NYT: Iran President Facing Revival of Students’ Ire: "Death to the dictator!"

[DeepModem Mom]

Iran President Facing Revival of Students’ Ire
By NAZILA FATHI
Published: December 21, 2006

TEHRAN, Dec. 20 — As protests broke out last week at a prestigious university here, cutting short a speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Babak Zamanian could only watch from afar. He was on crutches, having been clubbed by supporters of the president and had his foot run over by a motorcycle during a less publicized student demonstration a few days earlier.

But the significance of the confrontation was easy to grasp, even from a distance, said Mr. Zamanian, a leader of a student political group.

The student movement, which planned the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy from the same university, Amir Kabir, is reawakening from its recent slumber and may even be spearheading a widespread resistance against Mr. Ahmadinejad. This time the catalysts were academic and personal freedom....

The protest, punctuated by shouts of “Death to the dictator,” was the first widely publicized outcry against Mr. Ahmadinejad, one that was reflected Friday in local elections, where voters turned out in droves to vote for his opponents.

The students’ complaints largely mirrored public frustrations over the president’s crackdown on civil liberties, his blundering economic policies and his harsh oratory against the West, which they fear will isolate the country....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/world/middleeast/21iran.html?hp&ex=1166677200&en=57d0844c5e5d1818&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[tularetom]

1. Well it seems there is more freedom in Iran than in Amurka

Can you imagine such a protest taking place here without massive reprisals. On second thought maybe there were massive reprisals in Iran. But I still have problems envisioning a bunch of US students chanting "death to the dictator" and having it reported in the M$M.

[ShortnFiery]

2. The drumbeat in support for bombing Iran is already moving

into first gear. Let's all thank the whorish MSM? Within months, our news media will litter nothing but "Iranian Dissident" atrocities. Time will prove me right - the corporate "war profiteering" media whores have no shame. :thumbsdown:

It's beginning - be advised. :(

[MADem]

3. Well, yes, I could. Unfortunately too many kids in college are Republicans

The old "greed is good" attitude prevails in much greater numbers than it did when I was young. That's why you don't see too many demonstrations...that, and Nintendo, I guess, keeps them off the streets.

Repression in Iran is HARSH. People who don't know this haven't kept up with what is going on over there. This is a country where they hang people from nooses suspended from cranes--teenagers, too, in violation of international law, for "crimes against chastity" ... it's tough to be a reform-minded soul in that country, under the thumb of the Supreme Leader, the Guardian Council, and having to listen to the tripe parroted by the Puppet President.

The reason this story is being reported both in the world media and the NIRT (Iranian TV) and Iranian press is because the Supreme Leader is in the process of muzzling that dipstick they installed as President. He's gone a bit too far off the page to suit him and the Council, so they're pulling his string. FWIW, his ticket of rabid dogs on the ballot this month tanked. The few reformers the Guardian Council allowed on the ballot were swept in, though.

[ShortnFiery]

4. Our buddies in Iraq are hanging um high too ...

Guess the Middle East governments are all harsh. :shrug:

[MADem]

5. They have nothing in common, Iraq and Iran, save a common border

They don't speak the same language, they aren't of the same racial and ethnic background, and they don't have the same form of government, even. Canada and the US, or Mexico and the US, are more similar than Iran and Iraq.

Iraq has a fucked-up new government that doesn't know what it is going to be, yet. Iran, since the Shah fell in seventy nine, practices harsh Sharia law, interpreted by a bunch of mean old men who CHOOSE who goes on the ballots...did you know that they have told thousands, yes, thousands of candidates that they were not allowed to run for office because they were too reform minded? That they wrote into their constitution that a woman could never be President?

They aren't nice guys, and the "President" of Iran, who is even less of a nice guy, is simply a puppet of the council. They let him run too far out on his leash, and now they are reeling him back in.

Iranians are fine folks, and most, except for the ultrareligious fundies (ugly guys, mostly, who couldn't get a date in a secular Iran) hate this fucking government. The kids, especially, are extremely discontented. Just because that asswipe President of theirs has the same opinion of our asswipe President as most of the world does NOT make him a nice guy--he is a vicious jerk, and the sooner there's another revolution in Iran, the better. I know a LOT of folks who would like to go home....but don't dare under the present regime. Those bums on the Guardian Council have run a promising and forward looking nation into the ground....it's a real shame.

[ShortnFiery]

7. IMO, wrong! They have many things in common ...

The simplistic Persians speak Farsi and we (Iraq's now our budding 51st state) speak Arabic does not negate the fact that the majority of Iraqis are Shite, as are the majority of Iranians.

The following is very important to note: The Shah of Iran was secular but make no mistake he was a FIRST CLASS THUG and CRUEL MONARCH. His son, who's all set to take over should we bomb and Invade would rule the country as OPPRESSIVE as the present theological government. But hey, the Son of The Shah would be "our beloved thug" like his father before him.

Please don't insult my intelligence by claiming the rulers in Iran now are ANY more OPPRESSIVE than the Corrupt, Cruel and Brutal Shah of Iran.

