Ineptitude on Iran - Askari

humint ^ | 15 Sep 2006 | Hossein Askari

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ASKARI’S CONCLUSION

There is a viable alternative to imposing more sanctions: stop threatening Iran, especially in public. And America should attempt to understand (not necessarily agree with) the Iranian perspective, minimize U.S. hubris and engage in true dialogue. Iran would be instrumental in allowing the United States to solve most of the problems it faces in the Middle East, including achieving peace and stability in the region, saving U.S. lives and treasure and enhancing global energy supplies.

HUMINT REBUTTAL

Hossein is trapped in dimension where only he, and presumably those who agree with him, maintain the capacity to understand Iran, its people and its government. What he perceives as American hubris is indeed responsible governance. On many occasions the U.S. has worked with its allies around the world to encourage Iranian officials to positively change their behavior. Americans have done so in both word and deed. It is at the highest levels of Iranian government they scream “Death to America!” How does one institute dialogue with Iranian men of such low character? Each American administration has tried and this one continues to try to engage the Iranians in a way that can bring them back from their suicidal path. The onus is on them Mr. Hossein. The Iranians must be held responsible and therefore encouraged to behave in a way that demonstrates they can live peacefully among the community of nations. The ayatollahs of Iran are not children who deserve unconditional love. They live in the same world everyone else does and are beholden to the same rules.

Hossein Askari is the Iran Professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University.

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Professor Askari received his B.S. in Civil Engineering, attended the Sloan School of Management and received his Ph.D in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before coming to GW in 1982, he was a Professor of International Business and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, an Assistant Professor at Tufts University, and an Instructor at MIT. Askari has served on the Executive Board of the IMF and as a consultant to the OECD, the World Bank, the IFC, the UN, the Government of Saudi Arabia, and a number of multinational corporations. Professor Askari's publications include Economic Development in the Countries of the GCC: The Curse and Blessing of Oil (1997), Third-World Debt and Financial Innovation (1991), and Saudi Arabia: Oil and the Search for Economic Development (1990). He is also the co-author with John Forrer, Hildy Teegen and Jiawen Yang of two books on economic sanctions, Economic Sanctions: Examinig Their Philosophy and Efficacy (Praeger Publishers, 2003) and Case Studies of U.S. Economic Sanctions: The Chinese, Cuban and Iranian Experience (Praeger Publishers, 2003). Professor Askari has written a number of opinion-editorials for the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune, and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, and NBC.