President Obama finally decided to issue a statement over the weekend about the fake election and subsequent repression of protestors in Iran. Here's what the president had to say:
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.
What do you think? Too little, too late? Iranian authorities have arrested 24 journalists, and at least 17 people have been killed in protest. This is really all that Obama can come up with? I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sticking with France on this one. French President Sarkozy came out with a statement a week ago about the situation. That's right .. Sarkozy didn't munch snails for a week trying to figure out what to do. He knew what was right, and voiced it immediately. He said that he "condemned the violence directed at demonstrators, the arrest of opposition members and political figures, restrictions on public liberties, freedom of expression and communication and the constraints imposed on Iranian and foreign nationals." Now we have France's Foreign Minister condemning "this brutal repression."
Not that Obama's words are going to make a difference ... but at least the world knows where the United States stands ...... sort of.