Race, Culture and Nation

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN IRAN . . .

What follows is a first-hand account of what did - and did not - take place at the historic Holocaust conference in Iran on December 11-12.
The author, "American Free Press" correspondent Michael Collins Piper (who also broadcasts nightly at www.rbnlive.com) was one of the speakers at the conference.

Earlier this year Piper met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the Iranian leader visited New York City for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. This article is a combination of several articles that appeared in the January 1/8 issue of American Free Press. By Michael Collins Piper

Take this for what it's worth: what you may have heard on television or radio or read in your daily newspaper about the now-infamous international conference on the Holocaust in Iran is largely untrue, or, at the very least, seriously distorted and very much misrepresented.

In some respects, the conference was largely painted as a rally of anti-Semites, white racists, and Muslim extremists, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Instead, the conference-which included some 67 invited researchers from 30 different countries-was a diverse and eclectic gathering which not only featured a group of anti-Zionist Orthodox Jewish rabbis but also included Black speakers from the African continent, as well as Palestinian Muslim attendees and European academics who insisted that the Holocaust, as it is popularly remembered, did happen, that it was a major tragedy in which many millions of Jews were deliberately exterminated.

Thus, the false image presented by the media-that the conference was some sort of "hatefest," dedicated entirely to the proposition of what has been called "Holocaust denial"-is anything but the truth.

Thus, if anything, the tone of the conference itself was one of genuine open debate and freedom of expression, perhaps the first time ever in modern history that an international gathering actually addressed literally "all" sides of the controversy surrounding the events referred to as "the Holocaust."

So the truth is that there were many very different points of view being expressed at the conference, and they were hardly in agreement on any particular issue except for one possible general area of convergence: the concept that the Holocaust has been used as a political tool to steal 8,019 square miles of Palestine for the Zionist scheme to eventually take over the entire Mideast.

In addition, however, there were many speakers-including voices from the Arab and Muslim world-who put forth the notion that it is the United States and Britain, as imperial powers, that are more so to blame for the dislocation of the Palestinian Christians and Muslims of the Middle East-rather than Israel itself.

Israel, these speakers said-and there were many reflecting this point of view-was not the problem, per se, but rather the guilty parties responsible for the ongoing crisis in Palestine are the imperial American and British powers that brought Israel into being as an outpost for their geopolitical designs in the region.

Many took the position that the basic story of the Holocaust, as it has been told in the media, was essentially what happened, but that whatever happened-to whatever degree-did not justify Israel's ongoing treatment of the Palestinian people.

One speaker in particular broke the basic mould of the conference. That was Lady Michele Renouf of Britain. Acknowledging the potentially inflammatory nature of her remarks, Lady Renouf suggested that the root of the modern day conflicts between Jewish people and the people of Palestine has more historic antecedents, going back through the centuries.
Lady Renouf asserted that the often hateful (and indeed racist) attitudes toward non-Jews expressed in the Jewish religious reflections in the collective works known as the Talmud were the root of much opposition to Jewish people in the nations of the West.
This in itself, she said, could be partial explanation for the foundational concerns of so many Europeans who supported measures taken by the National Socialist regime of Adolf Hitler to curtail the influence of the Jews of Europe before and during World War II.

Although the Western media relished pointing out that controversial American author, Dr. David Duke, who has been teaching political science in recent years at a prestigious private university in Kiev, Ukraine, was among the speakers-always harkening back to the already well-known fact that 30 years ago Duke was involved in the Ku Klux Klan-Duke was no more "featured" as a speaker than any of the wide-ranging number of speakers from around the globe, people of all races, creeds and colours.
And for the record, it should be noted, as noted later in this report, the mass media actually distorted what the articulate Duke really did say, literally putting words (and propositions) in his mouth that Duke never uttered once during his remarks to the conference.
Duke's primary emphasis was not focused on the truth-or the lies-about the Holocaust, rather instead on the need for all nations to recognize and support freedom of speech and thought, no matter what the issue, no matter what special interest group might have the intention of dictating what can or can not be discussed about a particular subject.
So again, the mass media version of events was once again entirely off the mark of reality. It was, instead, a mass of lies. And it is to Duke's credit that he took advantage of the mass media's focus on his attendance at the conference to correct the record for those who care to know the truth.

