wants Obama to act:
Barack Obama should give another speech. Soon, maybe tomorrow. He
should address this one to the people of Iran, whose eagerness for a
political voice – a real political voice – is obvious in the
photographs and reports from the streets of Tehran in the last 24
hours.
No! That is the last thing he should do. He should stay out of this as much as possible. This is not about us. It's about them. And any interference would only backfire to the regime's advantage. Mercifully, Ackerman is more cautious:
The White House statement may not fully capture the depth of the crime
committed against the Iranian people. “But I think it’s wise for the
U.S. government to keep its distance,” [the strongly anti-Ahmadinejad Hadi Ghaemi, New York-based spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran] said in a phone
interview. The White House can and should “show concern for human life
and protesters’ safety and promote tolerance and dialogue.” But to get
any further involved, even rhetorically, would “instigate the cry that
the reformers are somehow driven and directed by the United States,
whether under former President George W. Bush or under President Obama,
and there’s no reason to give that unfounded allegation” any chance to
spread.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/06/what-is-the-us-to-do/200476/
