Khatami at Harvard - Editorial
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University...is choosing to mark the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by hosting Mohammad Khatami, a former president of Iran, an enemy state levying a terrorist war against America.
Khatami has been invited to speak on, of all things, "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence." The title insults the intelligence of all those who would attend. What in the world is a man who presided over the July 9, 1999, crackdown on Tehran University, where hundreds of students were arrested and tortured, doing speaking about "tolerance" at a university?
(New York Sun)
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Optimism about Confronting Israel Growing among Arab Moderates after Lebanon War - Uriel Heilman
Israel's war with Hizballah in Lebanon has aroused great hope in the Arab world - that Israel can be defeated.
(New York Post)
2 comments:
Khatami was the most moderate leader Iran has seen in decades and he fought for reform. During the crackdown, as at all other times, the real strength behind the government there remained with the religious leaders. That Khatami's reforms, though seemingly desired by many of the educated youth of the country failed, and the new leaders have seemingly been embraced by the country, despite their much more conservative thinking, shows again why we should make sure we understand the arab islamic mind before we try to bring them the freedom we know deep down that they "really want". And of course, I agree with the sentiment of rad and mad, in that President "Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and what's due process?" W. Bush has done more to embolden the enemy and aid recruiting efforts for al qaeda than anything you can point to during Khatami's administration. I do think whenever there is a voice of moderation, even if their fundamental beliefs, or some of their actions, are not in line with our own core values, they should still be given a certain amount of support for the greater good and the longer term.
You should note that your thinking about Khatami is exactly congruent with George Bush's:
word is that Bush personally approved Khatami coming here for the very reasons you laid out.
It's OK to agree with George...
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