WHAT THE CONFERENCE ACCOMPLISHED

In the end, given the many differences of opinion among those who lectured and attended the conference, what was probably the most profound result (and perhaps the original aim itself) of this momentous gathering was the very fact that this conference directly challenged perhaps the most hallowed icon of modern history, the Holocaust, and made clear and enunciated in no uncertain terms the basic principle that there can be no restrictions (by any single nation or ethnic group) on the discussion of historical events as those who have controlled the discussion of the Holocaust insist there must be.

That the conference was actually sponsored by the Institute for Political and International Studies, a division of the foreign ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was momentous indeed: this was the first time that any government since World War II dared to acknowledge the fact that there are serious questions being raised about the specifics of the Holocaust.

But the truth is that, since the end of World War II, there have been countless (and often unsung) historians and researchers who have diligently devoted their resources (often at risk to life and limb) to ferreting out the truth. Those relentless truth-seekers have been subjected to an unending campaign of hatred by the mass media, but with the advent of this conference the international media-as a whole-was forced to acknowledge their work, however grudgingly it may have been.

Great credit must be given to Dr. Fredrick Toben, often called the "international ambassador" of the Holocaust revisionist movement, for his singularly instrumental role in helping the Iranian sponsors of the conference bring the gathering to fruition.

Although Willis A. Carto, the publisher of the world's most-widely-circulated revisionist magazine, "The Barnes Review"-6,500 subscribers strong-did not attend the conference, he took great satisfaction in seeing the Iran conference materialize as it did. When this reporter, who is on the editorial board of The Barnes Review, took the podium at the Iran conference, I extended Carto's best wishes to the conference.
Beyond dispute the pioneer publicist of Holocaust revisionism, responsible for the publication of hundreds of books and research papers on the topic, many of which have been translated into multiple foreign languages, thereby laying the groundwork for a burgeoning global Holocaust revisionist movement, Carto told AFP:
"The Holocaust giant has feet of clay. The myth can only be sustained by suppressing the truth. But the people of the world want the truth-or at least unfettered access to the facts. What will they do now-lock up the world? Too late! Their giant is crumbling."

DUKE'S ARTICULATE RESPONSE

As noted previously, mass media reports in the West (in the United States in particular) often focused largely on the fact that one of the vast array of speakers at the Holocaust conference in Tehran was David Duke.
Although the media repeated, ad nauseam, to the point of boredom, the well-known fact that in his younger days, Duke was the leader of a Ku Klux Klan group, the media failed to point out that Duke left the Klan some 30 years ago and that many of Duke's fellow speakers in Iran were people of colour from Africa and Asia and throughout the Middle East.

The Iran conference was hardly the so-called "white supremacist" or "racist" conclave that the American media falsely portrayed. Nor did the media bother to mention regarding Duke that he served as a popularly elected Republican state representative from a suburban district in Louisiana and that he ran two widely publicized campaigns for governor and United States senator (winning roughly 65-70% of the European-American vote state-wide both times).
Nor did the media bother to mention that Duke is a certified academic, holding a Ph.D. from a prestigious private university, and that he has taught political science courses at the university level. Highly articulate and telegenic and a longtime and open critic of imbalanced U.S. policies in support of Israel, Duke has never particularly focused on what might be called "the Holocaust issue."

However, Duke is certainly familiar with the controversy and has often spoken critically of laws in European countries-where Duke spends much of his time researching and writing and lecturing-that impose prison sentences on those who dare to question details surrounding the subject of "the Holocaust." And that's what Duke focused on when he spoke in Iran.
Nonetheless, the Western media reports about Duke's speech completely misrepresented not only the whole tone of the Holocaust conference in Tehran but the actual words spoken by the former Louisiana congressman himself.

