Iran activists: U.S. ‘democracy’ work backfiring.
Iran activists: U.S. ‘democracy’ work backfiring.
“Washington’s latest attempt to foist change on Iran is backfiring — as Iranian democracy advocates had warned,” Time magazine reports.
The Bush administration had trumpeted its $61.1 million democracy program, including Farsi-language broadcasts into Iran, education and cultural exchanges and $20 million worth of support for “civil society, human rights, democratic reform and related outreach” as an important effort.
However, sources tell TIME that several key Iranian reformers had repeatedly warned U.S. officials through back channels that the pro-democracy program was bound to expose them as vulnerable targets for a government crackdown whether they took Washington’s funds or not.
Iranian civil rights activists contacted by TIME say that the cases against the Iranian-Americans have fostered the most repressive atmosphere inside Iran in years, making democracy advocates terrified to work or even speak on the telephone.
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It Benefits BushCo more if Iran and Iraq NEVER become a democracy….
Think about it, people having knowledge and being able to vote to keep the profits that come from there own oil in Iraq and the ability to keep per barrel oil profits high because or an “unstable” Iran….
Big Oil stinks…..it stinks bad…..
June 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pmDamn!!! Does DUMBYA screw up everything he tries to implement???
Well, after looking at a photo of his daughters…drunk! I guess I answered my own question!
June 6th, 2007 at 1:45 pmWhen you push…some one else is going to shove … bullies just never seem to learn this leason.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pmYou’d think Bush would develop a limp from shooting himself in the foot so regularly. He must wear kevlar shoes.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pmThis administration and the media, repressing at all costs.
Ailes: “The Candidates That Can’t Face Fox, Can’t Face Al Qaeda”
Jabba speaks.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:47 pmBush is screwing up the entire world, but his parents think Georgie has a beautiful mind. Entire Bush clan are mentally ill criminals.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:48 pmMaybe his administration should spend that money here to support democratic reform, God knows we need it.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:49 pmDamn!!! Does DUMBYA screw up everything he tries to implement???
Everything except a takeover of government, and the lining of his and the other BushCo fellows pockets.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:49 pmIranian civil rights activists contacted by TIME say that the cases against the Iranian-Americans have fostered the most repressive atmosphere inside Iran in years, making democracy advocates terrified to work or even speak on the telephone.
by thinkprogress.org
Yet this individual spoke with the TIMES!
Is TP too stupid to realize the irony of this article?
yeap!
ahhh just the type of idiots that we Democrats want voting for us.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:50 pm“The Bush administration had trumpeted its $61.1 million democracy program, including Farsi-language broadcasts into Iran, education and cultural exchanges and $20 million worth of support for “civil society, human rights, democratic reform and related outreach†as an important effort.”
And “fiscal conservatism”’s wormy corpse rolls within its cardboard coffin…
June 6th, 2007 at 1:52 pmJust $61.1MM? What did BuschCo do w/ the rest of the $9 BILLION that went missing in Iraq? Oh, wait a minute, they had to kick a % back up to Cheney, didn’t they? Oh well, that explains that.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pm#9 You’re absolutely right, PeeCee. The only way to be sure that a repressive regime has actually taken hold is if NO ONE SAYS SO.
Not that you realize the “irony” of what you’re saying…
yeap!
June 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pmHelluva job Bushey!
June 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pmImagine that, in a country that treats their camels better than they treat their women
June 6th, 2007 at 2:01 pmTen years ago, Iranians were marching in the streets, demanding freedom and democracy and chanting “USA! USA!” The democracy movement was so strong that when a government security thug killed a protest leader, the public backlash was so strong that the government had to put him on trial and jail him for murder.
You know what the Clinton administration was doing at the time? Quietly working to improve diplomatic relations with the Tehran regime, while urging it – Reagan at the Berlin Wall style – to improve its human rights record.
It’s very nice that some of the neconservatives actually care about spreading democracy, but they don’t have the foggiest idea of how to go about it.
