Wonder if Mousavi wants strong words from Pres Obama, as it would be an easy point for the hardliners to call Mousavi and his "reform" a tool of the West. Seems like the White House is walking that careful line of not trying to favor one side or the other too much, and there is little gained with a statement beyond what has already been given.How could issuing a statement of condemnation of the violent persecution of the peaceful, youthful, pro-Western protesters be considered meddling??
Wonder if Mousavi wants strong words from Pres Obama, as it would be an easy point for the hardliners to call Mousavi and his "reform" a tool of the West. Seems like the White House is walking that careful line of not trying to favor one side or the other too much, and there is little gained with a statement beyond what has already been given.
I agree that it is a delicate situation, but I don't think that a statement saying something along the lines of "Hey, it's not a good thing for state police to be killing protesters." could be seen as support of one side or the other.
If Obama is paying attention to the bio of the "reform" candidate he will see that there is not much there to support. The people of Iran who would like to break free from the 19th century are the people that I would like us to support. That gets even more tricky. I wish them well, and hope they stay safe. Freedom is worth fighting for though, and I hope they can change their own country for the better without any "help" from us. It make take a little blood to get the ball rolling.
Obama intervew 6/16/09 said:Well, I think first of all, it's important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised. Either way, we were going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States, that has caused some problems in the neighborhood and is pursuing nuclear weapons. And so we've got long-term interests in having them not weaponize nuclear power and stop funding organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas. And that would be true whoever came out on top in this election.
Iraq may have been the aggressor, but it was Iran that started mining the Gulf and attacking Saudi / Kuwaiti / merchant ships. If Iran had kept it between them and Iraq, we might have reacted differently. It was Iran that shot a missile into the USS Stark.Not to mention our support of Iraq during their war with Iran. Iraq was clearly the aggressor and that war cost a lot of Iranian lives. Even if we forget that I'll bet older Iranians don't.
Opps....you're right......I knew that......No, it was an Iraqi Mirage F-1 firing an exocet.
No, it was an Iraqi Mirage F-1 firing an exocet.
Iraq may have been the aggressor, but it was Iran that started mining the Gulf and attacking Saudi / Kuwaiti / merchant ships. If Iran had kept it between them and Iraq, we might have reacted differently. It was Iran that shot a missile into the USS Stark.
No but they did mine the U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts, which spurned a retaliatory surface-to-surface engagement - Preying Mantis
That ship's namesake has seen it's fair share of historically significant action, that much is certain.
I should know better than to jump into the middle of this thread......and I do.... so I won't.
Popcorn, please.