US Meddles Elsewhere, Gets Praised

Here's what I don't understand: in Iran, we ("we" being the US government) support a popular uprising against a totalitarian regime which is clearly trying to suppress democracy. In Honduras, we are calling for the immediate return of a president who was ousted by his own government for attempting to circumvent due process and illegally extend his term of office.

President Manuel Zelaya has been removed from office in Honduras, by what is being called a "military coup." First let me ask you, if you were going to arrest the president, would you send the quilting circle? In order for it to be a "military coup," a military leader would have to have been set in Zelaya's place. Instead, his legitimate Constitutional successor, Roberto Micheletti, Speaker of the Honduran Congress was sworn in, and has vowed solely to serve out the remainder of Zelaya's term and to support the upcoming November presidential elections. Zelaya was removed from office because he persisted in trying to get a referendum to extend his non-renewable four-year term of office in spite of legal barriers legitimately placed in front of him by the Honduran Congress, Supreme Court and ultimately the military who carried out his removal. What were they supposed to do? Sit by and let him ignore the laws of the land and stay in office?

Comparisons to Iran already abound, spurred by an outbreak of protests in Honduras. I still say there is little comparison. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called the coup a "return to the past," and says, "We will not permit it." What we? You and President Obama? Since when is the US taking counsel from Hugo Chavez? And a return to what past? You mean Chavez' own failed coup attempt in 1992 that landed him in jail for 2 years? Of course Hugo Chavez wants one of his fellow dictators returned to power. The only comparison in Honduras to Iran is that there are protests going on. Zelaya was legitimately removed from power with the backing of both the legislative and judicial branches of the Honduran government, for abuses of power and for violating provisions of their Constitution. Even if he does return to Honduras, it has been made clear he will be arrested and placed on trial for crimes against the country. Moreover, the new president, Mr, Micheletti has the full support of the Honduran Congress and has already sworn in a new cabinet. Zelaya will not be returning to power in Honduras. There is no such uniformity of opinion in the Iranian government, and the situation in Honduras is opposite what is happening in Iran; the Honduran government used legal precedent to get rid of someone who was trampling all over their laws, placing his own ambitions ahead of due process -- and they replaced him with his Constitutional successor. In Iran, the regime has suppressed democracy, staged a sham election, and refused to follow fair reconciliation processes. I don't see that happening in Honduras.

OK, now I've spelled it out for myself, I get it. We can't "meddle" in Iran because they might nuke us down the road, or maybe worse, take the choke chain off Hezbollah. But we can meddle in Latin America because they are really just an adjunct to America anyway. If they get too pushy, we'll just slap them back into the corner.