Bush's Statement on the 2005 Iranian Presidential Elections

On the eve of the 2005 Iranian presidential elections, President Bush issued a statement calling the elections a sham and saying the elections were designed to keep power in the hands of rulers whom he said, suppress liberty at home and deny the Iranian people their basic human rights.

From VOA via Global Security - June 16, 2005:

President Bush says Friday's election in Iran is, in his words, "sadly consistent with the oppressive record of an unelected few, who have retained power through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy."

In a written statement, Mr. Bush said Iran's rulers have prevented more than a thousand candidates from running in this election, including popular reformers and women, who, the president says, have done much for the cause of freedom and democracy in Iran...

[Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has campaigned in part on improving relations with the United States, is leading most opinion polls...]

In his statement, President Bush said the Iranian people deserve a truly free and democratic system, in which elections are honest...

Mr. Bush says Iranians deserve a free economy that delivers opportunity and prosperity and economic independence from the state. He says they also deserve an independent judiciary that will guarantee the rule of law and ensure equal justice for all people.

President Bush says the regime in Tehran denies all these rights. He says it shuts down independent newspapers and Web sites, and jails those who dare to challenge what he calls a corrupt system.

Mr. Bush says Americans believe in the right of the Iranian people to make their own decisions and determine their own future...

Bear in mind, that in the 2005 Iranian elections - which Bush condemned - although there were allegations of fraud, it was nothing compared to this year's allegations.

Maziar Bahari - the Newsweek reporter who was arrested by Iranian authorities earlier this week - wrote just a day before the June 12, 2009 election as follows:

According to recent... polls seen by NEWSWEEK, some 16 million to 18 million Iranians say they plan to vote for... Mir Hossein Mousavi, on June 12—compared with just 6 million to 8 million for Ahmadinejad...

Ahmadinejad ended up winning the election with nearly 63 percent of the vote.

However, to be fair with Obama, he did come out a little bit stronger against the Iranian regime in his news conference on Tuesday. But unlike Mr. Bush, he wouldn't dare come out with a full-fledged condemnation of the regime and its corrupt ways. For indeed, that would be asking too much of him.

The President on Tuesday also stated as follows:

"I've made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran's affairs."

Mr. President, thank you for refreshing our memories and reminding us once again about your non-meddling ways. We had almost forgotten about that, and about the utmost 'respect' you have for the Iranian regime.

Sigh....