Morning Bell: Sham Elections Expose Obama’s Iran Policy

Conn Carroll / June 15, 2009

On the eve of Friday’s election in Iran, President Barack Obama told reporters: “We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran. Whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact there has been a robust debate hopefully will advance our ability to engage them in new ways.” But almost immediately after the polls closed, election authorities miraculously claimed to have counted millions of paper ballots and named the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner.

Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then went on state television Saturday to declare the result a “divine assessment.” Responding to reports that Iranian security forces were keeping main rival Mir Hossain Mousavi in his home, Mr. Ahmadinejad dryly responded: “He ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket.” (more…)