FROM THE BARRICADES FOR 6/25/09

Posted by Jon Pike Jun 27, 2009

I love it when the news I write shows that the right-wing is wrong.

There really is no other way to describe it. On this issue, they are categorically, officially, indubitably,wrong. A right-wing narrative these days seems to be calling for some sort of action in Iran and since the left. for the most part, is not advocating such action, they don't care about the protests in Iran.

The right is simply wrong.

Let's dispense with their notions first; We don't know what kind of action they are advocating, so, it's kind of hard to judge their full position. But let's face it: a lot of Iranians are suspicious of our government, and rightly so.

We helped overthrow a parliamentary government in the 1950s. We kept the Shah of Iran propped up for 20 plus years. We also, more recently supported the government, that started a war with them that lasted ten years. Remember when we supported Saddam Hussein? It happende, and flushing things down the memory hole isn't go change reality.

Also. Ahmadinejad has many. many supporters in Iran. He may have rigged this last election, but his first he won hands down. He has been very popular in Iran. Any action on our government's part would lead directly to a terrorist army being formed to fight us.

So, let's look instead at the unoffiicial actions that students at those hotbeds of radicalism, the college campuses are doing.

As this week's column points out, students at the University of Iowa are asssiting by resetting the GPS and time coordinates of their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Students at the University of Chicago have set up a fax machine line to get reports out. There. Left-wing American students are taking positive, unofficial action that may really assist the protesters in Iran.

The right is just plain wrong.