Being in Iran during these tense times is to experience an epiphany. Which is that Iranians and Americans have so very many needs and interests in common -- yes even in our religious beliefs -- that both peoples should immediately repair our countries relations and return to the days when 60,000 Iranian students studied in the US and thousands of Americans lived

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Will Washington grasp the hand being offered by the Iranian people?

Franklin Lamb

Tehran

Truth be told, this American observer has attended his share of international
conferences and has traveled in more than 70 countries. But never has he
visited such a complex, evolving, striving and energized society, populated
by idealistic people of great warmth, sense of humor and caring for those
in need as he has experienced in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Except when
traveling in his own country.

Being in Iran during these tense times is to experience an epiphany. Which
is that Iranians and Americans have so very many needs and interests in
common -- yes even in our religious beliefs -- that both peoples should
immediately repair our countries relations and return to the days when
60,000 Iranian students studied in the US and thousands of Americans lived
and worked in Iran -- all in singular harmony and with myriad mutual
benefits.

The deep connection among Muslims and Christians from the seventh
century sacrifice at Karbala by Hussein bin Ali and the first century sacrifice
at Calvary by Jesus Christ, established forever a claimed divine principle of
sacrifice of one's self to resist injustice for the greater good of the community.
This bond underpins and connects the two religions and their followers
inextricably.

There is probably no country more misunderstood in America than Iran.
And it's due almost entirely to politically motivated demonizations and
misrepresentations, including what President Ahmadinejad really said in his
speeches, especially those relating to the US and Israel, the historical
imperative to liberate occupied Palestine, and every country's right to
develop peaceful nuclear energy and to live independently and free of US-led
western hegemony. Most Americans' perceptions of Iran are limited to
propagandistic images of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad delivering
anti-American and anti-Israel speeches.

One example, reporting on last Saturday's celebration of the 34th anniversary
of the Iranian revolution, the BBC and most other western media reported
that the crowds were "frenzied and chanting death to America." I was there
and this report is for the most part rubbish. I did hear from time to time a few
chants but these were mixed in with revolutionary songs, religious
exhortations, and people just plain having fun. Offering water and helping
older citizens or kids was the motif of the day. People were happy, not
angry, and they could not have been more friendly or curious about the few
Americans they came upon.

One does not have to look further than the morning newspapers for
examples to find the likes of Zionist apologist, Iranophobe and Islamophobe
Jennifer Rubin. In her Washington Post screed on Valentine's Day, Ms. Rubin
had only poisonous invective for any American who would dare express
any remotely objective idea about Iran. Rubin, a former AIPAC volunteer,
lambasted Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, former US Senator
Chuck Hagel, as did nearly all 52 Zionist organizations in America this past
month, because he advocates mutual respect and friendship with Iran.
Hagel's unforgivable sins include his words on the subject of US-led sanctions
against Iran and Syria and the need to build trust and normalize relations
through dialogue.

Said Hagel about U.S.-Iran relations: "We shouldn't be putting conditions on
talks or putting all other issues to the side except one issue that we will
"dictate' to Iran." As far back as 2007, Hagel stated that "In the Middle East
of the 21st century, Iran will be a key center of gravity" a significant regional
power. The United States cannot change that reality. America's strategic
21st-century regional policy for the Middle East must acknowledge the role
of Iran today and over the next 25 years." Hagel continued: "On Afghanistan,
the United States and Iran found common interests -- defeating the Taliban
and Islamic radicals, stabilizing Afghanistan, stopping the opium production
and the flow of opium coming into Iran. From these common interests
emerged common actions working toward a common purpose. It was in the
interests of Iran to work with the U.S. in Afghanistan. It was not a matter
of helping America or strengthening America's presence in Central Asia. It
was a clear-eyed and self-serving action for Iran."

Hagel may have erred a bit on Afghanistan and the Taliban, but Rubin found
Hagel's point of view treasonous and joined in the Israel Lobby's call for a
witch-hunt when she asks her readers: "Why would the president select
someone so deferential toward the Islamic revolutionary government? ...
During the Congressional recess, the Senate should think about that. And
it might be interesting to find out who was helping him with these intensely
pro-Tehran speeches." [emphasis added]

In Iran today one does not hear Rubinesque hate speech or lectures about
the 1953 US-UK overthrow of Iranian leader Mohammad Mossedeg, or the
shooting down on July 3, 1988 of the commercial passenger Iran Air Flight
655, or the US giving chemical weapons to Iraq during its US-backed
aggression against Iran, or even the recent assassination of Iranian scientists.