Remember when Iraq was going to be the model of democracy, that would inspire everyone else in the Middle East? Right now, in cafes all over the region, supporters of thuggish governments are saying to idealistic liberals, “You want democracy? Why? So we can be like Iraq?” and the liberals lose the argument.
You know, it’s almost as if people who don’t know anything about democracy, and do everything they can to corrupt it in their own country, don’t do a very effective job of spreading it abroad. Gee, who could have seen that coming?
June 6th, 2007 at 2:06 pmIt seems we’re trying to get these democracy advocates killed.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:06 pmThe troll who posts as President Clinton just argued that the USSR wasn’t a dictatorship with repressive state controls under Stalin, because Solzhenietzyn was able to get “The Gulag Archipeligo” published in the US.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:08 pmThe $60 M is doing what it was intended to do. It was too obvious that overt US support for the moderate, secular factions in Iran would result in oppression of those forces. This oppression makes good propaganda for those in the US who want to go to war with Iran.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:09 pmIf all Iraqis were shooting American soldiers all the time then Haditha Massacres would happen 10 times a day, The Iraqis have been playing divide and conquer to their advantage while killing 3.5 US soldiers a day their own loses are 50 a day, meanwhile Americans soldiers dont know who there fighting , very clever
and even more clever the Iraqis have been dangling an Oil carrot at America to stay and be bogged down inside Iraq , because as we all know after Iraq the next target was to be Iran, meanwhile Iran has been stockpiling Russian and Chinese weapons to stop any future invasions chance of success
here we see American Tactics being used to outfox the occupying forces
Well done Iraq and Iran – mission accompliced – and very well played
America citizens will not be welcome in Iraq for the next 50 years and be shot on site – America will not get 1 drop of oil ( Im sure of) and be thrown out the country by the Iraqi Parliment by NOT restoring the UN mandate in December
GAME , SET and MATCH to Iraq and Iran – well done – hats off to you
June 6th, 2007 at 2:10 pmI don’t think the problem is with the program, the problem lies with all the flexing going on in the middle east. Whats his name wasn’t very popular in Iran, until they made the US into even more of an enemy, and had everyone afraid of a sudden US invasion or attack. I am all for this type of program, the problem is the administration wants to act the same way as the current iranian government. Good for us they can’t.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:11 pmIran has now strong anti American voices after watching the worlds biggest F()ckup in Iraq, most Iranian citizens will have seen Americas true colours –
Nothing can justify Attacking Iran – they are allowed peaceful nuclear power by international law . the fact the UN securty council places santions means nothing at all , after all Isreal totally blanks the UN securtiy council all the time and dont get Santioned
Even Europe wants to allow Iran to have Nuclear power
What were seeing is Americas Foreign policy for the past 50 years being open to the public worldwide at the push of a button on the internet
Really Ironic how the internet will be the downfall of the USA
June 6th, 2007 at 2:21 pmYou know, for us Liberals and Democrats always claiming that we support our troops, I have seen no where in any left wing blog any type of tribute to our brave soldiers for June 6, 1944.
D-Day invasion of Europe.
So much for us supporting our troops, eh?
all talk and no muscle behind our cheap talk.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:28 pmHERES WHAT AMERICA DID TO IRAN IN THE PAST
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ware.php?articleid=9759
But maybe it really wasn’t such a good idea for the CIA to help the British overthrow Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected, secular prime minister of Iran, back in 1953. Maybe we should have been more careful about installing the shah and propping him up with American arms. We only hurt ourselves in 1972, when we helped the shah buy more of our weapons by nudging him toward an artificial inflation of oil prices. It seems that was the beginning of OPEC. If we’d left Mossadegh alone, we might have avoided those lines in 1973 and 1979, and gas might be cheaper today.
Probably we should have thought twice about training SAVAK. The secret police tormented the Iranian people for nearly 25 years with such brutal efficiency that nearly every Iranian who was born before 1980 had a friend or family member who was imprisoned, tortured, or murdered by SAVAK.
So before we talk about brutalizing those people any further, maybe we should apologize for what we’ve already done.
