I worked with someone from Iran whose father-in-law was executed by the SAVAK before the revolution; he was a university student during the revolution and everyone was happy, until the new bosses started the same sort of repression. He wound up getting arrested, tortured, mock executed, and then released. That's why he lives here now - couldn't get out fast enough. Poor guy and his wife haven't seen their families (except those that came to visit) in 30 years.
A great people brutally repressed by two consecutive regimes. Sad all around.
Meanwhile, my wife's family is all Egyptian; Mubarak still has the army on his side, which really is the kingmaker here. Very few people actually like or support Hosni, but he was the chief of the Air Force which means he's got the armed forces on his side... for now.
What's appalling is that the US and Canada support this scumbag because he's moderate - so, ignore the egregious human rights violations, the clear ignorance of democracy, the far-more-than-likely kleptocracy, because he is pro-Israel and anti-Iran and anti-Islamist. Disgusting and shameful. How's this dirtbag any better than Saddam was? Or Assad in Syria?
(oh, and Mubarak also means Blessed, so perhaps that's why the poster above's father-in-law wanted to name his dog that --- it's not just because of old Uncle Hosni).
|