The word 'evil'

Immediately following the attack on the World Trade Center, President Bush began his use of the word "evil." He told the nation that terrorists were "evil-doers" and that his administration would work hard to "rid the world of evil." At the time, I found his use of the word somewhat comical, figuring he didn't have any larger, more appropriate ones in his vocabulary and needed to resort instead to phrases he'd learned from Ho-llywood blockbusters. By using it more recently in his State of the Union address, however, and appl-ying it to states like Iran that don't deserve the title, he stepped over the line.

I don't know what "intelligence" tells us regarding the threat from Iran or other members of Bush's supposed, "Axis of Evil," but I do know that I traveled to Iran three years ago as part of a delegation of scientists visiting the country to see the solar eclipse, and that during our stay I saw nothing to make me believe this nation was a threat to American livelihood. Our small scientific delegation, composed of astronomers, diplomats and educators, spent two weeks in the country, traveling through both major cities and rural areas, and what I will say (and have said) to anyone who currently enjoys the Bush-induced misconception of Iran, is that I have never felt so warmly or enthusiastically welcomed anywhere in my life.

Whether we were speaking to townspeople, University students, soldiers or town mayors, the phrase, "We love America," was said to us over and over again. "Do the American people know just how happy we are to see Americans in Iran?" people would ask us. They begged for our autographs, our home addresses and crowded around to be part of the pictures we took of their country. And, after we returned, I found my mailbox flooded with adoring letters from the friends I had made and even the occasional Persian rug from mere acquaintances I had exchanged addresses with on the street.

What I would most like to convey to people reading this, however, is that during the two weeks I spent in Iran, I didn't meet anyone antagonistic to the United States. Instead, the only anger I sensed was frustration at the fact that our countries didn't have more dialogue. After all, in a country where the majority of its citizens are under the age of 20 (and therefore weren't even alive during the 1979 hostage crisis) it shouldn't be hard to imagine that the majority of these youthful citizens have been pushing for governmental reforms. As a matter of fact, any individual who has recently studied Iran could tell you there would have been no better time than now to make amends with this country. As the religious hardliners struggle to maintain power against an increasingly vocal group of moderates sympathetic to the United States, we should have been encouraging the reformers by demonstrating a willingness to engage their country and work towards common goals. Instead, President Bush did the opposite — he insulted their nation and lumped them in the same category as their archrival, Iraq. What President Bush effectively did was secure the hardliners' power and ruin not only the chance our countries could overcome their differences, but also destroyed the goodwill that common Iranian citizens may at one time have entertained toward the United States. Stephanie Lester is from Upper Saddle River, N.J. She can be reached at slester@princeton.edu.