So sayeth Tom Friedman of the New York Slimes:
…the Bush strategy — diplomatic/economic isolation plus high oil prices — has only frozen the regime in power and transformed it from mildly repressive to a KGB state with a nuclear program. So now we face an Iranian regime that is both powerful and paranoid.
I guess the mullahs were only mildly repressive when they massacred their political opponents in the years after the revolution, or when they assassinated their Iranian critics overseas, or when, under the presidency of the “reformist” president Khatami, they slaughtered thousands of students. None of which took place after the election of George W. Bush.
I am no admirer of Bush’s (lack of) Iran policy, but to blame him for the regime in Tehran is really a bit much. Even for the Slimes. Maybe this is the way to win a Pulitzer or two, but it certainly doesn’t advance understanding. Just saying, you know?