Some Thoughts About the Iranian Demonstrations
Christopher Hitchens has a must read article about the Iranian “elections” that saw the “reelection” of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “President”.
Iran and its citizens are considered by the Shiite theocracy to be the private property of the anointed mullahs. This totalitarian idea was originally based on a piece of religious quackery promulgated by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and known as velayat-e faqui. Under the terms of this edict—which originally placed the clerics in charge of the lives and property of orphans, the indigent, and the insane—the entire population is now declared to be a childlike ward of the black-robed state. Thus any voting exercise is, by definition, over before it has begun, because the all-powerful Islamic Guardian Council determines well in advance who may or may not “run.” Any newspaper referring to the subsequent proceedings as an election, sometimes complete with rallies, polls, counts, and all the rest of it, is the cause of helpless laughter among the ayatollahs. (“They fell for it? But it’s too easy!”) Shame on all those media outlets that have been complicit in this dirty lie all last week. And shame also on our pathetic secretary of state, who said that she hoped that “the genuine will and desire” of the people of Iran would be reflected in the outcome. Surely she knows that any such contingency was deliberately forestalled to begin with.
In theory, the first choice of the ayatollahs might not actually “win,” and there could even be divisions among the Islamic Guardian Council as to who constitutes the best nominee. Secondary as that is, it can still lead to rancor. After all, corrupt systems are still subject to fraud. This, like hypocrisy, is the compliment that vice pays to virtue. With near-incredible brutishness and cruelty, then, the guardians moved to cut off cell-phone and text-message networks that might give even an impression of fairness and announced though their storm-troop “revolutionary guards” that only one form of voting had divine sanction. (“The miraculous hand of God,” announced Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had been present in the polling places and had announced a result before many people had even finished voting. He says that sort of thing all the time.)
The whole election process in Iran is a farce. The President of Iran has little power, instead the “Supreme Leader” has most of the power in the country.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has proven throughout its existence to be the enemy of the civilized world with its repression of women, religious minorities, homosexuals, among others at home; and its support for international terrorism and warmongering abroad.
These demonstrations we’re seeing, which began in an attempt to “reform” this vile and inherently evil form of government, may instead see what the demonstrations that returned Gorbachev to power in 1991 in the Soviet Union started as an attempt to “reform” Soviet Communism. Instead, the 1991 coup and its aftermath led the final destruction of the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, some of the best coverage of the “Green Revolution” is right now on Andrew Sullivan and enjoy a roundup from Michael Moynihan at Hit and Run.
