After I wrote a column criticizing “the folly of attacking Iran,” I had pushback from some Iranians, who understand the region far better than I ever will.
“We the Iranians wanted this,” one replied on social media. “You don’t know how it’s like to live under the boots of one of the most brutal regimes.”
They raise a fair question: If some Iranians are celebrating in the streets — so desperate for change that they welcome the bombing of their own cities — should we object?
I sympathize with those Iranians, because I’ve seen the oppression firsthand in my own reporting in Iran over the years: police officers swooping in on my interviews; security thugs shouting at women to cover up; and intelligence agents who once detained me in Tehran, accused me of being a spy and told me I could be imprisoned indefinitely until I confessed. It is terrifying to feel the breath of Iran’s dictatorship on your neck.
