Events in Iran Bode Ill for Democracy
Events in Iran Bode Ill for Democracy
Editor, Times-Dispatch: As I watch the events in Iran unfold, I am disturbed. Not with the political posturing -- that is an inherent by-product of the political process -- but rather the deconstruction of a democratic society before our eyes.
The original election was supposed to take place in a 24-hour period. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not expect the turnout at the polls or the thronging of the ex-pats to the international polling places.
Ahmadinejad likes the international stage that he has made such a fool of himself on. He likes the attention, the perks, and the lifestyle. Like all dictators, he has no desire to give these things up.
When the results were tallied the first day, not by an independent party, but by Ahmadinejad's own ruling party, and the results were not what they wanted, they extended the voting by another two days. Whole blocks of votes were lost, and most likely blocks of votes were counted twice. But we'll never know because there was no independent source that could be trusted by the people.
Now there are people dying. Martyrs are being made daily. With technology, there is no way to keep things quiet anymore. No way to shut the media down. A simple cell phone video tells the story of a young woman shot dead in the street with her father at her side. Uploaded, it runs as international news.
We can't go back in time to an age of filtered media and government sanctioned and sanitized news. We can tell the truth.
But as we tell the truth, we have a responsibility to act in accordance with what we know to be right and true. We can't just tell the truth, we have to fix what is wrong, too.
Leila Gaskin.
Richmond.
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Reader Reactions
We went to war on a lie, we slaughtered at lease a hundred thousand civilians, we stole oil fields and now they have a parliament that we installed. Bush Doctrine, indeed.
We stole oil fields? Really? Why is gas so stinkin’ expensive if we now have possession of oil fields we didn’t pay for? You either have to concede that we didn’t steal oil fields or that government is too messed up to properly fence stolen merchandise (..and you want them to give you free health care!)
We slaughtered one hundred thousand civilians? Really? Since our enemies were not wearing uniforms, that’s a pretty big reach. Were these civilians, innocent civilians? wink wink.
Iraq has a parliment that we installed? So all of those purple fingers attached to people that voted in several elections was a sham? Got any proof of that?
What lie did we go to war on? WMD or the violations of U.N. sanctions? I understand we went to war on a number of issues and were wrong on WMD. Does being right on the UN violations and wrong on the WMD make the entire enterprise a lie?
“The French are more impressive with their tough stance against Iran then Obama and the Democrat leadership.
The French. Tougher.
You can’t make this stuff up.“
Oh, GOOD ONE, Hoagie… “freedom fries”, “surrender monkeys”, et cetera… We all know YOU didn’t make it up. You had to hear it from Goldberg first.
12step - I want to genuinely compliment you on this particular dig. Even if it was directed at me, I would have applauded it - you have broken the mold of the liberal default position which curls up into the fetal position and mixes incoherent grunts in between mentions of Limbaugh, Bush, Hannity and Fox News - Goldberg is a new one and I appreciate the fact that you were on the cutting edge of changing the liberal insult paradigm. Even though we disagree and trade shots, I give you you huge points for at least being able to insult people better than most liberals. Good job! Really, I’m not kidding.
“Iranians have to revolt if they want to change their government…like the US did against Britain…“
Yep…
Happy July 4th, and Happy Birthday USA! I’ll be celebrating and giving thanks to our forefathers.
I agree with FrankSmith - no democracy in ANY country that allows a religious entity/leader to make and enforce their “laws”
Thank GOD for our forefathers that saw the importance of the separation of church and state…
I don’t think Obama has much of a choice in this matter…he can condemn the killings…but that is all…Iranians have to revolt if they want to change their government…like the US did against Britain…
From the editorial: “...but rather the deconstruction of a democratic society before our eyes.“
Here’s a news flash - there is no democracy there to be deconstructed.
Regardless of the outcome of the so called election, the religious leaders direct everything on a strategic level. There is no representation, but that of the Koran.
Because there has been an election, does one call it democracy? So democracy is not Ill in Iran, it is dead, as it has been for a long time. Once Sharia law has been abolished maybe someone can then use the term “Democracy.“
Blackbird-Sarcasm may be considered the lowest form of wit and sometimes it is completely missed.
I meant that Mr. Obama showed an embarassing deference to the Saudi king.
