I just posted this to a private mailing list that I share with some highly respected, scholarly friends of mine. I figured it was worth posting to the world. It is a reaction to Bush’s UN speech regarding the “freedom” of the Iranian people.
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What is interesting is that Iran is expected to be perfect and any imperfection means that the entire regime must be dismantled and replaced, while America’s imperfections are to be overlooked and forgiven.

In reality it is not the imperfections (i.e. human rights issues) that are of any concern to the U.S. There have and will continue to be only two issues: oil and Israel (and not necessarily in that order).

Here is an excellent response to Bush’s speech from a human rights activist in Egypt

One more thing, keep in mind that it took 144 years in America before women were even allowed to vote, and then (1920) it only applied to white women. It would be nearly 50 more years before black men and women could vote.

We are only 140 years removed from slavery and only 230 years removed from America’s own bloody revolution (much bloodier than Iran’s).

The Iranian constitution, however, guaranteed women the right to vote from the beginning. In Iran, they’ve had a female vice president. In the last election in Iran, at least 8 candidates were serious contenders for the presidency. This while America has a two party system.

As an American, I can say proudly that this is my home and I’m willing to fight and iron out any of its problems, but the Iranian people should be given the same opportunity in their own country. It is their right to choose their own destiny, not have it thrust upon them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 20th, 2006 at 7:50 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.