So we hear from Jay Solomon on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal. Or at least from his headline. Once you get into the text, it seems much less. It seems that, after seven months of courageous demonstrations from millions of Iranians, at least some of our policy makers have realized that the tyrannical regime headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad is widely hated and has lost legitimacy with its subjects. That is all to the good, as is the new tone of statements from President Obama and others in clear support of the dissidents.
But there is as yet no sign of “helping” the opposition. Nor does Solomon provide any reason to think that any such policy is in the works. The most that can be said, based on his report, is that we are considering a Hippocratic policy: do them no harm.
As Solomon describes it:
Senior U.S. officials stressed in interviews this week that President Barack Obama isn’t moving toward seeking a regime change as its policy for Iran. Rather, these officials said, Washington remains committed to a dual-track approach of pursuing dialogue aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear program while applying increasing financial pressure if the talks fail.
To which one’s immediate question is: haven’t the talks failed? It’s been 31 years now. And even Obama’s promise to “act” if, there were no breakthrough by New Year’s Day has been dropped. So it’s business as usual. Appeasement.
Both the Obama administration and the Iranian dissidents have been wary of any direct contacts, due to fears such meetings could provide ammunition for Tehran…
Nonsense! The dissidents are not wary of “contacts.” Rather they are discouraged and more than a bit peeved at the lack of any contacts from the Western world. The so-called “fears such meetings could provide ammunition” to the regime is like the West’s refusal to save the European Jews during the Holocaust or help Soviet dissidents during the Cold War. The Iranian dissidents are already being raped, tortured and executed en masse, and we are daily blamed for the very existence of the opposition movement. This “excuse” is the classic language of appeasers.
Still, the White House’s re-evaluation of the Green Movement marks a significant evolution of Mr. Obama’s Iran policy since demonstrators began openly challenging President Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June, said diplomats and analysts.
At best, the re-evaluation demonstrates a grudging recognition that the Intelligence Community once again failed to understand events in Iran. Obama’s words in support of the Green Movement are indeed encouraging, but in order for the Journal‘s headling to be correct, the United States has to actually DO some things. Those things are easy, proper, inexpensive, and non-violent, just like the Green Movement itself.
Here a few such actions:
First, provide aid to the families of the political prisoners, and of the dissident martyrs. This should be accompanied by public calls for the release of the prisoners and an end to torture and all human rights violations in Iranian prisons;
Second, provide modern communications devices to dissidents. In the Cold War we sent fax machines to Soviet dissidents; today’s freedom fighters need modern telephones and servers;
Third, bring an end to the regime’s successful jamming of radio and tv broadcasts into the country (nowadays, BBC, VOA, PARS and Farda are effectively off the air, while Iranian broadcasts on the same Hotbird satellite–including no less than seventeen tv channels–broadcast with no difficulty. Iranians need to know what is going on in their own country, and they need to hear encouraging words from the West.
Simple, proper and non-violent, but effective measures against an evil, violent regime that is killing its own people and ours every single day.
Faster, Please.
dr. ledeen, do you have much hope that cia & co. are influential in the protest movement? you’d think that, if those org’s were worth anything besides interpretting satellite photos and financial information, this is the kind of crisis or pre-crisis they’d be capable of exploiting, if not creating.
Are you kidding, help the dissidents. The Obama administration is probably taking notes from the Iranian leadership and prepping ACORN and SEIU to be the new Basiji and IRG. Obama is most likely in awe…
I’m afraid I’m with [2.] Oso Grizzly on this one.
The ’0′ team are raping and pillaging America. From one set of tyrants to another–> “It’s all good.”
Michael, I will give you credit, you continue to
beat the drum in order for Persia to be liberated from the metaphysical prison brought into being by turbans.
However, too many Americans, and this goes more than double for the deformed souls, reprobates and other assorted ilk inside the Beltway, that they judge the world by the US. Well, that is a very provincial and highly limiting way to see the world.
I put it to you, Michael: Why should the world
outside the US assign as much credibility to the US, as is the case? We see perfidy beyond
what Albion was accused of. We see, thanks to
what I say is rooted in the Civil Rights Act,
people put into houses they could not afford, and this resulted in a financial tsunami (and more waves are coming).
So, why should the world outside the US take the US as seriously as is the case at this time?
