Unrest in Iran: Obama on the fence but US Congress condemns abuse of vote

Daya Gamage – U.S. National Correspondent Asian Tribune

Washington, D.C. 22 June (Asiantribune.com): The United States House of Representatives on Friday, June 19 in support of the rights of protestors to challenge the election results in last week’s disputed Iranian presidential election overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the Iranian government for violence against the demonstrators.

The resolution, proposed jointly by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, and the Republican conference chairman, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, was approved by 405 to 1, with a single Republican opposed and two Democrats voting “present.”

Mr. Berman, in remarks on the House floor, stressed that members of Congress were not taking sides in the Iranian election nor seeking to prolong the unrest in pursuit of American foreign policy goals.

“This resolution is not about American interests,” Mr. Berman said. “It’s about American values, which I believe are universal values: the values of the rule of law; of participatory democracy; about individual liberty and about justice. And it is on behalf of those universal values not American interests that I urge this body to support this resolution.”

Representative Bob Inglis, Republican of South Carolina, said the attempted suppression of public protest by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was wrong.

“I saw this morning that the supreme leader of Iran said that street challenge is not acceptable,” Mr. Inglis said. “We beg to differ and the people of Iran are begging to differ. When you can count paper ballots, millions of them in a couple of hours, something is funny. And when you say the result of the election is fine but there are going to be some investigations, what is the value of the investigations?”

The resolutions in the U.S. House come on the same day Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei effectively ruled out the possibility of holding a new presidential election, even though countless Iranian citizens have taken to the streets in protest of the June 12 election. Protesters have held massive street rallies for days, contending the election was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the detriment of opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi. Khamenei warned of a crackdown if protests continue.

The House resolution read:

Expressing support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law, and for other purposes.

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) expresses its support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law;

(2) condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the Government of Iran and pro-government militias, as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the Internet and cellphones; and

(3) affirms the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections.

President Obama has been very cautious in expressing any opinion about the out come of the Iranian election and subsequent street demonstrations. The Republican Party and its leadership in the U.S. Congress and outside have been very critical of the non-committal stand taken by Obama.

The House resolution is said to be to bring pressure on Obama administration to take a strong and clear position on the situation in Iran.

At the end of a press conference with visiting South Korean president on June 16 President Obama said it is important that he not be seen as "meddling" in the Iranian election process.

"It's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling – the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections," Mr. Obama said.

Echoing his comments the following day June 17 the president said that both he and the world have "deep concerns" about the election results in Iran. He suggested he believes Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is responding to unrest among the Iranian people.

"You've seen in Iran some initial reaction from the supreme leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns about the election," said Mr. Obama.

The president went on to say that "something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past, and that there are people who want to see greater openness, and greater debate, and want to see greater democracy."

"How that plays out over the next several days and several weeks is something ultimately for the Iranian people to decide, but I stand strongly with the universal principle that peoples' voices should be heard and not suppressed," he said.

The president added that "when I see violence directed at peaceful protesters, when I see peaceful dissent being suppressed, wherever that takes place, it is of concern to me and it's of concern to the American people."

"That is not how governments should interact with their people. And my hope is that the Iranian people will make the right steps in order for them to be able to express their voices, to express their aspirations," he said.

It has been noted here by political commentators that the United States had a tainted history in the past with Iran referring to the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Mozadeck in 1953 by the CIA and installing Shah Palavi’s undemocratic government, supporting Iraq against Iran in the late eighties even providing chemical weapons to Iraq that were used on Iran and subsequent official confrontational actions by the Bush administration naming Iran as one of the three Axis of Evil.

Well aware of that past President Obama is playing safe not to give Iran any excuse that the United States is behind the street demonstrations.

- Asian Tribune -