Obama’s Iran Policy to Focus on Human Rights, Not Election

[Pirate Smile]

Source: The Washington Independent

As reports of political violence in Iran intensified after Friday’s fiercely disputed election, the Obama administration insisted that it would not interfere with the struggle for power between regime-backed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the thousands of demonstrators who contend the election was stolen. Administration officials, on and off the record, said that President Obama would offer support for human rights in Iran generally and would not back away from his diplomatic outreach to the longtime U.S. adversary, regardless of the ultimate outcome of the election.

The stance began to attract criticism on Sunday, with some politicians arguing that the U.S. needed to come out firmly on the side of protesters who have been victimized by regime-backed violence and had their communications with the outside world restricted. But the administration’s position has the support of Iranian human rights groups, which fear the clerical regime will exploit any perception of U.S. interference to slander the opposition as American puppets — a caustic charge in a nation with a deep memory of U.S. interference in its politics.

-snip-
A senior Obama administration official who did not want to be identified or quoted explained that the president was deeply conscious of appearing not to favor any side in the election. Officials had ruled out calling for a recount or a revote out of a concern for undermining the Iranian opposition. The official said it was important to have a policy toward Iran that advanced the administration’s desire for liberalization and human rights in Iran, not one that merely vented American outrage at Ahmadinejad.

If and when Obama speaks about the violence in Iran over the coming days, the official predicted, he will emphasize the need for respecting human rights in Iran and for Iranians to reach their own solution. Potential multilateral efforts at calling attention to electoral improprieties and the resulting violence were said to be on the radar of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. No administration official mentioned recognizing the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad’s proclaimed victory at this point as a policy option under consideration, in keeping with Biden’s call for further “analysis” about the true election result, despite the fact that the European Union’s presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic, recognized Ahmadinejad as the victor despite noting “irregularities” in the vote.

-snip-
But some Iranian human rights activists backed Obama’s cautious approach. “I think it’s wise for the U.S. government to keep its distance,” said Hadi Ghaemi, a New York-based spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, which wants the international community not to legitimize the Iranian regime’s claim that Ahmadinejad won the election. While the Obama administration ought to express support for the Iranian opposition’s safety and for human rights in Iran as the regime clamps down on dissent, any expression of political support for the protesters would only “instigate the cry that the reformers are somehow driven and directed by the United States, whether under or under Obama, and there’s no reason to give that unfounded allegation” any chance to spread.


Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/46957/obamas-iran-policy-to-focus-on-human-rights-not-election

[IndianaGreen]

1. Since LGBT rights are human rights, and Iran has a dismal record on LGBTs

What moral authority would Obama have when he defends DOMA and DADT?

[Blue State Bandit]

3. Get over your self.

Can we please keep our internal debates out of foreign policy?

Or are you just itchin' for a hissy fit?

Stop making the Ruthug's job easier, please?

[IndianaGreen]

4. Let's do to heteros what heteros do to LGBTs. and then I'll tell you to get over it

Iran executes gays. In America, gays are murdered or they are denied their fundamental rights.

[Blue State Bandit]

2. Obama is right, but...

he needs to taylor his speech toward the religious ruling class, because this is a military coup. Remember, the grand daughter of Khomeini is now in the custody of the revolutionary guard.