Sympathy for the Devil

The New York Times ran this short piece from Reuters about a plane fire in Iran on a Russian—built civilian airliner. Note the last sentence:

"U.S. sanctions on the Islamic state have prevented it from buying new aircraft or spares from the West, forcing it to supplement its aging fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes with aircraft from the former Soviet Union."

Gee, it is so inconsiderate of the US to not offer spare parts to a country that seized the US embassy, constantly calls for "Death to America," and now threatens the world with nuclear war in order to bring back the 12th Imam and a worldwide caliphate.

But there is one interesting point to note in the Reuters/NYT article. There was no blaming of President Bush for the US sanctions. But I guess both Reuters and The Times figured someone would soon point out that President Clinton also did not allow the sale of newer Boeing aircraft to any Iranian airline. They would be embarrassed on President Clinton's part for not lifting the sanctions.

Jack Kemp (not the politician) 9 1 06