First of all, he was not "hanging out with Akmed Q. Public. The Rafsanjani family is one of the richest families in the country and has a strong political pull. The mail reason Rafsanjani lost the last election is due to there complete lack of being able to relate to the common Iranian. The campaign actually put kids on buses and had them dancing around in the cities to modern music, much like an Old Navy commercial. Most Iranians can't relate to that.
Not that Iranian politics are fair and just anyway. The Supreme Religious Leader runs everything in that country. Hundreds of so-called moderate candidates in elections across the country were not allowed to be on the ballot due to their political views differing from that of Ayetollah Khamenei. Thus, supporters of said candidates and those political parties refused to even take part in the elections. It's not like winning the elections mean anything anyway. All the major political position holders are just puppets to the Supreme Religious Leader.
Furthermore, I find it very fishy that Penn was with all of these "major" political players in the first place. He's obviously there with some political purpose. He could have very easily just vacationed in Iran, say something like visiting Persopolis, seen the Caspian Sea in a place like Babol Sar, gone boating on the Persian Gulf from Bandar Abbas. But, no. He chooses Tehran, where anything and everything political happens. Which is why I say he's not "hanging out with Ahmed Q. Public." In my view, the last thing America needs is some upper class multi-millionaire pinko commie liberal essentially becoming an ambassodor for our country which is mainly middle class.
Iran is a freaking scary country. It has been widely reported in the news about all the issues the IAEA is having with nuclear activity in that country. The governments involvement in foreign terrorist groups is absolutely amazing. It would be a much different war, if it were to ever occur, than that with Iraq. The first issue is the size of the country. While Iraq is roughly the size of California, Iran is slightly larger than the US midwest. Population wise, Iraq is around 25 million while Iran hovers at about 80 million.
The landscape is also completely different. The logical places to invade with a ground force all present issues. On the eastern side of the country (Afghanistan, Pakistan) lays an extremely brutal desert at high elevation. Invading from the west or northwest (Iraq, Turkey, Azerbajian) is difficult due to mountainous terrain. Coming in from the Persian Gulf is tough due to getting ships to the gulf through the very narrow Strait of Hormoz. Entering before the Strait in the Gulf of Oman means going through heat and swamps. This is not military intelligence; this is just geography.
Which is why the present administration supports the continuing ever-growing (and ever-suppressed) indiginous movement of the people against the government. These are people who tasted westernism in the 50's through late 70's and the young people who want the country to accept more globalization, thus more freedoms. Men and women can be jailed for flirting, for simply sitting next to or talking to each other in public. Women must ride in the back of all public transit. Women must wear veils, called a hejab. The production and consumption of alcohol is illegal. Drug use is a massive problem in that country. But supporting this movement, so far, is the safest way to deal with the Islamic regime.
Sorry for the novel. I'll stop here for now. I could go on for a while more, but i'll save it, for now.
