I won't argue with the validity of the view but this sentence is really weird:
	Quote:
	
	
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				Back in those days — 2000 and 2001, when I first lived in Iran as a journalist — Iranians were looking on jealously as U.S. soldiers removed the Taliban from power in neighboring Afghanistan;
			
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 It's weird since we weren't removing the Taliban from power until the middle of October 2001. It sounds as if Iranians were experiencing some premature jealousy.