For me, any sensible discussion of Iran must accept a number of facts. I will set these out as Set A and Set B. Both sets are true. But ideologues of the right routinely discount Set A, while ideologues of the left routinely discount Set B. That is why most debate on Iran is inane.
Set A
Iranian Islamic fundamentalism allied to fierce anti-Americanism was born from CIA intervention to topple democracy and keep in power a ruthless murdering despot for decades, in the interests of US oil and gas companies
Iranian anti-Americanism was fuelled further by US support for US friend and ally Saddam Hussein who was armed to wage a murderous war against Iran, again in the hope of US access to Iran’s oil and gas
The US committed a terrible atrocity against civilians by shooting down an Iranian passenger jet
Iran is surrounded by US military forces and has been repeatedly threatened to the extent that the desire to develop a nuclear weapon is a reflex
There is monumental hypocrisy in condemning Iran’s nuclear programme while overlooking Israel’s nuclear weapons
Set B
Iran is governed by an appalling set of vicious theocratic nutters
Iran is not any kind of democracy. It fails the first hurdle of candidates being allowed to put forward meaningful alternatives
Hanging of gays, stoning of adulterers, floggings, censorship and pervasive control are not fine because of cultural relativism. Iran’s whole legislative basis is inimical to universal ideals of human rights.
Iran really is trying to develop a nuclear weapons programme, though with some years still to go.
There are two very good articles on the current situation in Iran. One from the ever excellent Juan Cole. I would accept his judgement on the elections being rigged.
http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/class-v-culture-wars-in-iranian.html#comments
The other from Yasamine Mather, which puts it in another perspective.
http://www.hopoi.org/articles/elections%20June%202009.html
I am not optimistic about the outcome of the popular protest.
From no-name:
“It is a pity the dead do not have a vote.”
… as one election rigger said to another.
Joke
….and not a bad one.
Here, I’ve copied and pasted an article from ‘Counterpunch’ – this time, they did render the author’s provenance, which is helpful. It’s a view by someone sympathetic to the Mousavi/ Khatami, etc. ‘camp’. I think it’s an interesting piece.
The Iranian Uprising
Green, But Not Velvet
By FARID MARJAI
In reaction to the widespread discontent with the election results in Iran, reflected in large scale demonstrations and disturbances in the streets, the Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei had asked the Guardian Council to conduct a partial recount of the presidential election of June 12th. Although the Guardian Council (GC) has acknowledged irregularities in the vote count, it considers the irregularities inadequate to change the final tally of the votes. The Guardian Council which is the institution responsible for the task of monitoring elections has asked for several more days to announce its final decision on the elections. It is interpreted this time is needed for the lobbying that is taking place behind the scenes.
Mousavi, the challenger to President Ahmadinejad, is not satisfied with this procedure of a partial recount since it does not adequately address what he views as the election irregularities. But whatever the details of the behind the scenes dialogue with the conservative establishment, Mousavi strategists are focusing only on the vote count and the presidential election. This is an achievable goal. It is crucial to understand that the reformists within Mousavi camp are not using the election issue to pursue a maximalist strategy of transforming the Islamic Republic or undermining its institutions. Mousavi strategists are aiming to manage this confrontation within this definable framework.
Clearly, over the years, the Guardian Council has been a right wing institution resisting the reformists in their transformative politics. Nonetheless, it is remotely conceivable that at this stage the Guardian Council could make a compromise decision towards Mousavi. However, that depends on several factors and dynamics in the coming days. We need to explore these factors.
The Mechanisms and Institutions
The Guardian Council is composed of 12 jurists; 6 members are appointed by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and the remaining 6 are jurisprudents recommended by the Judiciary, to be approved by the Parliament majles. The Judiciary itself is more neutral in this matter than the Guardian Council. Immediately, before the elections, the Judiciary started to prosecute cases that were embarrassing to President Ahmadinejad. This move was interpreted by observers that the Judiciary is not completely behind Ahmadinejad.
Politically, the Judiciary is not a monolithic entity. It is headed by Ayatollah Shahroodi who is somewhat independent in his conduct; the other faction is influenced by the graduates of the Haghani Seminary. This school had attempted to provide modern education and thinking for the clerical students. So in a way, this seminary has been effective in creating a generation of politicized clerics, although many of them ended up with right wing elements.
