Free speech even for our enemies

It seems that freedom of speech that we cherish here in the United States extends to our enemies. They are free to travel to the US, move about the country as they choose, say anything they want, while back home they work toward our destruction. What a country! Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami spoke with the press before delivering a speech at the Washington National Cathedral on "dialogue of civilizations" to 1,200 people.

Khatami had the gaul to compare human rights in Iran to human rights in the United States. Now let me see, isn't Iran the place where bloggers are arrested, jailed and never heard from again? Isn't Iran the country that arrests journalists when they write anything against the government? Could Khatami stand up in public places in Iran and speak freely against HIS government? I don't think so.

Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami yesterday defended his country's nuclear program and rejected suggestions that freedom and human rights in Iran had deteriorated under his hard-line successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ...

Khatami said Iran's political system should not be judged by the standards of established Western democracies because the United States' own human rights record is not perfect.

"Iran has its problems, but they are not greater than the violations of human rights we saw at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo," he said. source

The Oracle at Red Sky has comments 'On Free Speech and the Sophomoric “Concerns” of Mr. Annan' and the Mohammed cartoons vs. the Iranian cartoons (anti Jewish cartoons).

Free speech is a political ideal. It does not mean that we must say whatever is on our minds or that we should not be responsible in our speech. It simply means that governments should not be in the business of censoring the expression of ideas by free people. Now, having said that, the only reason governments would want to censor what one says is because what we say is somehow offensive to some or contrary to government agendas. [snip]

By the way, despite the mindless claims of Mr. Annan, there is a fundamental difference between the Danish cartoons and the Iranian cartoons regarding the holocaust. The former reflect truth, whereas the latter are based upon sordid lies. Despite the “offense” caused by both cartoon series, the Danish cartoons are good because they are true. The Iranian cartoons are not good because they are not true. Now, if people are offended by truth, so be it. Of course, I’m still waiting for the Jewish riots in the streets and public death threats over the Iranian cartoons…waiting…still waiting…Hmmm.

Musing-Minds has this take on free speech:

Congress can make no law abridging the freedom of the press.

This means that Congress can not make a law that punishes the press for criticizing the government, just as they can’t make a law that punishes you or I for speaking our minds about the government.

The media don’t have a First Amendment right to ask you questions.

They don’t have a First Amendment right to get an answer from you.

They seem to think that they do.

On the other hand, the Democrats in Congress seem to think that they can make a law to punish Disney/ABC for criticizing the government regarding “The Path to 9/11″. Via Hugh Hewitt we are pointed to AmericaBlog which has a copy of the letter

Many in the United States questioned why Khatami was issued a visa, why he was not arrested, detained and questioned upon his arrival. What say you?

It Shines for All had a photo captioning contest, go see it.
Jihad Watch wonders 'will CAIR cancel its reception for him?'

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7 Deadly Sins is in 'network hell', go give them some love.

Comments

[NavyHelo]

Thanks for several interesting thoughts about Khatami and what he represents. Here's my two cents:

I appreciate the opportunity for the first visit by a significant Iran leader to this country in what, 25 years or so?

I do not especially like the guy or the regime he used to represent. Lots of my friends had to leave that country after the fall of the Shah. As has been noted, the present Iranian civil rights record is very bad.

Important political shifts in country like Iran, do not happen out of the blue, however. Most of my friends in Iran belonged to the 700 notable families who had prospered under the Shah. He had a reputation of brutal repression of his enemies, which is hardly a newsflash in the Middle East. But that, combined with the Shah's rise to power through the US-led coup against the popularly-elected Mossadegh has left Khomeini and the present taskmasters of Tehran with lots of ammunition to stir up hatred for the US among the Iranians, who were not as fortunate years ago as my friends.

The comment that was cited in most US news articles does not present the US civil rights as the same as Iran; rather, this Iranian uses some FACTS in his speech, focusing only on our less-praiseworthy mistreatment of some prisoners, in order to win some sympathy with his audiences; such attempts will be of little affect on most Americans who read their news. At the same time his appearances give us some exposure to another Iranian leader, who MAY represent a different political thread in Iran from the current President.

Our realistic options with Iran are limited; sanctions seem to be going nowhere. For the time being, some diplomatic efforts, which Secretary Rice says she prefers to pursue, looks preferable to going to war with this rather large country; which has the 2nd (or 3rd) largest oil reserves AND has a culture going back over 2,500 years. Gee, I wonder what my Irish ancestors were doing 2,500 years ago?

[James Biga]

This man should never have been issued a visa. He is just like the despotic diplomats sitting at the UN gorging on food and drink spending thousands a day to continue their sinful habits while their own people starve and die. This man takes advantage of the moral relativism that is running rampant in our country. His nation and culture is not equalt to ours. I have every right to judge him by our standards. Our standards are fair and right. He is a wicked man, with a wicked religion that thrives on the ignorant and oppressed. This qualifies as evil. Free speech without responsibility for that speech is asinine. The sad part is Harvard donations will probably go up. How pathetic are we?!