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Iranian Protestors Call to President Obama for Support
November 05, 2009 7:20 PM
ABC’s Jordyn Phelps reports:
Marking the 30th Anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover, protestors took to the streets in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday. The common “Death to America” chants were used by pro-government protestors, but there was also a very different chant coming from anti-government protestors this time.
“Obama, Obama, you are either with them or with us,” anti-government protestors chanted in Farsi in an amateur video.
Such an appeal, directed specifically at President Obama, is new among Iran’s anti-government protestors.
The Associated Press called the appeal startling.
30 years ago, on November 4, 1979, the U.S. Embassy was seized by radical students and 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
“This event helped set the United States and Iran on a path of sustained suspicion, mistrust, and confrontation,” President Obama said in a statement on Tuesday. “I have made it clear that the United States of American wants to move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic based upon mutual interests and mutual respect.”
The President continued that "the world continues to bear witness to their powerful calls for justice, and their courageous pursuit of universal rights.”
Anti-government protestors have not come out in large numbers, as they did on Wednesday, since late this summer when protestors were contesting the validity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection. Authorities in Iran cracked down on Wednesday's protests, using violent measures in many cases.
The White House spoke out against the violence on Wednesday.
"We obviously have seen and are following the reports of this, and hope greatly that violence will not spread," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Some are concerned that the President’s condemnation of violence and simultaneous appeals of partnership with Iran may not be enough to answer the protestors appeal. The New York Times’ Roger Cohen said today in an Opinion article that time is running out.
“The window is narrowing for the president to show that outreach can normalize the psychotic U.S.-Iranian relationship where confrontation only comforts it,” Cohen said.
--Jordyn Phelps
November 5, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (4)
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Though the Obama administration has tripled the deficit in just ten months in office, it has found one program to cut -- the $3 million to support the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. The tiny research organization, which kept records of the disappearances, murders, and other human-rights abuses in Iran, was abruptly defunded last month, sending a clear message of contempt to the Iranians who are putting their lives on the line to resist this vicious regime. -- Mona Charen
Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn | Nov 6, 2009 12:26:56 AM
Obama's plate is full of all the BS that was left for him to clean up by the previous administration. We're currently stuck in Iraq because the Bush administration failed to recognize that Iraq is made up of many different Sects which are pretty incapable of making peace with each other. Obama is smart to not interfere in Iran's domestic issues because it's been proven by the Iranians that what we perceive as the good guys are not necessarily the good guys.
Posted by: johnnylee | Nov 6, 2009 12:04:46 AM
Mr. Obama's position here is inexcusible.For someone who claims to be in favor of human rights his silence is disturbing and depressing.These people are dying for the chance to merely express their opinions.Is Mr. Obama so eager to talk with the mullahs that he will not do ANYTHING?Why doesn't grow a pair and finally do something hard a take a stand for liberty.
Posted by: Nephron | Nov 5, 2009 11:25:51 PM
from yesterday...
Iran’s supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama, warned Tuesday that negotiating with the United States was “naive and perverted” and said Iranian politicians should not be “deceived” into starting such talks.
Perverted?
Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn | Nov 5, 2009 7:28:11 PM
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