IRAN REDUX

Notes of Concern….

Jackson Blair

Iran Redux

The Iranian people are mysterious and interesting. If you study these people when they were known as Persians you will note their patience can run quite thin.

They have shown historically that they will put up with a lot but that there is a line that cannot be crossed.

In the late 1970’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crossed that line and it brought about the Islamic Revolution that ushered into power the current mullahs and their governments.

Now in 2009 it appears that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his thugs have crossed it.

This situation is still playing out in the streets and squares of Tehran as I write but the most interesting development is one that might not have been expected.

The Supreme Ruler, the religious leader, publically proclaimed Ahmadinejad properly and overwhelmingly re-elected and ordered the people to accept the results of the questionable election and stop demonstrating.

In an Islamic Republic that would have seemed enough to put this matter to rest. If you were watching CNN or FOX or probably any other news channel last weekend you know it did not.

The government has filled the streets with riot police wielding clubs, guns and fire hoses. The people demonstrate anyway.

The religious leaders, the revered mullahs, add their considerable clout to that of the sitting government, but the people demonstrate anyway.

The odds are heavily in favor of Ahmadinejad and his government, but the people demonstrate anyway.

The government has revoked all the foreign press credentials so that no one can report on what is really happening, but the people demonstrate anyway and the reporters are using their cell phone cameras to get the story to the world.

This mini-revolution may well be put down, as was the case in a similar situation in Tianamen Square in Beijing years ago. But the cry of the people has been heard around the world and the legitimacy of the Ahmadinejad government is seriously called into question.

In the earlier revolution The United States government supported the Shah and paid a price for that support for many years to come.

In the current situation President Obama has brought exactly the right policy of non-intervention balanced with criticism of human rights violations and applause for democracy at work.

It took the Iranians some time to bring down the Shah. But down they brought him. It may take them a while with Ahmadinejad but I would not bet against the people of Iran.

Today they are angry and they are taking names!