State Police Investigating Voter Fraud In Rensselaer County

The investigation relates to charges of voter fraud and submitting fraudulent ballots in a September 2009 primary election in Rensselaer County County, New York (just outside Albany). It includes Troy city council members and several Democratic party operatives.

State Police investigators have obtained a court order that seeks DNA samples from nine people, including several Rensselaer County and city of Troy public officials, who are identified as targets in a massive voter-fraud conspiracy that took place during last September's primary elections.

Court records filed in connection with the investigation include allegations that the officials, and several political operatives for the Rensselaer County Democratic Party, may have conspired to file dozens of fraudulent absentee ballots last year in an attempt to seize the Working Families Party line for the general election.

The officials identified as targets of the investigation are: Rensselaer County Board of Elections Commissioner Edward G. McDonough; city Councilmen Michael LoPorto, Gary Galuski, Kevin McGrath, and John Brown; City Council President Clem Campana; City Clerk William A. McInerney; and political operatives Dan Brown, who is John Brown's brother, and Anthony DeFiglio, a former Troy Housing Authority clerk.

State Police characterized the targets as "active participants in the conspiracy," according to court records.

The suspects were identified in an order signed Tuesday by Albany County Judge Stephen W. Herrick. The application for a search warrant to obtain their DNA samples included hundreds of pages of ballots, witness and voter statements, and an affidavit by a State Police investigator. A hearing on the request for DNA samples has been set for Sept. 14.

The alleged voter fraud was first reported last year by the Times Union.

The victims include dozens of residents of city housing projects, all registered to vote on the Working Families Party line, who had absentee ballots filed in their name that included forged information, including signatures and the excuses for why they could not vote in person.

DeFiglio admits to participating in the fraud according to state police sources. Investigators are seeking DNA evidence to corroborate handwriting evidence showing that signatures were forged.

Election Fraud Uncovered In Upstate New York Tied To WFP Ballots

The ACORN offshoot Working Families Party is involved, which shouldn't be much of a surprise. This isn't voter registration fraud, but actionable voter fraud, where persons engaged in submitting fraudulent absentee ballots in local elections in Troy, New York.

The only problem with these absentee ballot records at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections in Troy, N.Y., is that they're phony, voters and investigators say -- and they've prompted what's being called an unprecedented investigation of suspected voter fraud.

Thirty-eight forged or fraudulent ballots have been thrown out -- enough votes, an election official admits, to likely have tipped the city council and county elections in November to the Democrats. Candidates would have been able to run both on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines in two weeks, and that could have given the Democrats in the general election.

A special prosecutor is investigating the case and criminal charges are possible. New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Lynch ruled that there were "significant election law violations that have compromised the rights of numerous voters and the integrity of the election process."

Among the reasons cited on the fraudulent forms for absentee voting: "traveling to Buffalo," attending a "screen printing conference in Syracuse," "working late shift," "working construction," and "home -- ill."

"Someone took my signature and voted with it and I felt extremely violated," Suozzo told Fox News. He is a soft-spoken 28-year-old environmental engineer who says he never saw, let alone signed, the Working Families Party Absentee ballot application that carried his supposed signature. He was flabbergasted that someone would vote for him and submit it.

"The whole thing seems dirty to me," Suzzo said. "You wonder how often this happens and people don't get caught."

He says he did not have any type of medical procedure, adding "I haven't been to the hospital in years."

The Troy Record posted a story about this on October 13, noting that the Board of Elections should engage in better oversight and verification of absentee ballots to prevent overt fraud such as blatantly forged signatures such as those found on nearly 50 ballots in the September 2009 primary elections. In fact, it calls on the State to actually enforce existing law requiring signature verification:

State Election Law calls for the comparison of signatures on absentee ballots and their request forms with that voters corresponding voter registration card. But some of at least 50 Troy residents claiming they were defrauded of their vote in the Sept. 15 Working Families Party primary allegedly requested ballots — they claim they never cast — with an application including a signature bearing no similarities to the one on their voter registration card.

“(Comparing signatures) will eliminate the blatant forgeries that occurred on Primary Day,” said Majority Leader Robert Mirch, also Troy’s public works commissioner, who hired two private investigators to obtain sworn affidavits from the allegedly defrauded voters.

The accusations of fraud made against Democratic and Working Families party operatives and candidates prompted the appointment of a special prosecutor, Trey Smith, to investigate possible criminal charges. They also upped the highly politicized atmosphere on both sides heading into election season.

Democrats and the WFP claim that it's the GOP who is politicizing the process, which ignores the actual evidence - the fraudulently submitted absentee ballots.

New York allows candidates to run on multiple lines, and candidates vote tallies are counted from all lines on which they appear. In other words, someone running on the Democrat and WFP lines will be able to add the votes cast under both lines to give them a total.

Ahmadinejad and Khamenei Settling Scores The Old Fashioned Way

A rival mullah said that Khamenei turned Iran into a dictatorship. He isn't far off the mark. Both Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei and el Presidente Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are looking to settle scores against political rivals now that Khamenei declared the election results final and installed Ahmadinejad as president despite evidence that the election was rigged. They're going with the tried and true -

Ahmadinejad is prosecuting political rivals.

This isn't something done in a regime based on democracy, or even a veneer of democracy. It's all about consolidating power and eliminating rivals who threaten that power.

Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke in front of thousands of government supporters gathered in a covered arena at Tehran University. The president appeared unafraid to effectively contradict the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who on Wednesday said he was not convinced that reform leaders had conspired in advance with foreign forces to orchestrate the post-election unrest. The supreme leader did, however, stick by the government’s claim that the protests were planned.

If Ayatollah Khamenei was hoping to blunt calls for revenge, more arrests and severe punishment, Mr. Ahmadinejad showed no signs of softening.

“We must deal with those who led these events,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “Those who organized, incited and pursued the plans of the enemies must be dealt with decisively.”

Even before the current crisis, Iranian politics had competing power centers. But all such groups had their place within the Islamic republic, even if they had different ideas about government powers and priorities. Political analysts say that what is different now is that President Ahmadinejad is trying to transform his rivals into outsiders, shrinking the circle of those who have a voice and role in the system to a minimum.

“What has been remarkable about the last two months is that the tent of insiders has narrowed to such a small faction,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “The outsiders are the vast majority of the country.”

Indeed, the tent of insiders is now focused on two thugs - Khamenei and Ahamdinejad. Everyone else either kowtows to those two, toes their line, or is seen as an outsider, even when the opponents are no less strident on matters of Iranian foreign policy than Ahmadinejad or Khamenei:

His remarks were clearly aimed at Mir Hussein Moussavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — some of the most important and influential figures in the Islamic republic’s 30-year history — whom the president has wanted to jail as enemies of the state.

“Serious confrontation has to be against the leaders and key elements, against those who organized and provoked and carried out the enemy’s plan,” he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “They have to be dealt with seriously.”

Mr. Khatami, a former two-term president and reform leader, blasted Mr. Ahmadinejad in a statement issued on his Web site the night before, sharply criticizing the government crackdown and what he called “these so-called trials,” which have been held for the dozens of intellectuals, former officials and journalists arrested since the election conflict began.

Meanwhile, Khamenei must realize that claims that the demonstrations were the result of foreign agents isn't sitting well with Iranians who have seen their rights stripped from them, and is trying to walk back from earlier statements.

Video confessions are backfiring, primarily because they show that the regime is engaging in methods that result in serious weight loss - torture, withholding of food, etc. Reports of rape are also being made. The show trials are exposing the regime's barbaric methods to lay claim the levers of power.

Iranian Show Trial Proceeds With Reformers Confessing

The Iranian regime continues with the show trials of those it claims formented violence in the wake of the botched elections that were given a rubber stamp of approval by Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

They've even managed to get some reformers to admit to formenting violence:

The courtroom statement by Saeed Hajjarian — who is considered one of the reform movement's top architects and who was shot in the head in a 2000 assassination attempt — was the latest dramatic confession in the month-old trial that the opposition has compared to Josef Stalin's "show trials" of opponents in the Soviet Union.

More than 100 defendants are on trial, accused of trying to overthrow Iran's clerical leadership in a "velvet revolution" by fomenting huge protests over the disputed June 12 presidential election, which the opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.

Also among the defendants who appeared Tuesday was Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American academic. The prosecutor read out charges against him including espionage, contact with foreign elements and acting against national security.

Speaking before the court, Tajbakhsh appeared to try to speak broadly about foreign interference in Iran, saying "undeniably this was a goal of the U.S. and European countries to bring change inside Iran" and that "the root cause of the riots are found outside the borders."

The root causes for the violence was the fact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the election and sent his thugs, the Basiji, to crush the opposition. Khamenei gave his approval to Ahmadinejad and the election results were made official, even if many Iranians don't think Ahmadinejad won.

No full recount will take place because Khamenei already declared the winner.

The opposition has been harassed by the regime ever since.

Iranian Mourners Roughed Up Following Memorial To Slain Protesters

Islamic law provides a 40 day mourning period, the last day of which was today in Tehran. Among those who were memorialized was Neda Soltan, who was murdered in cold blood by the Iranian thugs operating at the behest of the Guardian Council and Iranian thug Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad and the other mullahs warned that opposition leader Mirhussein Mousavi should stay away from the memorial service.

Of course, it didn't stop the regime from taking the opportunity to rough up those who paid their respects to those slain 40 days ago.



As CNN reports:

The witness saw baton-wielding riot police and Basij militia charging the gathering of 3,000 people and observed at least three beatings. The witness also saw other people running from police who appeared to have been beaten. One of the mourners had a bloody head.

People came to mourn the death of Neda Agha-Soltan on the 40th day after she was shot in Tehran, and the day had the potential to cause broader demonstrations.

For Iranians, a predominantly Shiite Muslim population, the 40th day marks the last day of mourning.

Agha-Soltan, 26, was shot during street protests on June 20. Her last moments were captured on a shaky video, probably shot with a cell phone, and dispatched for the world to see.

Reformist candidate Mir Houssein Moussavi, who was hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief challenger, said on his Web site that he and fellow reform candidate Mehdi Karrubi would commemorate Agha-Soltan with her mother at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery.

An official death toll in post-election violence has not been updated in weeks, but the Iranian Labor News Agency cited Farhad Tajari, deputy chief of the parliament's judicial and legal commission, as saying that "evidence shows that ultimately 30 people were killed."

