At least 19 are dead in today’s clashes inside Iran. One can safely assume that reported number is low. The citizens are rising; the mullahs are pulling out all the stops trying to crush the uprising before it reaches that critical mass where it is no longer controllable.
We watch.
We have a relatively mild statement from the president of the United States condemning the mullahs actions against their own people. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was well out ahead of Obama on this and condemned Iran on Tuesday.
We talk. We write. We analyze.
The Iranian people bleed.
They bleed for even a modicum of the rights we possess – and all too often ignore – to our shame.
The United States of America was founded on and long stood for individual liberty. For the rights of the individual over the coercion of the government. For freedom to believe in whatever God we wished to. For the freedom to assemble. For the freedom to say what we wanted to.
Most of the western nations now stand for the same things, thanks in large part to the example the US set. They are no longer ruled by monarchs. Those that still have monarchs have constrained their royalty to the will of the people rather than being subject to royal whim.
I watched in dismay as the west ultimately ignored the crushing of liberty in Burma. Before that, I was dismayed by the completely ineffective talk-talk over the mess in Sudan. I have watched the debacle in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda and far too many wordy and useless responses from the democracies of the west to the rape, murder and violent suppression of liberty for far too long.
Absent real moral courage on the part of the west, I fear for the Iranian people who are rising now only to be cut down by the minions of a repressive government that values itself above the worth of its people. It is time to make a stand here in the west. Stand for democracy. Stand for liberty. Stand for something bigger than we are as individuals.
Free Iran.
Not precisely as strongly worded as it could have been, yet Barak Obama did the moral thing today and did ( condemn the Iranian government for its actions against its own people.
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said – “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.
It is much better than what has come out of the White House in the past week. Thank you for that.
A follow up on something I posted the other day. You may remember that a Senator from California berated a brigadier general for answering her questions with the honorific “ma’am”. Said Senator demanded that the general refer to her as “Senator”. A note from Blackfive on the matter:
As a former Army Officer, if one of my soldiers called me “Lieutenant”, instead of “el-tee” or “Sir”, I would know that he found me lacking. Calling me by my job title or rank is only done because it is the lowest requirement of respect.
The. Lowest. Requirement. Of. Respect.
If one of my soldiers called me “Captain”, without using my last name behind it or “Sir”, I would know that he found me substandard.
BG Walsh was showing Barbara Boxer respect by calling her “Ma’am” instead of “Senator.” Believe me, the title “Senator” does not really hold a whole lot of credibility in the US military. It’s a job, and a Corporal leading a team in Baqubah has more honor than most of those holding that title.
Do read the entire thing, including the suggestion for sending a letter to the senator. The only thing I would suggest would improve the entire letter-writing campaign would be to address the letter to “senator or current occupant”. Please note the lack of capitalization.
Which will henceforth be my chosen form for addressing anything the senator or current occupant says or does for the remainder of her time in office.
After she leaves office, it will just be “occupant”.
The BBC is reporting that Mir Hossein Mousavi did NOT attend a scheduled meeting with the Guardian Council today. Had he done so, one suspects he would already be dead – or wishing he was.
Mr Mousavi had been expected, along with fellow challengers Mr Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai, to discuss more than 600 objections they had filed complaining about the poll at a meeting of the Guardian Council, which certifies elections, on Saturday.
But neither Mr Mousavi nor Mr Karroubi attended the meeting – which suggests, our correspondent says, they have abandoned their legal challenge to the election results.
Again, time for the west, especially the US, to denounce the mullahs brutality toward their own people. Specifically place the blame for the violence where it belongs.
Great roundup from Ed Morrisey, I will not even begin to try to catch up to him, go over and check it out. Warning, he has some pretty harsh videos up over there.
It would appear that the people have taken matters into their own hands. Keep your thoughts and prayers with them, they will need all the help they can get.
Now would be a good time for the western governments to denounce the Mullahs for their brutality. It would at least send some small bit of hope to those fighting for their freedom.
World news | Gaius June 20, 2009 | 
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