TPM has an interesting outtake of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's recent interview on US-Iranian relations. When asked about the "Death to America" refrain we so often hear out of the Middle East, he said this:
Well, our position is clear: We are opposed to any proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons. We believe that the time is now over for nuke weapons. It is a time for logic, for rationality and for civilization. Instead of thinking of finding new weapons, we are trying to find new ways to love people. And if talking about the "Death to America" slogans, I think you know it yourself, it is not related in any way to American public. Our people have no problem with American public, and we have a very friendly relationship.
My guess is that over the next 24-48 hours we're likely to hear all kinds of people, both on the right and the left, decry this explanation. So I cannot help but ask:
How is this any different than our claims that "we aren't opposed to the Iraqi/Iranian/fill in the blank people, we are only opposed to their leadership"?
Granted, their language is a significantly more extreme than ours, but given that we have on at least several occasions followed up our protestations with military invasions and occupations that have done far more than change a regime, I'm not sure that we can claim the moral high ground on this.
Everything in context, people. Everything in context.
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