———————————————————————–
The Iranians will know their history better than any American and with that past and what Iranians have witnessed recently in Iraq , Then the chances of Iranian people trusting a murdering , Raping , Stealing occupuying force being a democracy as a moment of truth – Is a joke
June 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pmObviously, we need to bomb some democracy into them.
June 6th, 2007 at 2:46 pmNeo-Conservative’s Back Preemptive Strike on Iran
Reuters
Wednesday June 6, 2007
Republican candidates for U.S. president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop atomic weapons even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop it and accused Democrats of being soft on the issue.
“You shouldn’t take any options off the table,” said the leader in the Republican pack, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, when asked whether a tactical nuclear strike might be necessary.
Democratic candidates had their own debate in New Hampshire on Sunday and largely agreed the United States should open direct diplomatic talks with Iran on the nuclear issue. Giuliani said it sounded to him like “Democrats were back in the 1990s.”
A second-tier candidate, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, was more direct, saying the United States reserved the right to dissuade Iran militarily.
“I would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons if there was no other way to preempt those particular centrifuges,” he said, while noting it could probably be done with conventional weapons.
But Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a candidate drawing about 2 percent in opinion polls, opposed a nuclear strike on moral grounds and because he believed Iran was no threat to U.S. national security. “We, in the past, have always declared war in defense of our liberties or go to aid somebody,” Paul said. “But now we have accepted the principle of preemptive war. We have rejected the just war theory of Christianity.”
The party of WWIII
June 6th, 2007 at 2:57 pmDemocratic candidates had their own debate in New Hampshire on Sunday and largely agreed the United States should open direct diplomatic talks with Iran on the nuclear issue.
At last the only way forward -
June 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pmWell, America is NOT a democracy. It’s a Republic. Sometimes a republic is euphemistically called a representative democracy, but it really is an oligarchy. House, Senate, Executive and Supreme Court amount to less than 600 people, a number that can easily fit in any high school gym.
One member of Congress represents 700,000 citizens. (In Canada and the UK, one member of parliament represents 100,000 citizens.) This makes it difficult for any minority views to be represented. And political parties must be so highly organized that there is a preference for the higher income groups.
Very few seats in America are ever in doubt during an election cycle. This means that change is almost impossible. The two main parties come to resemble the much sought after “swing voter”, someone who is not really a worthy rolemodel.
Now, I said all this to ask the important question: Why is America lecturing anyone on what is Democracy? And why should anyone put up with this nonsense given how angry Americans get when anyone tries to meddle in their elections? Americans are working with a 220 year old system that is showing its age. It’s sexist, elitist, and discriminates against minorities. I’d give it two stars out of five on the democratic values scorecard.
June 6th, 2007 at 3:15 pm22. Comment by President Clinton — What are you talking about? Your parties imploding. Your trying to use disinformation tactics that are 10 years old. You cannot support the present policies of your party. You resort to lame-ass attacks to slight of hand your parties vulnerabilities. Your party has more corruption cases pending and prosecuted then a crack-whore has johns. I would suggest everyone look at this website:
http://www.rageagainsttheright.com/2006/06/absolut-corruption.html
June 6th, 2007 at 3:18 pm3503 ,,
June 6th, 2007 at 3:52 pm#22,
Right you are. TP, you should put a tribute to D-Day, the important day that Franklin Roosevelt’s strategy of joining in a joint command with our democratic allies, under the title “United Nations,” as well as with French insurgents fighting out of uniform, to establish a beachhead in France paid off.
June 6th, 2007 at 3:58 pmWe just invaded Iraq again through the proxy puppet country of Turkey.
This will allow 2 front for the war with Iran.
June 6th, 2007 at 5:15 pm_______________________
June 6th, 2007 at 5:20 pm#1 there is not one opposition tank in Iraq until now
#2 our boys and girls are bogged down in baghdad and have left the borders unprotected begging someone to explode this war.
#3 Iran saw that this was suicide (as the other arab countries) so they did not dare do it.
#4 Since Israel said, “No f-n way” to the bomb Iran plan even after exrtaordinary pressure from Cheney’s front group, AEI…USA needed to seek an alternative puppet to play with.
