Posted on 06/18/2009 3:47:44 PM PDT by lewisglad
What's happening on the streets of Tehran is a lesson in what makes history: It isn't guns or secret police, in the end, but the willingness of hundreds of thousands of people to risk their lives to protest injustice. That is what overthrew the shah of Iran in 1979, and it is now shaking the mullahs.
This is politics in the raw -- unarmed people defying soldiers with guns -- and it is the stuff of which revolutions are made. Whether it will succeed in Iran is impossible to predict, but already this movement has put an overconfident regime on the ropes.
The regime must be frightened of the forces it has unleashed. The more it attacks its own people, the more vulnerable it becomes.
If you take a step back, you can see a similar process of ferment across the Muslim world these days. Muslim parties and their allies have suffered election setbacks over the past several years in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco and Pakistan.
The most extreme group of all, al-Qaeda, has alienated former supporters everywhere it has tried to put down roots.
The reasons for these political setbacks vary from place to place. In some countries, Muslim radicals have overreached and created a public backlash; in others, they have been seen as timid and corrupt
The simple fact is that Iran's repressive rulers have overplayed their hand. By manipulating the election results, they have created a popular backlash. Iranians now are voting with their feet, and with their blood. The regime blames Western meddling; they should be so lucky. This is real
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If they succeed I am sure al-MSM will give the 0ne credit for his shrewd, brilliant and brave role. *spit*
Too bad the people are unarmed. That’s another lesson to be taken from this
Obama the Bum votes present.
Weirdly, Biden was right
Obama was sound asleep at 3AM, Hilly was right about one thing...
Nice. May freedom ring there in due course.
Computer enhanced?
I wonder when streets of Washington will look similar.
Lurking govt spies: I'm not advocating anything.
“It isn’t guns or secret police, in the end, but the willingness of hundreds of thousands of people to risk their lives to protest injustice.”
Our turn to step up is coming.
an interesting facet of this is how so far none of Khameini’s buddies like Hezbollah and Hamas and his other allies in the region have stepped up and done anything in his defense.
Presumably if the mullahs and the Pasdaran/IRGC are toppled, Hezbollah and Hamas are in deep you know what. Their funding and support dries up instantly. No more money and weapons coming fro mTehran. No more training in camps in Mashad and Lavistan. No more upkeep of the Abdullah barracks in Baalbek.
You’d think if the regime was really in trouble, it’d reach out to its friends, ask them to stir things up, help them out. Will Hezbollah and Hamas really sit by and do nothing while their patron is removed?
Also, perhaps this is an opprtunity for the US to make hay on Al Qaeda. Supposed Iran knows or has custody of a number of AQ leaders including Bin Laden’s son, his top startegist Saif al-Adel, and others. I bet someone in the Pasdaran probably knows where the big man himself is. They’re vulnerable.
If Obama was smart he;d tell the mullahs that he’d help them out and help to cool things down and keep them in power in exchange for them giving up the AQ info and leaders. Then, once the deed is done, and we have what we need, he simply tells them “guess what fellas, I lied. you guys are finished. thanks for helping us out with AQ, though”.
Imagine 1 million armed Americans on the streets of DC.
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Courfeyrac:
Then join in the fight
That will give you the right to be free!
ALL
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
Will you give all you can give
So that our banner may advance
Some will fall and some will live
Will you stand up and take your chance?
The blood of the martyrs
Will water the meadows of France!
ALL
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmaTNf4YhEs
Only in America can we ignore the American Revolution.
The test of whether this goes anywhere is whether the army would take an order to fire on citizens.
Always loved that sentiment.
Imagine the Bonus Army.
Read Unintended Consequences.
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