Iran Election

[ELVIS]

Mousavi's aides fear dirty tricks could swing result

By Abigail Fielding-Smith in Tehran

Friday, 12 June 2009 (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mousavis-aides-fear-dirty-tricks-could-swing-result-1703226.html)

Iranians cast their votes today amid widespread fears that the result could be rigged, as opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believe happened four years ago.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/006B2y54eugos/340x.jpg
Mir Hossein Mousavi

Mr Ahmadinejad came from behind in 2005 to win 62 per cent of the vote in a second round, a victory popularly attributed to his support in the Basiji, a quasi-military volunteer group involved in administering elections.

"If there is no cheating, I am sure of [Mr Mousavi's victory in] the first round," said Saeed Laylaz, an analyst associated with the Mousavi campaign. Borrowing a football analogy, he said: "We started the campaign 3-0 down, now we are 4-3 up, so long as there is not a goal by the referee."

Mr Mousavi's supporters say it would only take a small amount of ballot-box tampering at each of Iran's 45,000 polling stations to swing the result. "Two million votes could change the elections," said Mohammed Atrianfar, a member of Mr Mousavi's campaign team.

Text messages have been circulating warning voters of potential traps at the polling stations: don't wear green, (the colour of the Mousavi campaign) and vote at schools, not mosques. In an indication of the paranoia among Mousavi supporters, some saw this advice as a trap in itself. Others told voters to bring their own pens because those at the polling stations could be filled with invisible ink.

There is no reliable polling data so it is unclear if Mr Ahmadinejad would need to interfere with votes to win. Mr Mousavi's camp is confident of a simple majority victory in the event of a 75 per cent turnout, obviating the need for a second round, but Mr Ahmadinejad has a strong populist appeal.

A victory for either side could create problems. "Iran has become more militarised recently and I am worried that if Mousavi's supporters feel he has lost because of cheating there will be clashes," Mr Laylaz said.

Sara, a Mousavi supporter, said: "I'm frightened about what will happen if Ahmadinejad loses. He is not a good loser."


:elvis:

[GAR]

It's not Ahmadinejad they have to fear, it's chaos of an uncontrollable population who know too much off the internet and ignoring their own local staterun press.

On the news, the opposition party is out in full green running the streets!

It looks pretty obvious the Iranians are done with the idiots in charge. They'll go chaos on 'em if the election results are crooked.

Iranians need to overthrow and go back to calling their country what they call themselves: Persia.

I have flatulated the Power Cosmic~!!

[ELVIS]

What ??

[Jesus Christ]

The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

[ELVIS]

What's wrong with that ??

Americans used to have that kind of courage...

[Jesus Christ]

What's wrong with that ??

Americans used to have that kind of courage...

Verily.... Americans were once willing to cast the moneychangers out of the Temple. But ye hath been deceived by the Whore of Babylon media.

[Nickdfresh]

By Abigail Fielding-Smith in Tehran

Mr Ahmadinejad came from behind in 2005 to win 62 per cent of the vote in a second round...

...

Largely because of the bellicose rhetoric coming from the Bush Administration...

[letsrock]

The guy holding the AK-47 next to the ballot box will have the biggest influence.

[LoungeMachine]

What's wrong with that ??

Americans used to have that kind of courage...

Pre-Patriot Act you mean?

:gulp:

[ELVIS]

Yes, but going much further back...

[LoungeMachine]

My point being so much public opinion and mood is influenced by the media, and BushCO made sure to silence them with the anthrax attack, the patriot act, other methods....

:gulp:

Let's not foget who were the targets of the anthrax, both in the media, and congress...

[FORD]

Great...... both sides claiming victory, although AP press on the ground can't find anyone who will admit to voting for Ahmadinnerjacket.

Fucking Mossad probably jacked the election so they could get the war that NuttyYahoo wants with every fiber of his black Satanic soul.

[Kristy]

"TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's state news agency is reporting that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has won re-election, but a reformist rival is also claiming victory. The rival claims came even before the close of polls on Friday. Official results are not expected until Saturday."

*sigh* Politics as usual. My best estimate is that it will be Ahmahole-in-the-head-jad.

[letsrock]

Like the results are correct?

[FORD]

Who knows? It could be a case of a "close election" (real or "assisted") in which case Iranian law requires a runoff which would be in two weeks. I don't remember how close it has to be for that to happen though.

[letsrock]

Interesting

[sadaist]

The guy holding the AK-47 next to the ballot box will have the biggest influence.

Like the Black Panthers holding batons at a polling station during our most recent election.

[jhale667]

Like the Black Panthers holding batons at a polling station during our most recent election.

Huh? Where the fuck is your polling place...Compton? :biggrin:

[FORD]

Huh? Where the fuck is your polling place...Compton? :biggrin:

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[jhale667]

:lmao:

[FORD]

Back on topic..... this from Andrew Sullivan's blog. Light on details, but it does not sound good at all......



12 Jun 2009 10:25 pm
The View From Their Election

A reader writes:
What happened today was the first coup d'etat after the revolution. Never before, not even in the worst of times, did we see such an orchestrated mass rigging of the vote. They didn't even bother to count the vote, they are announcing bunch of numbers they had agreed on before! It has no relation to the millions of ballots. The turn-out was amazing or more like shocking: over 75&#37; voted.

This is a party night for neocons and Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad. There will be grave consequences for the supreme leader and this regime but don't let any one have you believe that the millions who voted today will take to the streets and bring this regime down. It won't happen. Disappointment, disgust and pain and isolation is our destiny.

We'll learn more tomorrow. But this has not been a good day for those hoping for change.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/the-view-from-their-election-1.html)


Shit...... NuttyYahoo is going to get away with starting WWIII after all? :(

[Blaze]

There are a lot of people that want Ahmadinejad to win, if Bush did not like him that is a very good mark for him.
Even during the BCE reign of terror, Ahmadinejad made great efforts and strides toward diplomacy.

[sadaist]

Huh? Where the fuck is your polling place...Compton? :biggrin:

Actually, it was in Philadelphia. Gotta pay attention to more news than just the stuff that jives with your same opinion. Didn't really see this on the Obama network news stations.


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[jhale667]

Actually, it was in Philadelphia. Gotta pay attention to more news than just the stuff that jives with your same opinion. Didn't really see this on the Obama network news stations.


Hmm, and which one(s), besides...oh, I'm guessing...FAUX, in your opinion, isn't an Obama station? :D What's an open minded guy supposed to watch, when Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck make my socks itch, from a personal standpoint alone? :hee:

Are you implying these guys were there at the Obama campain's behest, and if so can you support it? Were they telling people who to vote for, or risk a clubbing? Harassing voters at a polling place is still a Federal offense, yes? No one called the cops?

And as for it being Philly...
Well, had you perhaps posted the link originally, might not have thought you were referring to personal experience...your location says So CA, can't blame a dude for asking? :biggrin:


It's not Ahmadinejad they have to fear, it's chaos of an uncontrollable population who know too much off the internet and ignoring their own local staterun press.

On the news, the opposition party is out in full green running the streets!

It looks pretty obvious the Iranians are done with the idiots in charge. They'll go chaos on 'em if the election results are crooked.



Yeah, too much access to knowledge, that's a bad thing in your book. Forgot.
And guess we'll see if you're right (which will be a first) since the election results already look screwy...

[FORD]

That "black panthers in Philadelphia" thing was a little bit of FAUX Noize election day paranoia. If I remember correctly, it turned out to be a bunch of bullshit.

[FORD]

Meanwhile, the Iranian election is sounding a lot like a hijacking, Ohio 2004 style......

Ahmadinejad scores big win in Iran vote

Supporters of Iranian presidential candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrate in Tehran after...
By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl, Reuters
Sat Jun 13, 1:28 AM EDT

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad resoundingly won Iran's election, preliminary official results showed on Saturday, but his moderate challenger alleged irregularities and claimed victory for himself.

The level of the incumbent's support, roughly twice as many votes as former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi with most ballots counted, confounded analyst predictions of a tight race.

A bitterly fought campaign generated intense excitement inside Iran and strong interest around the world, with policymakers looking for signs of a change in Tehran's approach in a long-running row with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

Listing several complaints before official results were announced, Mousavi said many people had not been able to vote and that there had been a lack of ballot papers.

He also accused authorities of blocking text messaging, with which his campaign tried to reach young, urban voters.

"I am the definite winner of this presidential election," Mousavi told a news conference.

But the Islamic Republic's election commission said Ahmadinejad was ahead with 64.8 percent of the votes from Friday's presidential election in the world's fifth biggest oil exporter after more than 30 million ballots had been counted.

Mousavi had around 32 percent support, said the commission. Based on an Interior Ministry estimate of a maximum 80 percent turnout of Iran's 46 million eligible voters, he could not beat Ahmadinejad with the votes still to be counted.

The official news agency IRNA said: "Dr Ahmadinejad, by winning most votes ... has secured his victory." State media said final results would be announced at 10 a.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT).

Trita Parsi, president of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council, expressed disbelief at the wide margin in Ahmadinejad's favor.

"It is difficult to feel comfortable that this occurred without any cheating," Parsi said.

Speaking in Washington before the results were released, U.S. President Barack Obama said his administration was excited about the debate taking place in Iran and he hoped it would help the two countries to engage "in new ways."

STREET SCUFFLES

Western capitals had hoped a victory for Mousavi could help ease tensions with the West, which is concerned about Tehran's nuclear plans, and improve chances of engagement with Obama, who has talked about a new start in ties with Tehran.

Now they will have to find a way to deal with Ahmadinejad's government if they want to make progress in defusing the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

The three-week election campaign was marked by mudslinging, with Ahmadinejad accusing his rivals of corruption. They said he was lying about the state of the economy.

It was unclear how Mousavi's supporters, who thronged the streets of Tehran nightly in the run-up to Friday's vote, might react to an Ahmadinejad victory. U.S. strategic intelligence group Stratfor called the situation "potentially explosive," with a considerable risk of unrest.

Scuffles broke out early on Saturday between police and chanting Mousavi supporters in a Tehran square, a Reuters witness said. Police say they have increased security across the capital to prevent any trouble. All gatherings have been banned until the publication of final results.

Shortly before voting ended, some Tehran residents said they were unable to make international phone calls and some Internet servers went down.

Ahmadinejad draws his bedrock support from rural areas or poorer big city neighborhoods. Mousavi enjoys strong backing in wealthier urban centers, and was expected to attract votes from women and young Iranians.

Two other candidates attracted only tiny voter support.

Long queues had formed at voting centers, after a heated campaign in which inflation -- officially around 15 percent -- and high unemployment were leading issues.

Ahmadinejad, 52, won power four years ago on a pledge to revive the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution. He has steadily built up Iran's nuclear programme, rejecting Western charges that it is aimed at building an atomic bomb, and stirred international outrage by denying the Holocaust and calling for Israel to be wiped from the map.

Mousavi, 67, rejects Western demands that Iran halt uranium enrichment but analysts say he would have brought a different approach to Iran-U.S. ties and talks on the nuclear issue. Ultimately, however, nuclear and foreign policy are determined by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The United States has had no ties with Iran since shortly after the revolution but Obama said in Washington the United States had "tried to send a clear message that we think there is the possibility of change" in relations.

(Additional reporting by Hossein Jaseb, Hashem Kalantari, Zahra Hosseinian; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Ralph Gowling)

&#169; 2009 Thomson Reuters.

Ahmadinejad scores big win in Iran vote | Comcast.net (http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090316/NEWS-US-IRAN-ELECTION)

[GAR]

Well, since these are cast ballot tickets, it should be fair to ask for a recount.. and when that's denied, an independant audit.. and if that's not allowed, an outside international party could audit.. and then after that demand a recall.. and when that's denied, a protest, and when those people are killed, a national revolt, and when that's put down..

This is gonna be the news for the next 2 years. Why don't they all just order guns off walmart.com or something, and start a civil unrest? Fedex and UPS know where to find Iran..

[FORD]

I just want to know where Kenneth Blackwell is right now. There must be a record of him booking a flight to Tehran somewhere.

[GAR]

After Obama's speech on this hope and faith in the election process nonsense, he's gonna be hard pressed to answer the obvious "what do they do now besides revolt" questions that arise tomorrow.

