Who's Sorry Now?

Iran's president wants an apology from the United States for its past policies toward Tehran.

"Those who say they want change, this is the change they should make: They should apologize to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation."

Been there, done that. President Clinton apologized at a state dinner on April 12, 1999, saying Iran

"has been the subject of quite a lot of abuse from various Western nations. And I think sometimes it's quite important to tell people, look, you have a right to be angry at something my country or my culture or others that are generally allied with us today did to you 50 or 60 or 150 years ago."

As the Los Angeles Times recounted on March 18, 2000, the Clinton administration in its final year positively groveled before the mullahs in the proud tradition of Jimmy Carter. Carter, recall, helped bring them to power out of concern for human rights violations by the pro-Western regime led by the Shah of Iran.

Iran has never apologized for holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days after Iranian thugs stormed the American Embassy in Tehran. It has never apologized for being a state sponsor of terror or for developing a nuclear weapon to destroy Israel while failing to cooperate with the United Nations.

Past American timidity toward Iran has not exactly instilled fear in the mullahs that threaten us and helped place us and our allies at risk. President Obama has an opportunity to avoid the mistakes of his Democratic predecessors and to make it clear that it's the Iranians who have some 'splaining to do, not us.

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