs of our lives. We ate chunks of lamb, tomatoes and taftun (a type
of bread served in Iran). We spent about an hour savoring these
delicacies. As we were finishing our lunch, a fellow came in. He had
noticed the license plates and wanted to see if there were actually
Americans around. He had been in the Iranian air force in the 1970s and
received training in Texas.
It was
amazing to me how many people in Iran had ties with the United States. In
the 1970s, Iran was one of the biggest buyers of modern military weapons
and technology from the U.S., therefore many Iranians received military
training in America. Iranians also traveled to attend American
universities. You didn't need to look very far to find someone who had
been to the U.S. or had relatives who had been there. It seemed as though
many people went out of their way to greet us and most people seemed
pleased to have Americans visiting their country. This was a great
experience, because we all had our fears before entering the country.
After
lunch, our route took us through the city of Khomein. We heard from
people in the 1997 rally that Khomein was not all that friendly to
foreigners, particularly Americans. As you might have gathered by the
name, it was the birthplace of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was no friend
to the U.S. I had the opportunity to research the Ayatollah Khomeini and
found that he was not as evil as he was portrayed in the American media.
This is not to excuse some of the stuff that happened during and after
the revolution, but perhaps to see it in a little different perspective.
Ayatollah
Khomeini was born around 1902 and came from a poor family. It was natural
for him to take a religious path as he was a descendant of Mohammed,
which carried special privileges. He left Khomein at the age of 16 to
continue his religious studies and eventually become a professor of
ethics, jurisprudence, and philosophy. For many years he concentrated on
his teaching, though he kept his growing hatred for the Shah to himself
until the death of his teacher. While consolidating his power, the Shah
secularized many of the traditional Islamic roles, thus reducing its
power. Opposition groupl s criticized the Shah, but he was seemingly
growing deaf to the more strict practicing Muslims his country.
In the
Shah's side must be stated as well. He saw Iran as the leader of the
Middle East. He wanted to modernize his country and quickly bring it to
the level of the West. The Shah concentrated on building Iran's
infrastructure and industry, he increased education in the country and
gave women the right to vote. However, it appears the Shah wanted change
more than his people. Change was happening too fast and the price was too
large. Foreign intervention continued to be a problem in Iran and people
were worried they would not be able to exist under their Muslim laws.
The
Ayatollah was not convinced the West had all of the answers. He saw the
declining influence of Islam in Iran and he viewed the Shah's changes as
an abuse of power. He criticized the Shah's westernification of Iran, the
secret police and their methods of control and terror. He saw the lack of
cooperation between the Shah's government and the Islamic leaders, which
traditionally had been very strong. To a fundamentalist Muslim, all of
these criticisms seemed warranted, especially as the Shah attempted to
silence his growing critics. He was turning into a tyrant, spending more
and more money on the military, suppressing opposition groups, and
removing key Islamic leaders from powerful positions in the government.
Khomeini
did not like and feared the increasing westernification of Iran. He felt
as though Iran was not in control of its own destiny and was just a
puppet of the West. Looking at Iran's history, this seems to be pretty
close to the mark. Although never colonized, the British played a large
role in Iranian politics. Great Britain served as an arbitrator in
Iran-Iraq land disputes (largely to protect and secure its oil
interests). During World War II the Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's father, Reza
Shah, refused to allow Iran to be used as a staging area for the supply
of allied troops. Reza Shah was quickly removed, and was succeeded by his
son who gave the Allies what they wanted. After the war, the United
States took over where the British left off, as the Soviet Union became a
constant threat on Iran’s northern border.
As Khomeini
became more and more popular and vehement in his criticisms, he was
exiled to Iraq. However, Khomeini's exile did not seem to address the
problems within Iran nor protect the Shah from Khomeini's attacks.
Khomeini continued to gain popularity as his followers would smuggle
essays and taped sermons to the eager ears of students and lower class
Iranians.
Student
protests became more and more common. At first they were harshly put down
by the Shah's secret police, the SAVAK, but this caused more and more
agitation and ultimately the police would not fire upon demonstrators.