Why do you think so many Iranians continue to hate us?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller?

ITS BECAUSE THE CIA INSTALLED SHAH WAS A BRUTAL THUG NO LESS VICIOUS THAN THE PRESENT DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT.

I know this for a fact because I have immediate family members who have lived there under The Shah's rule. Just like good ole' Saudi Arabia, there were public executions. In fact the Shah's Secret Service rivaled the former Gestapo of the 40s Nazi Germany. :thumbsdown: Our sweetheart of a Monarch had a penchant for decapitation as the punishment of choice.

This is NOT our dance as A NATION, i.e., the internal affairs of Iran's government. Sure, those of us who have friends and family in peril, take a keen interest in supporting organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Inc. However, the USA's Foreign Policy should recognize IRAN as sovereign as our latest *best buddies* in Communist China. In other words, yes we care about human rights everywhere but the best place to focus our concern is AT HOME, i.e., first look within before condemning "the other." :hi:

[rollopollo]

6. US Involvement & Elizabeth Cheney

While I think this is a good development, we also shouldn't be naive as to why this is happening. Certainly part of it is disagreement w/Ahmadinejad's policies. But some of this credit goes to the US government which has been funding opposition, including student groups, for quite some time. (see FUNDING below)

While there are details on US funding below, the person in charge, uptil recently, for US intervention and media in Iran was none other than Dick Cheney's daughter.

"After three years of working at the State Department, in spring 2006 Elizabeth Cheney left her post in order to have her fifth child. In February 2005, Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, had been appointed principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, making her the No. 2 official in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. The post reportedly entails actively working to develop regime-change strategies for Middle Eastern countries, mainly Syria and Iran. According to unnamed colleagues interviewed by the newspaper the Australian, she was referred to in the department as the “freedom agenda coordinator” and the “democracy tsar” (March 6, 2006)."

Read more about her handiwork here: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/3376


FUNDING
Here's part of a speech by Nicholas Burns, Under-Secretary of State
--
In November 2003 at the National Endowment for Democracy, President Bush outlined a forward strategy for freedom in the Middle East. He said that “sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe -- because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.” In his 2005 Inaugural Address, the President reiterated America’s support for the people of the broader Middle East and North Africa in their fight for freedom. “We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler in every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.” President Bush spoke directly to the Iranian people in his February 2, 2005, State of the Union Address, saying: “As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you.”

The Administration is deeply appreciative of Congress’ and this Committee’s support for the resources that enable us to implement the President’s Freedom agenda and reach out to the Iranian people. A few examples:

-- Since May 2003 we have funded a Persian language website that serves as a “virtual embassy” by providing the only channel for both U.S. policy statements in Persian as well as a range of information about democracy, American society and values, and consular information.

-- We are also funding political discussion in Persian on television and radio broadcasts into Iran under the auspices of the Voice of America. Recently VOA announced that it was increasing the duration of these broadcasts. The U.S. government also funds news and music broadcasts into Iran on Radio Farda. This service is specifically targeted at the large population of younger people in Iran.

-- The FY2005 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act doubled to three million dollars the funds available to our Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau to support the advancement of human rights and democracy in Iran. We are currently reviewing applications for FY2005; in 2004 we provided one million dollars to document human rights abuses inside Iran and $500,000 for National Endowment for Democracy programming.
--

Best I know our media expenditures are not limited to media which has the "United States" label stamped to it.

[ShortnFiery]

8. I hope Liz continues to cycle through pregnancies ... stay out of ME Affairs.

Iran is a sovereign state, no less valid as Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

We (The USA Crusaders) are tampering with forces that we will not be able to reign in IF/WHEN the button has been pressed.

I pray for diplomacy jaw-jaw rather than default to Neo-Con stand-offs. Stand-offs and hard corps degradation of the Iranian government, only makes everyone within the neighborhood (no less the world community) scared shitless. The USA's posturing in Iraq and continued THREATS toward an Iranian first strike can easily morph the entire region into WAR. :scared: That is, the present civil war in Iraq will look like a boy scout jamboree in comparison, IF we we permit Lord Pissypants to ignite unbridled warfare throughout the ME, i.e., bombing Iran will do exactly that. :(

[rollopollo]

9. I don't think Bush understands blowback

I imagine their thought patten was illustrated on a white board looked something like this:

Fund opposition in Iran + Use media channels for US message --> Iranians elect the opposition

Unfortunately in actuality this is seen as:

Fund insurgency against Iran's regime (just as we're accusing Iran is doing to us in Iraq) + Use American wealth to propogandize --> No change in govt. (since Supreme Guide determines everything) + resentment amongst Sh'ites (including leadership in Iraq) + Loss of Moral Authority in criticizing Iran, Syria, and others for funding insurgencies in Iraq (since we are doing the same things) + Growing Middle Eastern resentment that America is trying to play kingmaker in their land.

We keep meddling with their affairs, yet they are supposed to keep out of our affairs in Iraq?