Sunday, June 21, 2009

Mousavi Takes Obama to the Woodshed? Update at Bottom

Michael Ledeen at Pajamas Media

Sunday Morning in Iran, A Letter from Mousavi’s Office

I’ve received what purports to be a statement from Mousavi’s Office in Tehran. Like everyone else covering the revolution, I get a lot of material that can’t be authenticated, and one must always take such material with a healthy dose of skepticism. That said, the person who sent this to me is undoubtedly in touch with the Mousavi people on the ground, that much is certain. His information has been proven reliable throughout this period. So while the following open letter carefully puts distance between the author(s) and Mousavi himself, I am quite sure that at a minimum it accurately reflects the state of mind of the Mousavi people.

So here you go:

From the Office of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi

To the President of the USA, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama:

Dear Mr. President,

In the name of the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement “Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind,” we consider this as a grave and deep insult, not just to Mr. Mousavi but especially against the judgment of the Iranian people, against our moral conviction and intelligence, especially those of the young generation that comprises a population of 31 million.

It is a specially grave insult for those who are now fighting for democracy and freedom, and an unwarranted gift and even praise for Mr. Khamenei, whose security forces are now killing peaceful Iranians in the streets of every major city in the country.

Your statement misled the people of the world. It was no doubt inspired by your hope for dialogue with this regime, but you cannot possibly believe in promises from a regime that lies to its own people and then kills them when they demand the promises be kept.

By such statements, your administration and you discourage the Iranian people, who believe and trust in the values of democracy and freedom. We are pleased to see that you have condemned the regime’s murderous violence, and we look forward to stronger support for the rightful struggle of the Iranian people against the actions of a regime that is your enemy as well as ours.

UPDATE: From Mousavi’s speech on Sunday:

The great participation in this election was, in the first degree, indebted to the efforts for creating hope and trust among the people, to obtain a befitting response to the existing administrative crises and the widespread social dissatisfaction, whose accumulation can target the bedrock of the Revolution and the Regime. If this good faith and trust coming from the people is not answered by protecting their votes, or the people can not react in a civil and peaceful way to defend their rights, there will be dangerous pathways ahead, responsibility for which lies with those who can’t stand peaceful behaviors.

If the high volume of cheating and vote manipulation, that has put a fire to the foundations of people’s trust, is itself introduced as the proof and evidence of the lack of fraud, the republicanism of the regime will be slaughtered and the idea of incompatibility of Islam and republicanism would be practically proven.

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Midnight Rider Update:

Ace of Spades has this posted as well. Per one of our commenters elsewhere said Ace States:

"A hefty percentage of this 31 million youth continues to peacefully protest - facing down tyrrany with extraordinary defiance & courage ."

A commenter at Jawa said:

"What gives me hope for this situation is that the horror stories turning up do NOT seem to end with the protesters running for their lives and giving up completely. The casualties appear to stem from them continuing their resistance.

The first time a policeman raised his riot stick and stalked towards a protester, expecting him to run as usual, but the protester just stood there and looked back at him, and it was the policeman that backed down and walked away, was probably the start of a fire that has taken on a life of its' own.

The biggest problem with being an oppressor depending on fear, is "GOD HELP YOU" if they ever STOP being afraid of you.

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