Posted by
EWRoss on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:00:00 AM
President Obama went further today in criticizing the government of Iran in his news conference than anytime since protests broke out following the Iranian election 11 days ago. Still, he modulates his words, concerned about how the Iranian government might use them, and he won’t disinvite Iranian diplomats to US Embassy July 4 celebrations. Is it that easy for the Ayatollahs and Ahmadinejad to turn the president’s words against him by invoking memories of the US involvement in the 1953 overthrow of Prime Minister Mossadegh and the US support of the Shaw? I doubt it.
Certainly there are Iranians, Ahmadinejad supporters and members and families of the Revolutionary Guard, who harbor ill will for America. But the Iran of 2009 is not the Iran of 1979. The Shaw’s oppressive secret police, Savak, has long been replaced with the Ayatollahs’ secret police. The anti-American fervor that allowed “students” to hold American diplomats hostage in their own embassy for 444 days has long passed. The Internet and digital cameras didn’t exist then, making it much harder for the outside world to know the truth. And most Iranians weren’t even born then. Their unpleasant memories are of the devastating Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and the continuing oppression by religious clerics and their henchmen.
Attempts by the ruling regime to shift blame for the uprising to America by making accusations that CIA agents are behind it would have no credibility. The world and Iranians on the streets would see them for what they are--feeble attempts to change the subject. Protesters carry signs in English not to criticize America but to plead for America’s and the English-speaking world’s support. Let’s not let them down; and if any Iranian diplomat has the courage to show up at a July 4 celebration let’s hope he gets an ear full.