Message to Iranians
It took Obama days before he dared say anything remotely negative about the Iranian regime’s crackdown on protesters. Then we got his press briefing in which he was characterized as taking a firmer stand. When I see media reports portraying our president (or any of his recent predecessors) as taking a “firm” stand on some foreign-policy issue, I can’t help thinking that the standard for what counts as strength has sunk pitiably low. And I think that generally people under-appreciate the positive effect that a powerful, morally confident message can have.
What should our president say? My colleague Debi Ghate offers an inspiring answer to that question in a newly released op-ed, “What Obama Should Say To Iran.” (This draws on, and refines, some of what she wrote in a recent blog post.) If you have contacts (or friends with contacts) in Iran or the ex-pat Iranian community in the West, I would ask you to consider forwarding them the article.
This is one message the protesters — and the regime attempting to silence them — should hear.
[update: link to "What Obama Should to Iran"]
image cc attribution flickr/Hamed Saber
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