Stronger words from the President on Iran
From the transcript of President Obama’s news conference:
The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.
I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place…
The Iranian people can speak for themselves. That’s precisely what’s happened in the last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests of justice. Despite the Iranian government’s efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers. And so we’ve watched what the Iranian people are doing.
This is what we’ve witnessed. We’ve seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands of Iranians marching in silence. We’ve seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and that their voices are heard.
Above all, we’ve seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we’ve experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights and heed the will of its own people. It must govern through consent and not coercion.
President Obama’s comments on the atrocities of the Iranian regime seem quite a bit stronger than some critics, like Andrew McCarthy, anticipated (though he still doesn’t use the word “freedom” often). That’s a positive development. And good riddance to the “deeper wisdom” of Obama’s previous reticence on the outrages perpetrated by Khamenei on the Iranian people. Let’s see if these words are meaningful, or just an empty attempt at feel-good-ism; time will tell. (Here’s a candidate for test #1.)
June 24th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Lovely words, and lots of “witnessing” of injustice, with absolutely no action being taken at all to help turn Iran into a democracy for its own people, rather than a thugocracy for its lunatic leaders. No refusal to negotiate with the regime if it fails to hold true elections; no boycotts of Iran’s diplomats, who’ve still been invited to July 4 parties at our embassies; no suggestions of international sanctions or UN resolutions condemning the regime; no secret provision of weapons to the revolutionaries; and of course, no threats, credible or not, of military action to overthrow the second most evil regime in the world today.
In other words, absolutely nothing. But, like slapping a “Free Tibet” bumper sticker on our Volvos, we feel better about ourselves, while millions upon millions of people live in fear, with a boot stamping on them, forever.
Shame.
June 24th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Obama has a spine of pure custard.
This was a poll-driven announcement, and means about as much as any of his other promises. I note the budget to support pro-democracy Iranian groups is still $0, and the bloody-handed Iranian government thugs are still invited to our embassies to ‘celebrate’ independence.
Whoever dreamed of a President displaying such stunning hypocrisy?