CNN fails to note that Mousavi and Ahmadinejad were both hand picked challengers by the Guardian Council and "reformist" is a matter of degree - if not without distinction since both would be generally operating at the behest of the Guardian Council and the Supreme Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei. Further, evidence suggests that the death toll from the crackdown against the protesters is far higher than 30. With the regime cracking down on media outlets, there's no way to officially determine how many were murdered by the regime, and how many remain in custody.

MSNBC reports that the police arrested some of those who attended the memorial at the cemetery, plus they forced Mousavi to leave the cemetery as hundreds surrounded his car. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reports that the police were forced to retreat as tens of thousands of Iranians converged on the cemetery.

Tehran Bureau is attempting to compile a list of those murdered by the regime. Also, Tehran Bureau relates how an Iranian lawmaker has admitted the existence of a previously secret detention facility under the Iranian Intelligence Ministry building, where some protesters were taken and were routinely assaulted, tortured and deprived of food and water.

Here's more video - showing Iranian soldiers beating on protesters using chains and batons:



This is an evil and corrupt regime to the core.

UPDATE:
More video, this purporting to be from the cemetery skirmishes:

More Details Emerging On Iranian Crackdown Against Protesters

More than 100 protesters were killed after they were arrested, according to reports emerging from Iranian sources.

Some prisoners say they watched fellow detainees being beaten to death by guards in overcrowded, stinking holding pens. Others say they had their fingernails ripped off or were forced to lick filthy toilet bowls.

The accounts of prison abuse in Iran’s postelection crackdown — relayed by relatives and on opposition Web sites — have set off growing outrage among Iranians, including some prominent conservatives. More bruised corpses have been returned to families in recent days, and some hospital officials have told human rights workers that they have seen evidence that well over 100 protesters have died since the vote.

On Tuesday, the government released 140 prisoners in one of several conciliatory gestures aimed at deflecting further criticism. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a letter urging the head of the judiciary to show “Islamic mercy” to the detainees, and on Monday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, personally intervened and closed an especially notorious detention center.

But there are signs that widespread public anger persists, and that it is not confined to those who took to the streets crying fraud after Mr. Ahmadinejad’s landslide victory last month. Several conservatives have said the abuse suggests a troubling lack of accountability, and they have hinted at a link with Mr. Ahmadinejad’s recent willingness to defy even the venerated Ayatollah Khamenei.

The reason the anger persists is that the perception that the election was rigged and that Khamenei rubber stamped Ahmadinejad's bogus victory is now an established fact in the mind of most Iranians. They've seen their electoral power wiped away with a few mere words from Khamenei, whose word is typically seen as the final one.

A few conciliatory gestures aren't going to placate millions of Iranians who have seen their few rights evaporate in front of their eyes. They now realize that the regime is corrupt throughout, and there's little they can do about it with Ahmadinejad and the mullahs controlling the IRGC and the Basiji.

Mirhussein Mousavi and another candidate for the presidency continue to oppose the regime and call the election fraudulent. More than 250 members of the opposition remain in custody, and requests to secure their release have fallen on deaf ears. Even a call to memorialize those who were killed in the clashes between the opposition and the regime's thugs went unanswered.

Some hardline clerics have demanded that Mousavi and Karoubi be tried on charges that could carry the death penalty.

Khamenei, having rejected calls for the election result to be annulled or re-examined, is expected to confirm Ahmadinejad as president soon. Parliament will then swear him in.

This week the authorities have taken some steps to defuse tension over the detainee issue, perhaps reflecting concern among some senior officials about reports of harsh treatment.

Khamenei has ordered the closure of one Tehran detention centre. The judiciary, ordered by its chief on Monday to review the cases of detainees, said on Wednesday that a disabled reformist, Saeed Hajjarian, would be released.

The regime's response has been to deflect claims of illegitimacy, blaming the US and the West for the violence, and to ignore the claims of election fraud going so far as to reject a full recount of the election.

In the meantime, criminal trials will proceed against at least 20 protesters. The charges against that group of protesters includes bombings, carrying weapons and attacking security forces. As the AP notes:

Among the defendants are some who had contact with the Mujahedeen-e Khalq — a dissident group of Iranian exiles — and members of the Bahai faith, who are often targeted by the Iranian government, IRNA said.

They will face charges including connections to terrorist groups, planting bombs, carrying weapons and grenades, intentional attack on the police and Basij, attacking security and university facilities, "sending images to the media of the enemy" ... and damaging public property, IRNA said.

In other words, expect death sentences to be handed down and lengthy prison sentences for those who are not sentenced to death. The regime is hoping that such a sentencing will deter others from standing in the way of the regime's ongoing consolidation of power.

Now, as to who is really pulling the strings in the regime, there are continuing reports suggesting that Ahmadinejad is pursuing his own agenda without the consent of Khamenei. Some hardliners are warning that Ahmadinejad could be deposed for not following orders. That's on the heels of various reports regarding the selection of Ahmadinejad's vice president and the reason for his sacking.

The Iranian Regime Takes Rafsanjani To Task

Yesterday, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gave a sermon that got the regime in a tizzy. The full text of that speech is here, in which he slammed China for killing Uighurs (and which those present began chanting Death to China), but which devoted significant time to attacking Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad for making a mockery of the democratic process such as it exists in Iran.

