November 18, 2000 -- Tehran, Iran.
The Parliament of Iran has taken the extraordinary measure of putting aside deliberating over policies that will directly effect its own citizens to "helping" the people of the United States. a resolution supporting a recount in Florida passed overwhelmingly. Many of the members of Parliament have said it was clear that Al Gore won the presidency and they wanted to help him.
Al Gore, was reached by phone,asked what today's vote in Tehran will mean to him in his fight for a fair recount, he said "this is dismal news". Karl Rove, a spokesmen for the Bush campaign seemed to be beside himself with joy for several minutes, and when he finally regained his composure he said "We have been saying all along that Al Gore is but a stooge of those who want to ruin America, this proves it!"
A rather unlikely scenario, but could you imagine what help such a call from the Iranian government (or the Iraqi government at the time) would have had on the Gore campaign back then? Do you seriously think it would have helped Gore? or the principle of fair elections in the US?
As it turns out of course, no foreign government thought it wise to come out on the side of either Bush or Gore in the year 2000. They thought that perhaps the United States should work that out on its own, and any call would make things worse.
The US congress, for its part, said nothing. No resolution back then. Nope, just a wall of silence and acquiescence, a big furry ball of bipartisanship.
Yesterday's vote supporting "human rights, freedom, and civil liberties" was an extraordinary turn-around for this congress, that has supported brutal military coup in Haiti, said nothing when Palestinians (or even Americans) are killed by Israeli military in protests, that can't even call for the prosecution of US leaders involved in grotesque forms of torture, and indeed, like Eric Cantor, a leader of yesterday's vote, have actually supported torture and very much supports war in Iraq and Iran and beyond.
This very congress, where many of its members last year were calling for a naval embargo on Iran, a measure near-certain to lead to war and the deaths of tens of thousands of Iranians, now pretends to side with the people of Iran.
People in the US have no idea how this must look in Iran, for those that remember the brutal Shah and his government, supported by the US, installed by the CIA after a bloody coup against the democratically-elected Mohammad Mosaddeq. The Shah carried on a bloody campaign against secular leftists, killing thousands, and torturing many more.... no congressional resolutions then...except to support the Shah
The US has never formally apologized, and i think that is one resolution President Obama, who to his great credit did mention this sorry chapter in our history in his speech in Cairo, would do very well to urge congress to undertake.
This United States government has not yet earned the respect of the world as it continues in wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, and continues saber-rattling against Iran. To "support" the protesters, this lip-service to democracy means nothing.
If the US is serious about supporting human rights, promise the world that it will prosecute those responsible for starting useless wars, and the shameful forms of torture committed by the Bush/Cheney regime.
Let's be serious about putting our own house in order. there are logs, a massive forest in our own eyes... let's take care of those first, before pretending that this congress has any right to "help" others.