The mullahs haven’t entirely won the day:
A sermon by powerful cleric and opposition supporter Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani reignited Iran’s simmering protest movement Friday, heartening thousands of supporters who braved tear gas and club-wielding militiamen to march and chant slogans across Tehran.
In a highly anticipated speech, Rafsanjani slammed the hard-line camp supporting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, criticized the June 12 election results and promoted several key opposition demands. Analysts said his description of the unrest as an ongoing “crisis” was a signal to keep the pressure on Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rafsanjani is, of course, his own version of creepy – but he’d not be as creepy as those currently in power, and even an incremental change for the better is to be welcomed. It might, after all, end up being a way-station on the road to Iranian liberty.
We should be doing more to encourage and support Iran’s democratic movement – even if parts of that movement bear no love for us. We don’t want the love of other nations – we just want them to be free.
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