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I'd like to say that first of all there is no difference between those so called reformers inside the Iranian government and those hardline clerics.
How are you sure that youths in Iran are not pro-America?
Have you seen those pictures of Iranians, Old and Young, Men and Women mourning for 9/11 victims a few nights right after that incident?
And I have to add there is not necessary to send troops and tanks into Iran to overthrow a brutal regime because Iranian are strong enough to topple the mad Mullahs' regime, and what they demand is just our moral support. They want America to support their freedom movement.

I don't understand how you can say there is no difference between the reformers and the conservatives. If that were true, why did the Guardian Council prevent so many from standing in this month's elections? The fact is there is a fundamental difference.

My post was based on my experience of meeting Shirin Ebadi at the World Social Forum in Mumbai in January. Her translator was a young man studying in Mumbai who works for the Iranian consulate there. At first I couldn't understand why the Iranian government would allow one of its employees to act as guide and interpreter for an extremely troublesome dissident like Ebadi.

The answer is that elements of the government bureaucracy are dominated by reformers, especially the foreign service. It was obvious from speaking to them that while they are pressing for freedom of speech, human rights and an interpretation of Islam compatible with democracy in Iran, they remain highly critical of the policies and pronouncements of the Bush administration.

Does that make them anti- or pro-American? I guess it depends whether you conflate anti-Bushism with anti-Americanism. Personally, I don't.