I was with Duke at the time Duke fired off this corrective message (posted on Duke's website at www.davidduke.com) that exposed how very much the mass media was lying about the conference. In my estimation, Duke's assessment is probably as succinct and as accurate as anything that has been or can be said about the conference and the way the media distorted the truth.
Duke pulls no punches. If you are politically correct and are sensitive to no nonsense language regarding the media, please read no further. However, if you are interested in truth, here's what Duke said about the media's misinformation:

"It is being reported around the world that in my speech in Tehran that I stated that the 'gas chambers did not exist.' I said no such thing! In fact I said specifically that I take no position on that issue but that I believe in freedom of speech and find it an outrage that men such as [historian] David Irving are in prison for simply voicing an intellectual, historical opinion.

"The Zionist-influenced media has maintained that the purpose of the conference was to deny the Holocaust-when the actual, stated purpose was to provide free speech on this important historical issue and to protest against the suppression of free speech in some European and North American countries. The record of the conference is clear. There were many speeches at the conference that maintained the mainstream Holocaust view.

"In an act of blatant deception, the Zionist-influenced media has headlined that in the closing session Iran's President called for 'wiping Israel off the map,' suggesting that he advocated a genocide or destruction of the people of Israel. One more big lie.

"Any tape or transcript of his speech will show that he said support around the world for Zionism is dwindling and that the Zionist Regime will be replaced by a democratic state in the same fashion that the Soviet Regime was dissolved in Russia.

"He specifically advocated complete civil and political rights for all residents of the region, and specifically mentioned protection for the complete civil rights for Jews and Palestinians alike, and he repeatedly stressed that all peoples should love and respect one another and must disavow violence and war.

"How the Zionist media lies! Thank God we have an Internet where people can immediately learn the truth. Ten years ago these lies could be stated with no fear of contradiction, now you can hear with your own ears the truth rather than the lies of a pro-Israel media. The truth the Zionists are trying to create a catastrophic, murderous war with Iran so they are trying to stoke the fires of misunderstanding and hatred toward that country.

"Any fair-minded person who reads my actual words and the words of the academics at the conference and the words of the Iranian President can see for themselves that the media has made up colossal lies about this conference and its participants.
"Tony Blair and George Bush have called the Holocaust Conference 'disgraceful.' Why is it disgraceful to allow freedom of speech on historical issues? Isn't the real disgrace that thousands of Europeans have been imprisoned for simply questioning small details of the historical period called the "Holocaust"?

"Why is a conference dedicated to free speech condemned, yet putting people in prison in Europe for exercising free speech is praised? Who are the real deniers of freedom? Aren't they the Zionist puppets Bush and Blair and the Zionist controlled media that lie about this conference, my speech, the speech of the Iranian President and those who support imprisonment of human beings for free speech?"

THE AFTERMATH . . .

Although in the wake of the Holocaust conference there came the good news that an appeals judge ordered best-selling British historian David Irving freed from imprisonment in Austria, after serving a 13 month term for the "crime" of Holocaust denial-despite the Austrian government's demand that Irving serve a full ten year sentence-there was also some bad news for Holocaust revisionists.

Proving precisely the point that those who dare to engage in genuine debate about the events and circumstances surrounding the Holocaust are subject to harassment, boycott and intimidation, news reports indicate that at least four individuals who attended the conference in Iran have now come under serious fire, at least one of them facing possible criminal prosecution.

ITEM: In Manchester, England a screaming mob attacked the home of Rabbi Ahron Cohen, one of the spokesmen for the anti-Zionist Orthodox Jewish group, Neturei Karta, which was prominently publicized in the mass media for its participation in the conference. The rabbi is being loudly and formally shunned by the Jewish community in which he lives and Jewish leaders have vowed to deny him a Jewish burial. Eggs were pelted on his home. The irony of the abuse to which Rabbi Cohen has been subjected is that Cohen himself strenuously insisted-in absolute opposition to the views of many of the Revisionists at the conference-that many millions of Jews died during the Holocaust, noting that many of his own family disappeared during World War II.

ITEM: In France, President Jacques Chirac has ordered an official "investigation" into the remarks made by Professor Robert Faurisson during his appearance at the conference in Iran. French Justice Minister Pascal Clement will now determine whether Faurisson's statements (made on Iranian soil) can be prosecuted under a 1990 French law that makes questioning details of the Holocaust a crime. According to an enthusiastic Associated Press report hailing the attack on Faurisson, the French will contend that if Faurisson's statements were published on the Internet or in a newspaper distributed in France that Faurisson will thus be liable for what he said in Iran and that some other news source distributed. That's the essence of "freedom of speech" and "liberty" in one of the "great democracies of the West."