[Blaze]

Good news!
The other guy reminded me of Howard Dean or somebody like that, that was just pandering and jiving to appear "hip"... Dude, you are 67 years old and so is your wife. Not that you can't be astute, but you should realize you can't fake intuitiveness. There's no doubt, God willing, that with the vast population of young people in Iran, that a great leader will come from the young population, but the old dude was just trying to groovy train.


The west will not get any real news outside of the fox style news like the article above.


Website for the president of Iran
http://www.president.ir/en/
Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's blog
http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/

[jhale667]

Good news!


Four more years of that psycho Ahmadinnerjacket, instead of a guy who at least seemed to interested in reform? Are you daffy?

[Blaze]

Reform of what? Your statement seems to be a very vague spoon fed statement.

[Nickdfresh]

My deepest sympathies to the Iranian people...even know the office of the "president" is little more than mullah window dressing...

[jhale667]

Your statement seems to be a very vague spoon fed statement.

Gee, the more moderate Mousavi wanted to improve relations with the West and concentrate on helping the people rather that posturing and seeking Nukes.

Riiiight. And you saying Ahmadinnerjacket's "re-election" being a good thing is an idiotic statement.... :rolleyes:

[jhale667]

Here we go...:umm:

Clashes erupt in Iran over disputed election
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI and ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press Writers

TEHRAN, Iran – Supporters of the main election challenger to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tires Saturday as authorities claimed the hard-line president was re-elected in a landslide. The rival candidate said the vote was tainted by widespread fraud and his followers responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade.

Several hundred demonstrators — many wearing the trademark green colors of pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign — chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count from Friday's presidential election was announced. It gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mousavi — a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad.

Mousavi rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship."

"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," said a statement on Mousavi's Web site. "The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's sacred system and governance of lies and dictatorship," it added.

Mousavi warned "people won't respect those who take power through fraud." The headline on one of his Web sites read: "I won't give in to this dangerous manipulation."

Mousavi and key aides could not be reached by phone.

The clashes in central Tehran were the more serious disturbances in the capital since student-led protests in 1999. They showed the potential for the showdown to spill over into further violence and challenges to the Islamic establishment.

Mousavi appealed directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to intervene and stop what he said were violations of the law. Khamenei, who is not elected, holds ultimate political authority in Iran and controls all major policy decisions.

"I hope the leader's foresight will bring this to a good end," Mousavi said.

But Khamenei closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the election dispute. He urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad in a message on state TV, calling the result a "divine assessment."

The demonstrations began Saturday morning shortly before the government announced the final results.

Protesters set fire to tires outside the Interior Ministry and anti-riot police fought back with clubs and smashed cars. Helmeted police on foot and others on buzzing motorcycles chased bands of protesters roaming the streets pumping their fists in the air. Officers beat protesters with swift blows from their truncheons and kicks with their boots. Some of the demonstrators grouped together to charge back at police, hurling stones.

Plumes of dark smoke streaked over the city, as burning barricades of tires and garbage bins glowed orange in the streets.

An Associated Press photographer saw a plainclothes security official beating a woman with his truncheon. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in the clashes in front Mousavi's headquarters. Their Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman's tapes, the station said.

In another main street of Tehran, some 300 young people blocked the avenue by forming a human chain and chanted "Ahmadi, shame on you. Leave the government alone." There was no word on any casualties from the unrest.

It was not clear how many Iranians were even aware of Mousavi's claims of fraud. Communications disruptions began in the later hours of voting Friday — suggesting an information clampdown. State television and radio only broadcast the Interior Ministry's vote count and not Mousavi's midnight news conference.

Nationwide, the text messaging system remained down Saturday and several pro-Mousavi Web sites were blocked or difficult to access. Text messaging is frequently used by many Iranians — especially young Mousavi supporters — to spread election news.

Mousavi's campaign headquarters urged people to show restraint.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, who supervised the elections and heads the nation's police forces, warned people not to join any "unauthorized gatherings."

The powerful Revolutionary Guard cautioned Wednesday it would crush any "revolution" against the Islamic regime by Mousavi's "green movement." The Revolutionary Guard is directly under the control of the ruling clerics and has vast influence in every corner of the country through a network of volunteer militias.

Even before the vote counting began, Mousavi declared himself "definitely the winner" based on "all indications from all over Iran." He accused the government of "manipulating the people's vote" to keep Ahmadinejad in power and suggested the reformist camp would stand up to challenge the results.

"It is our duty to defend people's votes. There is no turning back," he said, alleging widespread irregularities.

Mousavi's backers were stunned at the Interior Ministry's claim that Ahmadinejad won after widespread predictions of a close race — or even a slight edge for the reformist candidate.

Turnout was a record 85 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters.

"Many Iranians went to the people because they wanted to bring change," said Mousavi supporter Nasser Amiri, a hospital clerk in Tehran. "Almost everybody I know voted for Mousavi but Ahmadinejad is being declared the winner. The government announcement is nothing but widespread fraud. It is very, very disappointing. I'll never ever again vote in Iran."

At Tehran University — the site of the last major anti-regime unrest in Tehran in 1999 — the academic year was winding down and there was no sign of pro-Mousavi crowds. But university exams, scheduled to begin Saturday, were postponed until next month around the country.

Ahmadinejad planned a public address later Saturday in Tehran.

In the capital, several Ahmadinejad supporters cruised the streets waving Iranian flags out of car windows and shouting "Mousavi is dead!"

The election outcome will not sharply alter Iran's main policies or sway major decisions, such as possible talks with Washington or nuclear policies. Those crucial issues rest with the ruling clerics headed by Khamenei.

But the election focused on what the office can influence: boosting Iran's sinking economy, pressing for greater media and political freedoms, and being Iran's main envoy to the world.

Iran does not allow international election monitors. During the 2005 election, when Ahmadinejad won the presidency, there were some allegations of vote rigging from losers, but the claims were never investigated.


Clashes erupt in Iran over disputed election - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090613/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_election)

[kwame k]

Still pisses me off about Dubya's Axis of Evil speech. Iran was helping us after 9/11 and wanted to improve relations with us. One speech from Bush and bang, he set us back 20 fucking years. In terms of having any kind of relations with Iran.

[Nitro Express]

Great...... both sides claiming victory, although AP press on the ground can't find anyone who will admit to voting for Ahmadinnerjacket.

Fucking Mossad probably jacked the election so they could get the war that NuttyYahoo wants with every fiber of his black Satanic soul.

Ahmedinnerjacket wants war as bad as Nutty Yahoo does. He needs a distraction badly. Obama and his advisors at The Rand Corporation don't want to bomb Iran but Israel has spent a lot of money on bunker busters and moddified F-15 strike eagle plans to carry them. Of course Israel would love the US to bomb Iran but it's not going to happen with the neocons out of power. Israel is nuts enough to do it themselves and they will. Possibly this summer or fall.

[Blaze]

Jeez, the boogy man press is making the old guy sound like Gar...
" My text messaging quit working! I was not able to post and everybody forgot about me!"

The guy is astute, but not intuitive.

I have already been surfing and reading.

The more reliable source from the Middle East never had Mousavi in the lead, just as a wonderful contender and a blossom for debate. Someone must have Mousavi on crack for Mousavi to announce even before the ballots have been counted that he had won.
Very nicely embellished writing, however. The writer should inquire Michael Jackson for a job on his next album.

Anyone know where Michael is? :biggrin: La La land indeed!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/3049478302_9df1482f12_m.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/3107509123_751c8a5984_m.jpg

[Blaze]

An Iranian youth, with a national flag on his shoulders, flashes the v-sign of victory during celebrations of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's (portraits) landslide win. Former US president Jimmy Carter (Thanks for the input Jimmy!) said there would be no change in American policy after the re-election of hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/afp/20090613/capt.photo_1244903435801-1-0.jpg

[Blaze]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090613/i/ra2510158622.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090613/i/ra195511904.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/afp/20090613/capt.photo_1244893429375-1-0.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090613/i/r4026863062.jpg

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090613/i/ra201300047.jpg

Supporters of Iran's incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrate in the streets of Tehran following his victory in the presidential elections.
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090613/i/r949966525.jpg

[FORD]

Good news!
The other guy reminded me of Howard Dean or somebody like that

On that basis alone he would have made a great President for the Iranian people.

[FORD]

<div class="post-body">
<p>
<p> Top Pieces of Evidence that the Iranian Presidential Election Was Stolen<br /><br />1. It is claimed that Ahmadinejad won the city of Tabriz with 57%. His main opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is an Azeri from Azerbaijan province, of which Tabriz is the capital. Mousavi, according to such polls as exist in Iran and widespread anecdotal evidence, did better in cities and <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1901667,00.html "> is popular in Azerbaijan. Certainly, his rallies there were very well attended</a>. So for an Azeri urban center to go so heavily for Ahmadinejad just makes no sense. In past elections, <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009613121740611636.html ">Azeris voted disproportionately for even minor presidential candidates</a> who hailed from that province.<br /><br />2. Ahmadinejad is claimed to have taken Tehran by over 50%. Again, he is not popular in the cities, even, as he claims, in the poor neighborhoods, in part because his policies have produced high inflation and high unemployment. That he should have won Tehran is so unlikely as to raise real questions about these numbers.<br /><br />3. It is claimed that cleric Mehdi Karoubi, the other reformist candidate, received 320,000 votes, and that he <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009613121740611636.html ">did poorly in Iran's western provinces, even losing in Luristan</a>. He is a Lur and is popular in the west, including in Kurdistan. Karoubi received 17 percent of the vote in the first round of presidential elections in 2005. While it is possible that his support has substantially declined since then, it is hard to believe that he would get less than one percent of the vote. Moreover, he should have at least done well in the west, which he did not.<br /><br />4. Mohsen Rezaie, who polled very badly and seems not to have been at all popular, is alleged to have received 670,000 votes, twice as much as Karoubi.<br /><br />5. Ahmadinejad's numbers were fairly standard across Iran's provinces. In past elections there have been substantial ethnic and provincial variations.<br /><br />6. The Electoral Commission is supposed to wait three days before certifying the results of the election, at which point they are to inform Khamenei of the results, and he signs off on the process. The three-day delay is intended to allow charges of irregularities to be adjudicated. In this case, Khamenei immediately approved the alleged results.<br /><br />I am aware of the difficulties of catching history on the run. Some explanation may emerge for Ahmadinejad's upset that does not involve fraud. For instance, it is possible that he has gotten the credit for spreading around a lot of oil money in the form of favors to his constituencies, but somehow managed to escape the blame for the resultant high inflation.<br /><br />But just as a first reaction, this post-election situation looks to me like a crime scene. And here is how I would reconstruct the crime.<br /><br />As the real numbers started coming into the Interior Ministry late on Friday, it became clear that Mousavi was winning. <a href="http://www.djavadi.net/2009/06/13/an-electoral-coup-in-iran/ ">Mousavi's spokesman abroad, filmmaker Mohsen Makhbalbaf, alleges</a> that the ministry even contacted Mousavi's camp and said it would begin preparing the population for this victory.<br /><br />The ministry must have informed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has had a feud with Mousavi for over 30 years, who found this outcome unsupportable. And, apparently, he and other top leaders had been so confident of an Ahmadinejad win that they had made no contingency plans for what to do if he looked as though he would lose.<br /><br />They therefore sent blanket instructions to the Electoral Commission to falsify the vote counts.<br /><br />This clumsy cover-up then produced the incredible result of an Ahmadinejad landlside in Tabriz and Isfahan and Tehran.<br /><br />The reason for which Rezaie and Karoubi had to be assigned such implausibly low totals was to make sure Ahmadinejad got over 51% of the vote and thus avoid a run-off between him and Mousavi next Friday, which would have given the Mousavi camp a chance to attempt to rally the public and forestall further tampering with the election.<br /><br />This scenario accounts for all known anomalies and is consistent with what we know of the major players.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/06/13/iran/ "> More in my column, just out, in Salon.com</a>: "Ahmadinejad reelected under cloud of fraud," where I argue that the outcome of the presidential elections does not and should not affect Obama's policies toward that country-- they are the right policies and should be followed through on regardless.<br /><br />The public demonstrations against the result don't appear to be that big. In the past decade, reformers have always backed down in Iran when challenged by hardliners, in part because no one wants to relive the horrible Great Terror of the 1980s after the revolution, when faction-fighting produced blood in the streets. Mousavi is still from that generation.<br /><br />My own guess is that you have to get a leadership born after the revolution, who does not remember it and its sanguinary aftermath, before you get people willing to push back hard against the rightwingers.<br /><br />So, there are protests against an allegedly stolen election. The Basij paramilitary thugs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards will break some heads. Unless there has been a sea change in Iran, the theocrats may well get away with this soft coup for the moment. But the regime's legitimacy will take a critical hit, and its ultimate demise may have been hastened, over the next decade or two.<br /><br />What I've said is full of speculation and informed guesses. I'd be glad to be proved wrong on several of these points. Maybe I will be.<br /><br />PS: Here's the data:<br /><br />So <a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=98012&sectionid=351020101 ">here is what Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said Saturday about the outcome of the Iranian presidential</a> elections:<br /><br />"Of 39,165,191 votes counted (85 percent), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election with 24,527,516 (62.63 percent)." <br /><br />He announced that Mir-Hossein Mousavi came in second with 13,216,411 votes (33.75 percent).<br /><br />Mohsen Rezaei got 678,240 votes (1.73 percent) <br /><br />Mehdi Karroubi with 333,635 votes (0.85 percent).<br /><br />He put the void ballots at 409,389 (1.04 percent).<br /><br /><br /><br />End/ (Not Continued)<br /><br /><br /></span>


</p>
</div>

Informed Comment: Stealing the Iranian Election (http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/stealing-iranian-election.html)

[FORD]

Ahmadinejad reelected under cloud of fraud
But outcome doesn't change goals for Obama -- dealing with Iran's nuclear program and its anti-Israel activities.

