And yes, Iran's short-term response may be to demand still more apologies. But in the long run, maybe America will garner more respect around the world not only for its strength, but for its civility.

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And yes, Iran's short-term response may be to demand still more apologies. But in the long run, maybe America will garner more respect around the world not only for its strength, but for its civility.

How can we Americans justify not apologizing for the manslaughter of 290 innocent people including 66 children? Our military shot down a commercial airliner and then we have the audacity to not say we're sorry. That is inhumane, racist, uncivil and disgusting.

What would we say if the Iranian military accidentally shot down an American Airlines flight with 290 Americans on board? If you don't think we would demand an apology then you're crazy, and we would deserve one. More than likely many Americans would demand the launch of an all out war to wipe Iran off the face of the earth.

Wake up Americans, we are not the only people on earth. Every human deserves to be treated with respect and civility. This is why so many people around the world hate us, it's not because they hate our way of life or our religion, it's because we have the arrogance to believe that we can do anything we want anywhere in the world, we can kill innocent people, we can destroy lives, and we never have to apologize for anything because we're America and we're always right.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

Does that satisfy your sixth grade mentality enough that the grownups can now do some grownup talking?

But let me take the point that you make in your second paragraph further. Let's say Obama does apologize for historic transgressions against the Iranian people. (I note that Newroz is a pre-Islamic cultural celebration.) Nothing about the regime or the revolution. Doesn't that allow the dissidents and reformers breathing room to contend that the U.S. is interested in a holistic breach of relations, preventing the regime from using the threat of external U.S. aggression as an excuse for intransigence?

I don't disagree with your point about any apology coming in the context of negotiations. Maybe it can be a point in some joint communique in the future.

Mr. Ackerman, apologizing to the regime will only embolden their resolve to stand against US interest. Sure, it may open quicker discussions, and the US sure has dark moments vis-à-vis Iran, but the Islamic Republic will only use the gesture as proof that the Great Satan has bowed to the Revolution. The stubborn stance in opposition to the US will be payed off by US apology. Not apologizing is not about keeping US pride, but about how the Islamic Republic will use this overture of US regret to further the regime’s stability and strengthen the Revolutionary millenarianism.

Moreover, a regime with such vehement human rights abuses should have no apologies extended its way just yet. Apology would emboldening its Revolutionary resolve. Dissidents fill their prisons, and regime apparatus is always on ready to shut down any action that smells of opposition to the fundamentals of the Revolution. So many Iranians within and without the Iranian state are fighting to reform the Revolutionary stance and allow for a greater civil society. A complete and absolute gesture to Iran such as an admittance of guilt can work to subvert the work done by these Iranians.

As soon as the US apologizes, the Islamic Republic has the upper hand. IF the US ever does use the gesture of apology to get something one day, it has to be within the context of discussions, and targeted at certain concessions. Let the US utilize this current overture of peace, internationalism, and cooperation as a stepping stone and let the Islamic Republic do something this time.

In 1953 in the USA, Barack Obama's parents would have been arrested for miscegination. He could not have been conceived, much less born, much less become president. He couldn't even have used the same public restroom as white people, in 1953.