Riot police and pro-government militiamen used clubs and tear gas to forcibly break up an opposition demonstration in front of the Iranian parliament Wednesday after the nation's supreme leader denounced what he described as pressure tactics aimed at overturning the recent disputed presidential election and warned that "lawlessness" would not be tolerated.
I do so love it when a lawless regime starts talking about the rule of law, don't you? But wait, there's more:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate political and religious authority, told lawmakers that "neither the system nor the people will submit to bullying" over the election. In televised remarks, he called for the "restoration of order," adding that lawbreaking would lead to "dictatorship."
Because what his goons are doing isn't bullying right, and of course that Theocratic Dictatorship you're running in Iran now is just peachy, yes? Can't run the risk of a dictatorship breaking out now can we? Its like the Iranian government, like most despots around the world read from the Western political playbook on language, utter a few platitudes and hope the world buys what they are saying is reality so they can cover their deeds with flowery words.
While its been correctly pointed out by Debbie Schlussel that the current leading opponent of the Regime -- Mousavi -- is no Mr. Nice Guy and certainly no great fried of the West, the hope is that the protesters, with adequate support would not settle for replacing one theocratic dictator with another but actually get to some real democracy and human rights. After all they're Persians with a historic society and culture and the Persians here are generally quite pro-US and pro-democracy.
Of course, you'll notice that a certain US-based Iranian, Imam Mohamed Elahi of Dearborn, current Imam of the Islamic House of Wisdom and late spiritual head of the Iranian Navy, has been strangely silent about these protests in his column in the Detroit News (if it isn't criticizing the USA or Israel its just not newsworthy to him). Can't wait for his intellectual back flips on this one.
Well I still wish the protesters in Iran luck and support, and I wish that we had a President with some backbone to support them. George Bush I made a big mistake in not backing the Kurds and Shia against the Iraqi government after Gulf War One, and Obama is making a worse mistake by showing America will dessert proponents of democracy at the first opportunity. This mistake will have repercussions beyond this current crisis.
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