No head of state should ever bow to, kneel in front of, or kiss the ring of another head of state.
It took mr. Obama and his inner circle months to discover that there was a Protocol office that should be consulted in such matters.
Small point but telling.
Well put “Fantastic”.
“SClark” it’s good to here the people of Iran are encouraged by Iraq.
Now if they could just get their government to quit messing around there! But I guess we have the same issues with Iraq. But don’t blame the NY Times, haven’t read anything in the Richmond Times either, in fact sometimes I wonder if we are still in Iraq. The news from there is so minimal. You wouldn’t know that today as well as moving troops out of the cities, Iraq is also in the middle of the bidding process for long term development 8 Oil fields.
The BBC still does the best job of indepth reporting of international news. US news just doesn’t seem to care too much beyond the headlines.
Ok, now I expect some railing against the BBC…sorry, but it’s not about any poltical stance, it’s just the news the BBC carries doesn’t always have to be about Britain and rarely is. Where as US news always has to have some US connection to make it on the network. Can’t blame um..they have a business to run, and the majority of Americans don’t care to watch that type of news.
I don’t understand some of these comments, what do you want Obama to do?
I think he has walked a fine line between supporting the demonstrators and realizing that guess what.. or guess who is still going to be in power when the protests fade out….
and who is he going to have to deal with for the next 4 years….this is extremely delicate, most of the comments here act like we have some control over Iran and can make a foreign country bow to our wishes just by waving a magic wand…or I guess you want some military threat…yeah that’s it…all brawn ...and no brains?
How are you so sure this Moussavi is so much different then the others? He was Prime Minister during the Islamic Revolution wasn’t he? What has he said that makes you believe he is different. Ok, it doesn’t take that much to be an improvement over Ahmadinejad, but what do we really know about this other guy that makes people make statements like “voted against the hardliner Ahmadinejad and for freedom”. I have not read anything that leads me to believe this will change the government in Iran.
Coming back to the original idea of this post….what is being condemned is the violence against protests calling for fair elections…but I haven’t heard anyone calling for protests against the Islamic Revolution or against Hezbolah or against developing Nuclear Power in Iran or anything that really gives me a hope that there will be a change….
like I have said before…this is a postivie step….but it’s just a small step. Iran needs to go ALOT farther to get my seal of approval…I don’t think this is a time to “intervene” for Moussavi when I haven’t heard anything out of him that shows he’s ready to dismantle the Islamic Revolution. Have you , please let me know if I am wrong…I am just stating, I don’t think now is not the time to play our hand and rush to support someone that we don’t know much about…that’s how we always get in trouble in foreign countries.
Obama supporting the ousted PRESIDENT from Honduras was a SUPPORT OF DEMOCRACY over A MILITARY COUP!! How can you disagree with that?? You support the Military Coup?? Weird sense of democracy there….
Obama kissing the ring of King Saud is just a continuation of the hand holding by Bush, I admit it neither is something I would like to see, but I guess in Rome ...do as the Romans. But I am more concerned with our policies then our “appearances” with King Saud…but the appearances do seem to accurately reflect our policy at this point.
And only a Bush apologist would use the word “emboldened.“
I feel like we have over romanticized what is going on in Iran. I assure you, only a small portion of those protesters are truely fighting for what I would consider freedom. Ahmadinejad may or may not have won the election, but either way the margin was absurdly overblown and likely a fraud. This was in order to avoid a run-off between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad. One way or another, the debate over who actually controls Iran was never even discussed. The Ayatollahs control Iran, they picked the candidates, they picked the winner, they picked the policies. If you call squabbling over the figure head “fighting for freedom” then we disagree. Furthermore, if you call the US military dictatorship in Iraq a shining example of democracy in the Arab world, you are dillusional.
We went to war on a lie, we slaughtered at lease a hundred thousand civilians, we stole oil fields and now they have a parliament that we installed. Bush Doctrine, indeed.
“The French are more impressive with their tough stance against Iran then Obama and the Democrat leadership.
The French. Tougher.
You can’t make this stuff up.“
Oh, GOOD ONE, Hoagie… “freedom fries”, “surrender monkeys”, et cetera… We all know YOU didn’t make it up. You had to hear it from Goldberg first.
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