Double Trouble
Iran Releases Saberi
RECEIVED Mon., May 11, 2009
Dear Editor,
The release by Iran Monday of jailed U.S./Iranian citizen Roxana Saberi, who served three months in prison for purchasing alcohol, upgraded later to a charge that her papers were expired, upgraded still later to a charge of espionage, speaks loudly. In the first instance, it is proof that Obama was right in extending an olive branch early on the campaign trail in the direction of all our foes (Iran, North Korea) – it worked – and secondly that theocracies acting in the role of government trap themselves in black-and-white situations that leave them no room to exercise the magnificent gray that predominates democratic governments like the United States.
Theocracies lead to paranoia, the invasion of the people's rights, wire taps, patriot acts, gutting of middle classes, raping of constitutions, and the usurpation of power by the paranoid and the greedy. Do any of us believe this woman would ever have been released under the Bush administration? In 10 years. Maybe.
The release by Iran Monday of jailed U.S./Iranian citizen Roxana Saberi, who served three months in prison for purchasing alcohol, upgraded later to a charge that her papers were expired, upgraded still later to a charge of espionage, speaks loudly. In the first instance, it is proof that Obama was right in extending an olive branch early on the campaign trail in the direction of all our foes (Iran, North Korea) – it worked – and secondly that theocracies acting in the role of government trap themselves in black-and-white situations that leave them no room to exercise the magnificent gray that predominates democratic governments like the United States.
Theocracies lead to paranoia, the invasion of the people's rights, wire taps, patriot acts, gutting of middle classes, raping of constitutions, and the usurpation of power by the paranoid and the greedy. Do any of us believe this woman would ever have been released under the Bush administration? In 10 years. Maybe.
Jim Lacey