#5 We control Turkey almost as much as we control Israel. They are our stepchild since after ww1 and reinforced after ww2.
#6 Bilderberg was just in turkey
#7 Turkey represents one of the most strategically advantageous ground war theater locations. They connect Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. They are a center on strategic importance.
#8 AK talked about this action being a threat to others, there are a few former USSR territories (this will bring heat on Putin to act).
#9 Turkey also borders Iran and it would be strategically advantageous to attck Iran from 2 fronts instead of 1 (not including the Aircraft carriers).
#10 Cheney uses Turkey to do many covert ops in Iran with Halliburton and now $50 billion of unchecked Iraq Supplemental money. Look up “kill the Messenger” or Google [Sibel Edmonds Giza].
_____________
GUYS THIS IS LIKE KISSINGER BOMBING CAMBODIA!!! BUSH HAS JUST ESCALATED THE WAR!!!!!!!
________________
“Thousands” of Turkish Troops Enter Iraq
AP Report Says “Not a Major Incursion,” Ankara, US, Iraq Can’t Confirm
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3103/Thousands_of_Turkish_Troops_Enter_Iraq
CIZRE, TURKEY: Turkish soldiers take part in a military exercise, in the town of Cizre, some 10 km far from the Turkish-Iraqi border, 05 June 2007. Just hours after the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman reaffirmed that no formal orders had been drawn to approve invading northern Iraq, reports are emerging that thousands of Turkish troops are already conducting operations across the border. Further, AP reports that the Turkish military has asked for, though not yet received, authorization for more extensive operations. Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, two “senior security officials” told the AP. “It is not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands,” one of the officials, based in southeast Turkey, told The Associated Press by telephone. The officials did not say where the Turkish force was operating in northern Iraq, nor did he say how long they would be there. The officials said any confrontation with Iraqi Kurdish groups, who have warned against a Turkish incursion, could trigger a larger cross-border operation.
The Turkish military has asked the government in Ankara to approve such an incursion, but the government has not given formal approval. Reuters reports that Turkey’s military General Staff said on Wednesday it could not confirm a report it had sent several thousand troops into northern Iraq to combat Kurdish militants hiding there. “I cannot confirm this report,” said a General Staff official, referring to the Associated Press report. Earlier, the DEBKAfile Web site said 50,000 men had been dispatched as the “first wave” of an invading force, but Ankara described the report as “disinformation”. A White House spokesman, in Germany for a G8 summit, said U.S. officials in the region had detected “no new activity” in northern Iraq. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Wednesday there was no evidence that Turkish troops had crossed the Iraqi border to launch a military operation against Turkish rebels hiding in the mountains. “We have checked all along the border and there hasn’t been any incursion or military operation inside Iraqi territory,” he told Reuters. “Iraq will not tolerate any military incursion. There is always room for dialogue,” he said. Fouad Hussein, the head of the office of Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani, told Reuters, “Up to this moment, there is no incursion by Turkish troops into the Iraq Kurdistan region.” “But I don’t know if the troops have entered into distant parts of the mountains, situated between Iraq and Turkey.”
June 6th, 2007 at 5:27 pm_____________________
They can’t confirm??????? Look at the tanks crossing the border!!!! Does this mean that thousands of armed troops and tanks can enter California without you noticing?????????
“Iranian civil rights activists contacted by TIME say that the cases against the Iranian-Americans have fostered the most repressive atmosphere inside Iran in years, making democracy advocates terrified to work or even speak on the telephone.”
Don’t put dat shit on us, mofos. Dat’s the fukced up Iranian govt’s fault.
June 6th, 2007 at 6:11 pm“….have fostered the most repressive atmosphere inside Iran in years, making democracy advocates terrified to work or even speak on the telephone.”
Repressive? I thought Iran was a democracy….at least that’s what their government and many here want us to believe.
BTW for anyone who doubts that Iran is DIRECTLY involved in killing American troops in Afghanistan or Iraq.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/document_iran_c.html
June 7th, 2007 at 9:41 am