Prior to monitoring elections, the Guardian Council is responsible for filtering out candidates. In this way, the Guardian Council works as a mechanism to shape the character of the elected bodies of the executive and the legislative branches. As opposed to the Assembly of Experts, members of the Guardian Council are not elected by popular vote. The GC is considered as right wing and pro-Ahmadinejad. So, GC’s final announcement on the election results, if unfavorable to Mousavi, will clearly have legitimacy issues, and will fail to create social trust at this time.
It should be noted that senior clerics or marja and the clerical establishment is not unified on this contested issue. On June 17, an emergency meeting of the Assembly of Experts was convened. Although on paper the Assembly is the institution that can select or unseat the Supreme Leader, too much is being read into this. In Iran, there is a balance of power that is understood. As clerics, members of the Assembly of Experts are elected by popular vote, but have to pass an exam to qualify for the candidacy. Two years ago, during the elections for the 68 seat Assembly, the conservative faction of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, supporter of Ahmadinejad, was competing with Hashemi Rafsanjani faction for control. Rafsanjani’s faction won with a slight majority.
The Outside Dynamic and Elements
By watching the foreign broadcasting television and the cyber?”public?”sphere, you get the impression that many players seem to want to throw their hat in the game. Many in the opposition outside the country are projecting their wish list onto Mousavi’s campaign. It is imaginable that some emigre circles, neoconservatives, and elements of Iranian opposition linked with the neoconservative cliques would paint a picture that is favorable to their objective of “creative chaos.” In other words, for them to try to agitate for strategies that are in line with “regime change,” or a velvet revolution if you may. In that sense, they see Mousavi’s Green Wave, as the strategic vehicle for this regime change. However, the reformists want to stay with Mousavi’s pace and objective, and maintain that it is counterproductive and unwise to try to get ahead of the Mousavi platform. They are focused on a strategy that remains responsive to the internal dynamics.
Many of us believe that Mousavi and former president Khatami’s inner circle are concerned that the movement not be appropriated or influenced by obstructionists. They want to contain the slogans to a framework within the Islamic Republic, and what is achievable with minimum human cost.
The system in Iran has multiple power centers. For challenges confronting the Mousavi camp, he needs the support of the clerical establishment. Over the years, this establishment has not entirely acted as a monolith, and he is astute enough not to alienate them with an agenda that might be viewed as an assault on the state. Their support or lack of can be decisive for the outcome.
Moreover, Mousavi supporters need to continue to be actively engaged, without resorting to any violence. For the most part they have done so.
In addition, the tone of language of protest on the street can not be along class lines. Although Mousavi’s language has been inclusive and his discourse egalitarian, some provocateurs in the public at large hurled insults at Ahmadinejad during the presidential campaign, using demeaning terms (such as “peasants”) which has a de-humanizing effect and alienates sectors of the society that support Ahmadinejad.
During the disturbances of the past week, those who brought you the Iraq “show” like Paul Wolfowitz have resurfaced, and written op-eds about the Iranian situation. In his appearances on CNN, Wolfowitz urged the American government to establish contact with Mousavi. There is a subtext to this statement and position. By coloring and compromising Mousavi and the Green Wave in this way, Mousavi would suffer legitimacy, and as a result, the social crisis would intensify and radicalize the process to the point of desperately Americanizing the movement. This may be a component of the “creative chaos” doctrine that was advanced by the neoconservative elements in the Bush national security team. In their writings, other Neocon figures such as Kenneth Timmerman had been focusing on opportunities that can be created in Iran even before the elections. Basically, they are on a fishing expedition.
Mousavi and the people around him are revolutionaries of the early 1970’s and have an understanding and long view of the American paradigm, destabilization policies and official attitude toward independent democratic movements of the periphery. Mousavi’s direct audience first and foremost is the Iranian people. His audience may include the world community, but his utterances indicate that his agenda is not the same as the American neocon establishment with their design towards Iran.
For some years now, the Voice of America (VOA) TV has been beaming broadcasts to Iran targeting the Iranian audience. The VOA Persian program is not a standard politically objective news network. It is a legacy of the Cold War propaganda and its programming tends to imply regime change in Iran. Also, the predominant orientation of the Los Angeles TV stations that beam to Iran are mostly influenced by the exiled monarchist emigre circles and counter-revolutionary royalists. They are also fishing, and hope that the demonstrations in Tehran will create an assault on the State and obliterate it. That is not what the reformists in Iran are striving for, nor is the movement capable of it.
Several neoconservative organizations such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINP) and the American Enterprise Institute pursue policies towards the Middle East and Iran that are ideological and highly charged. They have been making efforts to cultivate and attract “native intellectuals” in line with their own agenda and policy of “velvet revolution” and regime change.