He said:

As you are aware, according to the constitution, everything in the country is determined by people's vote. People elect the members of the Assembly of Expert and then they elect leader, that is, leader is [indirectly] elected by people's vote. Presidents, MPs, members of the councils are elected by direct votes of people. Other officials are also appointed [indirectly] through people's vote. Everything depends on people. This is the religious system. The title of Islamic Republic is not used as a formality. It includes both the republican and Islamic nature.

The title of Islamic Republic is not just a formality. This is a reality passed on to us on the basis of Koran, as well as the religious sayings of the [Shiite] Imams and prophet. We believe in them. We should have them at the same time. Rest assured if one of those two aspects are damaged we will loose our revolution. If it looses its Islamic aspect, we will go astray. If it looses its republican aspect, it [The Islamic Republic] will not be realized. Based on the reasons that I have offered, without people and their vote there would be no Islamic system...

This was our path. We should reach the destination. We should strengthen it day by day. If the problems after the [presidential] election had not emerged, we would have had taken the best largest step towards realizing the Islamic [aspect of the establishment] at the 30th anniversary of the revolution. I am not going to say that we have not taken the step. I want to explain why this happened.

What I understand is that towards the end of the election campaign we were taken over by doubt. In other words, people started to have doubts and the seeds of doubt were sown, for whatever reason. Whether it was unfavourable publicity or the Voice and Vision's inappropriate actions or other things, seeds of doubt were planted in the minds of the people. We consider doubt as the worst disaster.

Doubt came down on our nation like the plague. Of course, there are two separate currents. There is a group of people who have no doubts, they...and mind their own business. But there is also another group, whose numbers are not few and include a great section of our erudite and knowledgeable people, who say: " We doubt". We should take measures to remove this doubt. This period, after the results of the elections , is a bitter era. I do not believe anyone from any faction wanted this to happen. We have all lost in this event. We have all lost and now ask ourselves: why did it happen. We need unity today, more than ever.

Our country should be united against all the dangers that threaten us. They have now upped their ransom demands and are coming forward to take away our achievements in the fields of hi-tech and particularly nuclear technology. Of course, God will not give them the opportunity to do so, but they are greedy. My brothers and sisters, first of all, you all know me, I have never wanted to abuse this platform in favour of a particular faction and my remarks have always concerned issues beyond factionalism. I am talking in the same manner today. I am not interested in any factions. In my view, we should all think and find a way that will unite us to take our country forward and save ourselves from these dangerous and bad effects, and the emerging grudges. We should disappoint our enemies so that they would not covet our country. What should we do? I have a few suggestions...

Note that while he continues attacking Ahmadinejad and Khamenei for all but stealing the election and sowing the seeds of doubt in the legitimacy of the regime through their heavy handed actions to declare a winner without a full recount, he too supports Iran's long term goals of nuclear technologies and is just as wary of the West and the US as the current regime.

Still, it was the comments about the regime that got Rafsanjani in hot water. One of the official mouthpieces for the government slammed Rafsanjani for questioning the election outcomes. Moreover, at least one member of the Guardian Council, which rubber stamped the election, invokes the name of Allah to support their results:

But a prominent cleric who is a member of the electoral watchdog, the Guardians Council, which upheld the poll result, rebuked Rafsanjani for his focus on popular legitimacy.

"The legitimacy of the government is given by God," the ISNA news agency quoted Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi as saying.

"Acceptance by the people doesn't bring legitimacy to (an Islamic) government. Mr Hashemi Rafsanjani ignored this important Islamic point and talked in both parts of his sermon yesterday as if governments are assigned only by the people."

These comments give lie to the fact that the people have ever had a say in who governs. It was always concentrated in the hands of the Guardian Council.

It suggests that Rafsanjani is part of a conspiracy against the regime. That's not good news for the regime, but it puts Rafsanjani on the same side as the opposition. It means Rafsanjani is the highest ranking cleric to side with the opposition.

As for the chants of Death to Russia and Death to China, those stem from the fact that both of those countries were quick to recognize Ahmadinejad as winner, though it doesn't mean that the US is on the back burner.

Iranian Regime Tear Gasses Opposition At Prayer

I've been saying that the fight for control of Iran wasn't over by a long shot. There would be lulls in the conflict between the regime and the opposition, but things have once again heated up following Friday prayers. Today's events show that the regime, led by the illegitimate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continue their assault on the intelligence of all Iranians and once again directly attacked the opposition as they met for Friday prayers.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters packed Iran's main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting "freedom, freedom" and other slogans as their top clerical supporter, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivered a sermon sharply criticizing the country's leadership over the crackdown on election protests.

Outside Tehran University, where the prayers were held, pro-government Basiji militiamen in front of a line of riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of opposition protesters who chanted "death to the dictator" and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Some protesters kicked away the tear gas canisters as others scattered and regrouped.

The opposition aimed to turn the Friday prayers into a show of their continued strength despite heavy government suppression since the disputed June 12 presidential election. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the election, sat in the front row of worshippers, attending for the first time since the turmoil began. Many of the tens of thousands at the prayers wore headbands or wristbands in his campaign color green, or had green prayer rugs.

Rafsanjani is no friend of the West, but even he sees that the regime has gone too far. Rafsanjani had been on the sidelines until now, but taking this stance puts him up against Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.

