Can Obama help Iran protesters?
What's at stake for the U.S. as Iranians demand change despite a brutal crackdown
Iranian supporters of the country's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi attend protests in central Tehran.
(STR/Reuters/Corbis)
Thousands of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets as the Iranian regime marked the 30th anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Pro-government demonstrators at the annual anti-U.S. rallies chanted "Death to America!" while opposition marchers, braving a police crackdown, denounced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shouting, "Death to the dictator!" Is the U.S. doing enough to support Iran's opposition? (Watch Iranian police clash with protesters)
No, Obama turned his back on them: The "Green Revolution lives on," say the editors of The Wall Street Journal, so why isn't President Obama supporting Iran's anti-government protesters, instead of sitting back and saying, "We do not interfere in Iran's internal affairs"? If Obama wants to restore America's moral leadership, he has to stand up for the people braving police batons and tear-gas canisters.
"Obama on Tehran's Democrats"
Obama expressed his support cleverly: Sure, Obama said he wouldn't interfere, says Scott Lucas in Enduring America, but he also put the Iranian regime on notice that its future will be bleak unless abandons its nuclear dreams and addresses its people's cry for justice. And, in a direct comment on Iran's internal politics, Obama linked Iran's 1979 embassy takeover to his desire for a new relationship based on mutual respect -- "extremely clever."
"The latest from Iran"
The U.S. needs to do more: "Iran is at a tipping point," says Hossein Askari in Foreign Policy, and "the United States should seize this opportunity -- not only by tackling the issue of nuclear enrichment, but also by raising governance issues with the Islamic Republic." The mullahs have lost all credibility. Propping them up by pretending they're legitimate -- so we can win a nuclear deal -- will backfire by alienating the Iranian people and the rest of the Muslim world.
"Iran on the edge"
Show: Oldest | Newest
4 Comments
Posted by alan, Thursday, November 5, 2009, 3:15 pm Right up his work experience alley. Community rabble rouser. Send ACORN over there.
Posted by They The People, Friday, November 6, 2009, 2:54 pm I was always taught that America was the shining light of liberty that give voice to those who yearned for freedom. Had France not supported the American Revolutionists there would be no United States, only a British colony. France is now supporting the Iranian protesters who are demanding nothing more than freedom. Where is America's voice? Aren't the Rights in question Inalienable ones? The Iranian people, not the corrupt government, need support. When did America lose the will to embrace freedom?
Posted by Brett, Monday, November 9, 2009, 2:32 pm Obama isn't supporting the current government of Iran, but since the two previous posters here have demonstrated either complete ignorance of the entire situation in Iran and/or complete ignorance as to how nonconservatives think, then I'm not going to waste my time. All I can say is that we need to keep the conservatives out of power as long as possible so we don't make more monumental foreign policy blunders like those recommended by the neocons now.
Posted by jim, Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 11:57 pm It's amazing how wrong Americans have been when it comes to conducting a right policy with Iran well over past 50 years. The CIA backed coup killed the only real democracy in Middle East in 1953.Then Carter was wrong in supporting corrupted Shah's regime and screwed up with failed operations to liberate the hostages. Then Iran contra scandal in 1980s came. Then IranAir airliner was shot down and the captain of the ship got a medal for it! Now Obama is siding with Ahmadinejad leaving people of Iran. When is US president going to learn?
Post a Comment