John McCain, Freedom, and Iran
John McCain just seems bitter lately.
First, he lost the election and now he’s starting down the Dick Cheney, grumpy ex-Vice President road of griping and swiping.
McCain stated:
“We are seeking, as we have throughout the world, a free and fair election. This is obviously one that is corrupted.”
McCain believes that our government should come out in favor of Moussavi and his supporters and against the current government.
Trouble is, just about every expert on the subject agrees that this would aid the current government rather than help to overthrow it.
It sounds complicated, but you have to take into account the amount of hatred for the United States in countries like Venezuela and Iran. Leaders in these countries use popular resentment against the U.S. in order to be elected.
If the U.S. is viewed as helping the resistance, this would actually damage the efforts for Democracy. President Obama seems to understand the situation and has helped the resistance by not coming out in favor of either side.
This site shows a list of Middle East experts who outline the situation and explain why we don’t want to be seen as meddling.
On the surface, McCain’s argument seems to make sense. We should support Democracy wherever possible. The trouble is, that once you dig a little deeper, we need to realize that the best way to actually support Democracy in Iran is to not appear to be behind the resistance movement.
For once, I have to say, I agree with Pat Buchanan and admire his speaking out against the grain of neo-Conservative thought:
“When your adversary is making a fool of himself, get out of the way… U.S. fulminations will change nothing in Tehran. But they would enable the regime to divert attention to U.S. meddling in Iran’s affairs and portray the candidate robbed in this election, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, as a poodle of the Americans.”
The Iranian movement has to be from and about the Iranians.
