Back in MY Day, We sold weapons to #Iran

[Pryderi]

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. The whole lot of criminals, rummy, bush 1, cheney. Same old weapons dealers around today.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Back in my day, the CIA helped to overthrow Iran's government (1953).

[Dustlawyer]

7. Most Americans are ignorant of the geneses of Iranian hatred of our country.

We are ignorant of the fact that our government deposed a Democratically elected government and replaced it with a brutal dictator at BRITISH Petroleum (BP) and the British government's request, all to maintain cheap oil. The Iranians remember!
Hopefully, by opening up the country again, the Iranians will chafe even more at their repressive government and decide to open even further.

[mountain grammy]

10. Hopefully they will. I see Iran as one of the most stable countries

in the Middle East right now and it's imperative to make peace with them. They mistrust America for good reasons.

[dpatbrown]

11. 1979

Absolutely. The GOP, when talking about how "bad" Iran is, never discusses what happened in 1953. The U.S. overthrew their elected president and put a puppet in charge. And many folks in this country refuse to see this as a reason for Iran's anti-American feelings and a lack of trust for America.

[erronis]

3. And we directly or indirectly supplied nuclear weapons technology to India, Pakistan, Israel

And we want to deny it to Iran because they don't like us (wonder why).

[Fred Sanders]

5. India got most of their nuclear expertise from Britain and Canada, not America.

"In 1955 construction began on India's first reactor, the 1 MW Apsara research reactor, with British assistance. And in September 1955, after more than a year of negotiation, Canada agreed to supply India with a powerful research reactor - the 40 MW Canada-India Reactor (CIR). Under the Eisenhower Administration's "Atoms for Peace" program the US agreed to supply 21 tons of heavy water for this reactor in Februrary 1956, and the reactor was dubbed the Canada-India Reactor, U.S. or CIRUS (now commonly written as Cirus).

The acquisition of Cirus was a watershed event in nuclear proliferation. Although the sale was made with the understanding that the reactor would only be used for peaceful purposes (the heavy water contract at least made this explicit), it occurred before any international policies were in place to regulate such technology transfers and no provision for inspections were made. And in fact India was careful to ensure that no effective regulation would accompany the reactor. India refusing to accept fuel from Canada for the reactor and set up a program to manufacture the natural uranium fuel for Cirus indigeneously so as to keep complete control of the plutonium produced there. This program, led by metallurgist Brahm Prakash, succeeded in developing the techniques for producing the precisely manufactured, high purity material demanded by the reactor."

[bigbrother05]

6. In my Nuclear Engr classes in the early 70's, about 1/3 were were Iranians

and 1/3 were Navy bootstrap students.

The Persians were supported by their gov't, but some didn't seem all that comfortable about it. Many of them got in trouble in the States for wearing masks while protesting the Shah's regime.

[markpkessinger]

19. And that fact -- i.e., that Iran has plenty of nuclear physicists and engineers -- is what makes . .

. . . the idea of thinking we can ultimately prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon if it is really intent on doing so (note: I said "if&quot , is absurd on its face. And it is why we had damn well better come to terms on an agreement that provides incentive for Iran NOT to develop such weapons!

[dpatbrown]

4. Reagan-number one traitor

The Reagan lovers, have for thirty years, tried to sweep under the rug that their hero was actually a traitor. They hate it when anyone brings this fact up.

[bigbrother05]

8. Reagan made deals with the hostage takers in the run up to the election in 1980

Then traded arms while in office.

Quid Pro Quo much?

Then gave Saddam chem weapons to attack Iran.

They hate us for our freedom?

[Scruffy Rumbler]

9. All of them that worked to

keep the hostages in Iran until the election was over and Carter was out of office were traitors! With the assassinations during the '60's and pardoning Nixon for Watergate, the republicans have been committing treason for as long as I have been alive. And you can go back farther to my grandparents time with Hitler's Bush buddy and the Smedley Butler Plot!

[stage left]

12. Yeah, in my day, too.

Talk about undermining a sitting president. Reagan was the champ. Or whoever was pulling his strings.

[jwirr]

13. Hey, raygun didn't you also sell weapons to Iraq so they could fight Iran?

[FairWinds]

14. The U.S. and Israel also trained the Shah's Torturers . .

and protected him from his own people for close to 25 years.

If some nation did to the US what we did to Iran we would turn
that country into a parking lot at the first opportunity.

Here is a recent article I wrote about Iran and the US "Memory Hole."

http://www.juancole.com/2015/03/americas-memory-hole.html

[NoMoreRepugs]

15. If this Treaty happens and relations normalize a bit

I just cant wait for info to pour out of Iraq about Raygun/PoppyBush and the arms for hostages deal and most of all the delay negotiated 4 the hostage release to insure Rayguns victory over Carter - crank up that popcorn machine!

[libodem]

16. OMG

That is great.

[TNNurse]

17. Republicans suffer from selective memory loss

and we all suffer because of it.

If it is not in their "version" of history it did not happen and does not mean anything.

[progressoid]

18. Correction: "We illegally sold weapons to Iran"