Iranians do not need or want us to teach
them about liberty and representative government. They have long
embodied this struggle. It is we who need to be taught. It was
Washington that orchestrated the 1953 coup
to topple Iran’s democratically elected government, the first in the
Middle East, and install the compliant shah in power.
The growing nonviolent insurrection in Iran against the efforts by the
ruling clerics to return the ultra-conservative and increasingly
autocratic incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinjead to power is
growing. Whatever the outcome, it represents an exciting and
massive outpouring of Iranian civil society for a more open and
pluralistic society.
As he surveys the aftermath of the rioting in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei will be assessing the crisis he faces. Referring the
complaints from defeated presidential candidates for a ten-day enquiry
— just 48 hours after detecting a divine hand in the result — may
stymie protests and gain time.
What we’re witnessing in Iran over the last several days is the power of nonviolence.
Unarmed Iranians by the hundreds of thousands, and across all ages
and classes, have flocked to the streets of Tehran, defying bans and
brutal paramilitary squads, to demand one simple thing: that their
votes be counted fairly.
The democratic longing, and the democratic thronging, shows no signs of letting up.
TEHRAN - Iran's opposition stepped up its challenge to the Islamic regime on Wednesday as the authorities intensified a crackdown on the media to try to contain the biggest crisis since the 1979 revolution.
Defeated presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters called for a new round of public demonstrations and laid down the gauntlet over the disputed election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
It was Iran's day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its
people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square - from the Square of
Revolution to the Square of Freedom - beneath the eyes of Tehran's
brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing
and abusing their "President" as "dust".
TEHRAN - Thousands of people began massing in the streets here again on Tuesday to protest Iran's disputed presidential election, increasing tensions a day after clashes left at least seven people dead during the largest antigovernment demonstration since the Iranian revolution.
But in answer to the supreme leader's turnabout call for an examination of opposition charges of vote-rigging, the country's powerful Guardian Council said Tuesday it was prepared to order only a partial recount, and it ruled out an annulment of the vote, according to state television and news reports.
I'm going to leave the debate about whether Iran's election was
"stolen" and the domestic implications within Iran to people who
actually know what they're talking about (which is a very small subset
of the class purporting to possess such knowledge). But there is one
point I want to make about the vocal and dramatic expressions of
solidarity with Iranians issuing from some quarters in the U.S.
The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian
people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of
incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or
manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey
of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a
more than 2 to 1 margin -- greater than his actual apparent margin of
victory in Friday's election.
TEHRAN - Iranian opposition supporters staged a defiant rally against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election on Monday, with his defeated rival set to appear in public for the first time since the vote triggered the worst unrest in a decade.
Iran's supreme leader has also ordered the country's top election supervisory body to look into the complaints raised by former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has branded Friday's election a vote-rigged "charade."
