In Iran, 'Death to America' is back

There could eventually be a more far-reaching result from Bush's inclusion of Iran, alongside Iraq and North Korea, in the official line-up of "evil" states - and possible next US targets. Though not widely evident in public, some Iranians have applauded the tough line - calling, faxing, and e-mailing by the hundreds during a Voice of America Persian service radio broadcast.

Rob Sobhani, an Iran expert and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, was in the VOA studio during the show, when Iranian callers proclaimed that Bush "has spoken to our hearts, which yearn for freedom," that he would be remembered as "another Abraham Lincoln," by those who now look beyond the Islamic regime entirely.

"They were proud, excited, and looking forward," says Mr. Sobhani. "Pride, because they are a very proud nation. Their 2,500 years of history has been tarnished by the last 22 years. They were very happy that the president separated the two.

"Excited because - wow - maybe something is about to happen. Maybe the American government has finally made a decision" - like backing an opposition that, he says, Iranians would welcome. "Many callers said: 'We would like to kiss [Bush's] hand.' "

Still, at the Tehran rally, Iranians spoke of the "triumph" of the 1979 revolution, which ousted the US and Israel-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi. The CIA had a hand in reinstalling that dynasty in 1953, when it played a role in a coup that toppled an elected government. Such meddling has rankled hard-liners ever since, and many others here who suggest the US tread carefully.

One effigy at the rally showed a Statue of Liberty with rockets instead of spikes in her crown and with a skull for a face. Instead of a torch in its right hand, it held up a bomb; in its left, a book with a star of David, representing Israel.

"It is wishful thinking to believe that the historical memory of the Iranian people has been erased," Khatami told the rally. He acknowledged that many believe that the Islamic system had not "met expectations," that society is riven with differences, and corruption is a huge problem. But he said "all Iranians" remain loyal to the aims of 1979.

"Those who were hurt by the revolution are exerting pressure, because you managed to get this country out of the hands of alien mercenaries and gave it back to your children," Khatami said. "This is not satisfactory to the superpowers."

Though stock rhetoric in Iran, such views were put in abeyance after Sept. 11, when converging self-interests appeared to herald the bud of a new US-Iran relationship. Iran agreed to allow US pilots to bail out in their territory while conducting operations in Afghanistan. Iran also shared US goals - years before Washington did - in stridently opposing the Taliban regime. It armed the Northern Alliance rebels for years.

And Iran played a key constructive role in negotiations in Bonn, Germany, late last year that created Afghanistan's interim government. But today, the White House and Pentagon accuse Iran of meddling with arms and cash in Western Afghanistan, of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, and of supporting violent Palestinian groups that Washington considers "terrorists."

"The US and Iranian delegations [in Bonn] were practically hugging and kissing each other. They were going around arm-in-arm doing everything together," says Barnett Rubin, an adviser to the United Nations at the talks, and an Iran-Afghanistan specialist at New York University.

"I don't know what happened," Mr. Rubin says. "Ask the [Bush] speechwriters."

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