Hypocrisy in Action

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

President Barack Obama

I think it is somewhat disingenious to tell other governments how to control their riots. The United States is very brave to lecture the world about freedom of speech and right to protest, but these freedoms seem to disappear when the US feels like they can actually make a difference. Iran today is a powder keg. And the government knows it. These protests are not being suppressed because the government is afraid to do a recount - heck, everyone in Iran knows that the President is a figurehead with no real power. The mullahs in power fear that these protests will morph into protests that can easily spin out of control and topple their government. And let's face it, we would do the same in this country and have done so many times in the past.