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25 June 2005

You called down the thunder, well, now you've got it.

"But if the peoples of that region gain the right of self-government, and find hopes to replace their hatreds, then the security of all free nations will be strengthened." -- George W. Bush, 05/07/2005

"
Freedom is worth fighting for, dying for, and standing for -- and the advance of freedom leads to peace. And now we must apply that lesson in our own time. In Iran, the demand for democracy is strong and broad....The regime in Teheran must heed the democratic demands of the Iranian people, or lose its last claim to legitimacy." -- George W. Bush, 11/06/2003

"Iran is ruled by men who suppress liberty at home and spread terror across the world...Power is in the hands of an unelected few who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy. The June 17th presidential elections are sadly consistent with this oppressive record." -- George W. Bush, 06/16/2005
Democracy good. Freedom good. Everyone will be safer. Our Iranian brothers and sisters will surely be emboldened knowing the U.S. stands shoulder-to-shoulder with them on the march for freedom.
"I say to Bush: `Thank you.' He motivated people to vote in retaliation." --Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi, 06/19/2005, on the surprise hardline turnout that propelled ultraconservative Tehran Mayor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, into a two way runoff with moderate Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjanion on 06/24/2005
Uh-oh.
"Ultra-conservative Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad swept to a stunning landslide victory in presidential elections on Saturday and immediately vowed to turn Iran into a strong and exemplary Islamic state." -- Reuters, 06/25/2005
And this is what Bush doesn't seem to understand about democracy and freedom. Just beacause you give people a choice, doesn't mean they'll choose what you want them to. Now are W. and his statements the reasons the hardliners prevailed? No. Economics and dissatisfaction with the current leadership's progress help push many into the Ahmadinejad camp. But it would be ridiculous to think the barbs had no effect. If criticism can be branded as disloyalty here, how can anyone think that the Iranian people might be any less personally invested in their system and motivated to register their repudiation at the ballot box? "We'll show him," translates in any language.

It will be very interesting to see how this helps shape our ongoing dealings (or lack thereof) with Iran. Any "regime change" options in the playbook have taken a serious blow to their viability. Though by no means perfect, there certainly appears to be more legitimacy to the elections in Iran than those in Iraq. This time around, we won't have an iron-fisted despot, we'll have a leader installed by his people. Which is exactly what we want (allegedly) throughout the world. No opportunity for evolving rationales, here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's the thing-

it's not about Iranians choosing what we WANT them to. It's about people of all persuasions being able to live in relative peace and safety. That's not going to happen in a theocracy of any sort-democratically elected or not.

But it's also not going to happen in a dictatorship propped up by a foreign government.

The question is what can we do to help people in other countries raise their standard of living without offending too many of them too badly?

Really, we can't even do that in our own country, let alone in a completely different culture. But I think we have a moral obligation to try to help in some way, even if it's just rhetorically.

It's 2:30 in the morning, and that probably all made more sensen in my head, but I think you get what I'm saying...

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