A Sort-of-Positive Turn of Events

Well, folks, today's June 30-- the day that U.S. troops pull out of Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities. Despite this positive occurrence, we're not out of the woods (or I guess I should say desert) yet-- not by a longshot. Things are just terrible in Iran, to say the least. Now, according to one Reuter's news article, extremist Muslim Cleric Ahmad Khatami, a member of the powerful governing body The Assembly of Experts, told worshippers at Tehran University last Friday that the Iranian judiciary should charge leading post-election "rioters" as "mohareb" or one who wages war against God. The punishment for this offense under Islamic law, which Khatami says should be delivered swiftly and savagely, is execution. President Obama says that this will definitely affect his policies toward, the dialogue with, and diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran. Obama went on to say at a recent news conference that we will support Mir-Hossein Mousavi, whom Obama says has "captured the imagination" of people who want to open up to the West and hailed Mousavi supporters at the conference. Obama also denounced the persecution of protesters as "outrageous." Lastly, our president announced that he does not take incumbent Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for the U.S. to apologize to Iran seriously, given the fact that the U.S. has gone out of its way not to interfere with Iran's election process. All I can say is: "Way to go, Barack!"