The appeasement will charge on full-speed ahead. And meanwhile, although many American analysts are making a great deal of the unrest that has followed the voting, in reality the pro-Mousavi sentiment is not quite the encouraging sign that so many wish it would be, and assume that it is. As Pamela points out, Mousavi was a founder of Hizballah and participated in the creation of Iran’s intelligence service. Some reformer!
“U.S. Officials to Continue to Engage Iran,” by Mark Landler for the New York Times, June 13 (thanks to Benedict):
WASHINGTON “” The Obama administration is determined to press on with efforts to engage the Iranian government, senior officials said Saturday, despite misgivings about irregularities in the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The White House’s cautious reaction reflected the combustible scene in Tehran, where riot police officers were cracking down on angry opposition supporters, and the likelihood that the administration would be forced to pursue its diplomatic initiative with a familiar and implacable foe, one who now also has a legitimacy problem.
“We, like the rest of the world, are waiting and watching to see what the Iranian people decide,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during a visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Saturday. “We obviously hope the outcome reflects the genuine will and desire of the Iranian people.”
There was palpable disappointment within the administration, where there were hopes, as President Obama said Friday, that the throngs of people at the polls augured a change in Iran.
Trying to put a positive face on the outcome, one senior administration official held out the hope that the intensity of the political debate during the campaign, and the huge turnout, might make Mr. Ahmadinejad more receptive to the United States, if only to defuse a potential backlash from the disputed election.
“Ahmadinejad could feel that because of public pressure, he wants to reduce Iran’s isolation,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the delicacy of the matter. “That might also cause engagement to proceed more swiftly.”…