ITEM: In Canada, at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, political science professor Shiraz Dossa is under fire for speaking at the Holocaust conference even though Dossa himself is a Holocaust believer and even said that the conference "was unfortunately stained by the presence of a small number of Holocaust deniers." Dossa spoke on the issue of how the Holocaust-which he accepts as being precisely what it is described in standard Western history texts-has been manipulated in the war on terror. Dossa has been called on the carpet by university authorities, been subjected to media defamation, been the target of angry letters from other academics and the question of his continuing tenure at the university has been raised.

ITEM: In Stockholm, Sweden, Jan Bernhoff, who spoke at the Holocaust conference in Tehran, was suspended from his job as a computer science teacher at an adult education college because of the fact that he lectured in Tehran. Although his job as a computer teacher has nothing whatsoever to do with history or the Holocaust, the action against him was taken. Currently, according to press reports, a "probe" of Bernhoff by the school is now under way.
The primary complaint against Bernhoff's lecture seems to be the fact that he said that, based upon his research and that of others, the allegation that 6,000,000 Jews died during World War II cannot be backed up by factual data and that the figure is considerably less than that.

Even arguing with the figure of "Six Million" is thus considered "Holocaust denial" and even young Bernhoff's attendance at the conference was "unacceptable," as the Swedish cabinet's Minister for Schools, Jan Bjorkland, self-righteously declared. What further fall-out from the Iran conference there will occur remains to be seen but the bottom line is that the ongoing war against freedom of expression in regard to this issue is far from over. But Holocaust revisionism, by virtue of its stand in favour of intellectual freedom, continues to stand on the side of the angels, its brutal and vicious enemies notwithstanding.

CAN ONLY THE JEWS CLAIM VICTIMHOOD?

Among the many speakers at the Holocaust conference in Iran was Malaysian diplomat and attorney, Matthias Chang, best known to readers of American Free Press as the author of * "Future Fast Forward" and "Brainwashed for War."

In his prepared text, entitled "The Zionists' Insidious Benchmark for War Atrocities," Chang expressed the view of many people around the world that it's time to end the Zionist monopoly on suffering.

What follows are excerpts from Chang's remarks:
"Why talk about death and the horrors of a war that happened sixty years ago, when right at this moment, wanton destruction and massacres of the innocents are taking place in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and in many parts of Africa? Why indeed!

"It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth. As such we must be especially careful when reviewing history written by the victors and losers in war. We must not partake in the perpetuation of lies and propaganda that serve vested interests.

"The killings of the Jews cannot and must not be distinguished from the war crimes committed by all war criminals against all the victims of the Second World War. The German citizens who were incinerated by fire-bombs and the Japanese of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were vaporized by nuclear bombs are as much victims as the Jews. They were all victims of WWII. Those who continue to promote the political line that the Holocaust is a unique and an exceptional Jewish historical event, when compared to the sufferings of the other victims, such as the Chinese who were slaughtered in excess of 10 million, have to that extent minimized the atrocities committed by both sides in WWII. It is an attempt to white-wash the war crimes of the victors in WWII.

"The Holocaust is now being used as a benchmark by which all other atrocities are judged, such that when the full horror of the devastation in Iraq was exposed, the international media contemptuously dismissed the war crimes committed against the Iraqi people as the price of establishing democracy. The same goes for the Palestinians.

"No one race or community should be allowed to arrogate to itself and or demand exclusive memorials to their sufferings. The right to survive cannot be monopolized by one race or community. To accept that the Holocaust was an exceptional Jewish historical event is to deny the genocides, massacres and sufferings inflicted on the rest of mankind throughout history. This cannot be right.

"I cannot help but question the motives of those who seek to elevate the sufferings of the Jewish people above those who had suffered as much, if not more from the horrors of WWII. And when the sufferings of the Jewish people have turned into an industry we owe a moral duty to the departed to ensure that no one should profit from blood money, more so, when lies are perpetrated to further such profiteering.