A recent debate on VOA illustrates this. On June 14, in his conversation, Eisa Saharkhiz a supporter of the other reformist presidential candidate Mr. Karrubi, debated a person affiliated with WINP. In that, Saharkhiz reminded his interlocutor in strong terms that Mousavi’s statements and letters explicitly state that we operate in a non-violent manner within the framework of the constitution of the country (recount the vote, and obtain the executive branch through legal means.) Saharkhiz was implicitly saying that the Green Wave is a vernacular movement, and superimposing of any message or agenda to this movement would be a misrepresentation outside of the Mousavi framework.
Imagining wish lists is not complicated, but the challenge is to be able to carry the movement thru to a political conclusion. A crisis on its own does not necessarily lead to a political conclusion. Only an institution or a leadership that enjoys widespread legitimacy can act as the catalyst to bring a series of chaotic events to a fulfilling conclusion.
Sure, some voices are heard here and there that claim the Green Wave “is not about vote counts, or a Mousavi candidacy anymore” ?” that it has gone beyond Mousavi and the elections. But considering the realities on the ground, we have to acknowledge that as a catalyst, only Mousavi with the backing of both the reformist block and the moderate conservatives can the crisis be brought to a meaningful conclusion. The state is not about to collapse. That is why the Mousavi camp insists that it is only within the framework of the Green Movement and the constitution that a resolution to the crisis can be envisioned.
Democracy activists in Iran believe that another strong independent opposition is being born within the system that is not looking for regime change; critics, observers and outside actors need to respect and accommodate this birth, and not undermine it through sectarian and selective politics.
Farid Marjai is a contributor to the reformist newspapers Etemad and Shargh in Iran.
But Shankill is also a suburb of Dublin, it is a couple of stops along the DART from Dalkey where Van the Man and Bono, the Edge (and Chris de Burgh) and all that crowd live, and just before Bray. Suhayl – agree with you about the grunters – ban them all I say, and McEnroe was definitely the culprit who started all the downhll slide, but at least we have the prospect of a British champion at last -watched Murray today and he was sublime, he puts Henman to shame.
Not much news from Iran just now. I fear things are bad there now and that most people are keeping their heads down. Some of the hardliners are calling for protestors to be executed.
eddie,
You’re right (it can happen it seems). I have a cousin in Killiney and I’ve been there often but did not know that…..
Andy Murray is no relation to Craig Murray, I assume…?! That would be super, if he won – and it would be great for tennis in this country (Scotland, and the UK) as well. Good for strawberries, too.
Yes, I think the situation in Iran right now is (to use the word of someone from there who communicated with me recently) that it is “frozen”. Fear predominates.
it is “frozen”. Fear predominates.
Suhayl Saadi at June 28, 2009 8:41 AM
Well slap my thigh, was that not what the operation Third Green Wave, all about?
Anyone roped into that den of spies, and mercenaries calling itself NED (National Endowment for Democracy) knew full well that their colour coded revolution would not fly in Iran. Fact that; this camarilla spend best part of their time to work out the criminal justice, and civic codes of their victim/target country, to identify the work arounds and loopholes, with a view to working the indigenous systems to their own advantage as any cheap hoodlum would.
We have all got used to the Soros funded Rose, Orange, … .. revolutions, or velvet revolutions as maintained by some. These so called revolutions reliant on whipping up the public opinion of the outsiders, mainly the westerners, and then feeding this amplified public opinion back into the host nation, whilst the local and indigenous operatives operating almost ad hock and at the very edge of the local laws, get on with undermining the “undesirable”, which means usually established politicians and instead promoting to shoe-in the alternative and “desired” set of the political operatives, which means vassals, sock puppets, mercenaries already chosen by the perpetrators of the velvet revolution.
The fact that Mousavie camp in Tehran had given the game away, in the days prior to the elections, by requesting and meeting with none compliance, that their election observers ought to be able to attend the polling booths and be present alongside plebeians casting their vote in real time! This little nugget of information coming to light in the interview of the spokesperson of Mousavie a Mr. Mahkhmalbaf on Newsnight.
However without getting too technical, the introduction of Third Green Wave had two probable outcomes;
A- The NED mob manage to push it in, and presto the troubles are solved, and the bent as the nine bob note corrupt Mr. Rafsanjani the candidate West most likely would want to deal with is set in place, and hints of Shah, Victor Yushenko (the poisoned one, whom never was poisoned), Mikheil Saakashvili (which news organ is broadcasting the on going demonstration to oust him?).