By Juan Cole

Jun. 13, 2009 |

A few thousand Iranian young people demonstrated in Iran on Saturday morning to protest the announcement by that country's Interior Ministry that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a second term by an overwhelming margin of 63 percent. The president's rivals decried ballot fraud and many observers saw the results as a hard-liner coup. If the government really has descended to the level of fixing the presidential elections, it is a sign of deep insecurity and fear of change, as Tehran is challenged by the Obama administration's outreach and by reformist stirrings among youth and women.

Obama administration officials were privately casting doubt on the announced vote tallies. They pointed out that it was unlikely that Ahmadinejad had defeated his chief opponent, Mir-Hossein Moussavi, by a margin of 57 percent, in Moussavi's own home city of Tabriz. Nor is it plausible, as claimed, that Ahmadinejad won a majority of votes in the capital, Tehran, from which he hails. The final tally also gave only 320,000 votes to the other reformist candidate, Mehdi Karoubi, who had helped force Ahmadinejad into a runoff election when he ran in 2005. It seems odd that he get less than 1 percent of the votes in this round. Karoubi, an ethnic Lur from Iran's west, was even alleged to have done poorly in those provinces.

The final vote counts alleged for cities and provinces, even more so than the landslide claimed by the incumbent nationally, strongly suggest a last-minute and clumsy fraud. A carefully planned theft of the election would at least have conceded Tabriz to Moussavi and the rural western Iranian villages to Karoubi.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei quickly recognized Ahmadinejad's victory, hailing a remarkable turnout of 80 percent of eligible voters. With the backing of the clerical supreme leader, Ahmadinejad's victory is unassailable in the theocratic Iranian system, where Shiite clerics hold ultimate power. In the past decade, despite occasional demonstrations launched by students, the regime has easily been able to repress dissent with right-wing popular militias and other pro-conservative paramilitaries. They also succeeded in excluding reformists from political power by denying them the right to run for office on the grounds that they do not pass an ideological litmus test. The repressive abilities of the hard-liners should not be underestimated, despite the public anger over a possibly stolen election.

The primary challenger to incumbent Ahmadinejad, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi, was widely thought to have a number of crucial constituencies behind him. Urban youth and women, who had elected a reformist president in 1997 and 2001, showed enthusiasm for Moussavi. He also showed an ability to bring out big crowds in his native Azerbaijan, where a Turkic language, Azeri, is spoken rather than Persian. (Azeris constitute about a third of the Iranian population.) It was expected that if the turnout was large, that would help Moussavi.

But not only did Iran's Electoral Commission announce that Ahmadinejad had won almost two-thirds of the general vote, it also gave him big majorities in major cities such as Tehran and Tabriz (the latter is the capital of Azerbaijan). These results seemed unbelievable not only to Moussavi supporters but to many professional Iran observers. Although candidates in Iran's presidential elections are closely vetted, and only four out of hundreds of applicants were allowed to run this time, once the candidates were certified the elections have been relatively free and fair in the past. If proved true, electoral fraud on the scale being charged by Ahmadinejad's rivals risks further undermining the legitimacy of the regime in the eyes of the public.

Less was at stake in these elections than many outsiders assumed, however, since the Iranian presidency is weak and most important policy is set by Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei (his title is the giveaway). The election was mostly about style, rather than substance. Mir-Hossein Moussavi complained that Ahmadinejad's bizarre downplaying of the Holocaust had made Iran a laughingstock, and that the incumbent had dictatorial tendencies. But he expressed support for the Palestinians. He objected to the cost of ramping up Iran's civilian nuclear energy research program, though he said he was committed to continuing it at a slower pace. He offered to negotiate with American President Barack Obama if the latter was found to be acting in good faith. But most of his differences with Ahmadinejad were on domestic policy, including his advocacy of more personal liberties, more rights for women, and a freer media environment, including private television channels.

The outcome of the election therefore changes little for the Obama administration. The outstanding issues between Iran and the U.S. mainly have to do with Iran's support for the Palestinians against Israel and with Iran's nuclear enrichment program, which Washington fears could ultimately be put to dual use and eventuate in a nuclear warhead. Those two outstanding issues would have remained no matter who won the presidency. Obama is determined to deal with them by undercutting Iran on the Palestine issue by making strides toward a Palestinian state, by avoiding military confrontation, and by direct talks over better safeguards that Iran's nuclear program remains purely civilian in character. These policies are the most promising ones for achieving U.S. and NATO goals with regard to Iran, and should be pursued regardless of who holds the weak and ineffectual office of president in Tehran.

-- By Juan Cole

Ahmadinejad reelected under cloud of fraud | Salon (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/06/13/iran/)

[sadaist]

Maybe Ahmadinejad has his own version of ACORN backing him up.

[FORD]

Maybe Ahmadinejad has his own version of ACORN backing him up.

More like his own version of Ken Blackwell and DIEBOLD.

Get over the right wing racist rhetoric about ACORN. They did nothing wrong.

[Nickdfresh]

There's an article in Newsweek that basically stated that the election may have been more or less legit, as Western media is often swayed into believing that the literate, educated Westernized elites of Tehran represent the majority when in fact the majority of Iranians are rural, uneducated hicks that buy into Ahmydinnerjacket's bullshit rhetoric of fear and third-party scapegoating...

[FORD]

There's an article in Newsweek that basically stated that the election may have been more or less legit, as Western media is often swayed into believing that the literate, educated (Democratic) elites of (the Blue States) represent the majority when in fact the majority of (Americans) are rural, uneducated hicks that buy into (Chimpy's) bullshit rhetoric of fear and third-party scapegoating...

Like I said.... it's 2004 all over again. :(

[Nickdfresh]

Like I said.... it's 2004 all over again. :(


Yeah, I didn't say I was buying Newsweek's account. We'll see in the coming days if the political instability leads to something greater, like the mullahs declaring the election void...

Hicks or not, there's no way he won by a 2:1 margin...that seems statistically impossible...

[FORD]

I think I'm gonna go with Juan Cole's theory above that the Head Mullah Khameni had a feud with Mousavi. That explains the obvious fraud. If it had been a CIA or Mossad job to ensure NuttyYahoo gets the war he's always wanted, they would have made the faux results a little more credible.

[Nickdfresh]

A good article on the situation:

NYT: Hopes of change crushed in Iran - The New York Times- msnbc.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31350013/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times//)

[GAR]

But Obama SAID! He SAID we should hope the Iranians vote for Change... and they did?

Obama said, he did say it..

[Blaze]

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[Nitro Express]

Obama will continue to try and have good relations with Iran. This is because he is not following the pro-Israel neocon plan of Bush and Chenney. Obama's job is to avoid that and focus on pro China allies and Chinese sources of oil and raw materials.

We will see the Obama administration meddle in Pakistahn, Sudan, and other parts of Africa more. We will also see NATO surround Russia and China more. This is part of the stupid Rand Corporation's strategy of forcing China to invade Siberia for resources and Russia and China destroy each other. Then the American Anglo establishment moves in and runs the world. The Rand Corporation has stated a big war is needed to get out of this depression when the bailout bubble finally pops and the govt. is out of financial gimmicks. China is the target because they have beat the American Anglo establishment at their own game. They want to do in China before it becomes too powerful militarily.

Basically Europe and North America have shot their wad and NATO needs another big war to survive. Of course if I know this the Chinese and Russians do to so it all goes to show the stupidity behind the current geo-political strategy that is behind the big decisions in Washington DC. The bankers need a big war to save their asses and playing games in Afganistahn and Iraq isn't cutting it. They need something bigger.

[FORD]

Iran protest cancelled as leaked election results show Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came third

By Colin Freeman
Published: 11:21AM BST 15 Jun 2009


Iran's reformist presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has called off a major rally to protest last Friday's election results, amid claims police had been cleared to open fire on protesters.

Supporters had been due to turn out en masse in Tehran on Monday afternoon, despite government warnings to stay off the streets.

But this morning, a statement on Mr Mousavi's campaign website announced that the demonstration had been postponed – although it said Mr Mousavi would go to the site to ensure any supporters who showed up remained calm.

Mr Mousavi's wife and co-campaigner, Zahra Ranavard, was reported as warning that riot squads would be equipped with live ammunition, raising the prospect of serious bloodshed.

Iran's Interior Ministry said Mr Mousavi would be responsible for any consequences if he went ahead with the protest.

Mr Mousavi's cancellation of the protest came as sporadic disturbances continued around the Iranian capital, and reports circulated of leaked interior ministry statistics showing him as the clear victor in last Friday's polls.

The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.

The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.

Mr Mousavi has accused Iran's government of "fraud" after Mr Ahmadinejad was declared on Saturday to have 62.6 per cent of the vote, making him the landslide winner. The capital has been rocked by disturbances for the last three days.

It was not clear whether Mr Mousavi's supporters would heed his call to stay indoors. About 200 relatives of people arrested during protests over the weekend staged a brief protest outside Tehran's main revolutionary court.

"You can beat us as much as you can, but take us to our children," shouted one woman, as a policeman was seen beating a man in a bid to disperse the crowd. Around 170 people are believed to have been detained so far, and are thought to have been taken to Tehran's Evin prison.

In an effort to quell the rising tensions, the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered an investigation into claims of fraud in Friday's disputed vote, according to Iranian state television.

Meanwhile, David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, raised concern over the implications of the disputed elections for Iran's engagement with the West and for efforts to curb its controversial nuclear programme.

"Our serious concern is about the implications of recent events for the engagement the international community seeks with the government of Iran," Miliband told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with European Union counterparts in Luxembourg today.

"The implications are not yet clear."

Mr Mousavi had previously threatened to hold a sit-in protest at the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, if the authorities banned his followers from holding their rally. It is thought the government would be reluctant to forcibly break a demonstration in what is considered a holy place.

A reformist activist close to Mr Mousavi, Shahab Tabatabaei, said his supporters were determined to hold rally despite the interior ministry's rejection.

Overnight, squads of police and their allies in Iran's basiji gangs, a plain clothes militia made up of civilian hardliners, stormed the campus at the city's biggest university, ransacking dormitories and arresting dozens of students.

Iran protest cancelled as leaked election results show Mahmoud Amadinejad came third - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/5540211/Iran-protest-cancelled-as-leaked-election-results-show-Mahmoud-Amadinejad-came-third.html)

DISCLAIMER: The Telegraph is hardly my favorite foreign paper, but it's an interesting development in this insane story. We'll see if anyone else picks up on this.......