"If we are gathered here to seek truth and to condemn war crimes, then we must condemn all war crimes, not just those allegedly committed by the defeated in WWII. If we judge Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo as war criminals, then we cannot but find Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin guilty as well.

§ "We must set up an International Commission of Jurists to review the findings of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal.

§ "We must set up a War Crimes Tribunal to adjudicate on the crimes of all Allied Powers leaders during WWII.

§ "We must set up a War Crimes Tribunal to adjudicate on the war crimes of all Zionist leaders, specifically the past and present leaders of the state of Israel. "

THE WORLD'S LEADING REVISIONIST FILM-MAKER . . .

Prominently on display at the international conference on the Holocaust were a number of video documentaries by an American filmmaker whose productions provide-for the first time ever-a fascinating look at little-known facts (and a deconstruction of the myths) about the Holocaust and the problems of the Middle East stemming from the establishment of the state of Israel which the media often tells us "rose from the ashes of the Holocaust."

Although you've never heard of him, unlike the names of the big Hollywood filmmakers, Mark Farrell is one of the most talented young filmmakers today. And you can bet your live savings that none of Farrell's documentaries will ever be nominated for an Academy Award, unlike the many Holocaust documentaries by Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre which are always up for the Oscar-and win. The reason, of course, is simple: Farrell's films-which have not received the distribution they deserve-address some of the most controversial topics on the face of the planet today. Although Farrell has no billionaire families promoting him, he has utilized his considerable talents to produce a variety of DVD documentaries that are "must" viewing for those interested in historical revelations that can't be found on any other videos.

Farrell's videos on the explosive topic of "the Holocaust" and the questions raised about that subject, much to the dismay of those who want to maintain a monopoly on what can-and cannot-be said about it should be noted first:
o "The Persecution of Revisionists: The Holocaust Unveiled." Although there has been a lot in the news about the jailing of top-notch revisionist historians (which Farrell examines in overview), this video is particularly powerful in that it contains actual film footage taken inside World War II concentration camps that has been suppressed by the mass media which prefers to present views of stacks of dead bodies (most of which were filmed in two camps on German soil where even professional "Nazi-hunters" admit no gas chambers were ever used to kill anybody)..
o "Judea Declares War: A Critical Look at World War II." While many have heard the official" rendition of the causes of the conflagration that ripped the world apart, this video presents a refreshing look at "the other side of the coin." If Farrell presented this video in Germany today, he'd been sent to prison. Farrell has also produced a number of other DVDs that are candid, high-quality presentations on "taboo" subjects related to the Middle East controversy:
o "Understanding Anti-Semitism." A forthright look at a 3,000-year-old phenomenon that is much-discussed but seldom analyzed, explaining the reasons behind the growing discontent with the power of organized Zionist groups in America and around the world;

o "Rep. Paul Findley Dares to Speak Out." A fascinating interview with the longtime congressman driven out of office by the Israeli lobby for daring to criticize U.S. support for Israel. Here's Findley's first-hand account;

o "Zionist War Crimes: The Case for the Prosecution." Here's the historic record - going back to even before the founding of Israel - regarding Zionist terrorism, featuring rare film footage from the Middle East, exposing Israeli "statesmen" as ruthless terrorist butchers;

This is just a brief look at some of the videos Farrell has undertaken. His commentary is candid-no-holds-barred. If you are "politically correct," you may find it tough to absorb. But if you're not afraid of difficult subjects and want to convey to others another side of history, these videos are just what you need.

In these videos, there's no shrieking or grandstanding or "hard sell" as all-too-frequently found in some video presentations by some "celebrities" in the alternative media today. You won't be embarrassed to show Farrell's videos to friends who are "on the fence" and who may need a subtle push to come around to your point of view. But Farrell is no shrinking violet. He makes his position clear and presents it in a factual, restrained way, supplemented with an amazing variety of illustrations, film footage and other material brought to the screen in such an effective way. The videos are fast-moving, eye-catching and certainly unrivalled by any other videos that have addressed these topics. And, it should be noted, it is hard to even name any other videos of this kind whatsoever. And that's what makes Farrell's work so powerful and much needed.
Never before has a videographer challenged, head on, so many "treasured" historical lies and factual aberrations as Farrell has done so skillfully. With these videos Farrell has established himself as "the" unrivalled video historian in the realm of bringing history into accord with the facts in the tradition of the late Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes and his modern-day heirs such as David Irving, Germar Rudolf, Ernst Zundel and untold thousands who are now (or who have been) consigned to prison for daring to question so-called "established" facts that are really no more than tired-and-worn repetitions of wartime propaganda and disinformation posing as historical truth.

