Michael Ledeen thinks it's important for Americans to know that street demonstrators in Iranian cities are being massacred by helicopter gunships ordered by the regime to put down the protests. Tomorrow's election is subject to calls for a boycott, a cause that has now been joined by Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Shirin Ebadi. On the eve of the tainted elections, Ledeen says that the so-called reform movement has been proven politically impotent by their failure to keep their people on the ballot, but he remains hopeful...
The other great lesson is that many Iranians, when pushed to the wall by the tyrants, do indeed have the courage to fight back. In an unprecedented step, more than 100 reformers issued a letter to Supreme Leader Khamenei, in which they used language more traditionally reserved for greater and lesser satans in Washington and Jerusalem. They surely know that punishment will be severe, but they did it anyway. One fine day such shows of courage will inspire the Iranian people to defend them en masse, fill the public spaces of the major cities with demonstrators, and demand an end to the regime. And one fine day such actions will compel the Bush administration to support the Iranian people. And on that day the regime will fall, and with it the keystone to the international terror network with which we are at war.
Keep the brave citizens of Iran in your thoughts and prayers on "Election Day" 2/20. Here's hoping the loss of innocent life will be minimal. Cynicism about the electoral process has projections of voter turnout as low as between 10 and 15%.
As always, there is good coverage of events in Iran at Pejmanesque, and there's also a good roundup of articles and opinion on Iran at Oxblog. Patrick Belton at Oxblog also has a post on the concern of young Iranian pro-democracy reformers about the political positions on Iran taken by John Kerry.
Posted by dan at February 19, 2004 11:33 PM