B- The NED mob fails, but then the little unrest which is not all that difficult to whip up, as the anarchic Iranians are for ever looking for a cause to kick up a fuss about.
In the case of B then the propaganda mills can begin their characteristic grind, showing the “undemocratic”, and “brutal” , and “cheat President” for what he is, running a “dictatorship”, which even leaves the so called “open minded” punters worrying about the dangers of the “frozen” affairs etc.
This can then be used to bludgeon the nascent Iranian nuclear industry, as the tools of ultimate destruction in the hands of unpredictable, cruel, and brutal “dictatorship”!! With the usual Zionist Fascio screaming; never again, and see how the “cheat president” treated his own people, by killing them and repressing them!!!!
Also in a cheeky and brazen move, there will be every effort spent to keep immune the exposed assets of the foreign SIS, as the article posted above already tries to separate the “trouble makers” read into it the foreigners proxy thugs, from the reformers. Although nowhere is any mention of the mother of all reformers the sponsors of the puppets for the Punch and Judy show, whom have started to syphon their ill gotten wealth in ten million dollar sums out of Iran, and or any mention of the hot market in the airline ticket out of Tehran, with most of the puppet masters making their discrete exits before the full weight of the revolutionary courts are thrown on these traitors.
The coming search and destroy operations to systematically purge the counter revolutionary cadres in Iran will be an opportunity to study the unhealthy influence of certain international factions, as well as a re-education for those Iranians whom have forgotten the revolution and the need for such remedy.
June 28, 2009
“US ‘has agents working inside Iran’ ”
“The US has intelligence agents in Iran but it is not clear if they are providing help to the protest movement there, a former US national security adviser has told Al Jazeera.”
“Brent Scowcroft said on Wednesday that “of course” the US had agents in Iran amid the ongoing pressure against the Iranian government by protesters opposed to the official result of its presidential election.”
“But he added that he had no idea whether US agents had provided help to the opposition movement in Iran, which claims that the authorities rigged the June 12 election in favour of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent president.”…
http://tinyurl.com/lazjpp
June 26, 2009
“U.S. grants support Iranian dissidents”
“WASHINGTON ?” The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents, records and interviews show, continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President Bush.”
“The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to “promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran,” according to documents on the agency’s website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30.”…
tinyurl.com/kmd68h
Dr in Neda Video Gave Two Completely Different Stories
soc.culture.british ?” June 26, 2009
Version 1
Shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house.
Irish Times ?” June 24, 2009
The circumstances of her death remain oblique apart from this account from a bystander: “A young woman who was standing with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij [pro-government militia] member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot [sic] at the girl and could not miss her.
“However, he aimed straight at her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than two minutes.””
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0624/1224249417475.html
———————-
Version 2
Shot by an armed man on a motorcycle.
BBC Online ?” Thursday June 26, 2009 20:47 UK
Iran doctor tells of Neda’s death
The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.
Dr Hejazi also told how passers-by then seized an armed Basij militia volunteer who appeared to admit shooting Ms Soltan.
He doubted that he would be able to return to Iran after talking openly about Ms Soltan’s killing.
“Anti-riot police were coming by motorcycles towards the crowd.”
Dr Hejazi said he saw Ms Soltan, who he did not know, with an older man who he thought was her father but later on learned was her music teacher.
“Suddenly everything turned crazy. The police threw teargas and the motorcycles started rushing towards the crowd. We ran to an intersection and people were just standing. They didn’t know what to do.
But later he saw protesters grab an armed man on a motorcycle.
“People shouted ‘we got him, we got him’. They disarmed him and took out his identity card which showed he was a Basij member. People were furious and he was shouting, ‘I didn’t want to kill her’.
“People didn’t know what do to do with him so they let him go. But they took his identity card. There are people there who know who he is. Some people were also taking photos of him.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8119713.stm
——————
Yeah, sure, they just let the guy go. So where are the photos of the shooter???
+
Pucker your lips for the Apocalypse!
Source: http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.british/browse_thread/thread/9a4cfa67511cbe47/17d865be17916cea?lnk=raot
Here we go AGAIN…
http://tinyurl.com/mmustj
29 June 2009
“Denials of US interference in Iran not credible”
“considerable evidence of extensive US operations against Iran, spanning a range of diplomatic, intelligence and military activities.”…
http://tinyurl.com/maa327
29 June 2009
“Honduran military ousts president in coup”…
“The Honduran military ousted President Maunel Zelaya on Sunday morning, just before a planned national referendum. “…
tinyurl.com/nynabz
Now the Lebanese seem to be at each others throats again, with the Israeli Army maneuvering at the Lebanese border!
