C.I.A. Says Iran Elections Portend New Era of Repression

NY Times ^ | 25 Feb 04 | DOUGLAS JEHL

[F14 Pilot]

Regime Change in Iran

[goldstategop]

Iran is an example of a country where you can have elections without the substance of democracy.

[F14 Pilot]

Ping for freedom in Iran

[McGavin999]

Is Tenent misinterpreting the low turnout at elections as apathy? Is he right?

[LibWhacker]

Can we nuke 'em now?

[F14 Pilot]

Solidarity With Iran
WSJ.com Opinion Journal ^ | Monday, February 23, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST | MICHAEL MCFAUL AND ABBAS MILANI

Posted on 02/23/2004 12:23:40 PM PST by Eala

Free people are the only real stability.

On Friday, there was a coup d'état in Iran. By preventing thousands of democratic candidates from participating in the parliamentary elections, the clerics eliminated yet another relatively independent institution of political power. Their next target is the presidency. If President Mohammad Khatami is replaced in 2005 through a similar faux electoral process, then the concentration of monopoly power in the hands of a clique of despotic clerics will be complete.


More at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1083864/posts

[montomike]

Please don't call them "conservatives." I am a conservative. They are radical Islamic zealots with out any semblance of a clue.

[F14 Pilot]

Sure, they are not conservatives but just some hardline islamist...

[goldstategop]

They're Islamofacists. The media is filled with liberal idiots who like to slur conservatives in this country by subliminally associating them with despots abroad. The mullahs in Iran are anything but democrats.

[Cindy]

Further repression...that's very sad.

[meenie]

The plot thickens. A Shia government consolidates its power in Iran while continuing support for the majority Shia population in Iraq. The Shia majority in Iraq, led by mullahs returning from exile in Iran, continue to agitate for elections so they can use their majority status to rule Iraq. Meanwhile we have the Sunnis in Iraq, allied with the Sunni governments in Syria and Saudi Arabia watching events unfold. The typical Arab response: Blood and plenty of it. I served alongside Arabs in the military and from my experience, they think along these lines.

[Cindy]

Sad situation.

[freedom44]

George Tenent is an incompetent idiot when it comes to Iran, he really needs to lose his job and we need a real leader in charge.

If he had any sense he'd be more aggressive on policy instead of consistently sitting back and saying "well looks like hard-liners are winning, now it's the reformers, now hard-liners..." what is it exactly *you're* doing ?

[nuconvert]

"C.I.A. expected Ayatollah Khamenei's regime to shut down many outlets for political dissent, and possibly to "resort to new heavy-handedness that produces public outrage and protest." At least eight people were killed and 30 injured in election-related violence last weekend."

"Producing public outrage and protest" would be a good thing.

[blackie]

Freedom now!

[Eala]

Can we nuke 'em now?

No. Nuking the Iranians would be like killing a slave in order to free him. Besides, the people are pro-American; only their junta is not. Follow the link on the post following yours.

[Eala]

Is Tenent misinterpreting the low turnout at elections as apathy? Is he right?

According to what I've read on the various Iran threads (incl. the daily thread), Tenet is quite wrong. There was a deliberate effort to boycott the elections to express a "no confidence" in the "reformers." The boycott was not as extensive as hoped, but significant enough. I also recall seeing a report that a significant percentage of the ballots were left blank.

That is not an expression of apathy.

[LibWhacker]

Besides, the people are pro-American . . .

Hi, Eala . . . Don't you mean this year? Remember, they are 99% muslim. I knew "the people" of iran in 1980. I didn't see even one pro-American iranian then, there or abroad. Don't need friends like that. Don't believe in friends like that. Besides, I've read the Koran, or at least enough of it to know where they really stand.

I think we must get rid of that regime even more urgently than we had to get rid of Tojo's Japan. As then, anything goes.

[Eala]

My personal experience of Iranians, from about 1980 on, does not match yours; neither does my wife's, from the early 70s when she lived in Iran.

We have some Iranians on the list here (though I don't know exactly who). I hope they will speak more directly to your points.

But I agree with you -- the regime must go. And the sooner the better.

[freedom44]

Eala,

Don't mind Libwhacker he's an ignorant Freeper who goes around attacking members of this board and anyone who doesn't agree with his Radical Facist kill all Muslim ideology.

"Liberal Wanker" is a better SN for him.