Iran commentary by top observers

[Barbara]

How many times have you traveled to Iran since the Revolution ?
I was there not once, but twice.
On the 1st trip, I visited almost every part of the country, a huge one, in fact. Stayed with families, talked to countless people, asked about their opinions.

I read just about every book written in English about the Revolution AND about the Shah's reign before that, plus much on more distant Iranian history.

What about you ?!!

[Suaidan]

How many times have you traveled to Iran since the Revolution ?
I was there not once, but twice.

I read just about every book written in English about the Revolution AND about the Shah's reign before that, plus much on more distant Iranian history.
What about you ?!!

Why would I go to a country that officially doesn't like Christians
...and why would you go there as an Orthodox Christian?

I don't understand the value proposition here

[Barbara]

I'm challenging you to not listen to media stereotypes which are ALL programmed to make Americans HATE Iran's current govt.

I was helped by many Christians, in fact, who had no complaint about the govt despite the fact that it was at its height of anti-Western sentiment at the exact I was there.

There aren't really Orthodox there, but there are MANY Armenians, Assyrians, some Catholics and Anglicans. They opened up and told me their thoughts. They weren't enthusiastic about the relatively new govt, but neither were they suffering persecution - AS HAS ALWAYS BEEN BROADCAST by the Western media to rile up Westerners against this govt in order to generate support for an overthrow.

The forces that control the media know Americans very well. Americans will NOT go themselves to find out the situation in a country like Iran, but only get angry if the media cooks up enough lurid stories.

Americans don't QUESTION the controlled media ; only believe it without question, because they have been trained that way since childhood.

There's more to say but I am out of time right now.