As if there was any question, the aftermath of Friday’s Iranian presidential showed the Iranian regime to be the police state that it truly is. We must always remember the site of Iranian security forces beating their fellow citizens who had taken to the streets to protest the results of the fake presidential election. Of course, the beatings were followed up by the arrests of protesters and journalists. When the opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi had his press conference canceled by the Mullahs, some of the journalists who were in attendance where themselves beaten and arrested.
Also, the Iranian government has blocked cell phone service and access to anti-government websites. In addition, they have order the shut down of opposition publications. These are hardly the actions of a democratic government.
Shame on the Obama Administration for pretending, in the lead up to the so-called election, that it was, in fact, a free and fair election. Nothing could be further from the truth. In order to even appear on the presidential ballot, the candidates had to be approved by the Mullahs who screened all candidates for their Islamic credentials. There was in no sense free access to the ballots.
International observers were denied entry to monitor the election. It’s funny how the United Nations wanted to monitor our presidential election and made quite a scene about that. Why, then, didn’t the UN make a fuss about not being allowed to monitor this election? It seems to me that it’s just more pacification of dictators!
Then, the results themselves were a farce. Incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was said to have received twice as many votes as Mousavi. This included Ahmadinejad winning Mousavi’s home town by a wider margin than that. The odds of that actually occurring are beyond calculation.
Having played into the hands of the religious zealots who run Iran in the period before the election, President Obama now has a chance to try to influence the aftermath of the elections in a way that will benefit US national interests. First, the President must make a public statement that Mr. Ahmadinejad is not the legitimate leader of Iran. Next, Mr. Obama should spend money to encourage the indigenous Iranian opposition. They should be funded in a way that will get them to continue to take to the streets in protest of their totalitarian government. Their actions should be encouraged by high ranking US government officials.
Mr. Obama should order the use our technology to open blocked communication channels. Anti-regime websites should be reopened with our help. We should try to stop the blocking of cell phone channels.
Secretary of State Clinton should publicly call Mr. Mousavi to make sure that he is not under house arrest. During this conversation, Mrs. Clinton must clearly state that the United States will demand that international observers be sent in to audit the election results in order to obtain evidence of the fraud that was the election.
President Obama has backed himself into a corner by stating numerous times that he will meet with Ahmadinejad. With whatever legitimacy Mr. Ahmadinejad had as the leader of Iran now completely gone, the President can no longer continue to offer this. Doing so would not only make Mr. Obama continue to look weak, but it would also be completely demoralizing to the opposition forces that are our best hope of changing the totalitarian regime that rules Iran.
President Obama now has an opportunity to try to peacefully end the regime that poses a great threat to our national security. Let’s hope that he seizes this opportunity. The world may be safer for it.
Also, the Iranian government has blocked cell phone service and access to anti-government websites. In addition, they have order the shut down of opposition publications. These are hardly the actions of a democratic government.
Shame on the Obama Administration for pretending, in the lead up to the so-called election, that it was, in fact, a free and fair election. Nothing could be further from the truth. In order to even appear on the presidential ballot, the candidates had to be approved by the Mullahs who screened all candidates for their Islamic credentials. There was in no sense free access to the ballots.
International observers were denied entry to monitor the election. It’s funny how the United Nations wanted to monitor our presidential election and made quite a scene about that. Why, then, didn’t the UN make a fuss about not being allowed to monitor this election? It seems to me that it’s just more pacification of dictators!
Then, the results themselves were a farce. Incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was said to have received twice as many votes as Mousavi. This included Ahmadinejad winning Mousavi’s home town by a wider margin than that. The odds of that actually occurring are beyond calculation.
Having played into the hands of the religious zealots who run Iran in the period before the election, President Obama now has a chance to try to influence the aftermath of the elections in a way that will benefit US national interests. First, the President must make a public statement that Mr. Ahmadinejad is not the legitimate leader of Iran. Next, Mr. Obama should spend money to encourage the indigenous Iranian opposition. They should be funded in a way that will get them to continue to take to the streets in protest of their totalitarian government. Their actions should be encouraged by high ranking US government officials.
Mr. Obama should order the use our technology to open blocked communication channels. Anti-regime websites should be reopened with our help. We should try to stop the blocking of cell phone channels.
Secretary of State Clinton should publicly call Mr. Mousavi to make sure that he is not under house arrest. During this conversation, Mrs. Clinton must clearly state that the United States will demand that international observers be sent in to audit the election results in order to obtain evidence of the fraud that was the election.
President Obama has backed himself into a corner by stating numerous times that he will meet with Ahmadinejad. With whatever legitimacy Mr. Ahmadinejad had as the leader of Iran now completely gone, the President can no longer continue to offer this. Doing so would not only make Mr. Obama continue to look weak, but it would also be completely demoralizing to the opposition forces that are our best hope of changing the totalitarian regime that rules Iran.
President Obama now has an opportunity to try to peacefully end the regime that poses a great threat to our national security. Let’s hope that he seizes this opportunity. The world may be safer for it.
2 comments:
It will better serve the cause of the Iranian people if we keep our hands off. The Iranian people are doing a pretty good job expressing themselves without us. We should restrict our actions to insisting that the Iranian govt refrain from violence and suppression of public protest.
Anon:
How do we enforce our insistence?
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