**It seems that all of the people they met on the street “love us”. If there is so much love for the American people, how do they reconcile that with our official policies about Israel. Do they think that we, the people, are good and kind and wonderful, but our government is a pawn, held captive by the nasty zionists? **
I did bike across the U.S and then Europe, Turkey, parts of Iran, Pakistan and into India and without hesistation that we were treated the best by the Muslims in the region. We could not get through a village without people waving us down and inviting us in for dinner. It really was a struggle to leave and when we did, were provided so many provisions we could not carry it on our bikes. I have never experienced anything like it. In contrast, the people in America and Europe, although friendly, were more concerned with their daily lives. We never felt safer anywhere in the world than we did in Iran. The only areas of Turkey and Pakistan where we felt a little unsafe was when we were in tourist areas as the people tended to act differently, similar to what you would get in a port city in places like South America or the inner cities of America.
**Has anyone been to Iran lately? What’s going on? Is the Islamist government popular, or waiting to fall? Is the anti-Israel rhetoric shared by the public, or is it the “official”, but unpopular stance? **
It was not easy crossing the border as the government has a lot of control over things. I think there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the goverment because of the poor economy and ultimately, that will bring them down. They use fiery anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric to distract the people from the economy but the people are not stupid. They don’t speak a lot about their governmen out of fear but they have no problem with America. Their is anti-Israeli sentiment but really the people are like us, they want to work, provide for their families and live in peace. The same I have found around the world. It really is too bad that we have so many that think that the average person on the street’s only goal in life is to kill Americans.
**How much of a threat is Iran to us? …to Israel? **
There are people who think Iran is a threat to the U.S?
Of course some thought Iraq was a threat to us so I shouldn’t be surprised. As for Israel, they will never embrace them but I see no reason why the threat is any more than posturing to show who the boss is in the Middle East (and it is Iran) and to try to distract the people.
If I had one wish it would be that all Americans were required to travel in the Middle East, particularly in the Muslim countries to see for themselves the reality of the world. It would do more to eliminate fear than anything else.
