Far worse, in 1980, the US and Britain encouraged Iraq s dictator, Saddam Hussein, to invade Iran and overthrow its new Islamic government. Britain secretly supplied Iraq with anthrax and poison gas technology for use against Iran. It s an uneasy relationship, sometimes violent. Yet behind all the turbans and black chadoors, Iran was, in fact, changing and modernizing rapidly. Democracy, though half-formed and flawed, had taken root in its formerly arid political soil.
Real democracy means the ability to change governments peacefully.
This week s vote in Iran was a bombshell for the Muslim world which, after Africa, is the globe s most politically retarded area. Iranian voters broke the hold of religious conservatives on parliament. For any Muslim nation, such change was a great leap forward. Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states are all autocracies with sham elections. Turkey, hailed by the western media as a role model for Islamic nations, is run by a military oligarchy behind a fa ade of democratic politicians.