In order to get his story straight, Chuck Prochaska (March 15) needs to add a few minor details: First, a democratically elected secular government in Iran was overthrown by the CIA in 1953.

Second, the Shah who was put into power brutally repressed secular and religious opposition with the help of both U.S. and Israeli military weapons and advisers. Third, even after the rise of the theocratic regime in 1979, both the United States and Israel sold weapons to Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, including those related to the Iran-Contra affair in 1986 during our illegal invasion of Nicaragua.

Fourth, Iraq did not begin to develop a nuclear weapons program until after Israel bombed its Osirak facility in 1981. Fifth, Israel is the only country in the region with nuclear weapons, it has them illegally, and the other countries recognize the implications of this double standard all too well.

Sixth, Israel will only bomb Iranian facilities at the behest of the United States. Countries in the region know from experience that the only way to deter a U.S. or Israeli attack or invasion is to have nuclear weapons thus, our recent actions have only encouraged their development, if they indeed are being developed. Seventh, Iran has elements of democracy and a strong secular opposition to the government that is undermined by foreign threats against the government.

Eighth, that opposition prefers to resist the regime without the help of the United States for both pragmatic and ideological reasons. And, finally, an attack on Iran by either the United States or Israel would, like our invasion of Iraq, be a godsend to terrorist recruitment in the Middle East.

Yes Chuck, we do need to get our story straight, in spite of your efforts to obscure it with the current government propaganda.

David Green

University employee