Millions of women and men are going to the polls today to vote for that country's new president. While we have many substantive problems with that country's policy preferences, and while we (and the vast majority of Iranians) wish they had a more representative form of government, there's no getting around the fact that it is already vastly more democratic than, to take just three examples of regimes that President Bush strongly supports, the governments of Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State from 2001-2005 called Iran a democracy, and if by that you mean a place with regular, competitive elections and divided government, it surely is one. There is much to be done of course in creating a more responsive government there. And the US should make supportive statements toward that end. But there is already a strong domestic will to change that country from within, and hopefully the president won't do anything to undermine that.
Posted by armand at June 17, 2005 09:59 AM | TrackBack | Posted to International Affairs