The protesters continue to stand up against Ahmadinejad at great personal risk to their lives. Women, who make up a significant portion of the protesters are at risk of being raped by the Basiji who are at the forefront of Ahmadinejad's crackdown. Killing protesters turn them into martyrs. Rape then is a favored tactic since Iranian society traditionally shuns such victims:

Taraneh's is not the first allegation of brutal raping of a post-election protester -- according to the UK Guardian, an 18 year old boy in Shiraz was repeatedly gang raped by prison officials while in detention after being arrested for participating in the protests on June 15. That boy's father won't let him back in the family home.

Despite its agitations for reform, Iranian society remains traditional, according to Iranian-British blogger Potkin Azarmehr, and it's the stigma of rape that is being used as a weapon against the protesters. "By killing protesters, the government makes martyrs of them, but by raping them and allowing them to live, it makes them shunned in society," Azarmehr said.

Not that the stigma of rape is exclusive to Iran and other more traditional societies. A friend of Azarmehr's who is presently in Iran told him that he's "sick of hearing that people like Taraneh are better off dead" from friends abroad, just because they "can't handle the fact that she's been raped."

Via Hot Air comes the following two clips showing the protests and the crackdown:





There are also photos purportedly of the ongoing demonstrations and crackdown, including protesters dealing with tear gas fired by police and the Basiji.

Iranian Protesters Defy Regime's Crackdown Threats

Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei aren't giving up so easily. They've once again taken to the streets in demonstrations.

For days, supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been calling for new protests in Tehran and other cities on Thursday, their first significant attempt to get back on the streets since security forces crushed massive demonstrations nearly two weeks ago in Iran's postelection turmoil.

Tehran governor Morteza Tamaddon warned that any new march Thursday would meet the same fate.

"If some individuals plan to carry out any anti-security actions by listening to calls by counterrevolutionary networks, they will be smashed under the feet of our aware people," he said, according to the state news agency IRNA in a report late Wednesday.

Thursday afternoon, a stepped-up number of uniformed policemen along with plainclothes Basiji militiamen stood at intersections all along Revolution Street and at nearby near Tehran University, some of the sites where protests were called.

Still, a group of around 300 young people gathered in front of Tehran University and began to chant, "Death to the dictator," witnesses said. Many of them wore green surgical masks, the color of Mousavi's movement.

Police charged at them, swinging batons, but the protesters fled, then regrouped at another corner and resumed chanting, the witnesses said. Police chased them repeatedly as the protesters continued to regroup, the witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared government retribution.

Within an hour, the number of protesters grew to about 700 and marched toward the gates of Tehran University, the witnesses said. A line of policemen blocked their path, but they did nothing to disperse the gathering as the protesters stood and continued to chant, the witnesses said.

As I've noted, the situation in Iran will continue to ebb and flow as the regime tries to maintain its grip on power and the opposition looks for ways to organize just beyond the regime's grasp.

The regime has continued making threats against the opposition, claiming that they are working at the behest of the US, the West, and/or Israel. It's a tried and true formula in the Middle East, but it's not going to fool many this time around, not when so many people see the regime for what it is - a fraudulent attempt to remain in power.

Iran Continues Crackdown Including Executing Captured Protesters

There have been multiple reports over the past week that the Iranian regime has been arrested, convicting, and executing protesters who are standing up to protest the stolen election.

This latest report gives the most detail to date:

The state-run Fars news agency reported that 20 people were hanged at the Karaj prison west of the capital on Saturday, and another 14 executions elsewhere in Iran have been reported by state media since Wednesday, including six hangings at Teheran's Evin Prison. Many of those executed have been described in state media as drug traffickers - a charge often leveled at dissidents.

Iranian police say that about 1,000 people have been detained for involvement in the public protests that erupted after June 12 presidential elections.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the defeated candidate who has branded the victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fraudulent, has been laying low since last Wednesday while still challenging the results.

Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are busy trying to spin the election debacle as though the protests are the result of foreign interference, including claims that Mousavi was a US agent.

That's a most interesting claim, given that Khamenei himself has to sign off on all the candidates that run for office. Mousavi was one of the hand-picked candidates for President, and Khamenei and the Guardian Council have to agree to their credentials. Also, as Supreme Ayatollah, Khamenei is supposed to be infalliable. So, how is it that all of a sudden he's totally wrong about Mousavi?

People out on the streets in the vicinity of protests are also subject to arrest, search, and seizure. The Basij are looking for people who have cellphones with images or video of the demonstrations - and the ensuing crackdowns. They don't want people to see the truth.

Meanwhile, a group of clerics, the Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers, has ruled the election invalid, setting up a confrontation with Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, and their fellow mullahs. The group claims that the Guardian Council no longer has the authority to rule in such matters.

That's in addition to the regime's attacks on employees working at the British Embassy and foreign journalists:

On Saturday, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that post-election events had caused bitterness.

Britain said one of two UK embassy employees detained for "inciting protests" would be released.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the aftermath of the poll to protest at what they alleged was a fraudulent election.

The protests died down after the authorities deployed lethal force, killing at least 20 demonstrators. More than 1,000 were arrested.

On Sunday, state news agency Irna quoted Iran's police chief as saying about two-thirds of those arrested had been released.

