Narcissism [Iran]

Here's Ledeen at The Corner:

[Obama], [y]ou're going to be accused of meddling anyway, since out there in the real world you are believed to be the leader of the forces of freedom and democracy. So stop pretending to be a sweet innocent, and get in there and fight for people who are dying in the name of our values, and who want to be part of our world.

Dear Michael Ledeen:

It's not all about you, and it's not all about us. The people in Iran are not fighting for "our" values. We do not own freedom, we do not own democracy, we do not own freedom of the press and freedom of association and fairness and honesty in elections. Ahmadinejad, Khomeini, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are not accusing the Americans of meddling because Obama is the "leader of the forces of freedom and democracy," and Iranians are fighting for freedom and democracy, therefore Obama must be leading them. They are accusing Obama and the Americans of meddling because they want to discredit the opposition. For better or worse, saying that a movement is backed by the Americans is pretty much a death sentence for that movement. Not to mention that individuals whose power was encouraged or increased by the meddling of Americans {cough cough) can come to be truly hated.

This is why I'm contemptuous of conservatives' supposed concern for human rights in Iran. Because they show almost every time they open their mouths that they are patronizing and ignorant. The reason that thousands of young people are risking their lives to protest in the streets is because they "want to be part of our world"? First of all, what world is that? They already are part of "our world," insofar as the word "world" has any meaning. Second of all, you're completely ignorant about what they're fighting for. I know it must be fun to think that what they're agitating for is American-style democracy, but it isn't.

Don't flatter yourself. It's not about us, except in the very limited sense that the opposition supports a more normalized relationship with the United States. But they also, like most Iranians, support Iran's development of nuclear energy and the development of nuclear weapons.

We support them because we support fairness, not because they want to join "our world." Christ.

[Via Spencer Ackerman at FDL]