Brave Iranian Students

[theRepublic]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/4862626.htm

Something did not go as expected at the latest ''International Quds Day'' in Iran. Introduced in 1979 by the Ayatollah Khomeini in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel, the event has been held yearly on the last Friday of Ramadan. It has traditionally been a festival of anti-Zionist diatribe and pro-Palestinian fervor.

Not the latest one.

In response to the calls by the regime's leaders to mark the event, Iranian students -- still angered by the death sentence handed down for university Professor Hashem Aghajari and frustrated by the lack of freedom in their country -- rejected the government's appeal and actually called for a boycott of what they termed a ``sham and mandatory demonstration.''

The statement, issued by the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran, was strong in content, daring in tone and valiant in essence.

The communiqué referred to Iran's political and clerical rulers as ''the usurpers of political power,'' ''supporters of the culture of terror and violence'' and ''promoters of anti-Semitism.'' It stated that ''the people of Iran want to establish peaceful relations with the United States and believe that both the nations of Israel and Palestine have the right to exist.'' It condemned the ''pro-war factions'' of Iran as well as the ''Palestinian terrorist groups'' and ''Hezbollah thugs.'' They called the International Quds Day ''outdated'' and said that observing it in support of violence was ``a lunacy that is neither advantageous to the Palestinian nation nor does it coincide with the national interests of the people of Iran.''

[Terri]

I'm surprised these columns on Iran haven't gotten responses.

Next week more people will be on the site and hopefully have an interest.

In the meantime, theRepublic, it sometimes helps if you post your thoughts on the issues in the article. That gives others something to respond to.

[Saber]

I've been reading numerous articles recently about the young people in Iran being very much opposed to their government while the "oldsters" tow the party line, so to speak. I see alot of hope coming out of the young people in Iran. We need to support them.

[theRepublic]

Terri,

I think Iran needs to get alot more attention than it's receiving because it is the only hope we have in the region for full-pledged democracy.

Iranians, aren't Arabs, in fact they don't even get along with Arabs so naturally they (similar to Turkey) can in the future ally themselves with Israel (Similar to how they did during the Shah's regime).

Our President has done a marvelous thing by abandoning 'Khatami and the reformers' and instead relying on the youth in Iran (70 percent of the population).

It's the most marvelous, but yet under reported story. --straight from National Review's Michael Ledeen.

[Charie]

"God Bless the Child" to quote the song. If this isn't a ray of hope in a cloud of jihad, fatwa, etc. I don't know what is. It is to be hoped that this student committee isn't composed of 4 kids in an attic cranking out anti-government slogans on an old Royal, because it's one of the most hopeful signs I've seen out of the whole mideast.

Do you think, perhaps, that some of the borderline traitors in this country might take notice?

Did Ledeen have any refs. listed?

[theRepublic]

The student movement in Iran is a very large one.

As far as Michael Ledeen goes .. here's a column i had of his from National Review:(it's older and he's lots of newer ones, but i didn't have them saved).

http://www.nationalreview.c om/ledeen/ledeen070302.asp

The Iranian Time Bomb
A nation on the brink.

Iran hurtles toward chaos, and we are still dithering. July 9 will mark the third anniversary of the student uprising at Tehran University, and the capital is girding for new demonstrations against the increasingly unpopular and insecure regime of Ayatollah Khamenei. Two recent polls suffice to demonstrate the hatred of the Iranian people for their leaders, whether "hardline" or "reformist." The first, a secret survey carried out by the Interior Ministry for the ruling mullahs, found that only six percent of 16,000 people in Tehran said they were satisfied with the regime; the other 94 percent said they were unhappy with it. Moreover, nearly half of those polled — 45 percent — said it was impossible to reform the system and must be totally changed. In thinking about these striking numbers — as clear a picture of failure as any regime could dream of — it must be remembered that, if anything, the numbers understate the discontent of the people, since a number of them must have believed that the pollsters were really agents of the state, and that anyone who denounced the regime was liable to be arrested and tortured.

[theRepublic]

Recent Michael Ledeen Column on Iran from National Review:

http://www.nationalreview.c om/ledeen/ledeen010603.asp

If you want to get a sense of the depth of the hatred of the Iranian people toward the regime that has ruined their country and made their lives an unremitting misery, you have only to look at the remarkable sermon preached in Tehran by the Ayatollah Ahmad Janati on December 20. The Ayatollah Janati is one of the regime's most-influential and authoritative figures, since he is the head of the Council of Guardians, the final voice on policy and theological matters, so it is worthwhile to pay close attention to his words.

He spent a lot of time on the very hot topic of public-opinion polls in Iran. Several unfortunate souls are being tortured in Iranian prisons for the crime of asking the Iranian people what they think about their leaders, and then publishing the extremely negative results. Janati, in language that would have made Stalin blush, defines those involved in the process — whether answering pollsters' questions or announcing the results publicly — as enemy agents.

His rage was kindled by a recent poll in Isfahan — long the most politically active city in the country, the center of support for Khomeini during the revolution of 1979, and today the city that supports the regime's most-effective clerical opponents, the Ayatollahs Montazeri and Taheri — in which the people were asked two very important questions about recent Iranian history. The first was why the revolution had succeeded. The second was whether they felt the sacrifices of the Iranian people in the long war against Iraq were justified.

The answers to the first question were shocking (so shocking, in fact, that I doubt the figures are accurate): 70 percent said that the British and the Americans wanted to create turmoil in the country for pursuing their own interests and 25 percent said that the Shah was ineffective and did not put up an effective resistance, and thus his regime fell. No one said anything about Khomeini's efforts.

The answers to the second question — do you think our sacrifices were justified? — were equally devastating. In Janati's own words, "85 percent said we deplore what we did and we wish we would not have sent our children and we regret that we participated...in these efforts. The same percentage have also said that we deeply regret that a revolution took place in Iran and they say why we should have a revolution?!"

...

[Granite River]

Iran moving toward the west can’t shift the whole Middle East but it would hurt the terrorists’ efforts around the world and take a lot of weight off of the Israelis.

Carter may not have been able to prevent to last revolution but he could have shown a lot more strength to getting our people out of their.

We knew when the revolution happened that the people liked the western life style and we thought that they would be able to overcome the Islamic extremists in power. I’m surprised that the pro-west people have not moved before now but with the viciousness of the Islamic leaders it must be hard to move against them.

[Granite River]

Iran moving toward the west can’t shift the whole Middle East but it would hurt the terrorists’ efforts around the world and take a lot of weight off of the Israelis.

Carter may not have been able to prevent to last revolution but he could have shown a lot more strength to getting our people out of their.

We knew when the revolution happened that the people liked the western life style and we thought that they would be able to overcome the Islamic extremists in power. I’m surprised that the pro-west people have not moved before now but with the viciousness of the Islamic leaders it must be hard to move against them.

[DMae]

Leave it to the young people to get in there and argue, protest, whatever it takes to get their message across.

They deserve a lot of admiration for their courage.

One can hope that there will be a "domino effect" and Iran will finally come out of the dark ages.