As much as I would like to despise Iran, I can’t help but think they aren’t quite the Picture of Evil that we commonly see portrayed in the United States.

Don’t get me wrong. Iran is no knight in shining armor. At least some elements of Iran are helping the insurgents in Iraq kill US troops (though, in the 1980s, we helped underground groups assassinate numerous Iranian politicians). Iran is the force behind Hezbollah, which is a big threat to Israel. They have human rights issues. And they’re trying to develop The Bomb. 

But:

1. Iran, I read some time ago, has one of the world’s highest proportions of blogs. Blogs are a sign of free speech, a vehicle for dissent and robust discourse. How authoritarian can you be when you allow so much free speech? When so many of your citizens roam the internet? 

2. Prior to 2002, when George Bush placed Iran in his Axis of Evil, Iran was pursuing a moderate course and was helping the United States. Dick Cheney, according to David Sanger’s “The Inheritance,” continually shot down any attempts to reach out to Iran (others in the administration favored reaching out, but Cheney, in those early years, held virtual veto power).

3. The current presidential election shows a vigorous democracy, wrapped in an Islamic package. Ahmadinejad is on the ropes, his political life coming to an end against a more popular opponent.  “His reformist and conservative opponents alike have criticized him publicly for spending too much time agitating the U.S. and Israel and not enough trying to fix the crumbling economy,” writes Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges on CNN.com. 

Plus, Ahmadinejad is losing both the youth and the women’s vote. Half of the country’s eligible voters are women. His opponent promises to loosen restrictions on women, and pretty much publicly mocks those restrictions.

Now, Ahmadinejad’s role is mostly domestic. He’s not the commander in chief, not the country’s top executive. It’s a different role than being president in the US. But it’s still the top job subject to the will of the people, and the president is the face of the country to the rest of the world. (David Sanger’s book includes one chapter about Iran. While it focuses on Iran’s efforts to build nuclear weapons, he also tells some stories about Ahmadinejad that confirm how much of a total idiot he is.)

4. This is worth repeating: Half of the country’s eligible voters are women. So don’t call them a fundamentalist Islamic state. There is a very strong women’s movement in Iran. Iran does not like being described as an Arab state or being lumped in with other Arab states.