Despite the economic prosperity and the Shah's strong army, upon his
departure to Egypt in Jan. 1979, revolutionary factions took over Iran.
The revolutionary forces invited Khomeini to come home and lead a new
government.
Consolidating
power after a revolution is a difficult thing. There are often many
different factions that had worked together for a common cause, but when
the goal is achieved, disputes often arise as to what will become the
next goal, or the details of how the new government is suppose to run, or
who ultimately has the final say. Although Khomeini's ethics, philosophy
and ideas of jurisprudence seemed good, he had to secure support from
other revolutionary factions to put his ideas into action. Unfortunately,
securing support turned into repression as opposition groups were slowly
silenced.
In America,
Khomeini's name is overwhelmingly associated with the American hostage
crisis that began on November 4, 1979. The action was designed as a
bargaining tool. The Iranians had hoped to secure the return of the Shah
to Iran where he would stand trial for some of the abuses he committed.
Secondly, it was a statement from Iranian students warning the United
States to stop meddling in Iranian affairs. The situation was not
resolved for 444 days, causing political ties to be severed and much hate
to build up on both sides. Even today, the United States does not
officially recognize Iran, though relations are improving. I hope both
countries have learned valuable lessons from this dark chapter in
history. I hope Iran will learn to do what is best for the people of
Iran. I also hope United States will choose to make friends and allies
based on more than protecting its own self-interests. Perhaps this is a
naive hope, but if the day arrives that these two countries can
understand each other, it will make the world seem like a better place.
We traveled
through Khomein without incident or undue delay and continued to drive up
and down, around and through mountain passes. We neared Hamadan as
evening fell upon us, turning off the highway and directly into city
traffic. It was no easy task to stay on the heels of our Iranian guide.
Earle and I worked together blocking and spreading traffic to prepare a
way for both of the Rovers to get through. Continuing my driving
misfortunes, I was hit in the middle while navigating a roundabout. I was
sitting still when a small car scraped Hercules' fender while jockeying
for position. Doug slid the window open and fired a quizzical, angry look
at the guy and asked him, "Hey man what is the game plan here?"
The fellow looked shocked as he quickly backed away and submerged himself
in the sea of traffic.
We
eventually made it to our hotel and I happily gave up driving for the
day. Nick, Chanda and Earle decided to stay back at the hotel and rest
before dinner. Jeff, Doug and I, figuring we don't come here every day,
opted to explore the town. We needed to bundle up, since the temperature
goes down with the sun and we were at 3500 feet. We walked the busy
streets, watching the people and cars. We were experiencing Iran! Our
first stop was to buy pasticcios and munchies for the next day's journey.
They were huge and really good! We quickly drew a crowd, and though
communication was difficult, a shopkeeper from down the street helped us
out as news traveled quickly of the foreigners' presence. He voiced his
excitement at meeting us and told us of his relatives in the states. At
this point we had become comfortable stating where we were from and were
starting to love the attention. Next door to the pasticcio place was
pastry place. Jeff (who, you recall, drools at the sight of donuts) was
caught in the tractor beam so Doug and I naturally followed him. We
bought two dozen pastries that they boxed and tied for us. Again, the
attention was great as we received several free perks in thanks for
coming all this way to see their country.
With about
two hours to spend in the city, we strolled around and found ourselves
watching TV from the outside of an electronics store. (That's weird, us
watching TV). It was a jungle show that was filmed in Nepal or Northern
India, and it brought back memories from what seemed like years ago. We
were so engrossed in traveling, it seemed as though one landscape would
leave the previous one as just a distant memory. The shopkeeper saw us
watching and invited us in. An English speaker was found and we chatted
about Iran and the U.S. One fellow in the shop said he was traveling to
Qatar and asked us if we had any U.S. dollars that he could buy.
Unfortunately, we were strapped for cash and we were only going to be in
Iran for two more days, so we couldn't oblige.
We
continued strolling about Hamadan until dinnertime, then returned to the
hotel. We had another fine Iranian meal and went to bed. This is Todd
signing off.
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