[Kristy]

We will see the Obama administration meddle in Pakistahn, Sudan, and other parts of Africa more. We will also see NATO surround Russia and China more. This is part of the stupid Rand Corporation's strategy of forcing China to invade Siberia for resources and Russia and China destroy each other. Then the American Anglo establishment moves in and runs the world. The Rand Corporation has stated a big war is needed to get out of this depression when the bailout bubble finally pops and the govt. is out of financial gimmicks


Where in the hell did you get that from?

[binnie]

We will see the Obama administration meddle in Pakistahn, Sudan, and other parts of Africa more. We will also see NATO surround Russia and China more. This is part of the stupid Rand Corporation's strategy of forcing China to invade Siberia for resources and Russia and China destroy each other. Then the American Anglo establishment moves in and runs the world. .

Will Tom Cruise star in that one? :D

[Nickdfresh]

Well, the riots go on and Tehran is burning. I never thought the uprising would last this long and reportedly the people are pissed and attacking the "Revolutionary Guards" and their militia lackeys...

In my fantasies, the Iranian Army joins in on the side of the protesters and overthrows the gov't and shoots up the Revolutionary Guards shooting murdering their people...

[FORD]

Tehran's burning with boredom now
Tehran's burning dial 99999......

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[ELVIS]

Too bad Americans lack that kind of courage...

[jhale667]

OK, you know Amadinnerjacket's in trouble when the senior ayatollah's dumping on him...

Iran's senior ayatollah slams election, confirming split
By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers


TEHRAN, Iran — Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival in the disputed presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, massed in competing rallies Tuesday as the country's most senior Islamic cleric threw his weight behind opposition charges that Ahmadinejad's re-election was rigged.

"No one in their right mind can believe" the official results from Friday's contest, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said of the landslide victory claimed by Ahmadinejad. Montazeri accused the regime of handling Mousavi's charges of fraud and the massive protests of his backers "in the worst way possible."

"A government not respecting people's vote has no religious or political legitimacy," he declared in comments on his official Web site. "I ask the police and army personals (personnel) not to 'sell their religion,' and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God."

As many as three more protesters were reported killed in clashes during Tuesday's opposition demonstration in Vanak Square — adding to eight who were confirmed killed in Monday's protests.

Foreign news organizations were barred from covering Wednesday's demonstrations, and the source of the report of the latest deaths was a witness known to McClatchy, who asked that his name not be used for his own security.

Tehran residents, who spoke to a McClatchy reporter on condition that their names not be published, said there was widespread intimidation by thousands of members of the Basij, a hard-line Islamic volunteer militia loyal to the Islamic regime.

Iranian bloggers reported scattered violence after dark by Basij members.

Nor were reports of violence limited to the capital.

In a voicemail to U.S. government-funded Radio Farda, and posted on the Web site of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a woman who identified herself as Zeinab from the city of Shiraz said students gathered in front of university dormitories and protested peacefully.

"The Guard attacked the university and started beating the people. What are the people supposed to do? They are forced to react," she said, referring to the elite Revolutionary Guard, a parallel military force that's controlled by Khamenei.

Montazeri's pointed public comments provided fresh evidence that a serious rift has opened at the top of Iran's powerful religious hierarchy after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei endorsed the official election results and the harsh crackdown against the opposition.

A leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution who's often feuded with Khamenei and once vied with him for the supreme leader's position, Montazeri accused the government of attacking "the children of the people with astonishing violence" and "attempting a purge, arresting intellectuals, political opponents and scientifics."

"He is questioning the legitimacy of the election and also questioning the legitimacy of (Khamenei's) leadership, and this is the heart of the political battle in Iran," said Mehdi Noorbaksh, an associate professor of international affairs at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania. "This is very significant. This is huge support for Mousavi and the demonstrators on the reformists' side."

In an attempt to defuse the crisis, the 12-member Guardian Council, part of the ruling theocracy, announced that it would conduct a partial recount of the balloting, which the government said Ahmadinejad won with more than 24 million votes, to 13 million for Mousavi.

Government-funded Press TV, an English-language news service, reported that at a meeting Tuesday with the council and the candidates' representatives, Khamenei said a recount could take place if an investigation found there was a need for one.

"Those in charge of supervising the elections are always trustworthy people, but this should not prevent an investigation into possible problems and clarifying the truth," he was quoted as saying.

The recount announcement, however, didn't appease Mousavi, reform presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi or their supporters. Tens of thousands filled the streets of Tehran for a fourth day carrying signs and wearing scarves and ribbons of Mousavi's trademark color of green to demand that the results be annulled.

"We are ready to recount those boxes that some presidential candidates claim to have been cheated," council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei told Iranian journalists. Despite a lapsed deadline for complaints, "the body is ready to receive complaints and probe into the issue and build more confidence," he said.

It wasn't clear how many ballot boxes — or which ones — would be recounted. Mousavi has demanded an annulment of the vote.

President Barack Obama said he had "deep concerns about the election," but added that "it's not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling."

The Iranian government, meanwhile, moved to extinguish international news coverage of the crisis. The British and Czech charge d'affaires, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, were called to the Foreign Ministry to hear complaints of "interference" in Iran's internal affairs, Press TV reported.

At least eight demonstrators were shot dead and 28 others wounded Monday by members of the Basij, according to workers at Tehran's Rasoul Akram Hospital, where a video posted on YouTube showed hundreds of doctors and nurses protesting the election results Tuesday.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance issued the ban on foreign news coverage of rallies in Tehran, revoked the credentials of those with temporary visas and ordered them to leave the country as soon as possible. Cell phone service was cut in the city.

The ministry also prohibited news agencies and foreign broadcasters from distributing video and pictures — a move that could precede a more violent government crackdown. However, details of the Ahmadinejad and Mousavi rallies reached the outside world via Twitter, YouTube and other Web networks.

Video that demonstrators shot on cell phones showed comrades carrying away a severely injured man in Vanak Square, the site of nightly clashes. Another video clip showed large fires in the traffic circle around the square.

Press TV said tens of thousands of people waving Iranian flags, carrying portraits of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei and chanting "We are of the same nation" attended the pro-Ahmadinejad "unity rally" at Vali-Asr Square.

It quoted rally organizers as endorsing the Guardian Council's review and urging security forces and judicial authorities to take "decisive action" against "efforts to break the law, fuel chaos and spark hooliganism."

The statement also called for the arrest and punishment of the "main perpetrators of the recent plots," and accused the U.S., Britain and Israel of "plotting against the government and giving media support to enemy groups, rioters and social and political hooligans who are trying to fuel chaos in the Islamic Republic."

Press TV reported that a number of reformist politicians had been arrested, including former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, and accused of "orchestrating" post-election violence.

Iran's senior ayatollah slams election, confirming split | McClatchy (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iran/story/70155.html)

[GAR]

More like his own version of Ken Blackwell and DIEBOLD.

Get over the right wing racist rhetoric about ACORN. They did nothing wrong.

Dooooode, that is so Kool-aid of you.

PUSH. The Juicey-Juicebox. Away from you... and seek help.

[Nickdfresh]

Too bad Americans lack that kind of courage...

Courage for what?

[Nickdfresh]

Iran's Revolutionary Guards issue warning to media

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 3:28 AM

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's most powerful military force is warning online media of a crackdown over their coverage of the country's election crisis.

The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body answering to the supreme leader, says Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension" or face legal action.

It is the Guards' first public statement since the crisis erupted following the presidential election last Friday.

Iranian reformist Web sites as well as blogs and Western Web sites like Facebook and Twitter have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests over the declaration of election victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The government barred foreign media Tuesday from leaving their offices to report on the street protests.

© 2009 The Associated Google (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061700172_pf.html)

[GAR]

Hmm..

Could ImaDinnerJacket pull away from the Mullah's, and secede as Dicktator?

I bet he's got ambitions on staying on top the rest of his life and if he's got support of the military, the Mullahs will be sorry.

[Nickdfresh]

This maybe very telling, even heartening....



A BBC correspondent (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8104466.stm) in Tehran said that protesters also blocked roads with their cars and police set up roadblocks to control gatherings of demonstrators.

As night fell, residents took to the roof-tops of their houses to shout protest messages across the city, a scene not witnessed since the final days of the Shah, our correspondent says.

[GAR]

With the top cleric denouncing Imadinnajacket's win, it looks like they'll throw him under the bus to save their own hold on the nation.

And the next shoe to drop after that, is special meetings with the other guy to be sure he'll toe the line for their policy.

[Blaze]

http://www.president.ir/piri/media/mid/47985.jpg


Responding to a question from a western reporter that his huge election victory is open to question, he said,: They (Westerners) have been behaving like this for almost 30 years .What would they do if they stop behaving like this!? On what documents do they make such claimes .They only say that the result was contrary to their expectations.....
they should correct their expectation. Some western media, like their government ,say some thing, keep on repeating it and then end up believing it."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
http://www.president.ir/en/?M=0

[Blaze]

http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3426/html/152307.jpg

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said Tuesday there is no need for Washingtonian officials to be concerned about Iran and its elections.
Iranians should act vigilantly to avoid foreign interference in IranÕs internal affairs, he told an open session of parliament, IRNA reported.
The US has expressed Òconcern about the violence and voting irregularitiesÓ in IranÕs presidential elections held last Friday.
President Barack Obama said Monday he was Òdeeply troubledÓ by post-election violence in Iran and that free speech and the democratic process must be respected in the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported.
ÒWe respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran,Ó he said.
But Obama said he was committed to his plan to offer a diplomatic opening to Iran and discuss all issues of mutual concern.
On the election issue US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, ÒWe are deeply troubled by the reports of violent arrests and possible voting irregularities. WeÕre concerned about some of the treatment of demonstrators, and weÕre calling for the Iranian authorities to respect the right of people to express themselves peacefully,Ó he added.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed disquiet about the election results.
ÒObviously we continue to have concern about what weÕve seen. Obviously the Iranians are looking into this, as well,ÓGibbs said.
Following the controversy over the 10th presidential elections, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday ordered the Guardians Council (GC) to investigate the result of the vote carefully.

Important Meeting
Members of the council were to meet Tuesday with the three candidates who filed complaints about the elections results.
The 12-member legislative council is responsible for interpreting the Constitution of Iran, supervising elections, approving candidates for the Assembly of Experts, the presidency and the Majlis (Parliament), and ensuring the compatibility of the legislation passed by the Majlis with the criteria of Islam and the Constitution, i.e. deciding whether to veto laws passed by the parliament.
Larijani expressed hope that the GC would look into the dispute soon in the context of the guidelines announced by the Leader.
He also recommended the candidates to Òfollow a legal path.Ó In last FridayÕs vote Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected with 24.5 million votes or 62.6% of the 39.16 million ballots cast. His main rival Mir Hossein Mousavi won nearly 33 percent with 13.2 million votes. The two other candidates -- Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi--took 1.7 and 0.85 percent respectively. The three latter aspirants and their supporters insist the vote was rigged and have demanded the GC look into their complaints as per the election law.
Iran Daily - National - 06/17/09 (http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3426/html/national.htm#s386586)

[Blaze]

Guardian Council agrees to partial recount
Tehran Times Political Desk


TEHRAN - The presidential election results announced by the Interior Ministry must be confirmed by the Guardian Council, GC spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaii said on Tuesday.


And the Guardian Council will declare the final results within the legal time period of 7 to 10 days, he added.

In response to protests by the defeated candidates, the GC has agreed to recount certain ballot boxes, he explained.

Representatives of three presidential candidates -- Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mahdi Karroubi, and Mohsen Rezaii -- held discussions with Guardian Council experts on the election results on Tuesday.

Mousavi, who finished in second in the presidential election, and Karroubi, who finished in last place in the four-way race, ave made allegations of election fraud.

“In the session, a request was made for the recount of some (ballot) boxes, and we announced our agreement,” Kadkhodaii told reporters at a press conference.

However, the recount of ballot boxes must be ratified by the GC, he noted.

The GC spokesman said that about 40 million ballots were cast and the Guardian Council will safeguard all the votes and assures the people that it will investigate the issue to determine if there were any violations of the election law.

