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Is Obama for democracy?
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You would think the leader of the free world would do whatever possible to promote and help those who want democracy in their country. Well, apparently Obama doesn't. He has cut funding for pro-democracy programs in Iran to zero.
Funding for pro-democracy Iranian groups began in 2004 with 1.5 million and went up to 75 million a couple years later under the request of Condoleezza Rice. The budget for 2010, zero.
From Newsmax:
Controversy has surrounded the programs from the start, with pro-regime lobbying groups, such as the National Iranian-American Council urging the State Department to cancel the funding.
And although Bush administration officials told pro-democracy activists they wanted to fund projects inside Iran (as called for in the original legislative language), State Department desk officers intervened to block funding for any projects other than cultural exchanges and “think tanks and studies,” insiders told Newsmax.
One key opponent of the funding, who weighed in at meetings to block specific grant requests aimed at helping pro-democracy groups inside Iran, was Suzanne Maloney, who is now at the Brookings Institution.
Speaking at a Washington forum that the National Iranian-American Council sponsored Wednesday, Maloney applauded President Obama’s do-nothing policy. “The best thing we can do for Iranian democracy is sit back and let Iranians fight it out for themselves,” she said, echoing the president’s own words from a brief press statement the day before.
What perfect timing isn't it?
