American Mettle

All I know is, with the Iran election standoff turning bloody, I’m looking at this photo in a different way than I did last week.

The image, from a slideshow on the White House website of Biden’s trip last month to the Middle East, shows the Veep with Lebanese Defense Minister Murr and equipment quote-unquote “donated” by the U.S. to the Lebanese Army.

It’s not that I’m advocating a full bore U.S. military defense of the Iranian reformers. I am wondering, however, how long before the Iranian tanks come out and how far the situation has to go before a more vigorous American effort does merit deployment in the name of democracy.

(image: David Lienemann/White House. Rafic Hariri International Airport, Beirut, Lebanon. May 22, 2009)