The GC will try to proceed in a way which helps it gain the confidence of the presidential candidates and their supporters, he added.

Meanwhile, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour of the Association of Combatant Clerics has said that the Guardian Council will soon announce its position on the proposal to establish a fact-finding committee to verify the results of the presidential election.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mohtashamipour stated that a number of leading figures, such as Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and Prosecutor General Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, should be appointed to serve on the committee.

Then the committee would investigate the violations of the election law before and during the election, he said

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=196906

[Blaze]

Unity Rally

http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3426/html/152415.jpg


Tens of thousands of people converged in a central Tehran square on Tuesday, in an apparent show of support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his election victory.

http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3426/html/index.htm

[Nickdfresh]

Well, today's the big day for the massive opposition rally expected in Tehran...

[FORD]

Funny how the Iranian media spins that as a rally in support of Ahmadinnerjacket, but I see a lot of green in that picture, and green is the favored color of the Mousavi supporters.

[WACF]

Funny how the Iranian media spins that as a rally in support of Ahmadinnerjacket, but I see a lot of green in that picture, and green is the favored color of the Mousavi supporters.

Well...the odd journalist has a tendancy to die if they are seen as unfavourable.

Old story...but I am sure journalists remember.

CBC News In Depth: Zahra Kazemi (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/kazemi/)


Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died in Iranian custody on July 11, 2003, almost three weeks after she was arrested for taking pictures outside a prison during a student protest in Tehran.

.......

The case stayed under the radar screens of most Canadians until March 31, 2005, and the stunning revelations of Shahram Azam, a former staff physician in Iran's Defence Ministry. He said he examined Kazemi in hospital, four days after her arrest.

Azam said Kazemi showed obvious signs of torture, including:

Evidence of a very brutal rape.
A skull fracture, two broken fingers, missing fingernails, a crushed big toe and a broken nose.
Severe abdominal bruising, swelling behind the head and a bruised shoulder.
Deep scratches on the neck and evidence of flogging on the legs.

[Nitro Express]

Where in the hell did you get that from?

Zbigniew Brzezinski of the Rand Corporation. Read up. That's the strategy behind this new Democratic president. Both Zbig and George Soros HATE Russia and they don't want to meddle in the middle east neocon style. They want to divide and conquer Russia and China by surrounding them with NATO and cutting China's resources off and forcing it to invade Russia for them. Once China and Russia destroy each other, Europe and The Americas mop up.

Crazy I know but this is their dream plan.

[Nitro Express]

Notice how slow Obama was in criticizing the Iranian election when the rest of the world was having a coniption fit. Iran is no longer the strategy for this administration or it's sponsors. Massive Middle East meddling was a neo-con obsession. Obama is going to focus on Pakistahn instead of Iran since they are a Chinese allie.

[Nitro Express]

Obama will refuse to do anything about the Iranian situation and a frustrated Israel will bomb Iran themselves using the bunker busters they bought from us two years ago. They have moddified F15 aircraft to carry the bombs. This will set the whole middle east off.

North Korea will shoot their wad on South Korea and the US will have to respond to that one. This will spread the US military out so thin we won't be able to be much of a worldwide military force anymore. This is why China will allow North Korea to pop a nuke. They know the US will have to respond and we will spread ourselves so thin after this we won't be much of a force anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, the Chinese build up their military might while having aquired most the world's wealth. They will be the clear winners in all of this.

[Nitro Express]

If anything. Obama's backers know China is a bigger threat to their base of power than anything in the Middle East. In a sick way they are smarter than the neocons but they are also greedy, insane, and willing to risk more. Read Brzezinski's and Soro's books. I have. They read like diaries of madmen. Greedy globalists who are angry the China is beating them at their own game so now they have to take China out.

[Nitro Express]

But watch Obama and Iran. He will try and avoid the Iran situation. Bush/Chenny would be all over it. Things are different now. Iran is off and Pakistahn and Sudan are on. Obama will focus more on Pakistahn.

[GAR]

This will spread the US military out so thin we won't be able to be much of a worldwide military force anymore.

BAH

The US could enlist the Unselective Service to find 30 million illegal aliens who want to serve as bullet fodder and as a walking ionization shield against our real troops, that is, before we initiate Selective Service and enlist the greater potential of 120 million real Americans.

[Seshmeister]

The Supreme Ruler has just come out saying that the UK is the most evil of Western nations. :)

[binnie]

The Supreme Ruler has just come out saying that the UK is the most evil of Western nations. :)

Will he be sending us a trophey?

It's a bit like being called promiscuous by Paris Hilton.

[Seshmeister]

Because in Iran TV and Radio can only report the Supreme Rulers views then he assumes that when our press criticises the Iran its actually the UK government speaking.

Either that or he wants us to lock up our journalists like he does.

[FORD]

The Supreme Ruler has just come out saying that the UK is the most evil of Western nations. :)

He must have seen that article from the Telegraph I posted previously. :biggrin:

[WACF]

LOL...

I think Canada came in second.

We are being scolded for not restricting youtube and twitter...therefore fueling unrest.

[Nitro Express]

BAH

The US could enlist the Unselective Service to find 30 million illegal aliens who want to serve as bullet fodder and as a walking ionization shield against our real troops, that is, before we initiate Selective Service and enlist the greater potential of 120 million real Americans.

Dude. China has 1.5 billion people and a huge manufacturing base. Plus, they have to finance us since we are broke. Without China buying our bonds we are sunk. We still beat them on technology but go to Cal Tech or MIT or any other great US technological school. Look at who's in the classrooms. Chinese students. In fact, these schools go over to China and recruit students.

Not to mention the Obama administration is letting our nuclear arsenal rot. Pakistahn can actually produce nuclear weapons faster than we can because our nuclear weapon manufacturing capability has gone to shit. Russia in real terms is a more powerful nuclear power than the US is now.

So all this talk about we can still take them over militarily is waining. The US couldn't do it conventionally and we are quickly losing our nuclear deterant as well.

[Nitro Express]

Anyways. The assholes that run Iran have hyperinflation and a shitty economy. Now the rigged election has set off civil disobediance. The last thing these guys wanted to hear was Obama trying to make peace with them. They want war. They beg for it. They need the distraction of war badly because they have fucked their own country.

[Seshmeister]

Awkward situation for Obama, he can't make peace at the moment but he doesn't want to go along the dumb Bush path.

I hope Obama isn't going to turn out to be one of those unlucky leaders where events keep fucking him over.

[Nickdfresh]

Dude. China has 1.5 billion people and a huge manufacturing base. Plus, they have to finance us since we are broke. Without China buying our bonds we are sunk. We still beat them on technology but go to Cal Tech or MIT or any other great US technological school. Look at who's in the classrooms. Chinese students. In fact, these schools go over to China and recruit students.

Not to mention the Obama administration is letting our nuclear arsenal rot. Pakistahn can actually produce nuclear weapons faster than we can because our nuclear weapon manufacturing capability has gone to shit. Russia in real terms is a more powerful nuclear power than the US is now.

So all this talk about we can still take them over mlitarily is waining. The US couldn't do it conventionally and we are quickly losing our nuclear deterant as well.

Don't overestimate the Chinese. They have a fuckload of problems to contend with over the coming decade, including massive unrest and periodic riots...

Our nuclear arsenal is not "rotting." And the Pakis can only make second-rate, small yield bombs. The kind the US did away with in the 90s and referred to as "tactical nukes."

[Nickdfresh]

Raw, somewhat unfiltered images of today's bloody riots...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

[sadaist]

I hope Obama isn't going to turn out to be one of those unlucky leaders where events keep fucking him over.

Every leader faces those events. It's how they handle them that determines if they are considered great or not. You can't blame the events themselves if Obama fails to achieve greatness.

[Nitro Express]

Awkward situation for Obama, he can't make peace at the moment but he doesn't want to go along the dumb Bush path.

I hope Obama isn't going to turn out to be one of those unlucky leaders where events keep fucking him over.

Obama came into the presidency at a horrible time. He has Bush's middle east wars and horrid foreign policy to deal with and the result of massive banking deregulation that started under Clinton. Basically The Chimp and Bill fucked Obama before he even got started.

[Nitro Express]

Don't overestimate the Chinese. They have a fuckload of problems to contend with over the coming decade, including massive unrest and periodic riots...

Our nuclear arsenal is not "rotting." And the Pakis can only make second-rate, small yield bombs. The kind the US did away with in the 90s and referred to as "tactical nukes."

Our nuclear arsenal is aging while Russia has upgraded theirs. China will feel the pain of the global economic downturn but they still have most of the world's money and a huge manufacturing base. They are still behind us technology wise but that won't last. Their one child policy is already biting them though. The girls have been killed or aborted and now it's a nation of men who have been spoiled rotten by their parents. Since they only can have one child the parents spoil them rotten.

[sadaist]

Obama came into the presidency at a horrible time. He has Bush's middle east wars and horrid foreign policy to deal with and the result of massive banking deregulation that started under Clinton. Basically The Chimp and Bill fucked Obama before he even got started.

He knew what he was getting into when he ran for office. Hell, that was most of his campaign platform. But if at the end of his time in the White House he is ranked mediocre to bad, you can't blame the situations that he faced for that. The great Presidents always find a way to do great things in the face of extreme adversity. Seems like some people are losing a bit of their "hope" in Obama and already gearing up their excuses for him:

Came in at a horrible time
Events keep fucking him over
Unlucky leader
Previous Presidents fucked him

Yes, the President has some very serious things facing him. But it's not unprecedented. Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Civil War, Great Depression, and the list could go on & on. Will Obama be remembered in the history books as a great President who handled the events facing him with outstanding results, or a President with a bunch of excuses of why he couldn't?

[Nickdfresh]

Disturbing, graphic video of a young girl known as "Neda" that was shot and murdered by Iranian Basij militia fascist whores...

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o21k4AI2KSE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o21k4AI2KSE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>


http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/248538

[Nickdfresh]

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bpz102bDzH4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bpz102bDzH4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Blaze]

If I had it in for Iran.......
Now, would be the time to slip in my special forces to Snipe......


<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/vfMaAs7t5KA&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/vfMaAs7t5KA&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>

[Blaze]

http://www.tehrantimes.com/News/10621/01_LARIJ.jpg



Candidates and followers are different from rioters: Larijani
Tehran Times Political Desk


TEHRAN – Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said late on Saturday that the Islamic Republic system welcomes citizens’ questions about the presidential election results but everyone should make a differentiation between the candidates and critics of the election results and the rioters.


In an appearance on IRIB Channel 2’s Special Dialogue program, Larijani stated, “We saw hundreds of thousands of people in the streets who rejected the results of the election, but the critics of the election results must draw a line between themselves and the rioters.”

The parliament speaker said none of the candidates approve of the destruction of public property, adding, “I am sure that the candidates are not satisfied with the current situation.”

Larijani urged the candidates to pursue their complaints about the election through the Guardian Council.

“In this situation, all those who feel there is a problem with the results of the election should submit their complaints to the Guardian Council… and all people should know that the officials of the system will pay attention to their demands.”

Larijani partly blamed some Guardian Council members for the current crisis, who he said sided with a particular candidate and attacked others during the presidential campaign.

“Part of the dispute is related to certain people in the Guardian Council who took positions in the election,” he noted. “In my opinion, it would have been better if certain members of the Guardian Council had not taken positions on candidates.”

He added, “But everyone should know that the members of the Guardian Council are pious and will not allow any candidate’s rights to be trampled upon.”

He said some people, who perhaps did not even vote in the presidential election, are taking advantage of the situation to undermine public security and should be dealt with.

He also reacted angrily to the attacks on university students. “What does it mean when certain people attack the (Tehran) university dormitory. These persons have ulterior motives and they must definitely be dealt with.”

Larijani said the defeated candidates can pursue their complaints only in a calm atmosphere. “The politicians should be aware that the establishment of security can lay the grounds for pursuing their rights.”

He said, “Our system is based on the people’s votes and it never seeks to silence” people.

As the Supreme Leader said in his Friday sermon, it is better if rivals express their views in debates, Larijani noted. “Therefore, the debate must continue.”

Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, who finished in second and fourth place in the June 12 presidential poll, have made allegations of election fraud.

