Friday, June 05, 2009

How's That "New Beginning" Going?   [Andy McCarthy]

About as well as the "engagement" strategy, I reckon.

From UPI, via Jihad Watch:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, said Thursday "beautiful speeches" cannot overcome Muslims' hatred of the United States.

Khamenei spoke at a ceremony in Tehran marking the 20th anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei's death, The Washington Post reported. He delivered his speech, heard on television and by several thousand people at the ceremony, shortly before U.S. President Barack Obama spoke in Cairo on the U.S. relationship with Muslims.

"People of the Middle East, the Muslim region and North Africa — people of these regions — hate America from the bottom of their heart," Khamenei said. "For a long time, these people have witnessed aggressive actions by America, and that's why they hate them."

Obama said the United States and Muslim world need a "new beginning" but Khamenei said any change would take more than "beautiful speeches."...

Yesterday, President Obama said the foundation of his engagement policy with Iran is that "we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect." Does there ever come a point, say, after about 30 years of hostage-taking, terror-mongering, bombing American Air Force personnel, killing American troops in Iraq, harboring al-Qaeda, abetting the Taliban, underwriting Hezbollah and Hamas, threatening to wipe Israel off the map, and chanting "Death to America," when we entertain the possibility that maybe, just maybe, there's a teensy-weensy chance that the "respect" here isn't exactly "mutual"?

06/05 11:56 AMShare