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Obama to Iran's leaders: Stop 'unjust' actions
| Bambi tries to get into the game. |
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Saturday challenged Iran's government to halt a "violent and unjust" crackdown on dissenters, using his bluntest language yet to condemn Tehran's postelection response.
Obama has sought a measured reaction to avoid being drawn in as a meddler in Iranian affairs.
| No; 1) he doesn't know what to do 2) he doesn't want to sound like George Bush 3) he'd rather work on health care 'reform' and 4) speaking out on Iran doesn't give him a chance to apologize for how evil America is. |
We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people," Obama said in a written statement. "The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."
| A written statement. Great. How about a televised statement from the Rose Garden? With the teleprompter and everything. Wear a green tie. That would send a message. |
Obama has flailed searched for the right tone in light of political pressures on all sides. On Capitol Hill, Congress pressed him to condemn the Iranian government's response. In Iran, the leadership was poised to blame the U.S. for interference and draw Obama in more directly.
"Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," the president said, recalling a theme from the speech he gave in Cairo, Egypt, this month.
"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government," Obama said. "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."
| Is there a reason why he couldn't have said this earlier in the week? |
Obama's comments came as protesters outside the White House waved Iranian flags and denounced Iranian government efforts to suppress the protesters.
| The protesters are going to remember the Basiji. They're going to remember who beat them and shot them. They're also going to remember who stood with them and who didn't. We need to be remembered as people who stood with them. |
Obama's criticism came one day after both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn the actions by the Iranian government against demonstrators and moves to interfere with Internet and cell phone communications. That was seen in part as a veiled criticism of Obama's response, too.
The president already was on record as saying the United States stood behind those who were seeking justice in a peaceful way. He responded to critics that he hadn't been forceful enough in support of protesters, telling CBS News: "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That's what they do."
| But you got blamed anyway. Playing defense doesn't work when dealing with thugs. Get out in front. Play offense. Put some heat on them. Maybe they'll crack and the protesters will win. |
The president returned Saturday to his theme that the world is watching the way the Iranian government responds. Obama cited Martin Luther King's statement that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
"I believe that," the president said. "The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people's belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness."
Posted by: Steve White 2009-06-21 |
