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That’s how it was not Mark Twain, who famously said that although most of us do not desire other people’s lives, there are still some obituaries that one reads with greater satisfaction than others.
It could still be true. This past weekend was an exercise in the art of thinking and feeling two things at the same time.
First. Compassion for the many Iranians who are now crying with joy and relief that the leader of the Islamist clerical regime, Ayatollah Khameini, and large sections of his followers are dead. For them, Saturday’s attack, coordinated by the United States and Israel, was a historic event and a hope for a future free from the seemingly invincible murderers who oppressed their country for decades and massacred tens of thousands of defenseless demonstrators a few weeks ago.
It’s so easy to understand their sense of justification. The mullahs have ruined the lives of millions of Iranian exiles worldwide
It’s so easy to understand how they feel vindication – but also horror and worry about the bombs falling on family and friends in Iran. The mullahs have ruined the lives of millions of exiled Iranians worldwide, forcing them to flee their beloved country, tearing their families apart and, in many cases, stripping them of their dignity. Because of legitimate fears of imprisonment and hostage-taking, young people were never able to travel to their home country or see their relatives. Now they see clips and pictures of their families and friends in Iran hugging each other and crying tears of joy, car horns, cheers and shouts can be heard from the streets.
The feelings are light from Baghdad in 2003, when live U.S. Marines helped Iraqis tear down statues of Saddam Hussein. I remember the images of a man tapping a large picture of the dreaded dictator with a shoe while another spat on the board.
Today we all know where it led, but at the moment – then and now – it is an impossibility not Feel for the joy of these people.
Most analysts believe that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on international law may open Pandora’s Box
But the other thing The idea is equally valid. Most analysts believe that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks on international law could open a Pandora’s box in the region and unleash all the suffering and misfortune in the world. Iran is not a house of cards to be blown up, but a systematic and well-organized violent regime. If you cut off one head of this hydra, two new ones will grow in its place.
The fact that hopes are rising among the population and their fists are now clenched in Iran’s pockets does not change the fact. It is the regime’s Revolutionary Guards and the paramilitary Basij militias that have the weapons. People don’t have them. What should the people of Iran – those who Donald Trump now says are in control of their own destiny – do? Your hands don’t go far against tanks.
I know the two thoughts when the events of the weekend come together? Maybe for now only in boundless solidarity with the Iranians who want to create a better future with their lives. And hoping that the attacks do as much damage as possible to the Iranian regime and as little as possible to the people who still live under its oppression.
Read more texts by Björn Wiman. Also, subscribe to the Wiman & Beckman newsletter, where he and Åsa Beckman select favorite articles and give cultural tips every Monday.
