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Another BuzzFlash special value. "Persian Mirrors" is offered at below the retail price, and includes shipping and handling.

Perhaps one of the greatest ironies about the hardline theocratic political leadership in Iran is that it is described as "conservative." In reality, the "values" of the post-Shah Mullah movement coincide quite a bit with the "values" of the Bush wing of the Republican Party, which is to say the Republican Party as we know it today.

They are both homophobic in official policy; they both believe that there should be no separation between church and state; they both believe in nuclear power; they both believe that the male is the "decision maker"; they both reject "Hollywood values" -- and the list goes on and on.

You could say Bush and Ahmadinejad are separated at birth, just born into different religions. In fact, they both smile idiotically while uttering the most fantastic lies or nonsense.

"Persian Mirrors" was written a few years back and updated in 2005. It still is one of the best books about the complex forces at work in contemporary Iran.

If ever there were a nation that calls for nuanced foreign policy, it is Iran. But if every there were an American Administration that only knows the blunderbuss in the form of bombs and military attack, it's the Bush Administration.

In reading "Persian Mirrors," we receive a thorough insight into "The Elusive Face of Iran." A more enlightened administration would learn much from it.

But remember that the Iranian people were brutalized first at the hands of the dreaded Savak, the secret police of the Shah, who were trained and best buddies with the CIA.

Then the Mullahs overthrew the Shah and tens of thousands of Iranians were executed and tortured, and hundreds of thousands died in the senseless Iran-Iraq war. In that conflict, the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein, but also covertly gave arms to Iran. (Remember Iran-Contra?)

Despite all of the American complicity in the tortured recent history of Iran, "Persian Mirrors" reveals stories of how many Iranians, particularly in the larger cities, who are eager to talk with Americans.

American foreign policy and unstinting support for the Shah, after overthrowing a Democraticly-elected government, set the showdown for the conflict between the Neo-Cons and the Mullahs that we are seeing today.

The U.S. has never known how to deal with Iran except through efforts to subjugate it. As a result, hardliners have triumphed over the more secular forces, because they have a "base" that loves the hot rhetoric just as Bush and Cheney do.

Instead of taunting each other, is there another option that undercuts the theocratic extremists in both Iran and America?

After all, it was Bush's feckless and ill-fated invasion of Iraq that opened the door of opportunity for Iran to become the dominant regional power in the Middle East.

Can we leave the same man in charge of future policy toward Iran, after such a colossal failure that set the stage, ironically and tragically, for the likely bombing of a nation that given a few years will probably become more moderate.

It is a democracy after all -- although a highly compromised one -- in Iran.

Isn't that what Bush is promoting around the world?

And how does Bush explain the theft of election 2000 in the U.S. and what he has done to thwart democracy in America?

"Persian Mirrors" offers an important reflection upon and insight into modern Iran.

For anyone who wants to knowledgeably discuss Bush's looming war with that nation, it is an important book to read.

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