In an interview broadcast on CBS's The Early Show Monday morning, President Obama was asked about his administration's response to the protests in Iran. "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," Obama said.
Obama added, "We shouldn't be playing into that."
Of course, the regime is going to blame the U.S., UK and the West anyway. The regime's standard playbook calls for trying "to make this an argument about the United States." The regime has already called that play.
From MEMRI, here is how Ayatollah Khamenei's representative in Syria explained the protests:
"What happened in this case was that the U.S. and the West were expecting the presidency to be transferred to an element with whom they perhaps felt more at ease. They viewed this as an opportunity to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic. Therefore, behind the scenes of everything that is going on, one sees the same people who have been lying in wait for the Islamic Republic. Check out the foreign news agencies, as well as the foreign ministers of England, the U.S., and some other Western countries. They do not bear goodwill towards the Islamic Republic."
And then Iranian spokesman Hassan Qashqavi, who sounds an awful lot like Baghdad Bob, branded the protests "instances of media, security and political warfare." From Washington TV:
Qashqavi said that "despite the internationally recognized norms of many European countries and America," rather than inviting people to use "democratic means and emphasizing lawful means", Western countries support "rioters."
Saying that Iranians have high democratic capabilities for solving problems, Qashqavi added that the promotion of "anarchism and vandalism [previous word in English]" by Western powers and media had no effect.
He criticized Western officials for not saying "even one sentence about inviting people to be calm", and said: "In presidential contests between Al Gore, and [former president George W.] Bush as well as the election between [US Senator John] Kerry and Bush, incidents took place, but no one incited the people of America."
That's right, what is going on inside Iran right now is comparable to the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections, except there were no meddlesome outside powers pulling the strings on American protesters. If you believe that then you probably believe the 12th Imam will reappear any minute now too.
Look, this is the same tired old game the Iranian hardliners have played for thirty years. When something goes wrong for the regime, they blame America. Ayatollah Khomeini was a master of this game.
But there is a profound difference between 1979-1980 and 2009. During Khomeini's time, the ayatollah could count on his anti-American rhetoric resonating with the Iranian people. That is far less true today. Anti-Americanism surely still maintains some currency inside Iran, but not nearly as much as it did during Khomeini's day. Polling of Iranian public opinion, which is admittedly limited, suggests that a strong majority of the Iranian people want improved relations with America. And the protesters themselves seek America's and the world's support. (See here, here, here, and here.)
