back on display can kiss my ass-

wow. Just wow.

So... let's get this straight here... the shah (which embraced the beautiful aspects of art and wanted to share this with his people) was deposed (with the help of the CIA) then installing the Ayatollah Khomeinei - which hid these great works of art, suppressed freedom and even held Americans as hostages for lengthy periods of time. That's pretty messed up.

Actually no.
The CIA overthrew the democratically elected president in favor for the shah (because we all know totalitarian regimes are better pawns then a democracy).

The now monarchy wasted money that could have helped the people by buying tons of luxury stuff (like art pieces).

After the people were finally fed up enough of them, they were overthrown, and the Ayatollah became the leading figure, locking away the decadence of the former despotes.

ah ok.. thanks for clearing that up.. this was one area that I was a bit unsure of.

Don't forget the part where the Ayatollah is so unpopular among the majority of the population that you can't get a cab if you wear a beard. You also didn't mention how strongly pro-American that younger generation is. Condemn America's past covert ops, but be fair and condemn the Ayatollah's problems too. And try to keep the scope of the problems with the two in perspective as well. The youth of Iran probably understand which has hurt them the most better than we do over here.

Well at least they didn't destroy them, on the contrary seems they put a lot of effort into making sure they stayed in top condition. I seem to remember militant Pakistanis and Afghans blowing up or trying to blow up centuries old Buddhist statues that had been carved into the sides of cliffs etc.

Yep IMSabbel is right. The US fucking things up again.

Watch this, "Why We Fight": http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3405669348838274375

(was on VS a few days ago)