The Islamic Republic cracks.

Neda Agha Soltan: Martyred by Iran's Government

After twelve days of protests and rioting in Iran, its clerical regime shows that its main adherents are goons, thugs and murderers. Their sect and government will now be identified as the murderers of Nega Ahga Soltan,* a young, unarmed woman murdered by police, who is recorded on Youtube dying of a gunshot wound, and bleeding to death in the streets of Tehran. Her dying eyes have been seared into people's minds worldwide, proving the regime's immorality. Martyrdom is practically one of the pillars of Shi'ite Islam. That the video might actually create schisms even among devout followers.

The world will also remember its spitefulness: such as brutally gratuitous beatings in the streets, and worse, billing the family of a dead protester $3,000 for the bullets that killed him. (They relented after finding out that his father was a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war.) With a regime as petty as this, no wonder its citizens were convinced it stole an election. This means more than if the clerics actually stole it. A sizeable portion of the Iranian people have now shown that they do not trust the government, all the way up to the Mullahs and Ayotollas, and including Supreme Leader Ayatolla Ali Khaminei. Similar to the religious right in our country, the worst thing those clerics ever did for their sect was get it involved in politics. Now, the government's brutality is tainting the Shi'ite sect, alienating its adherents and turning them to secularism.

Iran's Islamic Republic sowed the seeds of its own destruction very early after the 1979 revolution. Ayotollah Ruhollah Khominei's formed a strategy to have the faithful multiply into overwhelming numbers that would create an unstoppable Jihad. This policy created Iran's baby boom. It has not worked as he planned. Twenty-one percent of Iran's population now under the age of 25, but they are hardly the faithful army Khominei had in mind. US-people know from the '60s how overwhelming and unruly a large youthful, population is (see Woodstock, et al.), but Iran gives its boomers much more to rebel against. Terror and grief of their fathers being killed or maimed in the Iran-Iraq War would be in their collective memory-- their Vietnam, which could not have endeared them to the Islamic fundamentalism. Journalists from the West have observed a rebellious secularism simmering under Iran's theocratic system for some time. It has finally boiled to the surface with this crisis. This should make Ayotollah Khomenei spin in his grave for an eternity, and he deserves no less.

The election was undoubtedly crooked, but not at the polling place. Notice how Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (No, that is not Khomenei misspelled) and his representatives have argued that it could not be crooked because vote rigging at polling places could not produce this overwhelming result? He does not mention the count. Somehow, the 40 million votes were counted in two hours, and president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the winner. This is all that is needed to explain why people could not believe it. Khamenei's supporting of ther results does not prove their legitimacy, it simply implicates him in the fraud. It is quite probable that the stolen election was an attempted coup by the Khamenei against the civil government. Ahmadinejad was a hard-liner and pro-clerical, and his presidency made Iran more like a one party state. Iran might have seemed like a dictatorship prior to this, but it allowed some opposition and even passed legislation the Supreme Leader did not like. This stolen election was an effort to make it a total dictatorship with Khamenei in complete control.

Prior to this, inciting fear and resentment toward the United States was the main propaganda weapon the hardliners used to justify oppression. This is why one could hear the baffling chant "Death to America," at hardliner meetings and counter-protests. Iranians still fear the US' military might and resent the coup the US inflicted on Iran which put the Shah in power. Yes, after all these years, the Great Satan stalking them would always justify the cleric's repression.

Therefore, we should consider giving president Obama some credit at rocking this regime-- with friendliness. Once president Obama offered peace, and then kept the offer open despite being met with insults from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. President Obama held his ground despite the ridicule of Republicans here. Make no mistake, it frightened the hardliners and clerics by depriving them of their major justification for power. This was the reason why Iran tried to provoke the US by arresting American journalist Roxana Saberi and falsely convicting her of spying. President Obama refrained from escalating the crisis, and Iran finally released her. Their ploy had failed. The hardliners could not have felt more distress, knowing they had a young, rebellious, nearly-secular population to control without the terror of the repentant Great Satan. Having lost their source of fear, they tuned to fraud, and it has backfired. Iran's Islamic Republic is broken beyond repair.

*There is a false picture of Neda Ahga Soltan circulating on the net. Displayed is the real one.

Sources:

Neda's death:

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?&next_url=/watch%3Fv%3Dlr48oXMi3Oo

Timeline of events in Iran, including proof of beatings in the streets:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

Charging relatives for bullets that killed son:

http://brianjenner.typepad.com/the_news_room/2009/06/-family-of-iran-killed-during-protests-obliged-to-pay-3000-dollars-the-fee-for-shooting-bullets-used.html

Iran's age demographics:

http://www.hsdent.com/blog/2009/06/22/the-iran-protests-and-demographics/

About Supreme Leader's alleged attempted coup, also explanation of Iran's government structure:

http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/guardianship-council-rules-out.html