Peace with Persia?

As twisted as the MSM is today, it is no surprise to find some grains of truth buried in the Travel section. The Washington Post's Steve Knipp does a little meet and greet with the people of Iran, and it is enough to make one put down their gun and wipe a tear from their eye:

Everywhere I went -- from the traffic-choked streets of Tehran in the north to the dusty desert town of Yazd in central Iran, to the elegant cultural centers of Isfahan and Shiraz -- I was overwhelmed by the warmth and, dare I say it, pro-Americanism of the people I met.
Ponder the irony of that last statement for a moment. While much of the rest of the world seems to be holding their collective noses at us Americans, in Iran people were literally crossing the road to shake an American's hand and say hello. Who knew?

Hmmm.....Could it be that those whom still live under tyranny appreciate the strength of the Great Satan more than those ingrates who have lived under our protection for a generation? The more one reads of Knipp's article, the more one understands that the Mullahs and their theocratic thugocracy have the innocents of this good nation in a chokehold. Over two-thirds of Iran's population are under 30 - and like the folks behind the Iron Curtain twenty years ago, more than anything they want blue jeans, MTV, and the freedom to live the American Way. And they are trying to let us know:

During my visit, I could not pause on a street corner for more than 30 seconds without someone coming up and shyly asking if they could help. Discovering that they had an American in their midst, they would often insist on walking me to my destination...

When told I was a reporter, college kids asked me to tell Americans: "Please know this: We are not Saudi Arabia. We are not Iraq. We are not Yemen. Please tell them we are not the same as these places!" In fact, Islam came late to the Persia party. The Persian empire boasted a rich civilization several centuries before Arab invaders swept in from the west.

Ah, that religion of peace. Still enslaving the women, by the way - they know they need to keep their betters down:

What astonished me the most about Iran were its women. I met and spoke with scores of them from all parts of the country. And everywhere they were wonderful: vivid, bold, articulate in several languages, politically astute and audaciously outward-looking. While some men demurred, the women weren't afraid to voice opinions about anything under the sun.

But socially, Iran's women still live under Islamic edicts: They must wear the hijab when leaving the house, and they cannot normally associate with any male who is not their father, brother or son, or shake hands with a man. Despite these restrictions, they manage to remain utterly feminine. They are keen on bright lipsticks, nail polish and eye shadow. And they have a passion for imported handbags and shoes.

Has their ever been a government less representative of their people? Getting Ahmadinejad and his crew out of power without resorting to deadly force is like trying to extract the yolk without cracking the egg, yet allowing him to stay in charge, subjegating the good Persian people while feverently working on a second Holocaust is no answer either.

Ironically, it is probably swift economic sanctions that will force an uprising quicker than any military option, yet Europe would rather stare lovingly into Ahmadinejad's eyes, helpless and unwilling to act, than team with the United States for an effective regimen of sanctions that would force the Mullah's hand early.
The imposition of sanctions by the West now could prevent a slaughter down the road, along with hostilities and resentments that could last for another quarter-century. Yet the UN and EU would rather treat with Ahmadinejad, hoping to declare "peace in our time" with this madman (see "Fascism, the UN's infatuation with", here).

It didn't work last century, and it will not work now.

Update: The UN comtinues to kiss his *ss; and Ahmadinejad continues to spit venom:

The U.N. chief got little satisfaction Sunday at the close of his trip to Tehran, snubbed by Iran's leader over international demands to stop enriching uranium and ignored in warnings not to incite hatred by questioning the Holocaust.
In a provocative move on the final day of Kofi Annan's two-day visit, Iran announced it would host a conference to examine what it called exaggerations about the Holocaust, during which more than 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

All that's missing is the brush mustache....