Much more often, conversations are likely to turn to the need to improve
relations between the US and Iran, or friendly questions about what this
foreigner is experiencing in Iran, and if they need assistance or information
about their country. Iranians are as open as Americans are by their very
nature and unlike many other countries no subject for discussion is taboo.
For this observer it included topics such as the "morality police" execution
of drug dealers and homosexuals, the "stoning" of women, attacks on the
Bahá'i Faith, the country's second-largest religion after Islam, the 2009
"Green Revolution" and any other subject that came to mine, including
drinking alcohol and public dating.

One hilarious conversation this observer had with four early-20s female
students during a Conference last week was about the number of
Chador-wearing women who openly wear makeup these days (more than
60%), how Iranian society is changing rapidly, and the amount of hair some
women expose in public. I wondered if this was not prohibited by Fatwa
and how they deal with it. Their responses were immediate and nearly all at
once. No one had even seen one of the Western-hyped "morality police"
for a long time. Apparently they are few and far between. One young lady
explained that it's true she wears her hijab two-thirds the way back on her
head and "if one of those guys dares to say something I will either tell him to
mind his own business or if I am in a good mood I will act really, really
surprised, shrug my shoulders, wink at him and say something like,
"Oh so very sorry, really I am!. It was a big gust of wind that must have
blown it back on my head without me noticing! Even if there had not even
been so much as a soft breeze in days."

Iranian women are smart, strong willed-even a bit pushy at times and
naturally alluring. Who would want to join some "morality police" unit? The
ladies explained that if one comes up to you on the street and if you are
really rude to him and tell him to get lost, or worse, you might get a ticket
and your parents would have to come to the police station and sign a
pledge that you would try to do better about trying to observe some modesty
in public. Again rather different from what the MSM tells us in the West.

And it's clear whether attending an international conference on
Hollywoodism at the Azadi (freedom) Hotel, formerly the pre-Revolution
Hyatt, traveling on the Tehran subway (far cleaner than New Yorks!),
exploring street souks, visiting the Holy Defense Museum (explaining the
8-year Iran-Iraq war) or visiting the home of Imam Ruhollah Khomeini who
led the 1979 Revolution and was Iran's leader until his death on June 3rd,
1989, or walking for miles among the nearly two million people marching to
Azadi Square to commemorate the anniversary of the overthrow of the
American agent, Shah Reza Palavi, that the Iranian people are as kind as
they are gifted.

When I got on the crowded Tehran subway, two young men immediately
stood up to offer this observer their seats. We engaged in a very interesting,
animated conversation. One of them, Hamzeh, remarked, "You know,
we feel like we understand America and we should be friends. Both of our
countries are culturally unique somehow. Your country evolved from
European culture but moved in very distinct direction. In our history Islam
arrived via the Arabs but as you have been seeing I am sure, our identity
is completely different from Arab countries."

Mahmoud joined in: "Our society is also made up of many minorities, but
we have a single Iranian identity and are very proud of our culture.
We're also familiar with Western ways. For the last 200 years, we were open
to the Western world and influenced by European culture, even if some of the
ideas, like democracy, have never had a chance to really develop properly,
but we will continue trying. But we also know what it's like to be a
superpower. For us it was a long time ago, but we played an important role
in this part of the world for many centuries so we can never see ourselves
as subject to western or eastern hegemony."

No experience impressed a group of Americans visiting Iran, including this
one, more than the home of Imam Kohmeini and learning from his neighbors
and students about the man, scholar and revolutionary. Visiting his home
and Hassineyeh which have been kept just as they were the day he died, one
neighbor recounted how Khomeini's wife Khadije Saghafi, who passed away
in 2009, told her friends that she had only one wish her whole life that the
Imam never granted to her. And that was that she wished for him to ask her
for a glass of water at least once. He did not want even the wind to visit his
family's faces too harshly or for himself to impose on them. Another neighbor
told us, "When we visited his home we often found the Imam washing the
dishes, sweeping the floor, and helping in other household chores.

According to others who knew him well, the Imam led a life of utmost piety
and spirituality. In the severe winters of Qom, the he would wake up each
night, perform ablution (the act of washing oneself for ritual purification)
with ice water, and offer his night prayers. His Mafatih (prayer almanac)
had to be rebound every few weeks because of how much he used it. Before
he began lecturing his students on political activism, he emphasized to them
the importance of spirituality and attaining the nearness of Allah. The
simplicity of life style and the modesty of Iran's revolutionary leader, Imam
Khomeini, has universal appeal, including to Americans.