The authorities have blamed the West, in particular the UK, for fomenting the unrest through the use of the media, including BBC Persian television which broadcasts to the country via satellite.

The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, has said "those who co-operate with such websites and television channels will face prosecution".

On Sunday, Iran's foreign ministry said a British-Greek journalist working for The Washington Times - who had been arrested in connection with "recent street riots" - had been released.

Inauguration Day, Iran Style

Ahmadinejad was sworn in today, but 180 members of the Iranian parliament decided to be no-shows. That's pretty ballsy given that Ahmadinejad and his thugs in the Basij arne't above murdering Iranians who stand up against Ahmadinejad and the regime which stole their votes and the election from Mirhussein Mousavi.

More than 180 Iranian MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election win, local press reports say.

All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night, but only 105 turned up, the reports say.

A BBC correspondent says the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls.

The Parliament is a mullah approved gaggle of politicians, so if they've decided in overwhelming numbers to snub Ahmadinejad, that is a pretty strong rebuff.

The problem is that the legislature may be next up for reprisal by Ahmadinejad. By stealing the election, there's every indication that Ahmadinejad isn't going to be constrained by Iranian law and will use the Supreme Ayatollah to sanction further actions that undermine what's left of the facade of Iranian "democracy" and push Iran fully into a totalitarian dictatorship. Ed at Hot Air also notes the importance of this action.

Mousavi isn't backing down either, although the street demonstrations are sporadic and some have been cancelled.


Where's the UN in all this? Given that all they could probably muster was a weakly worded letter of rebuke, their presence wouldn't exactly be noticed.

Ahmadinejad has called out President Obama for what he calls interfering in Iranian affairs. Well, that was a given regardless of whatever President Obama said. The US and the rest of the world, particularly the British and Israelis are bogeymen for Ahmadinejad and his cronies to pull out when the going gets tough and their designs to turn the Islamic Republic of Iran into the Islamic State become so blatant and overwhelming that Iranians can't help but notice that their votes have disappeared into the night.

One of Iran's ambassadors is taking to calling the protesters a minority, but the fact that 180+ members of the Iranian parliament snubbed Ahmadinejad shows that it's far more than just a minority. You could even argue that it's an overwhelming majority of Iranians.

The protests continue (screen cap from 6/24/2009). The police are present in large numbers, to head off potential demonstrations.

This video purports to show the damage done by police who act as little more than thugs to intimidate the locals into acquiescence.

This video shows the police gathering to quell demonstrations in Tehran:


Meanwhile, as riding the PATH train this morning a gentleman had a button on the lapel of his jacket which asked "Where is my Vote?" The words were laid out in the colors of the Iranian flag (green/white/red).

That's indeed the question that many Iranians are asking - where are their votes?

Settle In For the Long Haul

The situation in Iran is going to continue developing and ebb and flow over the next few weeks and months. The Iranian revolution in 1979 didn't occur overnight. It flowed and ebbed as power struggles occurred behind the scenes and events transpired over a series of months. We should not expect this to be resolved quickly, and the bloodshed seen thus far may be an indicator of things to come.

The regime will continue doing all it can to crush the opposition. They're digging in their heels, including arresting more foreign nationals. Ahmadinejad's thugs have been arresting foreign nationals for some time, including Roxana Saberi and the Alaei brothers, but this is the first sign that they're going after foreign nationals since the election was disputed.

Chief among those that are purportedly being held by the Iranians are those with British passports since the Iranians blame them for the unrest:

Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ezhei told reporters that some with links to the West and Israel had planned bombings ahead of the June 12 presidential election, the government-funded Press TV reported Wednesday.

"England is among the countries that fan the flames with their heavy propaganda, which is against all diplomatic norms," the intelligence minister was quoted in the semi-official Fars news agency. "And the BBC Farsi has also played a major role. Also, a number of people carrying British passports have played a role in the recent disturbances."

The British Foreign Office said it was looking into the allegations.

"We have seen reports of the arrest of British nationals in Iran," the Foreign Office said. "Consular colleagues and the embassy in Tehran are making enquiries."

This comes from a regime that has no qualms about sending kids into mine fields during the Iran-Iraq war to blow up mines so that tanks and men with guns could fight. This is from the same regime that has no problem supporting international terrorism, including Hamas and Hizbullah, both of which care nothing for the lives of anyone who get in their way.

Pro-regime demonstrations take to the usual pastiche of burning American flags, but this time they throw in British flags for good measure. They also held demonstrations outside the former US embassy in Tehran.

Indeed, Iranians are dying for change, and some in the US are protesting against the Administration's lackluster response to the situation in Iran.

There are ongoing clashes being reported outside the Iranian Parliament building. Mousavi is reportedly under 24-hour watch by Ahmadinejad's thugs, and Mousavi's wife says that the country is under martial law.

Israel has a significant Iranian Jewish population as the country expelled the Jews following the 1948 War of Independence. They're following the situation closely and want to see the regime fall.

The show of support was organized by Kamal Penhasi, the Iranian-born editor of Shahyad, the only Persian-language magazine published in Israel. "We speak from the throats of the entire Iranian people, whose voices are being silenced by the censorship of the regime that is killing people on the streets …we are part of the Iranian people and want to tell them we are with them. Enough of this regime; the Iranian people deserve their freedom," he said at the demonstration.

