The Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was convicted of spying by an Iranian court and sentenced to eight years in prison. She has already been detained in the notorious Evin prison since the end of January. What is the reaction of the U.S. government? We are “disappointed” — “deeply disappointed,” actually. We are not outraged. We do not condemn. We are disappointed.

And how did that Al Arabiya TV spot work out? And all those friendly signals about letting the Iranians go forward with their nuclear program while we chat? None of our efforts at “outreach” got us, and more importantly, Ms. Saberi, anything, as the Washington Post makes clear:

The verdict was announced after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for Saberi’s release and President Obama made diplomatic overtures to Iran after three decades of severed ties. The United States has said the accusations against Saberi are baseless.

This is what we have come to. The U.S. president either out of conviction or misguided strategy has chosen to prostrate himself before the world. We apologize to friend and foe alike. We tip our hat to the “Islamic Republic of Iran,” giving the impression we believe the “Republic” part. We avert our eyes from human rights abuses in China, North Korea, and Iran. And now when a woman journalist is thrown into the hell hole of Evin, our Secretary of State — the great defender of gender equality and the gal who made nineteen million cracks in the glass ceiling — can only muster “disappointment.” We think such servile behavior will engender respect from our foes — or is disdain the more likely result?

And more importantly, one wonders what the oppressed and incarcerated human rights victims in Iran and elsewhere think of the U.S. government now. Do they see a beacon of hope and stalwart defender of human rights or a groveler before dictators?

Perhaps we expect to spring Ms. Saberi by genuflecting before the mullahs or by averting our eyes when they help deliver enriched uranium to North Korea. I suppose there is a first for everything. But the spectacle of an American administration so intent on currying good will from the world’s dictators that it will accept virtually every act of despotism and aggression with only the mildest rebuke is, well, certainly more than disappointing.