Too Little, Too Late?

The Department of Status Quo tries to make a change:

You might have missed it, but a new era has dawned in U.S. policy toward Iran. On February 15, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Bush administration's foreign affairs budget for the coming year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice articulated what amounts to a sea-change in America's approach to Iran. In her remarks, Rice revealed that the Bush administration is asking Congress for $75 million in supplemental funds for Iran-related programming. The objective? "To support the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom in their own country."

For dedicated Iran watchers, Rice's declaration was a long-overdue sign of seriousness. For years, the White House has supported Iranian democracy in word, but not in deed. Despite regular pronouncements from administration officials -- and repeated references in the State of the Union -- the Bush administration has done little that is tangible to showcase its commitment to the cause of freedom in Iran. Instead, time and again, government officials have gravitated toward some sort of accommodation with Tehran on such issues as Iraq and even the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions. Concurrently, U.S. government broadcasting toward Iran has languished at minimal levels. (Last year, the combined budget for Voice of America Persian language programming and Radio Farda was $16.4 million -- less than 22 cents per Iranian a year, and less than a third of what was spent per capita on broadcasting toward the USSR in 1983!) By far the biggest problem, however, has been the lack of a coherent message about American priorities vis-a-vis Iran, coupled with a palpable unwillingness to resolutely confront the Islamic Republic.

Somehow, I think the Department of Defense would be a surer bet to effect regime change in Iran.