Iran stands today discredited in the eyes of the world and most importantly, in the eyes of a majority of its people.
The difference between the Shah and the iran of today - the Shah pulled his troops back after the first day or two of protests and let go. The Mullahs clamped down harder - killing scores and imprisoning thousands. Will we ever know exactly how many? Yes, within 6 years. The martyrs of the revolution that failed will be remembered.
For many of those who support the mullahs, they use the Shah's last days as examples of cruelty and brutality, his use of 'the' infamous prison which housed the prisoners opposed to the Shah, stands today holding those who oppose the mullahs. Today it is called an attack on Islam, an attack on the government, but in 1979 it was justice.
Interesting how that works. of course anyone familiar with revolutions understood - the oppressed oppose the oppressor and once they assume power, become the oppressor.
Some who supported the mullahs (Amedinejad) will not do so again after watching what they have done to the country. All those opposed will stand again when the next election cycle turns, and this time no one will sit out the election. This time there will not be 8 candidates with the lower ranking collecting opponents to the prevailing ideas - next time, the majority will stand behind one man, and inshallah, he will take down the murderous and corrupt regime.
That issue aside - one other is worth noting.
Obama said he would not place any restrictions on speaking to the dictator from Iran. My question is - has he tried yet? Why not? During the failed revolution, Obama stated that he / the US would not get involved in the domestic affairs of that country.
You will recall, Obama made this distinction between he and Bush - he would build relations, not destroy them - he would talk to people we do not like, he wouldn't call them an 'Axis of Evil'. he would engage the enemy in conversation, not warfare. He would stay out of other countries affairs, unlike Bush who interfered.
My question then is - what has the US done in Honduras? Stayed out or become involved? When we expel their diplomats - what is that called? When we host a forced conversation between Honduras and Costa Rica and the former president of Honduras - what is that called.
And who determines whether we involved ourselves in their domestic affairs? In the case of Honduras, it is VERY EVIDENT the hypocrisy.
I heard the other day a well spoken individual from a think-tank of some sort explain why it was a coup in Honduras and he tossed out the fact they have a constitution and could impeach and ... he was a fool. He knew nothing about Honduras or their Constitution. Unfortunately, the Honduran Constitution never considered the possibility of a case like this and never included a mechanism for impeachment. Any leader who commits a crime must first be arrested, tried, convicted, and then impeached. This brilliant scholar from some East coast think tank knew nothing. What a fool. All he was trying to do was defend the Obama administration actions and he instead showed why he knew less about Honduras than my mailman ... and his area of study was Latin American affairs.
In any case - setting Honduras aside, most times, it is the recipient state who claims its domestic affairs are being interfered with, not the state accused of interfering.
H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y and perhaps worse - further evidence of a juvenile approach to foreign policy both in the promises to the American people, the attacks on the previous administration, and the conduct of foreign policy today.
Iran expands mass trial of opposition supporters
By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 16, 2009
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran expanded its mass trial of opposition supporters Sunday, adding 25 more defendants including a Jewish teenager who are accused of involvement in unrest over the disputed presidential election.
The turmoil that erupted after the opposition declared the June 12 vote a fraud has weakened President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and called his legitimacy into question. Nevertheless, he pushed ahead with preparations for his next term by announcing he will nominate three women to join his new Cabinet. If confirmed, they would be Iran's first female ministers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The adding of defendants, which brought the total number to 135, defied international condemnation of the trial many view as a sham. The U.S. labeled it a "show trial" last week and Ahmadinejad fired back with a thinly veiled criticism of President Barack Obama.
"The excellency who talks about change made a big mistake when he openly interfered in Iran's domestic issues," Ahmadinejad told a group of clerics Sunday, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency.
The defendants in the trial include a former Iranian vice president and other former senior government officials linked to the country's pro-reform movement, French and Iranian-American academics, employees of the British and French embassies, and an Iranian-Canadian reporter for Newsweek magazine. They are charged with plotting a "soft revolution" against the Islamic theocracy and some made public confessions that the opposition charges were coerced.
The trial and official acknowledgments that some detainees have been abused in prison have only added to anger among both opposition supporters and some conservatives over the treatment of protesters.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is expected to visit Iran in the coming days after his country intervened last week to help France win the release of one of the defendants, an Iranian-French employee in its Tehran embassy. France is also hoping to win the release of 24-year-old Clotilde Reiss, a French academic who was among defendants that made public confessions.
The prosecutor opened the third session of the trial with a general indictment of all 25 new defendants, accusing them of plotting the post-election turmoil years in advance, the state news agency reported.
One of the new defendants belongs to Iran's tiny Jewish community. Yaghoghil Shaolian, 19, was quoted by semiofficial Fars news agency as saying he was not an activist and did not even vote. But he said he just got carried away and threw some stones at a bank branch in central Tehran, resulting in his arrest.
Iran's sole Jewish parliamentarian, Siamak Mereh Sedq, confirmed the detention of Shaolian and his Jewish identity to The Associated Press. He said the detention was not connected to his religion.
"He is innocent. We hope to see his release soon based on Islamic mercy," he said.
Shaolian's trial is the first time a Jew has been tried in Iran since 2000 when 13 Jews were charged with spying for Israel. Iran is home to 25,000 Jews, the largest such community in the Middle East outside Israel.
During the trial session, authorities played a film showing attacks on public property, cars and a mosque by protesters.
Ahmadinejad's announcement on women appointees to his Cabinet appeared to be an attempt to enlist the support of Iranian women as he fends off criticism from the opposition and some of his own conservative supporters. But the appointments seem unlikely to appease reformists because the two women he named Sunday are fellow hard-liners.
He said on state television he would appoint Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi, a 50-year-old gynecologist, as health minister and Fatemeh Ajorlu, a 43-year-old lawmaker, as minister of welfare and social security. He did not name the third woman but said he will nominate at least one more female minister to the Cabinet. Ahmadinejad currently has a female vice president on his Cabinet who is in charge of the environment.
Iran's last female minister, Farrokhroo Parsay, served from 1968 to 1977. She was executed on charges of corruption after the 1979 revolution that brought hard-line Islamists to power.
Every minister has to be approved by parliament — an uncertain prospect given that some lawmakers have criticized Ahmadinejad for not consulting with them prior to making his nominations.
Ahmadinejad also named cleric Haidar Moslehi as the new intelligence minister. Moslehi currently serves as head of the department of endowment and charity affairs.
Ahmadinejad fired the previous intelligence minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, in July in an apparent dispute that reportedly included the handling of the clampdown on the unrest.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims he was the true election winner, is also consolidating his political forces. According to newspaper reports Sunday, he has announced he will form a new political organization named "The Green Path of Hope" and said it was aimed at regaining people's constitutional rights. Green is the signature color of the opposition movement, adopted from Mousavi's youth-driven election campaign.
At the trial, defendants Mehrdad Aslani accused Mousavi of planting the idea of election fraud in the minds of supporters.
"Mr. Mousavi, do you know there are seats here for you and your friends who were the cause of this plot?" he said.
Mousavi has not been arrested since the unrest began, although some hard-liners have called for him to be put on trial along with other opposition leaders.
Iran
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