Iran's 'third force' demand unconditional Democracy

[theRepublic]

http://www.boston.com/dailygl....+.shtml (http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/017/editorials/Building_pressure_in _Iran+.shtml)

Riveting as this clash between conservatives and reformists might appear, Iran's youthful population has begun to find hope in what Iranians call the ''third force'' - a movement of young people who reject both the theocracy of the hard-liners and the ''Islamic democracy'' of the reformers. They seek freedom and prosperity in a state based on the rule of law where the clergy's rule is abolished. This is a force that cannot be damned up or denied by closing a couple of newspapers

[Granite River]

I believe that this is what Hennery K. was saying a few weeks ago when one of our liberal media brothers was sarcastically asking him why we aren’t threatening to bomb Iran.

My own brother was saying just last night that Iran would turn against us if we attack Sodumb. He thinks that the vast majority of Iranians are good Moslems who just want to live in peace.

I frankly don’t believe that the majority of any culture is or ever have been devout. Most people are blasé and go along to get along and be part of the community. Fear, instilled by powerful speakers, for the loss of their souls has allowed a few to control the masses. When people recognize their souls for what they really are the power of religion will collapse.

[theRepublic]

Liberals are trying to make up for their 1979 backing of the ouster of the Shah and the importation of the one of the most ruthless regimes in the history of man.

Instead of feeling shameful and trying to make up for their err they're still defending the mullahs.

[Terri]

You guys know that liberals are never wrong, or at least they never admit it.

[theRepublic]

http://www.nationalreview.c om/ledeen/ledeen012103.asp

Michael Ledeen
National Review
January 21, 2003 8:45 a.m.

By one of those happy coincidences in which no Iranian ever really believes, both The Economist and the New York Times have discovered that Iran's religious leaders are not happy with the way things are going in the Islamic Republic. As readers of my columns have known for some time, many of the country's leading ayatollahs have figured out that when the Islamic regime is finally brought down, the people's rage is likely to be directed against the clerics as well as the political tyrants. Shiite Islam will be a major casualty in the coming democratic revolution, and the more-thoughtful mullahs and ayatollahs are already joining the ranks of the revolutionaries.

Both The Economist and the Times senior clerics in the holy city of Qom are quoted as supporting a clean separation between mosque and state, in which the ayatollahs will return to their traditional religious function, leaving the management of the affairs of state in the hands of the representatives of the people. Neither publication pointed out that the regime has extended its repression to Qom in recent months, rounding up outspoken teachers and theologians and sending them to Tehran, where they vanished into the black hole of the institutions of Islamic Justice. Despite this attempt to silence religious critics with the regime's iron fist, several of the surviving remnant spoke openly to the Western journalists about the illegitimacy of the regime and the misery it has brought to the Iranian people.

On Monday, reporter Nazila Fathi carried the story one step further, reporting on an incendiary letter issued by the Ayatollah Taheri, the former Friday prayer leader in Isfahan who broke with the regime late last year by resigning his position and attacking the country's leaders in the most-explicit possible terms. Taheri's latest tirade called on Iranian clerics to condemn the five-year old house arrest of the venerated Ayatollah Montazeri, one of the authors of the country's post-revolutionary constitution, and the designated successor to the Ayatollah Khomeini until shortly before Khomeini's death, when Montazeri condemned Khomeini's unconstitutional seizure of absolute power

[Granite River]

Our actions against Iraq could save the lives of thousands and improve the lives of millions in the Middle East. With American power in Iraq the Iranian people are more likely to take their country back. With Iran and Iraq cutting a path of democracy through Islam the rest of the region may change for the better. I just don’t know what positive changes could come out of the Arabian Peninsula. Iran and Iraq have smart people who could build progressive nations with their oil revenue. Saudis could,,?