The World Crises I May Have Started

GROAN As I write this President Bush is in Sea Island, GA at the G8 conference. He's stressing the need to promote Democracy in the Middle East. I agree that this is a good idea, and a way to diffuse the underlying feelings of discontent that breed terrorism.

Now, before I tell my story, first a little preface. See, whether we like it or not, each of us is a part of history, and even though we are just one person, we really have the ability to change the course of the world, either in a positive or negative way. I have the deepest respect for those who accept the fact that they are part of the world's destiny and try to make things better. I have the LEAST respect for people who run around saying, "I'm not part of this world. This is all temporal." That may be a good justification for you to shirk responsibility, but by passing the buck on the world's problems, you accomplish nothing.

The year was 1979 and I was a freshman in college and a reporter for the school newspaper. My college was full of Iranian students and they were angry about something. They were rioting around the U.S. and had burned U.S. flags and even a police car. So, being the patriot that I was, I was not thrilled when these strange people requested an interview with the school paper. I met with them, heard their story and really had no idea what they were talking about. I didn't understand. I didn't understand that the U.S. had backed the Shah, and that he was imprisoning, torturing, and killing his own people. So, I wrote the article, and it wasn't very good.

A short time later my high school friend Chris had the idea of burning an Iranian flag on the school campus. I sent a photographer to cover the event and we put the photo in the campus newspaper. As the newspaper was in the production room, after the editor had left, I added an inflammatory caption under the photo. After all, I was a patriot and they had burned our flag.

Well, I got in trouble with the editor and the school administration. I kept looking over my shoulder for the inevitable retribution from the Iranian students. But it never came. The Iranians were either expelled or recalled, and they had suddenly disappeared. Man, what was I thinking.

A lot of turmoil was going on at the time. Following a series of uprisings across Iran, the Shah's government collapsed and he fled the country. The discontent and upheavals of the time allowed for the religious fundamentalists to take over, led by the Ayatollah Khomenini.

Meanwhile, battling advanced cancer, the Shah bounced around several countries before finally going to the U.S. for treatment. This was the final straw for the Iranian students, and they immediately rioted and stormed the U.S. embassy. They ended up holding over 50 American hostages for 444 days.

What an irony it would be if those same students that seized the embassy were the ones who went to my college. What if they saw the photo and caption in my college newspaper and it really pissed them off? What if I'm responsible for all of this?

The problem is that when the students tried to talk to me and tell me their story, I DIDN'T LISTEN. When they tried to tell me of the Shah's cruel secret police, the torture, and the murders, I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND. It's like I was anastasized to the violence, like it was out of a fairy tale world, like that kind of stuff always went on in the Third World. So what was the big deal? I couldn't connect.

The amazing thing is that THOSE STUDENTS WERE WORKING FOR DEMOCRACY in their country, but I didn't listen, our government didn't listen, and even Jimmy Carter apparently wasn't listening.

While President Bush is now talking about Democracy in 2004, we should have supported this idea in 1979. What a different world it would likely be today. But instead of democratization, the Iranian people were treated to years of harsh religious fundamentalism. If only, IF ONLY we had of listened to the young people of Iran!

To the students of Iran, 25 years later I wish to give you a public apology. You were trying to do the right thing, but no one listened, no one helped you, and no one apparently cared.

Now, your country is building nukes, and my country has invaded your neighbor. Will Iraq become a staging area for an attack on Iran? Did I start this whole mess with my college newspaper?

No doubt the reason that the United States and Iran don't get along is that we are so much alike. Both of our governments are influenced by strong — and harsh — religious groups that try to influence public policy. Will Iran, a nation of nearly 70 million, and the United States, a country pushing 300 million people, start lobbing nukes at one another because both nations are privy to the "one right way?" It is my worst nightmare.

Yes, President Bush, we should promote Democracy. Perhaps we should start in the United States. Maybe we should acknowledge our past support of the Shah and our meddling in Iran's affairs. Maybe we should adopt policies based on the best good of humankind, as opposed of a narrow group's interpretation of what is right.

Again, I am sorry for what I wrote in the newspaper, and I apologize for the hypocrisy of my country as well.