یک نفر = یک سخنگو
Khamenei supporters bussed in for his speech.
@HuffPoNUMBER CRUNCHING!The Serbian Precedent@DailyDishWhat I keep getting reminded of is Paris May 1968!11:56 AM ET -- Are U.S. officials being too quiet? I wanted to reexamine this question in light of some new comments from today. First, from Spencer Ackerman:
Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said he has a hard time taking a strong stance one way or the other about the Berman-Pence Iran resolution currently being debated on the House floor. But it's wading awfully close into a "political act" for his taste "The text is not objectionable," Ghaemi told me. "But it will be seen as a political act" by the Iranian regime.
Second, via Andrew, comments by Amir Fakhravar, who has been "jailed and tortured in Iran for advocating democracy and speaking out against the Iranian government" and remains in touch with reformers:
"Right now, (Obama) could say, 'America stands for freedom and democracy, and as a United States president, I want to stand behind all of the freedom fighters in the world that are fighting peacefully to have democracy and freedom,'" Fakhravar said. "That's the American Dream. I don't know why he didn't say that. He said, 'this is none of our business.'"
The contrary argument, of course, is that if Obama or Congress speak out more aggressively, it will endanger the reformists in Iran and give ammunition to Khamenei and his allies.
Khamenei's speech today pushed me to reexamine this line of thinking. He didn't need an incendiary line from Obama to stir up anti-U.S. sentiments -- he just made one up. "It was said on behalf of the U.S. President that he was waiting for a day that people came out to streets," he claimed.
It seems my basic question is: Can Obama afford to be slightly more forward leaning on human rights concerns given that Khamenei's government is willing to fabricate statements to advance his own agenda?
Nico
@HuffPo
