But we elected Obama! Why do they still hate us?

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It's a Mad World

But we elected Obama! Why do they still hate us?

By JAMES TARANTO

Susan Rice, America's ambassador to the U.N., is one of President Obama's kindly new foreign-policy faces. Yesterday, the Associated Press reports, she asked Iran really nicely to be nice:

Rice brought up Iran at an open meeting of the UN Security Council on Iraq, saying the long-term US commitment to Iraq and the reduction of the US military presence in the country had to be understood "in a larger, regional context" that included Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iran.

The United States "will seek an end to Iran's ambition to acquire an illicit nuclear capacity and its support for terrorism," Rice said. "It will aim to encourage both Iran and Syria to become constructive regional actors . . ."

She didn't call them evil or anything! But how did they respond? The AP reports Rice's gentle admonition "drew an immediate rebuke from Iran's UN envoy":

Ambassador Mohammad Khazee said Iran has never and will never try to acquire nuclear weapons and dismissed US Ambassador Susan Rice's allegation that Iran engages in terrorism as "baseless and absurd." . . .

"It is unfortunate that, yet again, we are hearing the same tired, unwarranted and groundless allegations that used to be unjustifiably and futilely repeated by the previous US administration," Khazee said.

Maybe this is to be expected. After all, Iran was mad at America even when Jimmy Carter was president. But Reuters reports from Buenos Aires that Argentina is also taking umbrage at a comment by an Obama administration official:

Argentina on Thursday blasted the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for saying the country, along with Ecuador and Venezuela, could be pushed into instability by the global economic crisis.

Lumping Argentina together with Ecuador and Venezuela, both led by leftist anti-Washington firebrands, raises concern in this country, where center-left President Cristina Kirchner is trying to keep the economy from stagnating.

Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana called the comments made on Wednesday by CIA Director Leon Panetta "unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region."

Oh well, at least Obama is getting kudos for promising to close down the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, right? Not quite. Reuters reports from London that a British lawyer representing detainees claims "abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office." Ahmad Ghappour, a "human rights lawyer," claims that "traumatized" and "barbaric" American military servicemen are "trying to get their kicks in right now for fear that they won't be able to later."

Another Reuters dispatch, from Brussels, brings us the news that the European Union will not be satisfied with the shuttering of Guantanamo:

Washington wants the EU to help it close Guantanamo by agreeing to accept discharged prisoners who cannot be returned to their own countries for fear of torture.

But a confidential EU policy paper, obtained by Reuters, said such help would depend on Washington's overall anti-terrorism policies, including assurances that Bagram [a detention facility in Afghanistan] or other camps would not become new Guantanamos.

"I would find it very surprising, if the (U.S.) policy remained the same while Guantanamo was closed, to see the EU mobilise itself," EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told Reuters.

Let's hope the Obama administration is learning that conflicts between the U.S. and "the rest of the world" have not been merely, or even largely, the result of George W. Bush's bad attitudes, but usually reflect fundamental differences in interest or ideology.