Penhasi left Iran shortly after the Islamic Revolution. "I saw what happened in 1979; today's events remind me of that revolution," he said. "This is the great spark in the direction of the big revolution." Penhasi says the regime likes to show that it is strong, but in reality it is crumbling from within. "The people of Iran want their freedom and have taken to the streets to prove it." The young generation in Iran knows exactly what's happening in the outside world, they view Israel as a second paradise on Earth after the U.S. in terms of freedom, he says. Acknowledging that "30 years of brainwashing" have damaged Iranians' sympathy to Israel, Penhasi still believes it's there.

The Jersualem Post reports that the unrest may undermine the regime's ability to export its brand of Islam elsewhere, which is good news since its brand is pretty much associated with Hamas and Hizbullah. It may also impact Iran's nuclear weapons program, although I think that as being more farfetched since not even Mousavi was opposed to Iran obtaining nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

UPDATE:
Barry Rubin notes that there is a difference between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad that should be taken into consideration.

Indeed, to listen to what the Obama administration says—though it has moved up its rhetoric one step in recent days—there is some truth to that assertion. Yet it is foolish indeed for anyone to hope for that outcome.

What is the greater danger:

Iran has a less fanatical and adventurous faction in charge. It continues some of its problematic policies but is more cautious, less prone to risk-taking, devotes fewer resources to spreading revolution, and is more eager to avoid war.

Or

Power being in the hands of a group determined to become the region’s dominant power, eager to use money, subversion, and even nuclear weapons to do so no matter what the consequences.

I’ll choose the first alternative.

Even if it is only a matter of degree, Mousavi would likely be more cautious and less likely to agitate for violence and war against the West - a slightly less confrontational stance than Ahmadinejad. I think there was little difference between the two before the election, but now that the Ahmadinejad and his minions are cracking down in the way of stealing the election, there's no telling the position that Mousavi would take going forward. His positions have been overtaken by events and the Iranian people would not tolerate the mullahs running things as they have for 30 years.

UPDATE:
Have cracks appeared in the Guardian Council with overt support for demonstrations against Ahamdinejad? Hot Air has a photo purportedly of mullahs joining in with marching demonstrators. That assumes that this is indeed a photo of demonstrators against Ahmadinejad. It could also be mullahs marching in support of Ahmadinejad. In any case, we've got the drawing of lines and the mullahs showing their support overtly. They're taking sides.

UPDATE:
Mousavi's still in it, but another of the four candidates on the ballot is stepping back, rather than be seen as standing with the opposition.

Mohsen Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, officially captured less than 2 percent of the vote in the disputed election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the landslide winner over his nearest challenger, moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi, Rezaei and reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi alleged widespread vote-rigging immediately after the election, sparking large-scale protests.

In withdrawing his complaint to the Guardian Council, which oversees Iran's elections, Rezaei reportedly cited national security as his reason, The Wall Street Journal said.

He's as much a thug as Ahmadinejad, and it shows the extent to which the Guardian Council chooses people to run for President that hew closely to its own interests.

It's that Ahmadinejad threw the election that got people to realize just how the Guardian Council truly controls matters and how Ahmadinejad has ripped the veneer of legitimacy from what were really show elections.

UPDATE:
There are multiple reports coming in that Ahmadinejad's thugs have massacred people in Tehran. Persian Kitty, HuffPo, CNN, and other news outlets are reporting similar circumstances. No word on numbers of people murdered by the regime, but expect video and photos to get leaked at some point.

The regime's thugs in uniform opened fire on the crowds.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with waves of riot police and paramilitary militia in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted the authorities would not yield to pressure from opponents demanding a new election following allegations of electoral fraud.

It was impossible to confirm first-hand the extent of the new violence in the capital because of draconian new press restrictions on coverage of the post-election mayhem. But the witnesses reached by telephone said the confrontation, outside the national Parliament building, was bloody, with police using live ammunition.

Defying government warnings, the witnesses said that hundreds, if not thousands of protesters, had attempted to gather in front of the parliament on Baharestan Square. They were met with riot police and paramilitary militia, who struck at them with truncheons, tear gas, and guns. One witness said he saw a 19-year-old woman shot in the neck.

The Times is also reporting that Mousavi's distancing himself from the demonstrators engaging in today's actions, saying that this wasn't one of his officially sanctioned demonstrations.

UPDATE:
A troubling email from Iran, as posted at Normblog. In the email, the poster claims that more than 150 were killed in the protests over the weekend, and the true numbers are being withheld by the regime to thwart bigger protests. The dead and injured are not being brought to regular hospitals, but to military hospitals so that the numbers can be sanitized.

In fact several independent sources in Tehran hospitals and clinical centres have counted the dead from Saturday at over 150; yes more than 150. Doctors have been silenced from speaking about it. In fact when less than a week before (16 June) the doctors and nurses of Rasul Hospital in west Tehran witnessed 8 killed and 28 wounded from the day's demonstration, in their hospital, they came out on the street to inform people.