First, it isn’t Obama. Obama is the frontman, the puppet salesman, put in by the hardcore radical socialists whose agenda is to restructure the US into a statist socialism. Obama is simply their spokesman salesman.
Obama hasn’t a clue about or interest in, foreign affairs – and, as a malignant narcissist – he has no interest in any people who are focused on, not an adulation of Obama..but in the case of the Iranians, on the principles and system of democracy and freedom.
Equally, the socialists who run Obama consider that all leaders and all govts, no matter how totalitarian, no matter how imperialistic, are amenable to ‘talk about shared ideals and beer in the garden’…and will instantly drop their militancy, their human rights violations and their imperial agendas, over such shared talks.
This tactic is a symptom of the elitism of these Democrat socialists, who consider that all leaders are an actual class endowed with the right-to-govern (no matter how malevolently) while ‘the people’ are a faceless mindless mass who must be ruled.
This view, that leaders are an almost genetic class, and as such must ‘stick together’ can be seen in the Democrat/Obama’s support for the Honduran Zelaya as well as their support for the Iranian Ahmandinejad.
These socialist Democrats will only start to waver, if the leadership appears to be changing. Their adherence is not to principles, to freedom, to democracy but to a CLASS – the leaders.
hear hear!
one thing, tho: were you trying to make a pun with “Hypocratic”? because it’s actually spelled “Hippocratic”…
Sadly, Oso is quite right. Sadly, we peaked with the defeat of Hitler, Hirohito, and the USSR. Now, we are in decline. A decline rapidly accellerating under the leadership (sic) of Mr. Obama. It is agonizing to witness. Prewsident witless. Oh, the horror. Oh the horror.
Obama still doesn’t seem to realize that he can’t solve every problem by giving a speech. Hence, he still wants to try “speechifying” the Iranians another half a dozen times.
“I’m from Obama and we are here to help”
With friends like that, who needs enemies? With the Usurper helping the Iranian’s are well and truly foooked.
Get that man out from behind his tele-prompter and everything he touches turns to coprolites.
I view any “tough talk” from Obama as mere poll-boosting. If he’s recognized anything about the Iranian Green Movement, it’s that Americans don’t like his passivity and indifference to it. He’s a man who believes in words and nothing else, so I wouldn’t hold my breath expecting him to actually do anything.
I think the Obama administration is perfectly OK with the present regime in power.
It is time for some conservative leaders to make the case for democracy in Iran.
keep up the good work M. Ledeen.
He’ll just give them another deadline to act, which they won’t again, how many so far 4 or five and still nothing! He has to threaten to actually do something including military action or Iran will keep stalling till it is too late and military action will be forced or used as an act of defense!
I knew he would keep this talking the subject to death because that is all he knows how to do! He is not a leader or a commander nor does he know anything at all about or military, but he better learn real quick cause Iran is gonna force the issue.
Mr. Ledeen:
I know you want a non-violent way for the US to aid the Greens, and while sending them “modern” phones is a innovative idea, I bet dollars to donuts, the regieme has Chicom IT “contractors” standing by to shut down any efforts to circumvent the new comms and enforce an improved Electronic crackdown. Same goes for blocking sat comms and radio. Once again, expert Chicom contractors standing by. Note how much better the regieme got after the initial protests. And unfortunately, and I consider this crticism of my own country, if we can’t see it on TV or Youtube, it gets ZERO attention form our political elites because as far as our own people are concerned, it’s like a tree falling the woods with no one to hear. Who makes it in the playoffs is more important to US right now. Sad but true.
I fully expect the Obama administration to steer clear of the Iran issue. Obama is not gonna get involved. Not gonna happen. No way, no how.
Next window of opportunity for the Greens will be when Ali Khamenei dies (any news on his health?) If Ahmadinejad weathers that storm, well, our best bet is for a new president in 2013 that is willing to indirectly help spill some blood to water the tree of liberty. (My 9mm theory: http://www.bloggybayou.com/2009/06/ya-say-you-want-revolution.html)
Ghandi only won because the Brits were, at heart, a decent people. Ahmadinejad is a monster and will use truly evil men to enforce his will.
I know there is speculation that the military may intervene on the side of the Greens if Ahmadinejad gets out of hand. However, as long as Ahmadinejad has the resources to make people disappear in the middle of the night, etc and keep the protests only popping up sporadically..then the bad guys are going to stay in power for quite a while longer.
