|
Obama Says Iran Must Pick Its Own Leaders
 | This is long but I'm not sending it to Page 49. I'm unhappy with my President and you should be too. The man has to stand for freedom and human rights or the United States doesn't mean anything anymore. The woman in the photo showed more courage today than my government, and that is simply shameful. |
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama for the first time voiced his concerns about the way Iran's election was conducted, though he fell short of calls from some democracy activists that he formally denounce the vote.
| He's picking and choosing his words, "voicing concerns", because he doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know what to say because his moral core doesn't have the words for "freedom" and "human rights" and "liberty". |
Mr. Obama said he was deeply troubled by the violence surrounding the election, but also stressed it was up to the Iranian people to choose their leadership.
No, it isn't and it hasn't been, and that precisely is the problem. Does the man not understand the difference between democracy and dictatorship? Iran is ruled by a Guardian Council. They pick and approve of the presidential candidates. They approve of all other national leaders. They veto government legislation. Iran has billed itself as an 'Islamic Republic', sovereignty coming from Allah and not from the people. Therefore it isn't up to the people in the first place. Now that the people are rising up Khamenei is moving to make clear to the world what perceptive people have always understood -- Iran is ruled by thugs.
Does Obama not understand this? |
He said he would maintain his policy of directly negotiating with Iran's leadership on its nuclear program, irrespective of the current vote.
| There is nothing to negotiate. The 'leaders' may not be there next week. And if they are, they are certainly not going to compromise with you -- not after they slapped their own people down. Khamenei is arresting the very people he hand-picked to run in the election. The smart thing to do is to get on the side of the people, so that if and when they throw out (and execute) the Guardian Council, we'll be able to say, "we were on your side when it mattered." Obama is throwing that away. |
"It is up to Iranians to decide who their leaders may be. We respect Iranian sovereignty," Mr. Obama said following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "I think it would be wrong to remain silent about what we've seen. ... The world is watching and is inspired by their participation, regardless of the outcome."
| So don't be silent. Take a stand, man, and pledge the United States to being on the side of the common, ordinary people of Iran who are rising up. |
The fluid political developments inside Iran are placing Mr. Obama in an increasingly difficult diplomatic position, U.S. officials and regional analysts said. Mr. Obama has pledged both to support democracy in the Middle East and to engage directly with Tehran's clerical rulers over the future of Iran's nuclear program.
| The former should take precedence over the latter. Dump the clerics. |
Any push by Mr. Obama to overtly support Iranian opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi could make diplomatic talks more difficult, while also potentially painting Mr. Mousavi and his supporters as American puppets, these officials and analysts said.
| They will be painted as puppets regardless. It's already happening. The key is to get out in front and use the inspiration of the Iranian people to make clear where you stand as a world leader, and in turn to inspire the Iranian people to dump the thugs. |
Still, a gathering number of Iranian opposition leaders, both inside Iran and out, are calling on Mr. Obama to lend more direct public support for those Iranians challenging the vote that re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These activists fear that any near-term dialogue between the Obama administration and Mr. Ahmadinejad or Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could result in legitimizing the Iranian regime while also validating the election results.
| Absolutely correct, and Short Round would use such talks expressly to smack down the internal revolution. |
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Monday ordered a probe into alleged voter irregularities in the country's presidential election. This was a shift after his strong endorsement of Mr. Ahmadinejad's re-election over the weekend.
| It's a sham -- it is what thugs do when they're trying to placate the people. Call for an investigation and then bury it. |
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday joined world leaders in supporting an inquiry into the disputed presidential election in Iran. "My position and that of the United Nations is that the genuine will of the Iranian people should be fully respected," Mr. Ban told reporters in New York. "I am closely following how this investigation into this election result will come out."
| Don't follow the 'investigation', follow the people. Put the U.N. on the side of the people and you'll send a message to thugs all around the world. That would be legacy worth having as Secretary-General. |
"We view the implications of recent events in Iran with serious concern," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.
Mr. Miliband said the long view from London on the election outcome was its impact on Iran's nuclear program. "It is the implications of the decisions that are being made at the top levels of the Iranian regime that are of most concern," he said. The foreign secretary said the West's diplomatic overtures should be "answered by Iranian willingness to sit down and negotiate."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was "profoundly troubled by the political situation in Iran" and "condemns the violence against the demonstrators." He condemned the arrests of opposition political leaders and called for an end to restrictions on freedom of expression.
| That's better -- Nick gets it. France can't do a lot, practically, to help the demonstrators, but France can take their side. |
The French foreign ministry on Monday summoned the Iranian ambassador to the ministry to explain his government's actions, but the ambassador sent his press counselor in his place, according to an official at the French mission to the U.N. in New York.
| A clear demonstration that Iranian officials plan to weather this and don't give a damn what the world thinks. |
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. was still evaluating the claims of election fraud, but reiterated the administration continued to have "doubts about the returns, which showed Mr. Ahmadinejad winning 63% of the vote.
| Oh come on, we're not 'investigating' election fraud in Iran -- we have no such ability whatsoever. It's not like we're going to be examining voting machines. Kelly is stalling for time because Obama and Hillary do not know what to do. And they don't know because they don't have a moral core. |
Ongoing demonstrations could force the Obama administration to take a firmer line on Tehran's handing of the election in the days ahead, said a number of Iranian activists and former U.S. diplomats. These officials said the political uprising in Tehran could represent a rare generational shift in the country, where a rising pro-democracy movement is seeking to uproot the founders of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Not to support these reformists, said these officials, could have a much broader impact for democracy promotion across the Middle East.
In his outreach so far to Iran, including in a speech on the Persian New Year, Mr. Obama has generally demurred from democracy and human-rights issue while formally recognizing the rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
| Thus ripping the heart out of democracy movements around the world. If the President of the United States won't support democracy, no one will. |
Former U.S. officials said the Obama administration is walking an increasingly delicate line between supporting democracy in Iran while pursing the abolition of Tehran's nuclear program. Any rupturing of a dialogue between Tehran and the West could have major implications for global security, these officials said. Israel has vowed to attack Iran's nuclear research sites if there isn't progress diplomatically to contain the nuclear program.
| That's the 'realists' talking, the one who don't want to 'upset' things. Right now upsetting Short Round and Khamenei is exactly what needs to be done. |
Posted by: Steve White 2009-06-16 |
