President Barack Obama has made it clear that he does not want the United States to be seen as "meddling" in Iran's internal politics. Never mind that the Islamic Republic has been "meddling" in our affairs for the past three decades, if such a bland word can be used to characterize the seizure of our embassy in 1979, the killing of 229 American servicemen in 1983 and the planting of roadside bombs to kill our soldiers in Iraq. The Obama administration apparently believes that words and actions in support for the Iranian people in their struggle against religious fascism will hurt their cause, even though the mullahs have never needed a pretext for blaming their self-inflicted wounds on the West.
The administration's response to the events in Iran was predictable given its obsession with "engaging" a regime that shows no interest in returning the favor.
Yet while distancing ourselves from democratic forces in Iran under the guise of respect for that government's sovereignty, we have been quite eager to "meddle" in the domestic politics of Honduras. Worse, we have wound up on the wrong side.
Last Sunday, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was awakened by soldiers who gave him a one-way ticket to exile in Costa Rica. What seemed like a prototypical Latin American military coup, however, was belied by the events leading to Zelaya's departure. Like his chief backer, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Zelaya was intent on rewriting his country's constitution to abolish term limits.
Only the Honduran Congress, however, is legally capable of calling a constitutional convention. Unable to convince even his own ostensible legislative allies to support his scheme, Zelaya said he would implement a referendum unilaterally, and Chavez mailed the necessary ballots. When the country's Supreme Court declared his actions unconstitutional and the country's top military officer informed Zelaya that he would not carry out his orders to oversee a sham election, Zelaya fired him. Zelaya then led a mob of supporters - including armed thugs supplied by Chavez and Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega - to try to steal the ballots.
On Tuesday, Zelaya was given a hero's welcome by the United Nations General Assembly. More worrying has been American complicity in the campaign to restore an authoritarian to power, beginning with U.S. co-sponsorship of a resolution stating that the removal of Zelaya "interrupted the democratic and constitutional order and the legitimate exercise of power in Honduras."
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