Thursday, May 26, 2005

Iran: A Change is A Coming

Fire of Liberty

The New York Sun noted in this article, that during the annual AIPAC (American Israeli Political Affairs Committee) conference in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Rice sounded out a warning to the mullah's of Iran when she publicly stated:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Middle East is changing and even the unelected leaders in Tehran must recognize this fact. They must know that the energy of reform that is building all around them will one day inspire Iran's citizens to demand their liberty and their rights. The United States stands with the people of Iran."
I'd say that this is a small but crucial turn in the State Department's policy towards Iran. While this is a start, the White House and the State Department need to be very proactive in publicly calling for democratic reform/transition of the mullachracy of Iran. One only has to look back at President Reagan's public promotion of freedom and democracy in the various nations of Eastern Europe, Central & Southern America to see how much of an impact that the support of the US President and their officials can have. Such an argument was promoted by AEI scholar, Richard Perle, who noted in an session at AIPAC that the opposition groups in Iran could use such support because:
"They are hoping to get a message through to the administration, they need moral support, there has been no suggestion that they want military intervention or anything like that. They want Americans to know they have been deprived of basic human rights and want Americans to support them."
Lets hope that this is the strategy of the US because Iran is ripe for a democratic change.

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