You know how it is. You feel something is wrong. You have a sharp pain in your heart say. Your regular doctor, let’s call her Dr. No, says it’s all in your head. Nonetheless, the pain keeps getting worse, so someway, somehow, you find your way to another doctor’s office, because you sure feel real sick, no matter what Dr. No said. Unfortunately, if you are the country of Iran, I don’t think you’re going to get that second opinion anytime soon.
TEHRAN — As Iran’s leaders push back threats to their authority after the disputed presidential election, crushing street protests and pressing challengers to withdraw or to limit their objections, the country’s main electoral oversight group ruled Friday that the ballot had been the “healthiest” since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
The statement by the 12-member Guardian Council, which is charged with overseeing and vetting elections, fell short of formal certification of the ballot. But it offered further evidence that, despite mass demonstrations and violent confrontation with those who call the election a fraud, the authorities are intent on enforcing their writ and denying their adversaries a voice.
I guess this means they rigged all the prior elections worse than this last one. I guess a healthy election is when you shoot people down in the streets just for being in the streets when they turn out to protest the results. I guess what has been happening these past few weeks is just a little elective surgery on the body of the Iranian electorate. All better now, you can go home protesters. The Guardian Council has spoken. Your government is fit as a fiddle. Any lingering resentments or outrage you may feel at the election’s outcome, why that’s the fault of evil, unhealthy outside influences. Best you avoid them at all costs.
With most protests suppressed or canceled, a few dozen people arrived Friday at the Behest-e Zahra cemetery to mourn Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old woman shot dead last Saturday whose image went round the world as an instant emblem of the protest.
According to Tehran, members of the government’s Basij militia, ordered to prevent any gatherings, have beaten even small groups of passers-by so the mourners arrived in groups of two or three, muttered brief prayers and left, The Associated Press said, quoting unidentified witnesses. […]
The government appeared to fall back on a familiar playbook: trying to rouse Iranians through populist appeals against outside interference and dark accusations of foreign conspiracy. Mr. Rezai’s aides said the authorities did not even bother to conduct the limited recount they had agreed to. Mr. Ahmadinejad stepped out of the shadows to lash out at President Obama, who said Tuesday that he was “appalled and outraged” by the crackdown on protesters.
On Thursday, Mr. Ahmadinejad said: “We expected the British and European countries to make those kinds of comments. But we were not expecting Mr. Obama, who has talked about change, to fall in the same trap and follow the same path that Bush did.”
He did not stop there. “I hope you avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian people find out about it,” he said.
Hey, maybe Ahmadinjehad has some pals in the GOP after all. He seems to be putting out the same talking point, in any event: You got troubles? Blame Obama. Maybe that message will work better in Iran. Or maybe Ahmadinejehad will suddenly take a trip to Argentina to drive along the coastline to enjoy the view there and recharge his batteries. Hey, you never know. It;s been that kind of year.
Whatever happens, look for a long, hot, murderous Summer in Iran. The hardliners apparently have the guns, the batons, the tear gas, the death squads and the will to use them. Frequently. Is it just a coincidence Ayatollah Khamenei rhymes with Generalissimo Pinochet? I think not, my friends, I think not.
