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Republicans Blast Obama's Refusal To "Meddle" With Iran's Contested Elections
June 19, 2009 8:53 a.m. EST
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Kris Alingod - AHN Contributor
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Thursday joined a growing chorus of Republicans unhappy about President Barack Obama's decision not to appear as if the United States is interfering with Iran's elections. Protesters have staged massive rallies since the Islamic nation's June 12 polls, disputing the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"The human tragedy continues in Iran," Cantor said in a statement. "Around the world, people are inspired by the courage of the Iranian people fighting for free elections, using new media tools like Twitter to ensure their voices are heard by all of us. America has a moral responsibility to stand up for these brave people."
"The Administration's position that what's going on in Iran is a 'vigorous debate' is absurd," he added. "People are being brutalized and murdered by the regime in Tehran. We have no idea exactly how many have died or have been seriously injured, since the regime has restricted journalists' ability to report. In no way do these actions constitute a 'vigorous debate.' "
Sen. Johh McCain (R-AZ), the President's Republican rival in last year's campaign, repeatedly accused Obama this week for a weak response to the situation in Iran. He said NBC's Today on Tuesday the President should declare the elections "a sham."
McCain told FOX the next day, "People are being killed and beaten in the streets of Tehran and all over Iran, and we should stand up for them. The way we stood up for the Polish workers in Gdansk, the way we stood up for the people of then Czechoslovakia in the Prague Spring and we have stood up for freedom in every part of the world. We're not doing that."
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), chairman of the House Republican Conference, has introduced a resolution supporting Iranian dissidents. He has also told CNN, "I'm not really worried how it would be seen by the tyrants in Tehran... I appreciate the fact that the President said the protesters have a right to be heard and respected [but] the cause of America is freedom. And in that cause, we must never be silent."
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, has defended Obama in an op-ed in the New York Times.
"If we actually want to empower the Iranian people, we have to understand how our words can be manipulated and used against us to strengthen the clerical establishment... Iran's hard-liners are already working hard to pin the election dispute, and the protests, as the result of American meddling. On Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry chastised American officials for 'interventionist' statements," Kerry wrote.
Obama has repeatedly expressed concern about the violent protests in Iran but refused to interfere with the elections.
"It's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling," he told reporters on Tuesday."I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community. How that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide."
Speaking to CNBC later that day, he echoed pundits who have said Iran's foreign policy is unlikely to change substantially whatever the election results since the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wields power over the president.
"It's important to understand that although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised," Obama said. "Either way, we were going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States... I think it's important to recognize is that the easiest way for reactionary forces inside Iran to crush reformers is to say it's the US that is encouraging those reformers."
The United States is part of a group of six nations called the P5+1 that are in talks with Iran about denuclearization. The Islamic nation has received international condemnation for its nuclear proliferation program, which it has said is for non-military purposes.
Khamenei addressed Iranian voters on Friday and said the election results were valid, according to the state-funded Press TV. He called for an end to protests, but assured that the Guardian Council, which supervises elections, would consider complaints about the results.
The Council is expected to meet in the following days about recounting votes in contested areas. It had announced the recount on Tuesday, the same day thousands of pro-government demonstrators took to the streets in response to massive rallies by supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
At least seven people have reportedly died in the protests.
Mousavi, a 67-year-old former prime minister who ran on a pledge to mend Tehran's relations with the international community, had challenged election results, alleging voter fraud. He has rejected the offer of a recount and asked for new elections.
Ahmadinejad, who used a campaign slogan similar to Obama's "Yes we can" to appeal to young voters, was said to have received 63 percent of the vote, while Mousavi took 34 percent. It was only the 10th election since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
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