Ganz langsam und viel zu spät kommt der unerfahrene und unsichere Obama mit seinen Statements dort an, wo Sen. John McCain und Sen. Lindsey Graham sofort standen, als die Wahlfälschung im Iran und die brutalen Attacken des Regimes gegen die iranische Bevölkerung offenkundig wurden. Ausreichend ist es immer noch bei weitem nicht, aber deutlich besser als die peinlichen bisheringen Statements. Nachfolgend Auszüge aus seinem Eröffnungsstatement aus der Pressekonferenz, die derzeit noch läuft.
First, I’d like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days.
I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.
I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs.
But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.
The Iranian people are trying to have a debate about their future. Some in Iran — some in the Iranian government, in particular, are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others in the West of instigating protests over the elections.
These accusations are patently false. They’re an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran’s borders.
This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won’t work anymore in Iran. This is not about the United States or the West; this is about the people of Iran and the future that they — and only they — will choose.
The Iranian people can speak for themselves. That’s precisely what’s happened in the last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests of justice. Despite the Iranian government’s efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers. And so we’ve watched what the Iranian people are doing.
This is what we’ve witnessed. We’ve seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands of Iranians marching in silence. We’ve seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and that their voices are heard.
Above all, we’ve seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we’ve experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets.
While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech.
If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights and heed the will of its own people. It must govern through consent and not coercion.
That’s what Iran’s own people are calling for, and the Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government.
This is Russia invades Georgia redux. Obama flails for a few days and finally gets the rhetoric where it should have been from day one. If speaking forthrightly is right today, why was it not right four days ago? If speaking forthrightly would endanger allegedly greater interests, why speak today? If speaking forthrightly would enable the mullahs to make the United States the issue, why speak today?
The intellectual and moral incoherence of Obama’s pronouncements is staggering. Today he decides to join Merkel, Sarko, et al in expressing concern for the brave Iranians fighting for their freedom with his customary swagger. We should not just sit back and say better late than never. We should see the dangers of a soulless president whose limited foreign policy instincts are all wrong, who refuses to discuss the consequences of murder with a Bush-like swagger and who’s so stubborn and rigid he won’t even rescind an invitation to a barbecue.
1) Obama’s made the least out of his strong opening statement on Iran. Having used the word „condemn“ — for the first time — and „appalling“ as well, the president followed up mostly with mush. He ducked the question on whether Iranian diplomats are still invited to July 4 celebrations at American embassies and consulates around the world. This means they are. And it was clear that, at the moment, Obama has no plans to impose any conseqences on the Ahmandinejad/Khamenei regime. His engagement policy, unsuccessful so far, endures.
2) As Brit Hume noted on Fox News, the press conference may signal the beginning of the end of Obama’s honeymoon with the press corps. But it may not. The toughest questions came from two reporters who could be expected to ask tough questions: Major Garrett of Fox and Jake Tapper of ABC News. Let’s see if they are called on at the next Obama session with the media. In any case, Obama was put on the defensive for the first time at a press conference, this one his fourth as president. Then again, the press gang yucked it up with Obama when he parried a question on whether his words on Iran had been influenced by John McCain’s. „What do you think?“ Obama responded. If he’d been truthful, he simply would have said, „yes.“
3) One of the worst things a politician can do is deny the obvious. This is not smart and usually unneccesary. Obama could have given an honest answer and said his comments about the Iranian regime got tougher as he learned more about what was going in Iran and it became clear that violence was being used against the democratic protesters. Instead, he said he’d been consistent in his remarks. Even the most egregious toady in the White House press corps knew that wasn’t true.
Obama hat in Cairo alles gesagt was gesagt werden mußte. Er hat die moderaten muslimischen Kräfte und die islamischer Jugend die Hand gereicht und um Zusammenarbeit gebeten. Anscheinend haben die Iraner hingehört und entsprechend gehandelt. Bezeichnenderweise sind es wieder diejenigen die damals Obamas ausgestreckter Hand verurteilten die jetzt seine angeblicher Zurückhaltung kritisieren. Dabei wünschen sich die Mullahs nicht sehnlicher als ein Wiederkehr des alten islomobhoben Feindbilds der das Land offen mit Einmischung und Krieg droht. Dass der Neoconservativismus mittlerweile als politische-religiöser Ideologie zur keinerlei pragmatischer Lösungsansatz mehr fähig ist ist traurig genug aber dass der Kampf der Iranischer Opposition jetzt für die aktueller Obamabhobie Kampagne missbraucht wird stimmt sehr bedenklich.