Memeorandum, and others, are linking to a translation of what is reported to be a recent statement from Iranian opposition leader, Hossein Mousavi. In the statement there is the following paragraph which on its face seems alarming:
In this road, we are not up against the Basij members; Basiji’s are our brothers. In this road, we are not up against the Revolutionary Guard members; they are protectors of our Revolution and regime. We are not up against the military; they are the protectors of our [country's] borders. We are not up against our sacred regime and its legal structures; this structure guards our Independence, Freedom, and Islamic Republic. We are up against the deviations and deceptions and we want to reform them; a reformation that returns us to the pure principles of the Islamic Revolution.
Not exactly words of refutation of the Islamist regime.
This passage is also a little puzzling:
If the high volume of cheating and vote manipulation, that has put a fire to the foundations of people’s trust, is itself introduced as the proof and evidence of the lack of fraud [a response to Ayatollah Khamenei’s contention that the difference of 11 million votes between Mr. Mousavi and Ahmadinejad is so large that cannot be a fraud], the republicanism of the regime will be slaughtered and the idea of incompatibility of Islam and republicanism would be practically proven. Such a fate will make two groups happy; one group being those who arrayed their troops against the Imam [Khomeini] from the beginning of the Revolution and assumed that the Islamic government is the same as Tyranny of the Rightful and, in their false surmise, want to bring people to Heaven by force, and the other group being those who, by claiming to defend the rights of the people, basically consider religion and Islam to be blockers for realization of republicanism. The wondrous craft of the Imam was rendering the witchcraft of these dualisms null and void. I had come to neutralize the efforts of the witches who have found a new life.
His statement seems to argue for a return to the good old days of beginning of the original Islamic revolution.
UPDATE: Confederate Yankee is very pessimistic:
No matter who eventually prevails, the Iranian government will still continue their drive to build nuclear weapons. They will still fund terrorists. They will still train terrorists in their country to kill civilians in Israel. They will still train terrorists to kill American soldiers in Iraq.
I’ll say a prayer tonight for Neda and the other Iranians who were killed today, but pardon me if I refuse to fall into the trap of projecting my values onto a culture that all too often cheers when Americans die. [MORE HERE]
Several news commentators have said that the young people still want a Muslim country. I doubt that even if they win, we can expect any kind of democracy.
Mousavi has to be very careful of what he says because the clerics still have the power and even if Mousavi wins, he will have to live with them.
Because over half of Iran are young, we can expect some amelioration of the strictest of the laws, more women’s rights and eventually perhaps a moderate government. The people are still Muslim, we must not expect an overhaul.
In a country like that, it will take time to grow into real understanding of real freedom.
Unless the anti-theocracy forces take the lead, all this will be for nothing.
This is why I didn’t mind Obama being silent for a while. Why support the protestors who merely want one extremist wacko over another? Its like supporting people who want Stalin to replace Hitler.
I think it is realistic to see that freedom in an Islamic Country comes in baby steps, for it to be lasting it has to be.
The entire point of this protest has morphed into taking away some of the unlimited powers that the Mullah’s hold over the Iranian people that have become very oppressive in the Iranian’s everyday life.
There can be something said of Obama holding off “our” support of freedom of Iranians but his rush to accept the rigged election and therefore the oppressors was a huge mistake, Obama finally joined in with various European countries in making what appears to be a token or forced statement on standing with freedom seeking people….We now follow in the advancement of freedom as opposed to being the beacon of freedom that’s light is always on and always the first light to shine on people who seek freedom.
I see no downside in regime change within Iran at this point in time even though any changes that occur will most likely be negligible at first but I believe Iranian people for the most part wish to lead a decent, peaceful life, free of economic sanctions and hostility that their current regime seems to relish.
They “may” be willing to deal on the nuclear issue as a means to improve Iranian’s life whereas we don’t stand even a remote chance of dealing with the regime as it stands. And that would be a good “start” for all nations, particularly in the Middle East, the question is are the Iranian people up for the fight.
Freedom’s Just Another Word For Nothin’ Left to Lose…
I noted in my previous post that the Iranian protester called Neda who had her shooting death captured in vivid detail should not be celebrated as a martyr for liberty and freedom. She is instead a martyr for a lesser……
Islam rules Iran. The Followers of Islam have made their aspirations clear for the region and the World.
All of this pandering about “The Iranian People” is absurd. The protestors do not represent “the People” who would aspire to freedom and democracy. They represent the pawns of the ruling faction. They have been manipulated by Ahmedinejad into being pawns of both foreign and domestic policy:
1) use mass protest as a way to draw in foreign governments and their “opinions” to further be castigated as meddlers and imperialists , justifying further isolation and control of the foreign media in Iran;
2) use mass protests as a way to unleash heavy handed clamp downs nation-wide on dissent that is not restricted to just cities, but has been quite virulent in rural tribal areas where tribesmen have been openly fighting Revolutionary Guardsmen since we invaded Iraq.
The protests in the cities are being run by the social and political elites in Tehran. But they play into the hands of the Mullahs who are about to go dark while they prepare to strike Israel. It only takes one strike.
So this passion play for the American and international media is a way to dash “hope” and or the fickle and underinformed to be steered toward the “real problem” in the Middle East— yes, you guessed it— Israel. The “we’ve got to do something” liberal crowd that is in the palm of Barry Soetoro’s hand is beginning to advance the “apartheid” boycotting of Israel.
Played perfectly by the shrewder Mullah-ocracy the protestors are not up in arms against in the least. Surprise! You’ve been punked again America.
Soetoro is not my President.
Bear1909 out.
I disagree Bear, the Iranian people are at this moment “pawns of the ruling factions”.
Maybe your not noticing that this “protest” has gone from a voting recount, straight to tossing out the Mullah’s and the “Supreme Ruler” himself, there is no parsing that fact and for the Iranian People there is no backing off from that statement, they will not be forgiven, they will be crushed if the “ruling class” clerics stay in power.
The entire “meddling” angle is total horse shit designed to gain advantage over weak foreign leaders…and it worked to some degree in that Obama rushed out to shake hands with the “rulers” while the people we’re being murdered in the streets and the rulers, of course, still used the meddling mantra to no effect.
What is taking place in Iran is what we have been waiting for, for years.It has the capability of diffusing high tensions at this critical point in time if successful and it is as it always has been, the best way to avoid a future war that looked to be all but certain,a war in which we do not want.
The best option has always been in the hands of the Iranian people. Now that this opportunity has arrived, why are people tearing it down given our limited options?
Although Mousavi was originally an establishment candidate (selected for candidacy by the Powers That Be), and was originally only protesting the election fraud, I believe that he will become an unintentional mover for radical reform. Democracy and Theocracy are mutually incompatible, but it takes an event like a fraudulent election to reveal this incompatibility. The people have already dismissed the notion of “Divine Assessment” and know that votes are voices. Cast the votes aside, and there is no voice of the people; only the voice of the unelected theocratic leadership.
Iranian voters feel disenfranchised. Only a reform that gives legitimacy to the election process can restore confidence in their government. Maybe not now, but a discontented majority will not stay quiet forever. The theocracy may remain, but ultimately they will become as irrelevant as the hereditary monarchy in Great Britain.