December 10, 2007

Recently, Iranian students have been protesting their government's treatment of other protestors. Among the signs at the demonstration was one bearing the words of New Hampshire's motto, in English, "Live Free or Die."

Isn't that one of those Western concepts that can't carry over into Middle Eastern cultures?

I can't personally guarantee that the statement was understood, or that everyone at the rally agreed with it, or that anything will come of the rally. All in all, however, I'd call it a hopeful sign. It's certainly more positive than students holding hostages, or dirty bombs. Perhaps this generation of students is coming to recognize that the previous generation didn't actually manage to give them freedom, but instead a state where they are monitored and controlled by their government.

In any event, I think that the protest indicates that President Bush was right when he suggested that there existed people in Iran who wanted freedom. I think we should do as he asked in the 2007 State of the Union Address and support the cause of freedom there. We can, and should quarrel about how to do so, but I think that if we do not, it will be a lost opportunity we will regret and others will suffer for, like the Kurdish uprising quashed by Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.