2006年VOA标准英语-Iran Hostage-Taker Now a Democratic Reformist

By Gary Thomas
Tehran
17 July 2006

Twenty-seven years ago, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 embassy staff members hostage and holding most of them for more than a year. VOA correspondent Gary Thomas, who is in Tehran, talked to one of the original engineers of the embassy takeover, and has this report.

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Abbas Abdi during his 2002 trial in Tehran 
  
Abbas Abdi is, to use the words of American songwriter Kris Kristofferson, a walking contradiction.

He was one of the core group that plotted the takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, but is now a prominent pro-democracy advocate. He sees nothing wrong with holding embassy staffers hostage for 444 days, but says his own imprisonment¹ for pro-democracy views was unjust. He is sharply critical of President Bush, but at the same time welcomes the Bush administration's calls for democratization in the Middle East.

"You think I have changed and gone through some metamorphosis," Abdi says, "but it is America that has changed. Where there were once Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter backing the Shah of Iran, there is now George Bush promoting democracy."

Abdi, now 57 years old, helped plan and execute an event that colors the U.S.-Iranian relationship, or to be more precise, lack of a relationship, to this day. Both countries tend to look at the other through the prism of the takeover of the American Embassy and the holding of 52 American hostages for more than a year.

Abbas Abdi has no regrets about the takeover, saying that the students blamed their treatment under the autocratic Shah of Iran on the United States.

"What was the big deal?  Sure, some people got slapped around, but both countries should just forget about it and mend their relationship," he says.

His pro-democratic views have landed him in trouble with the authorities. In 2003, he got a five-year prison sentence for publishing a poll that showed overwhelming public support in Iran for resuming ties with the United States. He was released in two years.

"No, my imprisonment and the hostage taking are not the same", he says. "I was framed and illegally jailed, but the hostages were like prisoners of war."

Abbas Abdi is now in an isolated² position, critical of the government for its undemocratic ways and dismissive of the reformist movement for its inability to effect change in Iran.

The government has been corrupted³ by oil money, he says.

"The more petrodollars come in, the greater the despotism," Abdi says. "And true democracy can only come when those proceeds are taken out of the hands of the government and given to the people."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad    
  
Abdi says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's anti-American stance is illogical.

"How can he support the legitimate⁴ government of Iraq, which is sponsored by the United States, yet at the same time be against America," he asks.

As far as the United States goes, he says there is much to both criticize and admire.

"I criticize America, but if any other country had the kind of power that it has, we do not know how savage⁵ it would be," he says. 

1 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

2 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

3 corrupted   

（使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏

参考例句：

• The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
• The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。

4 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。