President Obama Condemns Violence, But Diplomacy With Regime To Continue

June 23, 2009 by Jonathan Movroydis | Filed Under Iran 

I want to make clear that this isn’t a partisan issue. Nevertheless, I don’t attest to the sincerity of  President Obama’s condemnation today of the Iranian government’s  use of violence against its own people.

At the onset of the Q&A, The Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney asks the perfect question from an Iranian dissident: “under which conditions will you accept the election of Ahmadinejad and if you do accept it without any significant conditions isn’t that betraying the Iranian people?”

The answer is that there are no conditions. President Obama is already dead set on negotiations even if Ayatollah Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are able to rein in the protests, in effect legitimizing the rigged elections and the brutality of the regime that has already damaged its reputation worldwide.

There are early signals of this attitude. Despite the potential that this uprising could change politics in Iran forever, the President continues to acknowledge the permanence of the theological construct of the “Islamic Republic.” And despite his qualms about picking a dog in this fight, in an interview with The New York Times’ John Harwood last week he equivocated the people’s challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi to the Ayatollah’s hand picked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The excuse that somehow if America throws support behind the will of the Iranian people, they will be reminded of America’s sordid ‘imperialist’ past is  simply a hedge against the fall out of option A: a ‘grand bargain.’

But President Obama is too late,  Americans and Westerners have already loaned their support via twitter and other social networking sites, offering advice ranging from medical to the technological.

So if President Obama is simply cold and Machiavellan, then appeals for him to speak out on his powerful pulpit are futile. But if he simply lacks political courage or is ignorant of the events unfolding, he should take a few minutes to check out the #iranelection twitter timeline or the youtube videos depicting the violent crackdown against the largely peaceful dissidents and ask himself: why are these people communicating with the outside world? Furthermore, why are Iranians — even Mir Hossein Mousavi — communicating in English?

It’s certainly telling that Great Britain, France and Germany have been vocal in their support for the people’s movement and — believe it or not — the dissidents have thus far have not been repulsed. Those injured and terrorized by the Basij militia have sought refuge in foreign embassies, fearing that they’d be arrested or killed in government hospitals.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of ‘engagement,’ President Obama will open U.S. embassies for regime diplomats on the anniversary of American independence.

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