There is every reason for Washington's new administration to reach out to
Iran, not just with words but with actions. The Iranian people, and many
Americans, fervently want this and it will inestimably benefit both societies.
The solution to the current straightened Iran-US relations includes contact,
visitations, and open discussions. From this both peoples can pressure their
governments to leave the past behind and develop bonds of friendship.

Authors Website: http://mealsforsyrianrefugeechildrenlebanon.com/

Authors Bio:

Since 2013, Professor Franklin P. Lamb has traveled extensively throughout Syria. His primary focus has been to document, photograph, research and hopefully help preserve the vast and irreplaceable archaeological sites and artifacts in Syria.

Like Iraq, Syria is the cradle of civilization, and as such it has been a rich source of our shared global culture and historic heritage. Already endangered from illegal excavation, looting, international trafficking and iconoclasm; the theft and destruction of these sites has greatly increased as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.

Many of the endangered archeological sites and artifacts are over 7,000 years old. The oldest remains found in Syria are from the Paleolithic era (c. 800,000 BCE). The most endangered artifacts and archaeological sites currently are in Tell Halaf, the north of Syria near the Turkish border with Syria. These archaeological sites date as far back as 5,500 BCE. They include archeological sites and artifacts of the Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Phoenician, Aramaic, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Ayyubid and Ottoman civilizations and empires.

Professor Franklin Lamb has also been working, sometimes under dangerous circumstances, to record and photograph the war damage done to religious icons, images, monuments, and ancient structures that span pre-Roman civilizations, and structures such as Islamic mosques, Christian churches and Jewish synagogues.

Professor Lamb is working tirelessly to record and photograph these sites and artifacts because they are in danger of complete destruction for religious, political and illegal trafficking reasons, especially due to the ongoing wars in the Middle East.

Professor Franklin Lamb's website and his latest book, "Syria's Endangered Heritage, an International Responsibility to Preserve and Protect" presents exclusive and never published before photographs, records, data, articles, and interviews from across the whole of Syria. His book can be purchased at his website http://www.syrian-heritage.com/.

In addition to Dr. Lamb's urgent archaeological work he is also deeply committed to rescuing and aiding refugee children in Syria. He is a volunteer with the Lebanon, France, and USA based "Meals for Syrian Refugee Children, Lebanon (MSRCL)", which seeks to provide hot nutritional meals to Syrian and other refugee children.

Lamb says that the goal of MSRCL is to be able to provide one meal a day to 500 children. More donors are needed in order for him to reach that goal. At $2.25 per meal x 500 children per day ($1,225), the budget for a month (30 days) requires approximately $36,000. Over 95% of each donation goes directly towards the cost of each meal. The MSCRL volunteer teams give their time, energy and even their own money to help the refugee children so that they will not become part of the "lost generation" of Syria.

Lamb's books and publications include "Pollution as a Problem of International Law"; "International Legal Responsibility for the Sabra Shatila Massacre"; "Israel's 1982 War in Lebanon: Eyewitness Chronicles of the Invasion and Occupation", "The Price We Pay: A Quarter Century of Israel's Use of American Weapons against Civilians in Lebanon in addition to the three volume set, "Palestine, Lebanon & Syria Palestine, Lebanon & Syria (Commentary and Analysis 2006-2016)." Due out during Fall 2016, in English and Arabic, is "The Case for Palestinian Civil Rights in Lebanon: Why the Resistance Sleeps."

Dr. Lamb's most recent book is "Syria's Endangered Heritage: An International Responsibility to Preserve and Protect". www.Syrian-heritage.com

Lamb's Academic Credentials include: BA, and Law Degrees from Boston University, Master of Law (LLM) Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from the London School of Economics (LSE); Diploma in International Air & Space Law from the University College of London; Post-Doctoral Studies at Harvard University Law School of East Asian Legal Studies Center, specializing in Chinese Law; International Legal Studies at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Studied Public International Law at The Hague Academy of international Law, at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands.

Lamb's Professional and Political Activities include Assistant Professor of International Law, Northwestern College of Law, Portland, Oregon and Assistant Counsel to the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, During the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, Lamb was elected for a four year term to the Democratic National Committee, representing the state of Oregon. Lamb served on the Democratic National Committee Judicial Council with California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi as well as the Platform Committee on East-West Relations. Professor Lamb served on the presidential campaign staff for Presidential Candidate Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.