Give us a break, Taranto!
James Taranto (who apparently doesn't believe in permalinks or trackback URLs) comments on Iran's answer to MoveOn:
The Iranian government's pledge of 500 million dollars to Hezbollah has angered many Iranians who say they are still awaiting money to help rebuild their homes that were damaged by wars and natural disasters, informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.The anger is particularly fierce in the Khuzestan district, which sustained severe damage during the Iran-Iraq war, and in Bam, which was hit hard by an earthquake three years ago. . . .
"Informed sources" told Asharq Al-Awsat that spontaneous demonstrations were staged in Bam and in Khuzestan on Friday as protesters shouted slogans critical of Hezbollah and the government. They were demanding their homes be rebuilt instead of the government intervening in Lebanese affairs.
This is one reason why democratizing the Middle East is such an important goal. It's very unlikely that a democratic Iran would be waging war on Lebanon. Democracy is a check on unnecessary war. Indeed, a drawback of democracy is that it's sometimes a check on necessary war; just look at Old Europe and its approach to Iraq, Hezbollah, etc.
This is laughable on so many fronts:
1. Democracy has not been a check on a necessary (or unnecessary, depending on your viewpoint) war in Iraq.
2. Democratic regimes in the Middle East have tended to support jihad, it being a popularly-supported concept.
3. Iran is not "waging war on Lebanon", any more than we waged war on Nicaragua or the Soviet Union when we supported the contras and the Afghani muhejadeen; rather, it's following the established (by us) Cold War pattern of supporting proxy fighters. If this constitutes waging war, then clearly American democracy failed to stop it, in spite of the general unpopularity of foreign aid.
4. A year ago, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when it was suggested that we should bring the boys home to help with reconstruction, the conservative bloviacracy howled that it was just Democrats playing politics with the victims. Well, now Iranians are demanding the same (real Iranians in the streets, not talking heads), and suddenly it sounds like a better idea. just because it would be in our national interest.
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