Mousavi’s supporters poured into the streets in great numbers in Tehran every day in the week after the results were announced and protested the results. The Interior Ministry has declared the rallies illegal.

Larijani said a legal mechanism has been drawn up to close any loopholes that could allow vote-rigging. However, he said, “We should not violate the law if we see any shortcoming… and it is in the interests of the nation to observe the law, whether in regard to this election or other issues.”

He added, “Under the name of the nation’s rights we should not trample upon the law. Of course, the voices of the people who have taken part in the election must be heard.”

On certain Western countries’ remarks about Iran’s election, the Majlis speaker said, “I tell Obama and the leaders of France, Britain, and Germany that you are” too reprehensible to comment on Iran’s affairs.

He said the suppression carried out by the monarchist regime, which occurred on the orders of then U.S. president Jimmy Carter, is still fresh in the minds of the Iranian people.

He went on to say that the French president should know that his country gave jet fighters to the Iraqi regime for its war against Iran in the 1980s and the country’s companies facilitated the Saddam Hussein regime’s chemical weapons production program at the time.

He also hit out at Britain, saying it is more wicked than France and the United States.

“We are one family and may have differences but know how to resolve the problem.”

He also called on IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) to act “transparently” and avoid giving a “one-sided” reflection of events so that people will not be forced to return to foreign news networks which try to incite tension in the country.

30 years since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has now reached a status where it plays an influential role in regional developments and everyone should be careful that this privilege is not lost due to the current dispute over the presidential election results, he noted.

On reports that the events are a prelude for a velvet revolution in the country, he said, “Iranians are so united that a velvet revolution cannot happen in Iran.”

He also said the current developments have both provided an “opportunity” and a “threat”.

“The situation that has been created today can be a threat and also an opportunity. If we observe the law, it can be an opportunity.”

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=197302

[Blaze]

http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3427/html/152562.jpg
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (C) received representatives of the four presidential candidates in Tehran on Tuesday

Appeal for Calm


Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday received representatives of the four presidential candidates.
Representatives of some state organizations responsible for organizing June 12 vote were also present, IRNA reported.
Representatives of the four former aspirants presented their views on various aspects of the elections and the officials, including from the Interior Ministry and State Inspectorate Organization, gave explanations.
According to a report from the Office of the Leader, he said elections have always been a symbol of unity and national dignity in Iran.
The participation of almost 40 million people in the elections is an honor for the Islamic system and all those who cast ballots and have diverse orientations have a share in this great event. All are obliged to safeguard this national unity, he stressed.
“Voters have different political attitudes but are all the same in their faith in the Islamic Republic and their support for the Islamic establishment,“ Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“The friendly atmosphere that existed before the elections should not turn into an atmosphere of conflict and confrontation after the vote because both groups of voters believe in the system.“
According to the leader “It is an accepted norm in democracy that the majority rule. But this does not mean creating enmity, and all are obliged to avoid creating an atmosphere of confrontation.“
He underlined that all objections to the elections should be made through legal channels. “I urge the Guardian Council and the Interior Ministry to closely investigate all the complaints so that all doubts are removed. If necessary some ballot boxes should be recounted in the presence of representatives of the presidential candidates,“ he said.
The leader advised both the winners and losers in the disputed election to have patience and be careful about their behavior and actions.
Referring to the agitators and violent protestors in the streets since June 13, Ayatollah Khamenei said they are not supporters of any candidate rather “they are against the Islamic system and only want turmoil in the society.“
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad garnered 24.5 million votes or 62.6&#37; of the 39.16 million votes cast on Friday. His main rival Mir Hossein Mousavi won close to 33 percent or 13.2 million votes. The two other candidates -- Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi--took 1.7 and 0.85 percent respectively.
Following the election, supporters of Mousavi, a former prime minister, and the other two candidates have been incredulous at these figures and have taken to the streets to express their dissatisfaction.

Iran Daily - Front Page - 06/18/09 (http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3427/html/)

[Blaze]

[English Voiceover] Imam Khamenei(HA) - Friday Sermons - June 19, 2009 -


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Speech of the Leader of the Muslim Ummah, and Islamic Revolution, Ayatullah Imam Sayyed Ali al-Khamenei(HA) on June 19, 2009 following the historical 10th Presidential Elections in Islamic Iran.

This version is an English Voiceover as broadcast live on Press TV

Highlights can be found here:

1) Leader Defends Elections and Calls for End to Protests (http://www.aimislam.com/categoryblog/1275-leader-defends-elections-and-calls-for-end-to-protests.html)

and

2) Highlights from the Speech of Imam Khamenei(HA) on June 19, 2009 Regarding the 10th Presidential Elections in Islamic Iran | islamicdigest.net v7 (http://www.islamicdigest.net/v7core/2009/06/20/highlights-from-the-speech-of-imam-khameneiha-on-june-19-2009-regarding-the-10th-presidential-elections-in-islamic-iran/)

[Nitro Express]

He knew what he was getting into when he ran for office. Hell, that was most of his campaign platform. But if at the end of his time in the White House he is ranked mediocre to bad, you can't blame the situations that he faced for that. The great Presidents always find a way to do great things in the face of extreme adversity. Seems like some people are losing a bit of their "hope" in Obama and already gearing up their excuses for him:

Came in at a horrible time
Events keep fucking him over
Unlucky leader
Previous Presidents fucked him

Yes, the President has some very serious things facing him. But it's not unprecedented. Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Civil War, Great Depression, and the list could go on & on. Will Obama be remembered in the history books as a great President who handled the events facing him with outstanding results, or a President with a bunch of excuses of why he couldn't?

Sadly any presidential candidate that has a chance of winning are backed by powerful people who expect favors. I strongly feel Obama and McCain are puppets for the Wall Street banking elite and off shore bankers. I don't think Obama is anybody special nor is he a great leader. He's an opportunist politician. Look at how he pushes to give more power to The Federal Reserve. Like California, the US Federal Govt. needs to cut it's costs , not spend and tax into oblivion.

Obama is historical only for one reason. He's the first black president and I get the excitement on that. I think he will turn out to be a huge dissapointment and possibly even hated as much or more than George W. Bush.

[Nitro Express]

The last president that had any vision was John F. Kennedy. It's been downhill since then.

[Nitro Express]

Disturbing, graphic video of a young girl known as "Neda" that was shot and murdered by Iranian Basij militia fascist whores...

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o21k4AI2KSE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o21k4AI2KSE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>


albawaba.com middle east news information::Neda Iran (http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/248538)

Too bad the good people in Iran don't have anything to shoot back with. A revolution without arms are short lasted. Just ask the students at Tianamen Square. Looks like she was gut shot. It takes a while to die and they usually cough up blood. Not a pretty sight but at least it gets out because of the internet.

[hideyoursheep]

Obama is historical only for one reason. He's the first black president and I get the excitement on that. I think he will turn out to be a huge dissapointment and possibly even hated as much or more than George W. Bush.

That is impossible.

[GAR]

Obama wanted the job bad enough, and the Dems initiated the foreclosure problem so let him take the blame when things don't work out like he borrowed!

[hideyoursheep]

Obama wanted the job bad enough,

:lol: AS IF there were any competent contenders offered up by the other party that weren't already in jail.



and the Dems initiated the foreclosure problem so let him take the blame when things don't work out like he borrowed!

You know that's bullshit. Never in this country's history did the home loan industry run corrupt as it did under your Fuhrer. You wanna talk about a crisis that began with banks handing out refinancing deals to homeowners using inflated property values fudged by appraisers who were being paid off by the mortgage companies, then it all came down on their heads. Bush throws the first trillion out the door at them sight unseen, no questions asked, now it's Obama's fault?
If things don't "work out", it's because of all the stealing that was going on beforehand. Somewhere along the line, those bills need paid. Doesn't matter what party the President belongs to at the time. The monumental, potentially catastrophic fuck-ups made by the previous majority congress ('94-06') and administration ('00-'08) are to blame for allowing this shit, in some cases causing these problems that now require our attention.

So America voted for a change of direction.

All you see is a change of skin color.

Fuck you.:fufu:

You've fucked enough shit up already. You're incompetence is well documented, thanks anyway.

[hideyoursheep]

....and I'm not willing to trust any Repubs in handling Iranian issues, either.

[WACF]

Thank God for the internet...hopefully she did not die in vain.

It was tough enough seeing it when Nick posted it...hopefully it gets ingrained in the everyone's mind that the freedom we have is not always free.

'Neda' death video steps up pressure on Iran over protests (http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Neda+death+video+steps+pressure+Iran+over+protests/1720807/story.html)

'Neda' death video steps up pressure on Iran over protests

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.thestarphoenix.com/neda+death+video+steps+pressure+iran+over+protests/1720807/1720850.bin?size=620x400


These people know that what they are doing can get them killed...and they go.

I think this is the courage that Elvis was refering to earlier.

[sadaist]

Thank God for the internet...hopefully she did not die in vain.

It was tough enough seeing it when Nick posted it...hopefully it gets ingrained in the everyone's mind that the freedom we have is not always free.

These people know that what they are doing can get them killed...and they go.

I think this is the courage that Elvis was referring to earlier.

The image of her eyes rolling back just before the blood pours out is burned into my mind. Not something one forgets. But I fear this death will shortly be just another Nick Berg.

[FORD]

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/hissyspit/story-1-1.jpg

[Dolemite!]

Zbigniew Brzezinski of the Rand Corporation. Read up. That's the strategy behind this new Democratic president. Both Zbig and George Soros HATE Russia and they don't want to meddle in the middle east neocon style. They want to divide and conquer Russia and China by surrounding them with NATO and cutting China's resources off and forcing it to invade Russia for them. Once China and Russia destroy each other, Europe and The Americas mop up.

Crazy I know but this is their dream plan.

Brezezinski is also the man behind Obama.

People also tend to forget the CIA's stated plan to destabilize Iran years back.

A CNN piece skews the presence of clerics in opposition rallies as being a sign of ahmadinejad's unpopularity. I think it's worthwhile to ask whether it would be a bad thing to have these clerics against you.


Evidence of covert ops in Iran is plentiful

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Iran’s interior minister, Sadeq Mahsouli has accused Western intelligence of backing the riots in Iran following the controversial election results.

Mahsouli’s comments were given very little mainstream media coverage, but were picked up by AFP and Reuters.

Mahsouli has claimed that U.S., U.K., and Israeli interests are behind the unrest.

“Britain, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) were behind the recent unrest in Tehran,” the Interior Minister was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars News Agency.

“Many of the rioters were in contact with America, CIA and the MKO and are being fed by their financial resources,” he said.

Of course, the Iranian government has its own axe to grind, but Mahsouli’s statement increases the focus on claims that Western intelligence agencies are stoking civil disobedience in the hope of fomenting regime change in Iran.

You do not have to take the Iranian government’s word as evidence for this.

There is no debate over the fact that a CIA Covert destabilization campaign inside Iran has been ongoing for over two years.

US Military, intelligence, and congressional sources say a secret war is being vamped to bring down the current Iranian leadership. This involves funding anti-government terrorist groups inside Iran, such as Jundullah and the MEK/MKO.

While president Obama has been quick to denounce such suggestions as “patently false”, arch globalist geopolitical manipulators Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski have both hinted that US interests are currently operating to advance their own agendas with regards to Iran and the middle east.

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“There are reports suggesting that the CIA is behind all this - all of which is patently false but it gives you a sense of the narrative that the Iranian government would love to play into,” said Obama.

CIA involvement in Iran is not a “narrative” manufactured by the Iranian government, as Obama well knows.

As we highlighted in our report earlier this week, evidence of U.S. intelligence meddling in Iran is widespread, which is no surprise considering the fact that the U.S. all but announced they would pursue a destabilization campaign in Iran years ago.

In May 2007, the London Telegraph and others revealed that President George W. Bush had “Given the CIA approval to launch covert “black” operations to achieve regime change in Iran.”

On May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: “The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell ABC News.”

The plan set in motion CIA propaganda and disinformation campaigns “intended to destabilise, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs”.

It also released funds to bankroll the militant Jundullah organization, an Al-Qaeda offshoot formerly headed by the alleged mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The group has been blamed for a number of bombings inside Iran aimed at destabilizing Ahmadinejad’s government.