Any guesses where else next we will witness the pangs of “freedom, democracy and apple pie”?
Recollecting the profound brainfarts of a spinster, whose lesbian proclivities leave little room for understanding motherhood, going on record; “these are the birth pangs of a new democratic mid east” Condi Rice, in response to a huge massacre of the Arabs.
Seems the monkey trap getting set over and again based on yea olde apothecaries nostrums; chaos, more chaos, and even far more chaos to be sewn around the world as leeches,and more leeches, an blood letting if the patient did not improve, until the patient died, or accidentally got better. Trouble is these neo liberal/conservative morons locked into their own narrative, cannot comprehend the magnitudes of death and destruction these are wreaking around the world.
When will we start putting these bastards to trials for their crimes against humanity?
Now the Lebanese seem to be at each others throats again, with the Israeli Army maneuvering at the Lebanese border!
Any guesses where else next we will witness the pangs of “freedom, democracy and apple pie”?
Recollecting the profound brainfarts of a spinster, whose lesbian proclivities leave little room for understanding motherhood, going on record; “these are the birth pangs of a new democratic mid east” Condi Rice, in response to a huge massacre of the Arabs.
Seems the monkey trap getting set over and again based on yea olde apothecaries nostrums; chaos, more chaos, and even far more chaos to be sewn around the world as leeches,and more leeches, an blood letting if the patient did not improve, until the patient died, or accidentally got better. Trouble is these neo liberal/conservative morons locked into their own narrative, cannot comprehend the magnitudes of death and destruction these are wreaking around the world.
When will we start putting these bastards to trials for their crimes against humanity?
Any guesses where else next we will witness the pangs of “freedom, democracy and apple pie”?
Recollecting the profound brainfarts of a spinster, whose lesbian proclivities leave little room for understanding motherhood, going on record; “these are the birth pangs of a new democratic mid east” Condi Rice, in response to a huge massacre of the Arabs.
Seems the monkey trap getting set over and again based on yea olde apothecaries nostrums; chaos, more chaos, and even far more chaos to be sewn around the world as leeches,and more leeches, an blood letting if the patient did not improve, until the patient died, or accidentally got better. Trouble is these neo liberal/conservative morons locked into their own narrative, cannot comprehend the magnitudes of death and destruction these are wreaking around the world.
When will we start putting these bastards to trials for their crimes against humanity?
Sorry guys, I didn’t feel thrice as strong about he last post!
However, to put the reaction of the establishment into perspective, the following article from one of the known SIS tapped outfits, would clarify the extent of their frustration;
Galloway stirs up a new storm with TV defence of regime
IRAN: the ‘traitor’ By Martin Williams
http://tinyurl.com/l5lzh4
Note the Traitor in quotes!!!
Also worth noting is, the rent a quote person getting quoted, who is a Diana Nammi, a Kurdish female (Kurdish as in Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish, or Syrian is not clarified) who is involved in: “Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, the British charity set up in 2002 to support Middle Eastern women at risk of honour killings, domestic violence, forced marriages and physical abuse.”
Clearly on our way to Baghdad we set up this charity because we needed some human angle to work up the ire of the people whose taxes, and lives were going to be put on the line for the Iraq War adventure, and this still can be good for a few miles more, blackguarding all thing Muslim, and Iran.
Note the anger and the tone of the article, it bitterness is directed at Galloway for stating a tautology; the current shambles of the Third Green Wave is an Operation Ajax redux!
Evidently now stating the obvious is treason, and these kinds of facts are the kind of unspoken facts that one dare not to speak of, aye?
I love the smell of Freedom in morning!
Vamanos,
Rice is a war criminal. Agreed, to about the disinformation redolent of the pre-Iraq invasion period.
Whether she enjoys lying down with men, women or rainbow trout is neither here nor there.
In this respect, you’re beginning to sound a little like that arch-feminist of these boards, Jimmy Giro.
eddie,
Here, perhaps, is why Iran has been struggling economically:
“……..But that was not the whole story. Washington has been attempting to overthrow Iran’s Islamic government since the 1979 revolution and continues to do so in spite of pledges of neutrality in the current crisis.
