Persian struggle for freedom
What is occurring in Iran is not a simple, disjointed protest against the results of a long-past presidential election; Iranians are dying for an ideal:
When protests erupted in June over the outcome of Iran's rigged presidential election, many in the West predicted an end to the repressive theocratic regime. It did not happen. No revolution, and many of the protesters were injured, arrested, imprisoned, or executed. As of this writing the anachronistic mullahs retain their power.
However, since those bloody days in June, several more violent confrontations have erupted across Iran in places like Isfahan, Najafabad, Mashad, Sirjan, and of course Teheran. As was the case in June, this ongoing surge is led primarily by Iran's university student population, but with a twist -- many central figures within the movement are women.
Of all Iranians brutally suppressed by Shari'a rule, it is women who are most oppressed.
Beyond regime change
If one closely follows the ragged reports leaked out from under Iran's heavy-handed censorship, it becomes clear that every demonstration is a dress rehearsal for the next demonstration.
In a recent Christian Science Monitor report, Mehrdad Khonsari of London's Center for Arab and"The fact is there is no likelihood that these protests are going to come to an end anytime soon." Iranian Studies observed, "Once Ashura is over next week, there will be more demonstrations. The fact is there is no likelihood that these protests are going to come to an end anytime soon."
Indeed. Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, was recently stripped of his last official post as president of Iran's Academy of Art for vowing to continue in the movement. It should be noted that Mousavi was defeated in the tainted presidential election by the theocratic incumbent Ahmadinejad.
But even if Mousavi was now the sitting president, the unrest would still be there. His loss in a fraudulent election was merely the catalyst that ignited a national movement with issues that run much deeper than mere regime change.
Freedom
Pamela Geller observed in a brilliant essay written for The American Thinker that theocracy is absolute rule, and this is the Islamic way of doing things. But Mousavi called for freedom of speech -- definitely not the way of Islam and definitely not the way of the theocratic ayatollahs.
Mousavi and the Iranian Green movement are hungering for liberty, for free expression of ideas -- for freedom.
It is deliciously ironic that today, an America administered by Obama sees Iran's lunatic mullahs as negotiating partners, as respected peers, while ignoring the Iranian people who are dying for the very things"And now are we better off? Obama kindles more world mockery than respect and certainly generates no fear." this nation once stood for.
As Geller so eloquently surmised: "It is a stain on America's great history as a force for good that we elected a President who would give tacit support to murderers and savages, and abandon those dying for freedom."
The radical Left ridiculed President Bush and the Bush Doctrine to demean him in the eyes of the world. Yet the people of the world respected George W Bush even if their leaders did not (although many nefarious despots rightly feared him).
And now are we better off? Obama kindles more world mockery than respect and certainly generates no fear.
We end this decade remembered for fighting for freedom. We enter the new decade under an administration now known for appeasement abroad and subjugation of freedom at home.
Perhaps it is time for Americans who are voluntarily giving up their freedom to learn from the struggle of those who crave it.
Hype and Chains.