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AmSpecBlog
Obama on Iran
In today's column I suggested that the State of the Union address would be a good time for Obama to give the Iranian opposition a boost. In the speech, Obama primarily touted diplomatic arms control effort, and said that because of those,
the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. And as Iran's leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: they, too, will face growing consequences.
On the opposition protestors, all he said was that "we support the human rights of the women marching through the streets of Iran." Not the men? It's good that he mentioned the protestors, but this is pretty weak sauce. Is Obama still buying into the wrongheaded conceit that too much overt American support would be bad for the opposition? Even many liberal analysts have abandoned that view (here's Spencer Ackerman agreeing with Eli Lake on this point on BloggingHeads last month). This is disappointing.
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Alan Brooks| 1.27.10 @ 10:40PM
"Not the men?"
This is a naive question; the male protesters are macho Arab men interested in a kinder, gentler, Persian Islamofascism. A long long long row to hoe til democracy. I wont live to see it-- and you might not either.
C'mon, Mr. Tabin, conservative doesn't mean pollyannish.
Liberal Reader| 1.27.10 @ 10:54PM
Obama hit just the right note on Iran. It is IMPERATIVE that those protestors NOT be seen as inspired by or encouraged or egged on by Washington.
Again, Mr. Tabin. You need to look at the HISTORY of our involvement in Iran and get your news about that region of the world somewhere other than Sean Hannity's television program.
Pete| 1.27.10 @ 11:08PM
"...just the right note on Iran." To the tone deaf. I don't think anyone needs to worry about any tough talk coming from our current president any time soon. Let us not forget the jettison of the bust of Churchill from the White House by our fearless leader of the Free World----Churchill typifying everthing that The Anointed One is not: a great leader who recognized the threat of evil in the world and marshalled the forces to destroy it.
Margie| 1.27.10 @ 11:17PM
Well said, Pete.
Franklin| 1.27.10 @ 11:40PM
Iran is an Islamic nation. Islam hates Christians or any person that is not Muslim. They hated long before the USA became a nation, long before. It doesn't matter what our history has been with Iran.
They hate us because we are.
Liberal Reader| 1.28.10 @ 12:14AM
You're an idiot, Franklin. Clearly you don't know anything about Islam.
Hundreds of millions of Muslims are friendly or neutral towards the U.S. Have you ever heard of Indonesia? Turkey? Jordan?
Even in Iran people aren't particularly anti-American, but they resent like hell our meddling in their county's internal affairs -- particularly when we do things like help overthrow democratically elected governments.
Again, Franklin, like Tabin, you need to try to get some information about Iran from somewhere other than Fox News.
Jack| 1.28.10 @ 1:48AM
Always resort to name calling when you have a difference of opinion? A bit defensive about your opinion when it is loosely based on fact!
Franklin| 1.28.10 @ 2:51AM
I'm getting my information from the writings of Mohammad. At first he was fine with living alongside Jews and Christians, but that changed. His later years he advocated more violence toward people who would not convert to Islam, even to the point of killing anyone who would not convert.
Any Muslim that believes that Islam is a religion of peace is not living the true faith according to those who are "true believers" in Islam.
I'm not an expert in Islam but I have read a bit, even parts of the Qur'an (of course, only in the English language which they believe is perverted).
Reza Shirazi| 1.27.10 @ 11:51PM
CIA and Pentagon should get out of middle East and leave those people alone and use the millitary funds for health care and stop foreclosures
dingmei| 1.28.10 @ 4:02AM
I greatly benefit from your articles every time I read one. Thanks for the bifocal eyewear info, it helps a lot.
Excellent point here. I wish there are more and more girls eyewear articles like that.