It is widely suspected that the well known right-wing terrorist organization known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq, once run by Saddam Hussein’s dreaded intelligence services, is now also working exclusively for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and carrying out bombings in Iran. A large number of Mujahedeen-e Khalq members were arrested following riots last week, according to a Press TV report. The article claims that the men were “extensively trained in Iraq’s camp Ashraf to create post-election mayhem in the country”.

As part of CIA destabilization efforts in Iran, former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig last week claimed that the Agency had distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution. Beig cited documents that prove “the CIA spent 400 million dollars inside Iran to prop up a colorful-hollow revolution following the election.”

The CIA program approved by Bush also included funding opposition groups and providing them with communications equipment that would bypass Internet censorship and allow demonstrators to communicate.

Twitter and other social networking websites have played a key role in the demonstrations. The U.S. State Department, which routinely demonizes the Internet as a tool of extremists and terrorists when it is used to criticize U.S. foreign policy, took the unprecedented step last week of requesting that Twitter.com “delay planned maintenance work so that Iranian protesters can continue to use it to post images and reports of unrest,” according to a London Times report.

According to several different reports, the CIA and Mossad has been creating fake Twitter feeds and flooding Iranians with SMS messages inspiring them to riot.

According to author Thierry Meyssan, Iranians received messages before the election votes had even been counted telling them that the Iranian Guardian Council had declared Mir-Hossein Mousavi to be the winner. When the official announcement of Ahmadinejad’s victory was later broadcast, the sentiment that fraud had took place was therefore amplified.

Meyssan also charges that the CIA and Mossad used Twitter feeds to put out fake reports of gun fights and deaths that were never confirmed, rousing Iranians to riot in the belief that their fellow countrymen were being brutally suppressed by the authorities.

Another website clearly documents the fact that the main Twitter accounts used to send out hundreds of alerts during the protests were only recently created and had not send out any alerts whatsoever before the protests began.

Top Neo-Cons with deep ties to the U.S. military-industrial complex like John Bolton and Henry Kissinger have been calling for the CIA to fund a ‘color revolution’ in Iran for years as a gateway to regime change.

Lest we forget that it was a violent CIA coup that led to the overthrow of the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953 under Operation Ajax. The ousting was achieved by means of staged bombings and shootings which were blamed on the Iranian government in order to antagonize the population and enable the coup. During the coup, the CIA also bribed Iranian government officials, businessmen, and reporters, and paid Iranians to demonstrate in the streets.

Given this history, allied with the U.S. government’s own public program to instigate a destabilization campaign in Iran through the CIA, Obama’s claim that CIA involvement is “patently false” is clearly contradicted by the facts. The only thing that’s “patently false” is Obama’s statement itself.

[ELVIS]

I think this is the courage that Elvis was refering to earlier.

Yep...

Now check this story out...

The new “patriotism” - Phony conservatives throw their support behind Butcher of Beirut who directed bloody terror campaign against U.S.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/images/june2009/240609top2.jpg

Paul Joseph Watson (http://www.prisonplanet.com/neo-cons-are-cheerleading-for-a-terrorist-who-helped-kill-hundreds-of-us-marines.html)

June 24, 2009

The horrible irony to arise out of the riots and protests in Iran is that many Neo-Cons and phony conservatives, in their unified effort to enthusiastically embrace the Anglo-American establishment’s agenda for regime change, are cheerleading for a brutal thug who directed a terrorist campaign that killed hundreds of U.S. Marines in the 1980’s.

This once again proves that slack-jawed Neo-Con twits, ditto-heads for phony conservative media whores like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, have no loyalty whatsoever to America, but only to the corrupt power structure which they like to believe they are a part of.

Apparently, the new form of ‘patriotism’, the new incarnation of ’support the troops’ - is to support someone who helped massacre hundreds of U.S. troops just two decades ago.

We are referring of course to Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the former Prime Minister of Iran who directed the bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983. Sold by the media and hailed by Neo-Cons as the avatar of Iranian democracy, Mousavi was also “fingered Mousavi for the 1988 truck bombing of the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Center in Naples, Italy, that killed five persons, including the first Navy woman to die in a terrorist attack,” reports CQ Politics.

Regarding the Beirut bombings, which killed 220 U.S. Marines, CIA Middle East field officer Bob Baer wrote in TIME Magazine that Mousavi, “Dealt directly with Imad Mughniyah,” who ran the Beirut terrorist campaign and was “the man largely held responsible for both attacks.”

As Paul Craig Roberts writes, “The American media’s one-sided and propagandistic coverage of the Iranian election has made an American hero out of the defeated candidate, Mousavi.”

This charade has been vigorously amplified by phony right-wingers. As Raw Story notes, Neo-Cons have sided with the opposition against the boogeyman Ahmedinajed, to the point of grunting with delight at scenes broadcast by Fox News of police being beaten to a pulp by rioters. This makes for an odd contrast to their usual sentiment, towards anti-war protesters in the U.S. for example, for whom their newly found concern about police brutality towards demonstrators goes out of the window.

Similar feigned concern for demonstrators is being played out by TV talking heads across the networks. Take this former CIA agent for example, who informs Wolf Blitzer of his worries about how the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are treating protesters, warning that dissidents will be “disappeared”.

Oh the irony! For it was the CIA that trained the brutal Savak security force, copying techniques used by the Nazis to train the Gestapo, following the CIA’s overthrow of the democratically elected Mosaddeq government in 1953. Savak engaged in the systematic torture, disappearance, and execution of thousands of the new puppet regime’s opponents before the 1979 revolution, all with the blessing of the United States government.

Neo-Cons and establishment media figures have also seized upon the tragic death of “Neda” as another reason why regime change is needed, aghast at shocking scenes of an innocent women dying. This new found emotion at the sight of Middle Easterners bleeding to death on the streets was strangely absent during “shock and awe” and the eight year combined occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, during which hundreds of thousands have died in similar circumstances.

In a Free Republic thread about possible CIA involvement in Iran - which is a proven fact and not even up for debate - “Freepers” express their desire to see a little more meddling by way of CIA support for the opposition and the demonstrators - presumably by way of more money for Al-Qaeda offshoot terrorist groups like Jundullah and Mujahedeen-e Khalq to carry out more bombings and kill more people as part of the CIA’s now public destabilization program in Iran.

Of course, the talking heads, the establishment media whores, and the Neo-Con morons don’t really give a shit about the protesters or the opposition in Iran and indeed probably want them to be beaten and suppressed so that their real cause can be advanced - the demonization of the current Iranian government in the eyes of the world and a greasing of the skids for military invasion on behalf of the U.S., Britain and Israel.


:elvis:

[Satan]

It is rather odd that CNN, featuring known Mossad agent and former AIPAC spokesshill Leslie "Wolf" Blitzer seems to be pushing the Iran thing more than other networks.

I don't know what's up with their election. But I know that NuttyYahoo was probably determined to twist either outcome to his agenda, which is war on Iran.

Meanwhile, here in Hell, the Shah is just laughing his evil old ass off at the whole thing.

[Dolemite!]

As for Neda who might certainly have been shot dead by Iranian military but I'm not completely convinced of this ... there have been tons of brutal killings in Iraq and now Pakistan of innocent people. If the media mattered at all the videos of babies with their heads torn apart would be headlines even before this. But as I said I'm not convinced this is the doing of the military.

[ELVIS]

Mir-Hossein Mousavi was the Butcher of Beirut

http://www.lionllc.com/Quickstart/ImageLib/Admiral.JPG

He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.

The ambassador in turn hosted several meetings of the cell that would carry out the Beirut attacks, which were overheard by the National Security Agency.

"We had a tap on the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon," retired Navy Admiral James "Ace" Lyons related by telephone Monday. In 1983 Lyons was deputy chief of Naval Operations, and deeply involved in the events in Lebanon.

"The Iranian ambassador received instructions from the foreign minister to have various groups target U.S. personnel in Lebanon, but in particular to carry out a 'spectacular action' against the Marines," said Lyons.

"He was prime minister," Lyons said of Mousavi, "so he didn't get down to the details at the4 lowest levels. "But he was in a principal position and had to be aware of what was going on."

Lyons, sometimes called "the father" of the Navy SEALs' Red Cell counter-terror unit, also fingered Mousavi for the 1988 truck bombing of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Center in Naples, Italy, that killed five persons, including the first Navy woman to die in a terrorist attack.

Bob Baer agrees that Mousawi, who has been celebrated in the West for sparking street demonstrations against the Teheran regime since he lost the elections, was directing the overall 1980s terror campaign.

But Baer, a former CIA Middle East field officer whose exploits were dramatized in the George Clooney movie "Syriana," places Mousavi even closer to the Beirut bombings.

"He dealt directly with Imad Mughniyah," who ran the Beirut terrorist campaign and was "the man largely held responsible for both attacks," Baer wrote in TIME over the weekend.

"When Mousavi was Prime Minister, he oversaw an office that ran operatives abroad, from Lebanon to Kuwait to Iraq," Baer continued.

"This was the heyday of [Ayatollah] Khomeini's theocratic vision, when Iran thought it really could export its revolution across the Middle East, providing money and arms to anyone who claimed he could upend the old order."

Baer added: "Mousavi was not only swept up into this delusion but also actively pursued it."

Retired Adm. Lyons maintained that he could have destroyed the terrorists at a hideout U.S. intelligence had pinpointed, but he was outmaneuvered by others in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan.

"I was going to take them apart," Lyons said, "but the secretary of defense," Caspar Weinberger, "sabotaged it."
He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.

The ambassador in turn hosted several meetings of the cell that would carry out the Beirut attacks, which were overheard by the National Security Agency.

"We had a tap on the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon," retired Navy Admiral James "Ace" Lyons related by telephone Monday. In 1983 Lyons was deputy chief of Naval Operations, and deeply involved in the events in Lebanon.

"The Iranian ambassador received instructions from the foreign minister to have various groups target U.S. personnel in Lebanon, but in particular to carry out a 'spectacular action' against the Marines," said Lyons.

"He was prime minister," Lyons said of Mousavi, "so he didn't get down to the details at the4 lowest levels. "But he was in a principal position and had to be aware of what was going on."

Lyons, sometimes called "the father" of the Navy SEALs' Red Cell counter-terror unit, also fingered Mousavi for the 1988 truck bombing of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Center in Naples, Italy, that killed five persons, including the first Navy woman to die in a terrorist attack.

Bob Baer agrees that Mousawi, who has been celebrated in the West for sparking street demonstrations against the Teheran regime since he lost the elections, was directing the overall 1980s terror campaign.

But Baer, a former CIA Middle East field officer whose exploits were dramatized in the George Clooney movie "Syriana," places Mousavi even closer to the Beirut bombings.

"He dealt directly with Imad Mughniyah," who ran the Beirut terrorist campaign and was "the man largely held responsible for both attacks," Baer wrote in TIME over the weekend.

"When Mousavi was Prime Minister, he oversaw an office that ran operatives abroad, from Lebanon to Kuwait to Iraq," Baer continued.

"This was the heyday of [Ayatollah] Khomeini's theocratic vision, when Iran thought it really could export its revolution across the Middle East, providing money and arms to anyone who claimed he could upend the old order."

Baer added: "Mousavi was not only swept up into this delusion but also actively pursued it."

Retired Adm. Lyons maintained that he could have destroyed the terrorists at a hideout U.S. intelligence had pinpointed, but he was outmaneuvered by others in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan.

"I was going to take them apart," Lyons said, "but the secretary of defense," Caspar Weinberger, "sabotaged it."


:elvis:

[Nickdfresh]

Mousavi was the "butcher of Beirut?" I actually didn't know that. But, ironically, I was listening to a lifelong female Iranian dissident writer/professor that said that Mousavi was once an enormous bastard that, 10 or 20 years ago, actually would have been in charge of orchestrating the mayhem of the Revolutionary Guards and their Basij militia assholes smashing demonstrators with batons and bullets - and that he was an effective iron fist at crushing dissent.

He has changed. He has reformed. People can change, and people can go from the oppressor to the oppressed. What he has done in the past is irrelevant to me. As is the fact that his administration would not be markedly different as far as the US is concerned. He's undergone a transformation from tyrant-lackey to martyr. And while it is difficult to forgive the butchering of 300 (mostly well meaning) Marines in Beirut, it is also impossible to ignore that he is the vanguard of change in Iran.

