http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/09/mccain_criticizes_obama_for_st.html
After the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, there was a group of insurgents called the mujahedin that included one Osama bin Laden, that was funded (and perhaps trained) by a foreign government. During the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapon using government was backed by the same country.
A country called the United States of America.
Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't take a strong stance against Iran, or that the Revolutionary Guards do not fund groups such as Hezbollah, I'm saying that we need to examine our own record before we claim the right to judge other countries. If the Revolutionary Guards are a terrorist organization, then the CIA most definitely is too.
Obama has a point that the move is merely provocative and we know this administration likes nothing more than driving the country into wars with Islamic nations it doesn't like.
Anyone who says that Obama is simply waffling his position, I challenge you to tell me what political ground Obama wins by opposing the condemnation of Iran. He will gain the votes of those who support the regime. Last time I checked there weren't that many of those people in the US.
What had the Iranians done to us back in 2002 to merit being placed in the Axis of Evil? Iran was a key ally in the fight against the Taliban, they had supported the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance for many years and provided American forces with key assistance in Afghanistan. At that time, Iran's president was the reformist Mohammad Khatami, who attempted to put Iran on the path back toward democracy and an open society. As many Americans are ignorant of, Iran is a non-Arab, non-Arabic speaking nation with a unique culture and history that goes back millenia. It also has a population that is eager for democracy and clamoring to join the Western World, which alas, its theocratic leaders do not want. Speaking of democracy, in 1951, the Iranians democratically elected Mohammed Mosaddeq, a European-educated man, to be Prime Minister. Sadly, he was overthrown in 1953 by a coup backed by, you guessed it, the American CIA. We squashed Iran's best chance for democracy in favor of a dictatorial Shah. How's that for spreading democracy to the Middle East...
To compound the nonsense, we recently removed North Korea, a nation with known nuclear weapons, from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. First of all, NK poses far more of a threat to the US than Iran ever did. To start, it actually has tested nuclear weapons, unlike Iran. It does not have an educated population and active dissidents like Iran does. It's led by one crazed man instead of by Iran's complex hierarchy of leaders. Under the Clinton administration, we had been talking to the North Koreans (albeit not very successfully). When Bush came around, we stopped, and they were free to develop their nukes. But even Bush was convinced to talk and with smart diplomacy on the part of the State department, we managed to get the North Koreans to negotiate. Note that by this time, we had already given the North Koreans enough time to develop long-ranged missiles and nuclear weapons. John McCain has repeatedly endorsed the Bush strategy of hostile posturing instead of smart diplomacy. The Bush administration itself has reluctantly showed us that diplomacy does work, even if it still refuses to acknowledge it. Threats mean nothing unless we actually invade enemy nations, which is a last resort if diplomacy has failed.
And if we can just remove a country from the terrorist sponsors list because they decided to talk to us, what's the point of the list? Kim Jong-Il couldn't care less about whether he's on the list, and putting Iran on the list will just aggravated Muslim countries into more anti-American hatred. Nelson Mandela and his ANC were labeled as terrorists until just recently. I challenge supporters of McCain's position to tell me what the labeling of groups as terrorists actually does.
After the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, there was a group of insurgents called the mujahedin that included one Osama bin Laden, that was funded (and perhaps trained) by a foreign government. During the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's chemical and biological weapon using government was backed by the same country.
A country called the United States of America.
Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't take a strong stance against Iran, or that the Revolutionary Guards do not fund groups such as Hezbollah, I'm saying that we need to examine our own record before we claim the right to judge other countries. If the Revolutionary Guards are a terrorist organization, then the CIA most definitely is too.
Obama has a point that the move is merely provocative and we know this administration likes nothing more than driving the country into wars with Islamic nations it doesn't like.
Anyone who says that Obama is simply waffling his position, I challenge you to tell me what political ground Obama wins by opposing the condemnation of Iran. He will gain the votes of those who support the regime. Last time I checked there weren't that many of those people in the US.
What had the Iranians done to us back in 2002 to merit being placed in the Axis of Evil? Iran was a key ally in the fight against the Taliban, they had supported the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance for many years and provided American forces with key assistance in Afghanistan. At that time, Iran's president was the reformist Mohammad Khatami, who attempted to put Iran on the path back toward democracy and an open society. As many Americans are ignorant of, Iran is a non-Arab, non-Arabic speaking nation with a unique culture and history that goes back millenia. It also has a population that is eager for democracy and clamoring to join the Western World, which alas, its theocratic leaders do not want. Speaking of democracy, in 1951, the Iranians democratically elected Mohammed Mosaddeq, a European-educated man, to be Prime Minister. Sadly, he was overthrown in 1953 by a coup backed by, you guessed it, the American CIA. We squashed Iran's best chance for democracy in favor of a dictatorial Shah. How's that for spreading democracy to the Middle East...
To compound the nonsense, we recently removed North Korea, a nation with known nuclear weapons, from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. First of all, NK poses far more of a threat to the US than Iran ever did. To start, it actually has tested nuclear weapons, unlike Iran. It does not have an educated population and active dissidents like Iran does. It's led by one crazed man instead of by Iran's complex hierarchy of leaders. Under the Clinton administration, we had been talking to the North Koreans (albeit not very successfully). When Bush came around, we stopped, and they were free to develop their nukes. But even Bush was convinced to talk and with smart diplomacy on the part of the State department, we managed to get the North Koreans to negotiate. Note that by this time, we had already given the North Koreans enough time to develop long-ranged missiles and nuclear weapons. John McCain has repeatedly endorsed the Bush strategy of hostile posturing instead of smart diplomacy. The Bush administration itself has reluctantly showed us that diplomacy does work, even if it still refuses to acknowledge it. Threats mean nothing unless we actually invade enemy nations, which is a last resort if diplomacy has failed.
And if we can just remove a country from the terrorist sponsors list because they decided to talk to us, what's the point of the list? Kim Jong-Il couldn't care less about whether he's on the list, and putting Iran on the list will just aggravated Muslim countries into more anti-American hatred. Nelson Mandela and his ANC were labeled as terrorists until just recently. I challenge supporters of McCain's position to tell me what the labeling of groups as terrorists actually does.
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