Iranians are not Arabs and do not Identify with Arabian Issues

From: Manuvera@aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 8:35 AM
To: III82100@aol.com

Subject: Iranians are not Arabs and do not Identify with Arabian Issues

Dear Mr. Payne,

A collegue of mine, Dr. David Rahni, forwarded transcripts of the following to me:
Crossfire War-Egypt after Nasser: Confronting Iran and the Jihad 28 Sept. 2004
Parallel Developments: Confrontation Courses 17 Oct. 2004

I am not about to engage in a point by point debate as this would stray us both from the main concern that must raised. To put this politely Sir, the premise of your anlayses are "way off base": you have failed to delineate the major differences between Iranians and the Arabs. If I may say so, you portray Iranians as a subset of the Arabian world, and this is a fundamental error on your part, and leads your readers and listeners astray.

Sir, are you aware that Iranians are not Arabs, and that the majority of secular Iranians do not identify with Arabist issues? Arabs belong to the Hamito-Semetic language family, a grouping which includes Hebrew (a North Semitic language that includes Aramaic and Assyrian).

Persian, and Iranian languages such as Kurdish, belong to the Satem branch of the Indo-European family, a grouping which includes Greek, English, German, French or Russian. Iranians are culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and historically distinct from "The Arab Nation" as you portray. As noted earlier in this letter, your analysis leads readers to the erroneous conclusion that Iranians are somehow Arabs. Many Arabs, especially Arab nationalists, Arabian politicians, a select group of Arab scholars and Muslim fundamentalists, are in fact very hostile to Persia (the ancient name of Iran), and view Persia with as much hostility as they do the west and Israel. Your analysis is also devoid of the understanding that Islamic fundamentalism and Arab nationalism are based on similar premises. Allow me to invite you to read the following articles:

http://www.venusproject.com/ecs/aFarrokhArab.html
Pan Arabism's Legacy of Confrontation with Iran

The Other Terror (Parts I & II)
http://www.iranian.com/FSFF/2005/February/Terror/index.html
www.iranian.com/FSFF/2005/February/Terror/index2.html

Your misplaced understanding of Iranian politics vis a vis the wider Islamic world (which includes Arabs, but not limited exclusivley to them) may be addressed by inviting you to read the following:

TITLE: The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation.
AUTHOR: Sandra Mackie.
PUBLISHER: Plume-Penguin Books, London, 1996.
ISBN: 0-452-27563-6

It is interesting that a large proportion of North Amercians, apparantly such as yourself, now beleive and wish to convince themselves, that Iranians must be Arabs, speak Arabic and identify with Arab issues. On a personal level I can assure you that I am politically neutral towards the Arab-Israeli wars, as I am neither Arabic nor Jewish: How Arabs and Jews choose to conduct their relations is their business Sir, not mine. My passion is directed against war in general; I am equally dismayed if Jews or Arabs are killed, just as I am dismayed with Amercians and Arabs being killed in Iraq today.

It is my belief that you do not understand the political machinations of the Near East and Iran in particular, which you inaccurately place within "The Arab World"; yet you have taken upon yourself to widely disseminate inaccurate information. At a sensitive time when the stakes are peace or war, information dissemination via news networks must be tempered with sagacity, knowledge and wisdom.

It is my hope that you will engage in further research before portraying Iranians in an inaccurate light to millions of readers and listeners. On this note, feel free to personally contact me for information.

Regards

Dr. Kaveh Farrokh