Not US made laser-guided bombs carried by F-15Es or F-16s. Not an iron swarm of M-1A3 Abrams tanks.....

[Seshmeister]

Yeah there are a lot of people in the media painting this black and white.

It's a really complicated situation of dark greys and obviously part 102b of the loss of the US high ground was the US presidential election in 2000 meaning that dodgy countries can now ignore criticisms of their elections. "Hey look at the US..."

[ELVIS]

It looks to me that the US was making an attempt to put in a puppet regime with the support of Mousavi, especially after looking into who he is, or was...

Imagine the US doing such a thing...Haha...

But it's not funny at all...

Some journalists have suggested that the US was seeking some control in Iran to either cut off oil to China and/or to provoke Russia into conflict...

Having people in all areas of the world armed with a camera and access to the internet makes the things that these governments have done in the past nearly impossible...

This is why I have been warning of the end of the Internet as we know it...

Do a google search on Internet 2


:elvis:

[GAR]

"democratically-elected Mossadqeg" my ass.. that was the takeover guy who pushed the Shah out in the first place, the first time back in the Forties.

[Nickdfresh]

It looks to me that the US was making an attempt to put in a puppet regime with the support of Mousavi, especially after looking into who he is, or was...

...

:elvis:

And how was the US "doing this?" By stealing an election?

You mean the one like 2000 where some cuntish, crazy-bitch Republican orchestrated election fraud?

http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/X/7/cruella.jpg

[Nickdfresh]

For those of you interested in doing something via the Web: Why We Protest - IRAN - Powered by vBulletin (http://iran.whyweprotest.net/)

[Dolemite!]

I don't deny the possibility that this might be a stolen election, not that that is anywhere near proven. Dinnerjacket won by 11 million votes more than Mousavvi and polls showed in advance that he would win. But if Bush can be responsible for election fraud, why should Iran take sole international criticism, that is if this is true? Or put up with this...



Obama Moves to Fund Iranian Dissidents
Despite Claims of Not Meddling, US to Send $20 Million to Opposition

by Jason Ditz

Global Research.ca, June 26, 2009
Antiwar.com


Despite President Barack Obama’s persistent claims that the United States is not meddling in the post-election furore in Iran, the administration is moving forward with plans to subsidize Iranian dissident groups (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-25-iran-money_N.htm)to the tune of $20 million in the form of USAID grants.

The program is not new, and the solicitation for the grant applications actually came under the Bush Administration. But with the deadline for submissions just four days away, the administration has a convenient excuse to subsidize opposition and dissident groups under the guise of promoting “the rule of law” in Iran.

The White House and the State Department both defended the program, insisting it did not run counter to the administration’s pretense of neutrality. The administration declined to provide details of exactly which opposition figures it had been funding, however, citing “security concerns.”

There is considerable criticism for this program, not just from the perspective of getting the US involved in the internal affairs of Iran, but also for the taint it places on various opposition groups and NGOs, whether they received any of the grant money or not.

----------

Stay Out of Iran’s Evolutionary Process by Phil Giraldi

Everyone is looking for something to say about Iran. The neoconservatives are predictably hailing the march of democracy on the streets of Tehran for reasons of their own, while hawks like Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham are calling on the Obama Administration to do something to help anyone tagged as a reformer. More moderate voices are generally supporting President Barack Obama’s initial show of restraint, avoiding any open support of either side, and only condemning the violence because it is disproportionate and due to the suffering it has caused. Still others are calling on the United States to avoid any interference of any kind. The non-interventionists themselves fall into two camps: the constitutionalists and libertarians believe that interfering in other people’s quarrels is intrinsically problematical because as John Quincy Adams said, "America does not need to go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." Realists argue that interventions by the United States rarely turn out well, citing the cases of Vietnam, Bosnia, Lebanon, Iraq, and Somalia and more.

Having spent much of my working life as an intelligence officer on the street in places like Istanbul, I am astonished at what passes for expertise in the debate over what to do about Iran. It is clear that even the few genuine experts on Iran don’t really know what is going on there because they are slaves to their sources of information, which tend to reflect their own philosophical viewpoints and are, in any event, narrowly based. It is conventional wisdom in most of the US media that the Iranian election was stolen, the result of massive fraud. But was it? Opinion polls conducted by a US-based organization several weeks before the polling predicted an Ahmadinejad victory. The president is hugely popular among poor rural Iranians and also enjoys overwhelming support for his defense of Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy. Elections are very complex affairs and how a talking head sitting in Washington, breathlessly interpreting grainy texting images, can even pretend to understand what is going on in Iran and why defies all logic, particularly if the expert in question speaks no Farsi and probably would have difficulty in locating Isfahan on a map.

Mir Hossein Mousavi is a reformer and modernist, isn’t he? Perhaps not. He has always been extremely conservative in his political alignments. As Prime Minister in 1981–9, he was regarded as a hardliner. He started Iran’s nuclear program, helped found Hezbollah and may have directed the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut. He is, in reality, a defender of extremely corrupt vested interests. That he has attracted the support of the so-called "Gucci crowd" of twentyish twitterers does not mean that he has embraced western values. As president, he would not abandon nuclear energy and would not immediately begin to talk nice to Barack Obama. His reformer credentials are pretty much non-existent, the creation of a media and an engaged punditry that wants to explain the Iran crisis in terms that a European or American audience would find comfortable.

And then there is the corruption issue, Iran’s six-hundred-pound gorilla. Mousavi is heir to the corrupt Iran of the post-revolutionary period when the country was looted by the senior clerics cooperating with the business class, the bazaaris. Some intelligence sources believe that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been demonized by the western media, is actually the reformer in that he has taken on the country’s pervasive corruption with the full support of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader. Massive corruption has been business as usual in Iran, frequently managed by politicians who have called themselves reformers. Another so-called reformer, who is the money man behind Mousavi, is former Iranian Majlis speaker Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, nicknamed "the Shark." Rafsanjani is a billionaire who controls large sectors of the country’s economy, to include a chain of private universities which became the source of the young organizers who brought the twitterers out on the street.

If there was one thing I learned from twenty years of experience as a military intelligence and CIA officer it is that nothing is ever what it seems. If a situation appears to be clear-cut, with good guys and bad guys arrayed against each other it is probably anything but. So maybe black and white comes out gray. All the more reason to step back. The interventionists from both left and right do not make it clear what the United States should do to help the "reformers." Perhaps that is just as well as the only options would be to hurl empty threats, start bombing, or initiate yet another CIA covert action to destabilize the regime, ignoring the lessons of the CIA’s 1953 debacle, and with the predictable and contrary result of actually strengthening the clerics and their rule.

Change by evolution is better than by revolution. Both metamorphoses are underway in Iran: one is immediate and reactionary and, perhaps necessarily, more graphic and even grim. The other suggests the possibility that long-lasting change might happen in Tehran – if outside influences do not upset the sensitive process of transformation. As is frequently the case, those who would do nothing probably have it right, whether arguing for constitutional reasons or as realists. Iran and its elections is an issue that we do not and cannot understand and it is ultimately an issue that has to be decided by the Iranian people. Rightly or wrongly, outside interference in what is taking place on the streets of Tehran will be exploited by the regime to deflect any legitimate criticism, making any change even less likely. The old Hippocratic advice to doctors to "do no harm" should perhaps be the best advice for the American political chattering classes and the media. Doing no harm regarding events in Iran is to stay out of it.

[Nickdfresh]

I don't deny the possibility that this might be a stolen election, not that that is anywhere near proven. Dinnerjacket won by 11 million votes more than Mousavvi and polls showed in advance that he would win.

Which polls showed he would win?

And I don't dispute that Iranian hicks might have voted in Ahmydinnerjacket, but the margins of 2:1 are almost hysterical and sad at the same time....


But if Bush can be responsible for election fraud, why should Iran take sole international criticism, that is if this is true? Or put up with this...

I didn't say Bush was responsible for election fraud. And do two wrongs make a right?


Obama Moves to Fund Iranian Dissidents
Despite Claims of Not Meddling, US to Send $20 Million to Opposition

by Jason Ditz

...

So? The Iranians have been funding "opposition" in Lebanon and Palestine for years...

[hideyoursheep]

Now our troops can leave Iwreck, and Iran will slide into it's own civil war.

Everything will be back to normal.


:smoke:

[Dolemite!]

Which polls showed he would win?

And I don't dispute that Iranian hicks might have voted in Ahmydinnerjacket, but the margins of 2:1 are almost hysterical and sad at the same time....



I didn't say Bush was responsible for election fraud. And do two wrongs make a right?



So? The Iranians have been funding "opposition" in Lebanon and Palestine for years...


The former CIA operative article speaks of a poll. I saw other mentions of polls here by someone else. If Iranian "hicks" voted for him well that's to be respected whether or not anyone outside Iran agrees with it.

Well Bush was responsible for it as I see it. If two wrongs don't make one right why bring up Iranian intervention in Lebanon?

Point is, 11 million votes is a huge lead, nothing like the Bush/Gore results. The crowds are being whipped up and there is CIA money behind this. More shit stirring to demonize the axis of evil country, from the 'change' guy.

[Nickdfresh]

The former CIA operative article speaks of a poll. I saw other mentions of polls here by someone else. If Iranian "hicks" voted for him well that's to be respected whether or not anyone outside Iran agrees with it.

A CIA operative? Who gives a fuck? What does he think about all the places that received more votes than they actually had voters living there?

What does he think about the fact that an opposition candidate (who himself was once considered a henchmen of the Islamic republic) really wouldn't have changed Iran's foreign policy that much? And that he may in fact have complicated a more unified Western approach to preventing nuclear arms from being produced in Iraq...


Well Bush was responsible for it as I see it. If two wrongs don't make one right why bring up Iranian intervention in Lebanon?

Because "foreign intervention" seems to be the mullahs biggest blanket defense of their vote rigging and stomping of their people. BTW, do tell how "Bush is responsible for it" what the fuck ever "it" means? Bush is actually largely responsible for the original election of Ahmydinnerjacket...


Point is, 11 million votes is a huge lead, nothing like the Bush/Gore results. The crowds are being whipped up and there is CIA money behind this. More shit stirring to demonize the axis of evil country, from the 'change' guy.

Right! It's such a "huge lead" that it is patently fucking ridiculous and has been discounted not only as a fraud, but a very clumsy -almost infantile- fraud by buffoons acting at the last minute...

[davehagarfan]

He knew what he was getting into when he ran for office. Hell, that was most of his campaign platform. But if at the end of his time in the White House he is ranked mediocre to bad, you can't blame the situations that he faced for that. The great Presidents always find a way to do great things in the face of extreme adversity. Seems like some people are losing a bit of their "hope" in Obama and already gearing up their excuses for him:

Came in at a horrible time
Events keep fucking him over
Unlucky leader
Previous Presidents fucked him

Yes, the President has some very serious things facing him. But it's not unprecedented. Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Civil War, Great Depression, and the list could go on & on. Will Obama be remembered in the history books as a great President who handled the events facing him with outstanding results, or a President with a bunch of excuses of why he couldn't?


So far I don't get the bitch with Obama? I really don't he's doing really well considering all the shit he inherited.

The left wingers give him shit because he's not a peace & love, hippie, anti-war, beatnick or whatever and the right wingers give him shit because he's doing the kind of work W. should have been doing 6-7 years ago so they find any little thing to give him shit about.

I think the guy is the best President we've had since atleast Reagan if not JFK. He's a moderate, I like moderates.

W. could have been an excellent President but he let Cheney lead him around by the balls and the guy had no backbone when it came to his relations with Dick. He really could have achieved some greatness had he handled Afghanistan better and left Iraq alone.

Both Clinton and W. were lame ducks. They had the potential for greatness but fucked it all up.

I think Obama will realize that greatness

[hideyoursheep]

I think the guy is the best President we've had since atleast Reagan if not JFK.

I think you're giving Reagan waaaay to much credit.

They do have one thing in common.....no one liked Reagan his first year, either.

[FORD]

Reagan was president in name only. The only difference between Reagan & Chimpy is that Ronnie could at least act the part right, and deliver a coherent speech.