Obama’s good for Tehran

Iranians to benefit from president’s desire to curry favor with dictatorial Islam
Hagai Segal

Barack Obama, who is over six feet, had to dramatically bend over in order to shake the hand of Saudi King Abdullah. As far as one could tell by the photographs from London, it was not merely a case of bending over – it was reminiscent of the submissive bows of British subjects when they meet their queen. The most admired American president since John F. Kennedy, the leader of the free world, bowed down his head before the leader of a blatantly non-emancipated oil kingdom.


We would not be bothering with this gesture, which after all may have resulted from nothing more than height differences, had Obama’s journey to Europe not been all about overwhelming flattery to dictatorial Islam.


In almost every speech or interview, Obama declared that he seeks to turn a new leaf in the relationship between America and Arab nations. The unavoidable impression created by these declarations was the assumption of American guilt.


The pangs of conscience that up until now were the exclusive privilege of the radical Left on campuses and in the New York Times are now the official pangs of conscience of the White House residents.


Eight years after Bin Laden’s planes crashed into the towers in Manhattan, Washington is becoming convinced that the pilots and those who sent them did not target America for no reason. Washington already believes that something about its own conduct brought about this terrible assault: The alleged colonialism, the seeming arrogance, Coca Cola, McDonald’s, and of course, the sin of friendship with Israel.


Yes, we can

Obama is making an effort to make it clear that he seeks reconciliation and fraternization. He goes to great lengths in order to mitigate what he refers to as “anti-American feelings.” It took him so little time to announce the closure of the Guantanamo camp that one could form the impression that George W. Bush, rather than Bin Laden, was the bad guy of the past decade.


Iran is the main beneficiary of this remorse attack. Obama believes that an American welcome could prompt Ahmadinejad to return to the straight and narrow. No more sanctions and no bombing, heaven forbid; only diplomacy. In Obama’s speech earlier this week in Prague, he spoke – how romantic – about the need for dialogue with Iran and about mutual respect.


There is no doubt that the authorities in Tehran will pick up the gauntlet. The timeout Obama is offering them for the purposes of dialogue is precisely the amount of time Iranian nuclear scientists need in order to complete the project. Why should the Iranians care about talking to the Americans a little about all sorts of issues, as long as the centrifuges in Bushehr work overtime?


Yes, we can, Ahmadinejad winks to his scientists. It sounds even better in Persian.