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Obama condemns violence against Iran protesters
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-24 09:48 WASHINGTON – Dramatically hardening the US reaction to Iran's disputed elections and bloody aftermath, President Barack Obama condemned the violence against protesters Tuesday and lent his strongest support yet to their accusations the hardline victory was a fraud.
Obama, who has been accused by some Republicans of being too timid in his response to events in Iran, declared himself "appalled and outraged" by the deaths and intimidation in Tehran's streets - and scoffed at suggestions he was toughening his rhetoric in response to the criticism.
"We don't know yet how this thing is going to play out," the president said. "It is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it." Obama borrowed language from struggles throughout history against oppressive governments to condemn the efforts by Iran's leaders to crush dissent in the wake of June 12 presidential elections. Citing the searing video circulated worldwide of the apparent shooting death of Neda Agha Soltan, a 26-year-old young woman who bled to death in a Tehran street and now is a powerful symbol for the demonstrators, Obama said flatly that human rights violations were taking place. "No iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests of justice," he said during a nearly hourlong White House news conference dominated by the unrest in Iran. "Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history." The eighth extended news conference of Obama's presidency also veered into the intricacies of the health care reform debate, the effectiveness of the economic stimulus package and a revealing personal moment in which he acknowledged he still is an occasional smoker despite trying to quit. "I would say I'm 95 percent cured, but there are times where I mess up," the president said the day after signing an anti-smoking bill into law. He said he doesn't smoke daily, nor does he light up in front of his children. He also is deeply interested in preserving his promised policy concerning Iran and the threat its nuclear program poses: He contends the danger has only grown through decades of ruptured diplomatic relations between the US and Tehran, particularly in the past eight years under President George W. Bush, and it is time to try to change that by re-establishing direct talks. But Obama has been taken to task by some Republicans, accused of being too passive. Even with Iran's blackout of foreign press and attempted communications shutdowns, chaotic images of riot police beating and shooting protesters have seized the world's attention. At least 17 people have been killed. Last Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said: "The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it. He's been timid and passive more than I would like." Obama chose a less cautious approach on Tuesday, more directly challenging Iran's leaders to ease off and holding out the possibility of consequences if they do not. "The Iranian government should understand that how they handle the dissent within their own country, generated indigenously, internally, from the Iranian people, will help shape the tone, not only for Iran's future, but also its relationship to other countries," Obama said. He made clear that one recent overture to Iran - the authorization for US embassies to invite Iranian officials to Independence Day parties - was likely to disappear without changes. "That's a choice the Iranians are going to have to make," Obama said. With an array of US sanctions already in place against Iran, there are few options at Obama's disposal other than withdrawing his offer to talk. Regardless, Obama said it's too early for him to be more specific. "We are going to monitor and see how this plays itself out before we make any judgments about how we proceed," he said. Answering a question from a Huffington Post writer that was solicited by the White House in advance, Obama was plainer than ever that the protesters' beliefs that the election was stolen from opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi may be legitimate. The government declared an overwhelming re-election victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and, while promising to look into scattered reports of irregularities, has ruled out annulling those results. "We can't say definitively what exactly happened at polling places throughout the country," Obama said. "What we know is that a sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves, spanning Iranian society, consider this election illegitimate. It's not an isolated instance, a little grumbling here or there. There is significant question about the legitimacy of the election." |