These videos are available at $22 postpaid by writing: Mark Farrell, P.O. Box 141243, Dept. AFP1, Cincinnati, OH 45250-1243. Or go online to Farrell's website at www.honestmediatoday.com for further information as well as a wealth of additional commentary and information.

SOME PARTING THOUGHTS . . .

The most important thing that I can convey about Iran in general-my most memorable reaction in retrospect-is this simple concept: Americans need to ignore anything and everything they hear about modern-day Iran, its leader, its culture, and its people from the mass media in America.

It wasn't until I actually arrived in Tehran and spent a day or so there that it became so apparent to me that even I-who fancied myself as being reasonably well informed about that country-had come to Iran with a lot of misconceptions (prejudices, that is) that were imposed on me (and yes, it's a type of brainwashing) by the major media in America: everything from the nightly "news" broadcasts to the feature stories and other information (largely propaganda, both subtle and not-so-subtle) in the major news magazines.

As our plane prepared to land in Tehran, a message across the loudspeaker was rather jarring. It said that "by government decree" all women were required to cover their heads upon arrival in Iran. I knew this was the case, but to actually hear it broadcast over the airplane's public address system was, even for me, somewhat un-nerving. The mass media's image of oppressed women, being beaten and abused and forced to cover themselves from head to toe in dark, mysterious-looking garb, immediately came to mind. But I looked about the plane, at the array of women-Iranian and otherwise, dark-skinned, light-skinned, blonde and brunette, Eastern and Western, you name it-and I didn't see a single one of those ladies flinch. Not even the richest looking women aboard, Iranian ladies in elegant clothes and dripping in expensive jewellery, seemed to be fazed in the least.

And it was then, as I surveyed the people aboard that plane going to Tehran (from Frankfurt, Germany, my connection point from Washington, DC), I realized in my own mind, for the first time, that these were people who might soon be dead: innocent victims of a reign of fire from the sky (a very real Holocaust) either from American bombers or Israeli bombers or both.

These Iranian people, living their lives, travelling freely back and forth from their country to others, are in the gunsights of America's George Bush and his Zionist allies in Washington and Tel Aviv.

Those Iranians are among the people whom 1,000 American Jewish rabbis-representing, by their sheer numbers, an overwhelming proportion of the synagogue-going American Jewish community-recently petitioned President Bush to attack, using American military resources (and risking the precious lives of American men and women) to do it.
"If those rabbis, supposedly 'men of God,' want to wage war against these Iranians," I thought, "then let them do it. But they had better stop pestering Americans to fight another needless war for Israel."

The realization that these living, breathing human beings from all walks of life - these Iranians - were the targets of the wrath of those war-crazed rabbis stayed with me throughout my entire time in Iran, a great burden for me as an American, knowing that the president of the United States is more in line with the thinking of those 1,000 war-mongering "religious" leaders than he is with the vast numbers of peace-loving Americans.

Although I was in Iran - and only in the capital city of Tehran - for some five days (arriving early Sunday morning and departing early Thursday morning) and spent most of the time at my hotel and at the meeting hall for the Holocaust conference (both of which were in the northern part of that expansive, sprawling city of 14 million people), I did get the opportunity to see much of Tehran, as did the other foreign speakers and attendees at the conference.

At the close of the conference on Tuesday evening, we were shuttled to a government centre in central Tehran where we were formally greeted en masse by President Ahmadinejad, who later graciously posed for photographs and signed autographs and spoke (through translators) with the attendees who enthusiastically surrounded him to personally thank him for having dared to face global media assault for his comments about the Holocaust and (even more so) for having convened that controversial gathering.

