U.S. meddling forgotten

Regarding Joseph Harari’s letter (“Centrist needed for president” – July 31):

He asks us not to forget Iran’s assault on our embassy and hostage crisis, which of course occurred in 1979-80.

I suggest Harari, and many others, read Daniel Yergin’s “The Prize,” in which you will find that U.S.-Iran history didn’t begin in 1979-80. Our government assisted in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government in the 1950s, and installed the Shah, who ruled brutally until overthrown through the Iranian revolution.

I’m not sure anyone can know today if a deal with Iran, bringing them back into the world of nations, is better or worse than continued sanctions. However, the countries of the Middle East are rightfully angry with our never-ending meddling in their countries, including drone strikes in which we kill innocent civilians.

How long would our memory be if another country overthrew our government or killed our civilians? Oh right, we have an example; the South can’t get over the Civil War. Our foreign policy failures through the decades should give us pause, and humility. Other countries have reasons not to trust us as much as we have reasons not to trust them.

Bob Tattershall

Pullman