The US has laid economic siege to Iran for 30 years, blocking desperately needed foreign investment, preventing technology transfers, and disrupting Iranian trade. In recent years, the US Congress voted $120 million for anti-regime media broadcasts into Iran, and $60-75 million funding opposition parties, violent underground Marxists like the Mujahidin-i-Khalq, and restive ethnic groups like Azeris, Kurds, and Arabs under the so-called “Iran Democracy Program.” ”
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22898.htm
Guys came across this little nugget;
“American forces have attempted to take over an Iranian oil field near the country’s western border with Iraq, a security official says.
“US forces backed by tanks entered the Mousian area of the Dehloran County, laying around 100 meters of pipeline in Iranian territory,” the source, talking on condition of anonymity, said Monday.
The source added that the pipes, marked with Iraqi flags, were blocked after Iranian forces pushed the “intruders” back across the border.
Iraqi officials have been notified of Iran’s objection to American movements along the common border, according to the source. ”
http://tinyurl.com/m4uske
Oh great.
Why don’t we make a TV programme, to replace all those defunct housing/ DIY/ cooking/ gardening programes. Let’s entitle it,
‘Provocation, provocation, provocation’.
Suhayl Saadi,
The notion is not for introduction of sex into any and all subjects, as in eddie’s case and his obsessive compulsive affliction of sex with everything!
Fact is to highlight the cynicism of a spinster who loathes the idea of “normal” pairings and by extension she loathes the idea of giving birth, however this she devil then decides to explain away a cold calculated mass murder, as some event that ought to be celebrated, as in birth of an infant!
The audacity of misanthropy in that statement is beyond reprehension!
However, back to the more pressing issues;
A- Does anyone recollect the balloons used as a protest in the series of the “velvet” revolutions so far, we all have witnessed? Which particular one used the transparent green plastic bin liners as balloons?
B- Has anyone seen the CNN, BBC et al trying to push the “green balloon protests” in Tehran?
The following was picked from another web site;
Iconic photo of Iranian protester is faked: reveals Italy’s most conservative mainstream paper
http://tinyurl.com/kjs8gr
The latest data released by the Iranian Electoral Commission are as follows;
1- The “Third Green Wave” candidate ie Mousavie had appointed 40,600 that is forty thousands, and six hundreds electoral observers, whom were attending the polling stations throughout Iran, and observing the elections. Although Mr. Makhmalbaf who is the spokesperson of the Candidate Mousavie was not happy for these observers only to be observing with in the polling stations, he wanted the observers to accompany the voters into the individual booths and witness these voting!! (this in effect nullifies the secret ballot nature of the elections)
2- Also the ten percent recount of the total of the votes cast at random across Iran, which the Candidate Mousavie has rejected time and again, and has been continuing to ask for a re election. The results of these recounts, which in any scientific survey is as good as counting each vote individually, have been coming thorough in at least in three provinces with an increased Majority in favour of Dr. Ahmadinejad, and in Quome the results have held as per the initial results announced (this is very important because Rafsanjani was in Qoume trying to find backers for his coup d’etat).
3- The electoral commissioner, complaining about the reckless aspersions of the defeated Candidates on the electoral processes, admonished these candidates for belittling the efforts of six hundred thousand workers, and personnel involved in the elections, and such unjust questioning of these hard-working group’s integrity. Furthermore, pointing out that the complaints registered, by the candidates had been so general, and lacking in detail which had resulted in some of the representatives of candidates to be so uncomfortable and these have refrained from attending the various meetings since lodging the perceived wrongs and hearsay as evidence of wrong doing.
4- The electoral commissioner further clarified his remarks by citing the following example; Candidate Mousavie representatives have maintained; some of the ballot boxes were already filled with votes, before delivering these to the various stations. This unjust and reckless contention discounts the fact that sixteen electoral observers witness the empty boxes getting tagged, and set in place in the relevant polling station, and fact that the candidate’s representatives were late in turning up for the tagging and setting of the boxes, is a matter that candidate should address within his own operations, and cannot take these tardy attendees as any sign of impropriety, the commissioner went on to add elections are too serious for these to be delayed and stand in waiting for the sake of the representatives of one or more candidates making their way to the polling stations as and when these felt doing so.
These are contemporaneous data relayed to me by someone whom can read and speak Farsi, and whom has read the relevant news sites, and provided me with these synopsis.
Interesting. I suspect even more will out as time goes on.
There is no actual evidence of election fraud in Iran.
IranAffairs.com has compiled the list of claims and none stands scrutiny.
Think for a moment: The opposition leader Mousavi was a former Prime Minister who was vetted and cleared to run for office. And his his election victory was supposed to pose such a signficant threat to the regime that they had to resort to election fraud to keep him out? Rubbish.