Take care and Happy New Year to you and yours,
ER White
Obama needs to put his skills to good use. I completely disagree with him but he needs to act like a man. If he’s going to use diplomacy use it to say that America is willing to help Iran and in fact already has by taking away its hated enemy it fought a bloody war with. Then he needs to say that we support people who support peace, and if Iran disagrees they should come out and say it. Then we move with sanctions and tell the Chinese that they need to let us know how they want to deal with the world. Should they be allowed on a council that agrees on major sanctions if Iran is willingly seeking a bomb while deceiving the enitre international community. I think that might be a good idea. Maybe we could show russia that working with a regime like Iran only brings problems because they will cause problems with Russia’s interests. Russia wants oil money and influence in Europe, if oil prices go up at the behest of Iranian protest of the west Russia will look like a fool to Europe. Especially with the war in afghanistan so close to Europe. Likely this would make Europe extremely angry, when it wanted sanctions against Iran and a global economic crisis. I’m just talking about likelies, but with diplomacy you can do pretty much whatever you want as long as you look strong.
If Iran did not recognize that the US had helped it we could say that there is not much we could truly talk about because Iran is not seeing what the US truly does for the Middle East. This is a little wimpy, I’m just saying. It would take balls to do that, and I don’t think Obama has any. I do think it has been time for diplomacy ever since the war in Iraq began though. We could try to help the dissidents because no one is going to have confidence in Iran after they have no money with which to support their worldwide propaganda machine that tells the world america is evil.
I’m puzzled (but glad for anyone who can still do it, I guess)….that anyone still entertains serious (?) hopes and thoughts the obama is capable of rational thought and courageous action that isn’t directed by TOTUS.
Fourth: 3rd Infantry Division!
If Obama truly wanted to help the Iranian people – he would have by now. Iraq-Iran border is wide open, and the Iranian population hates the mullahs and their arabic bodyguards. US and Iraq can easily smuggle 10-20,000 AK-47 into Iran – and in a matter of days the mullahs would be gone. Reagan, Bush, JFK could have done this – but not Obama. Why? Because, well, Obama is really not that much against Iranian mullahs. He needs Iran as a weapon against Israel – the real enemy of Obama and his ilk.
All in all, in pains me to see Iranian people dying by hundreds, fighting for their freedom, while American establishement supports the mullahs. I believe Dick Cheney must make a public speech and make it clear that American people and American patriots support Iranian revolution, and that once Obama’s regime is brought down, American people will come to aid the revolution in Iran. Today, it is necessary for conservatives to explain that it is Obama, not the American people who are failing Iran.
Iranian and American people should stand together in fighting oppression! Death to tyrants!
We should remember that last year we elected a fence-sitter in chief. We didn’t have too. Electorate paralyzed, National leader unable to face the music, idealists killed in the streets and theocrats playing with the big toys.
It’s our fault, too. Choices have consequences. Next time, let’s elect someone who represents the American spirit that has given courage to the hopeful around the world for almost a quarter millenium. They need us, and we will need them too, when they also become represented, although it’s a much more arduous path for them to get there.
mr.Ledeen: they call you Dr. Ledeen. where ever you got your degree from you should ask for your money back!! look I am from Iran and you have no idea what you are talking about. the green movement is just a movement. we do not have leadership. 8 years of confrontation by president bush did not do anything. Obama is doing a great job of dividing the current Iranian government in pieces and that is exactly what we need. I am going to Iran next month. if you like take a trip with me and then you will see and feel everything your self…
patriot, save your insults for the mullahs and basij, and don’t worry about the University of Wisconsin.
The dissidents get support from sites like Twitter and many others. Both Bush’s and Clinton supported the dissidents but this President, no one knows where he stands. Obama and all of the people he has surrounded himself with have no use for the CIA, NSA and the military.
“….to the regime is like the West’s refusal to save the European Jews during the Holocaust…”
Dr. Ledeen, what are you talking about? Are you comparing what happened in WWII and to the Jews and so many other thousands of people killed, burned and evaporated to what is happening in Iran?
Is this regime is oppressive? Absolutely YES. Is this regime anti democratic? YES! Do they torture their own people? YES! Are they big A. Holes? YES YES!
But comparing them to Nazi and killing of the Jews then and lack of U.S. help is at best very emotional and lack any fair comparison. Don’t you agree?