Later, that evening, we were taken to a banquet at the modern and functional headquarters of the Iraqi foreign ministry, high atop the city on the mountainside with a magnificent overlook of Tehran. There we had the opportunity to meet and speak personally with Iraqi foreign minister Manovchghr Mottaki who hosted the dinner and there pledged continuing support for foreign political dissidents who dared to continue to speak out on the issue of the Holocaust and regarding the global influence of the Zionist power bloc.

And believe it or not, right there on the grounds of the foreign ministry of the Islamic republic of Iran was a lighted Christmas tree. Yes, folks, Jesus Christ is revered by the Muslim people, and his birth is celebrated and honoured in the capital of one of the world's most dedicated Muslim nations. This is a point that will confuse and fluster Muslim-bashing pro-Israel Christian fundamentalists in light of their steadfast devotion to a foreign entity (Israel) that would never, under any circumstances, raise a Christmas tree and, in fact, does all it can to suppress celebrations of Christ by Christians (and Muslims) in Palestine. So there it was: a Christmas tree in Islamic Iran.

So shuttling back and forth across Tehran, we got to see the city (and its people) live, in action, so to speak. And what a busy place it is, certainly the busiest city that I've ever seen (and I've been to New York, Moscow, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, very busy big cities all).
In general, in my personal estimation, the Iranians I met-ranging from waiters and hotel workers to diplomats and scholars-are good natured, wry in their wit, very friendly and hardly "anti-American," except perhaps for a naturally developing antipathy to George W. Bush and that small clique of his handlers and co-conspirators who want to kill the Iranian people, destroy their government, cripple their nuclear energy program, and turn their historic nation-the very land of Daniel of the Bible-into a cauldron of death and disaster as they have already done to Iraq, once a thriving republic.

Tehran is bustling, energetic, hardly the image that one would expect from the media coverage that the Western press conveys to its gullible audiences. There is no over-hanging sense of gloom in Tehran, no spectre of oppression, no feeling that secret police and observation cameras are close by, monitoring one's every move. People live their lives, going to and from work, just as they do anywhere else. Now, of course, the saloons have been shut down and certain forms of dress and decorum are expected of visitors and natives alike, but travelling through Tehran one doesn't feel any different than one might feel in any other major city.
There is one notable and striking exception to this: the fact that the traffic in Tehran is enormously overwhelming and the pedestrians and the drivers seem to have overcome the conflict and have forged a bizarre (if cooperative) way of dealing with the mess.

Thanks to the good offices (and good driving) of Iranian film-maker Nader Talebzadeh-who was one of the featured speakers at the American Free Press free speech conference held in Washington over Labor Day weekend this past fall-I had the opportunity to get some additional travel time throughout the amazing city, during which time Talebzadeh interviewed me in his car on camera (with the city's expanse in the background) for a documentary he is making.
Through Talebzadeh I also had the chance to meet the talented Muslim actor who lovingly portrayed Jesus Christ in Talebzadeh's soon-to-be-released major motion picture on the last days of Christ on Earth (financed by the Iranian ministry of culture) that - by the estimation of critics who have seen advance screenings-rivals even Mel Gibson's epic Passion of the Christ.

Just a few thoughts and impressions about one of the most misrepresented nations on Earth today. Much more could be said, but this gives a brief overview of some things that need to be said and understood.

-MICHAEL COLLINS PIPER, a correspondent for American Free Press (see www.americanfreepress.net) and a contributing editor to The Barnes Review, the historical revisionist magazine (see www.barnesreview.org) is the author of the following works:

* FINAL JUDGMENT, detailing the Mossad role in the JFK assassination conspiracy;
*THE HIGH PRIESTS OF WAR, the story of the rise of the Trotskyite "neo-conservative" Zionist warmongers;
*THE NEW JERUSALEM, an up-to-date accounting of Jewish and Zionist power in America; and
THE JUDAS GOATS, an overview of the effort by Zionist elements to infiltrate and destroy the nationalist movement in America, through the use of phony "leaders" and controlled front groups.

* Books marked with the asterisks are available from all League Book Services. Phone your local service today and place an order.

Piper broadcasts nightly on the Republic Broadcasting Network at www.rbnlive.com at 8:00 pm Central Time (9:00 pm Eastern Time) and on shortwave at 5.050. He can be reached via email at: michaelcollinspiper1960@yahoo.com