Republicans demand stronger Iran response

WASHINGTON – Republicans intensified their criticism of President Barack Obama's handling of his first major test of international leadership, saying Sunday that he has been too cautious in response to Iran's postelection upheaval.

"The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "He's been timid and passive more than I would like."

But in an interview released Sunday, Obama argued: "The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. We shouldn't be playing into that."

The president spoke Friday during an interview with CBS News' Harry Smith. It will be broadcast Monday on "The Early Show."

He told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, in an interview published Sunday, that the United States has no way of knowing whether the disputed Iranian election 10 days ago was fair or not. Iranians should be able to peacefully protest the results in any case, Obama said.

That interview was also done last week. Obama said nothing about the crisis in public on Sunday, although a spokesman said he discussed Iran with foreign policy advisers in the Oval Office for more than 30 minutes. He later went golfing in Virginia.

Tehran's streets fell mostly quiet for the first time since a bitterly disputed June 12 presidential election, but there were reports that government forces appeared to be pressing arrests of defiant protesters after the official death toll swelled to at least 17.

The White House did not book any surrogates on the Sunday talk shows to defend or explain the administration's approach. Republicans used their broadcast appearances to call the president timid or feckless, while the Democrat who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee said the U.S. had no hand in the disputed election.

Like other Democrats who spoke Sunday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein backed the president's approach.

"It is very crucial as I see that we not have our fingerprints on this," she said, "that this really be ... truly inspired by the Iranian people. We don't know where this goes."

A day earlier, Obama invoked the American civil rights struggle to condemn violence against demonstrators, some of whom have carried signs in English asking, "Where is My Vote?"

It was his strongest statement on what has become the most significant challenge to Iran's ruling structure since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, but it stopped short of demanding a recount or new election, as many of the demonstrators seek.

He avoided mentioning either incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or his principal challenger by name, and said nothing about his oft-repeated campaign promise of a fresh start in diplomatic talks with the main U.S. adversary in the Middle East.

Obama's defenders say his measured response speaks up for human rights while preserving U.S. options and lessening the chance that he becomes a scapegoat for the cleric-led government, which has blamed the West for stirring up street protests that turned into bloody clashes with police and militia.

Obama has tried to hold a middle ground as the crisis unfolds, and found the ground shifting by the day. His advisers say any thunderous denunciation of Iran's rulers would invite them to cry interference and might worsen the violence instead of end it.

Both the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly last week to condemn an official crackdown on the mostly peaceful demonstrations, a stronger action than the White House has yet taken.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others noted that Western leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have demanded a recount or more forcefully condemned the government crackdown.

"I'd like to see the president be stronger than he has been, although I appreciate the comments that he made yesterday," McCain said. "I think we ought to have America lead."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a slow or muted U.S. response risks undermining the aspirations of Iranian voters to change or question their government.

"If America stands for democracy and all of these demonstrations are going on in Tehran and other cities over there, and people don't think that we really care, then obviously they're going to question, 'do we really believe in our principles?'" Grassley said.

Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, a moderate Republican who holds the party's top position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, seemed to echo Obama's caution.

"The challenge continues, which is going to come to a conclusion one way or another," Lugar said. "Either the protesters bring about change or they're suppressed, and it's a potentially very brutal outcome at the end of the day."

Obama on Saturday challenged Iran's government to halt a "violent and unjust" crackdown on dissenters, and he quoted Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

"Right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people's belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness," Obama said.

The statement calling for an end to violence against demonstrators followed days of agonizing among his staff over what to say and how strongly to say it.

It also followed Obama's remark last week that he said he saw little difference between Ahmadinejad, the hard-liner who claims a landslide re-election mandate, and his conservative but pro-reform challenger. That upset some Iranian activists in the United States and others who said Obama left the impression that he discounted the votes of Mir Hossein Mousavi's supporters or the bravery of protesters who marched to say their votes were stolen.

Ahmadinejad claimed victory by an overwhelming margin following a lively campaign that many analysts predicted would yield razor-close results. The speed with which his victory was announced and vote claims in areas where he was at a clear disadvantage outraged Mousavi's backers.

Democrats in the Senate say Obama has struck the right balance.

"He's got a very delicate path to walk here," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. "You don't want to take ownership of this."

Dodd and Graham appeared on ABC's "This Week," McCain was on CBS' "Face the Nation," and Feinstein, Lugar and Grassley spoke on "State of the Union" on CNN.

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We need to stay the hell out of this! We also need to end the other two Bush/Cheney/Haliburton/Carlyle Group wars and bring our troops home!!

it wasn't me...i didn't do it

Yeah right. Everyone knows ==

yellowrose please go read your mail

You mean send em to N Korea so we can finish them rat bastards off!


Then again, do not forget, even though it is a clusterfuque in the Mid East we are chasing down the Taliban and Al Quiada. If they don't we will have a more serious repeat of 9-11 only with a mushroom cloud involved! What then? Mushroom clouds for everybody?


Got change for 25 million people?







Well...


Do Ya?

PS I do own this game and it is fun but usually nobody wins...

...for real!

The LAST thing we need to do is make a "strong" response to the situation in Iran. It will hurt the Iranian peoples chance at freedom and anyone that knows their history of our involvment in that country knows this. The Iranian people dont want our "help".They want the whole world to SEE what is happening.To be a witness.This is not being put on for our(U.S) benefit. The U.S. is the boogeyman to those people. They dont hate us but they are scared of us because of the things we did to them in the pastThe last thing they want is for U.S. goverment to do anything. They want the world community to watch and give them support.

My question to you is why are we chasing down the Taliban and Al Queda?

Oh yeah, I remember.... because we couldn't provide proof to them that Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 so they would turn him over to us. That was their offer after all, and such an unreasonable demand we had to wipe an entire nation of people off the Earth in response to it. Our "War President" (as he liked to refer to himself) didn't need proof, "God (or was it D!ck Cheney) told him" it was what he must do! We all know God, and our President, wouldn't lie!

You have to remember all the WMDs we found in Iraq after all? The ones that were going to be used by Saddam and Al Queda to send us all to Heaven "in the form of a mushroom cloud..."? What a "smoking gun" that was, huh? Yeah, that Saddam was so sneaky, he fooled the rest of the world, and the UN inspectors, into thinking he hated Al Queda, and didn't have any WMDs, but the Bush family (father and son) saw right thru that ruse and saved the rest of the world from their own stupidity...... They only told us lies because they had to, for our own good!

Let's not forget that there hasn't been any peace in the Middle East for over 2000 years. If God tells our President it's his job to fix that, even though the USA has never been attacked within its borders, what's the real problem in killing a few thousand people and destoying a few planes and buildings to get people united to your "calling".... if it's for their own good? When God tells you to build an ARK, you build an ARK..... and all "God fearing" people will get on board!

Me, I'm sorry, but "My God" doesn't believe in mass murder, lies and deceit, coveting another man, or nations, wealth or resources. I've never known of any religious tome whose "GOD" says these things are "rightious" and acceptable. The interpretations of man..... that is another matter....!

One thing to always consider, and it is wise and profound in its message.... "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you...."

We (our leaders) have declared war on the world! What do we think we can hope for in return?

We should stay out of it, period.

If Republicans are asking why the Administration isn't 'doing something', its just to cast a bad light on Obama. Not an issue for the U.S. to be involved in.

We can't fix the worlds problems when we can't even fix our own!

What gives them (Republicans) the right to think we should try? Stock in the Carlyle Group or Haliburton?

BHO staled the war machine and their stocks are declining?