by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright June 20, 2009
All Rights Reserved.

           Firing water cannons, tear gas and bullets into crowds of marchers, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made good on his promise to crack down on demonstrators, rebelling against a fraudulent June 12 election.  When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory only hours after the polls closed, it became clear to reform candidate Mir-Hossain Mousavi—and his supporters—that the election was fixed.  Khameinei called Ahmadinejad’s reelection a “blessing,” signaling his preference.  Since declaring victory June 12, angry mobs protested what they saw as a fixed election.  Khamenei made it clear that he would not acquiesce to protesters, threatening consequences should  demonstrations continue.  President Barack Obama, hoping for a dialogue on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, warned Tehran the whole world was watching, urging Tehran to avoid violence.

            While thousands of marchers took to the streets Saturday, June, 20, the crowds were starting to thin in response to the government crackdown.  Iranian authorities deployed the menacing Republican Guard and quietly intimidating Basij militia, a de facto paramilitary wing of the Iranian army. State-run Iranian TV reported a suicide bombing at the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, fueling the crackdown that has left at least 10 dead and scores wounded.   On June 19, Khamenei denied election fraud and warned protestors that he would hold them accountable for “bloodshed, violence and rioting.”  Republican Guard and Basij have been quietly arresting protestors, causing the gradual reduction in demonstrations.  Mousavi remained incognito, providing some distance between his concerns about a fixed election and the more organized protest movement.

            As long a Khamenei’s in power, Mousavi knows there will be no rerun of the election.  “I think the regime has taken an enormous risk in confronting this situation in the manner that they have,” said Mehradad Khonsari, a consultant with the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies.  Khonsari believes the crackdown currently underway will crush what’s left of the protest movement.  While Ahmadinejad and Khamenei blame the protest movement on Western influences, there still live memories of life before the revolution.  Protesters haven’t forgotten the tolerance of other religions, music, art and cultures that existed in Tehran before Khomenei’s Maoist-like purge turned back 100 years of progress under the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his father.  Muslims, Christians, Jews and a host of other religions lived in harmony before Khomenei’s religious intolerance.

            Mousavi should get out the “martyr” mentality and realize that he’s better alive than dead for a faint possibility of a new regime.  Obama complicated his efforts starting a dialogue with the Iranian government by lending support to the rights of protesters.  Iranian authorities point to U.S. hypocrisy, intolerant of antigovernment protesters under former President George W. Bush.  Antiwar protesters were met with strong police presence at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Supporting Iran’s protesters only makes matters worse for any possible reconciliation, especially concerning Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.  Urging the Iranian government to stop “all violent and unjust actions against its own people,” Obama signaled that the United States “stands by all who seek to exercise” the universal rights of freedom of speech and assembly.

            U.S. authorities have no illusions about the cruel repression in today’s mullah-dominated Iran.  Press reports have been sketchy accounting for the atrophying crowds, down from over 100,000 last Monday to Friday’s estimated 3,000.  Western media had a poor vantage point to witness the brutal crackdown that witnessed mass beatings and arrests.  Eyewitnesses described the cruel beatings and marchers fleeing from plainclothes police pummel protesters with truncheons into submission.  Shouting “Death of Khamenei” or “Death to the Dictatorship,” marchers scrambled for safety into the homes of sympathizers near Tehran Haft-e Tir Square, fleeing swarming Basij paramilitary forces.  Khamenei knows that his brutal crackdown will eventually break the movement.  Mousavi, who hasn’t been seen in public for days, knows that the protest movement is doomed.

            White House and congressional support for Iranian protestors has made future discussions or bargaining on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program more difficult.  Iran’s disputed election revealed the unsightly underbelly of Iranian politics, showing the sizable protest against strict Islamic law.  Blocking Intenet sites indicates that the mullahs seek immediate damage control, exposing Democracy-minded protestors.  Suspending nationwide text messaging and phone service indicates that the mullahs take the reform movement as a “direct and provocative threat to the status quo,” as President John F. Kennedy once said.  Fearing losing control of the message, Khamenei has done practically everything to cut off communication with the outside world.  Witnessing the brutal repression should remind fair-minded people that the world has a long way to go in assuring human rights.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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