The Wall Street article along with the news that both Sen. Lieberman and Sen. McCain are saying the end of the Iranian regime is near indeed a horrific and painful signs that indeed this regime will stay in power and speed to DESTROY, ARREST, TORTURE and END the freedom movement as we know it. THANK YOU Senators for your BADLY NEEDED prediction! Now all we need is for Prime Minister of Israel come out and put one last nail to the freedom seekers of Iran, by agreeing with these senators!!!! Come on Israel! Now it’s your turn to lend a hand to the right-wingers in Iran!
Up to now I was hopeful the painful, yet positive direction of the movement in Iran. But as I hear more of these ILL-INTENDED and WELL-PLANNED statement by Republicans AND Lieberman, I’m now convinced these people are going after killing the opposition in Iran and that is why they come out and state such a damaging statement to hurt Iranian people.
So to make this scenario with complete success, we need top Israeli politicians, along with MEK to come out and declare the end of the Iranian regime, so we could hear the last breathing phase of opposition in Iran.
I fear the rightwing groups are cooking and marinating some bad things for Iran, as well as for Obama, similar to hostages release in Iran with Reagan winning the election. My senses tell me things are being planned and possibly under way, as I write this that intend to only hurt Iranian people seeking freedom, but also prevent the success of U.S. president. Lieberman and McCain declaration was the start of this new phase.
try reading “”Accomplice to Evil” letterman, then we can talk…
Iranians are getting the message out through Twitter and the net. We likewise get info to them in the same way through bloggers. They know which side the majority come down on through our statements on the net. We are not going unnoticed when we speak of our support for the Iranian opposition. Just like we were noticed when the Hondurans weren’t supported by this current gov.
Michael,
Blogged it. George Mitchell’s response to the ME situation is to place pressure on Israel.
Professor Guvinoff, you are correct about actions having consequences. Let’s face it, until a new person is in the White House, and is willing to cashier the moral equivalence crowd from the US government bureaucracy under national security provisions, other countries will have to shoulder more responsibility.
I recommend that you look at Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan, who is a great grand-daughter of David Lloyd-George, who was the second Prime Minister Great Britain had in the first world war. We see an abandoned approach that would have made the Anglo-sphere
to be the guarantor of world peace. Well, that wasn’t the case, but a coalescing of currencies, foreign policy and defense policy
of the successful British Commonwealth countries could fill in, until the Americans get their act together.
But, it is not enough to just rely on this 21st century face of the Anglo-sphere. I submit those countries which were behind the Iron curtain, as well as other countries which
see tangible benefits from leaving the Euro, they too can play a positive role, and frankly
accomplish more than what Bush and the deformed soul currently in the Oval Office, could have hoped for.
Obama actually ended funding of two groups monitoring and assisting the resistance in Iran. This is because he thought his middle name, suddenly trumpeted, would propel him into a historic agreement with Tehran. Apparently reality caught up with him last week and he changed course.
Recall that the neocon’s strategy was to bring freedom to Iran and Afghanistan and then the envy of democracy would embolden a revolution from within Iran.
Obama is so petulant he was throwing these protestors under the bus, because God forbid Bush was right!
Obama doesn’t want to “solve” any foreign policy problems, so much as he just tries to wish them away so he can focus on his collectivist domestic agenda.
Reality bites.
As many of you have acknowledged the great value and inside info the Iranian reporters have shown in letting the world know about Iranians seeking freedom.
According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 50 of them have escaped Iran recently and most of them living in Turkey in search of refuge in other countries. They need money to support these great and brave people while in transition. I hope you could help them by either financial support or letting others know about helping them. Here is the link to Reporters Without Borders, which is based in France:
http://www.rsf.org/Support-for-Iranian-Journalists.html
One thing the events in Iran have taught many Americans is that the split between left and right is largely imaginary. At heart we all love our country and we all believe in its founding principles, we just disagree about the best ways to implement them.
When we see the protesters in Iran bravely standing up for their rights, it doesn’t matter if we’re Red or Blue, we all turn Green. The 2008 campaign is over, our nation is at war and in trouble at home too. If anyone is seriously thinking that Obama is the puppet or head of some bizarre secret conspiracy, time for a reality check.
President Obama is an American who loves America. Sure, disagree with him all you want but come on, he’s not some secret Illuminati plant. It doesn’t even make sense; how would sneaking a Kenyan baby into office achieve anything for any conspirators? Let’s stick to rational disagreements and civil debate, for the sake of our country’s future!