But on Bloody Saturday, the situation was totally different after Khamenei's command to slaughter demonstrators. I have a report just from one hospital not so far from my living place... In this hospital alone doctors received 20 dead and many other wounded. Security forces went to all the hospitals to which people themselves had brought the bodies, to gather all the wounded and dead; when paramilitary and military forces gathered the bodies, they sent them directly to military hospitals; they transmitted these bodies to their own centres too. In an unbelievable event in the hospital, of which I have a report, security forces have shot and killed the wounded persons before transmitting them. When doctors and nurses bacame mad and went out on the streets, they have opened fire on them too.

Read it all.

UPDATE:
President Obama is reconsidering a State Department invitation extended to Iranian diplomats to attend US Embassy July 4th celebrations. There was no reason to extend the invites in the first place (as if they would show in any event), but reconsideration isn't sufficient. You would be consorting with an evil and illegitimate regime that is murdering its own citizens who are attempting to protest against a stolen election and the destruction of what feeble human rights they have under Islamic law in Iran.

UPDATE:
Iranian press reports that the police identified and raided a headquarters for demonstrators. Of course, that location is the same as Mousavi's election headquarters. 1984 indeed.

UPDATE:
Hot diggity dog. Obama rescinds invites to Iranian diplomats for 4th of July celebrations at US embassies around the world.

19+ Dead As Iranian Regime Cracks Down on Protesters

The New York Times says at least 13 are dead, but the Iranian government says at least 19 people it considers terrorists were killed in clashes with police. More than 100 were injured. This is just the tip of the iceberg. (Disturbing video of another woman apparently killed by the Basij here).

Mirhussein Mousavi isn't backing down, and his criticism of Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has only grown.

Mousavi added that the Islamic Republic must be purged of what he called lies and dishonesty, sending out a direct challenge to conservative rulers after a week of unrest in Iran.

The opposition leader, who claims victory in the poll, told supporters he was "ready for martyrdom", according to an ally. But he said he did not seek confrontation with the authorities.

"We are not against the Islamic system and its laws but against lies and deviations and just want to reform it," he said in a statement on his website at the end of another tumultuous day.

Mousavi said if authorities refused to allow peaceful protests they would face the "consequences" – an apparent rejoinder to Khamenei's warning that opposition leaders would be held responsible for any bloodshed resulting from protests.

Ahmadinejad says for the US and Britain to stay out of Iranian affairs.

I guess criticizing the regime for murdering its own citizens for demonstrating against what they believe was a stolen election is meddling. Again, this shows the depravity of this regime and how silence further allows the regime to continue its efforts to consolidate its power.

Now is not the time for silence. It is the time to speak out against the violations of human rights by this evil regime.

The media continues to be restricted from reporting on the situation. The AP runs the following note with its photos:

** EDITORS NOTE AS A RESULT OF AN OFFICIAL IRANIAN GOVERNMENT BAN ON FOREIGN MEDIA COVERING EVENTS IN IRAN, THE AP IS OBLIGED TO USE IMAGES FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES.

In other words, it's got to either use footage from the Iranian media outlets or footage from other media sources.





This is how totalitarian regimes crack down against their opposition. They limit the flow of information that might prove damaging to the regime and crush free speech, the right to assemble peaceably and engage in a free press - rights that we take for granted here in the United States.

UPDATE:
The woman murdered in one of the videos linked to above may have been identified.

The rumor — and it’s all rumor until some newspaper tracks down her family — is that she was 27 years old and a philosophy student. I hope to god this isn’t really her photo because the thought of her being so beautiful and dignified makes the murder somehow that much more obscene.

There Is Bloodshed; Iran's Regime Cracks Down

The Mousavi protests have gone forward despite threats from Ahmadinejad and Khamenei. There are reports of bloodshed and the crackdown continues as protesters continue standing up against the regime that claims it won the disputed election.

So, we've still got people thinking that sitting back and saying and doing nothing is the right move to make?

How dare you.

We sat back and did nothing at Tiananmen Square and the regime cracked down and many of those involved were never to be heard from again.

We sat back and did nothing in Rwanda and Congo and Darfur and millions are dead.

Standing up to evil is a responsibility that everyone has.

The problem is that Obama and his advisers don't think that the regime is evil, or that they'd rather sit back and do nothing because they need someone to talk with.

Obama's policy on Iran has been rapproachment with the Ahmadinejad regime, and now it's been laid bare that it is as evil as everyone other than Obama and the leftists have been saying all along.

Perhaps Obama is letting France and Germany take the lead on criticizing Iran so that he can sweep in later to make some conciliatory gesture? Or, more likely, he doens't have a clue what to do and is hoping that events solve matters for him.

Had he stood up and said that the US supports democracy everywhere and that we urge the Iranians to avoid violence in solving their electoral difficulties, much bloodshed could potentially be avoided although at this point, the regime is looking to reassert power in the most coldly calculating manner: retake the streets and crush the opposition.

Iran's thugs in charge would still engage in a crackdown regardless of what President Obama would say. I have no doubt of that. But words of support and encouragement for protesters hoping to see that their vote means something might take root not just in Iran but elsewhere around the world.

He will fail on the issue of Iran by saying nothing. He has a chance for tremendous success if he speaks. Words may have repercussions far in excess of the meager words of support to the current protesters. You look forward - beyond the instant situation.

After all, if the regime retains power and cracks down brutally on the protesters, how is our diplomatic stance affected? It isn't. If anything, the Iranians would be even more aggressive in the face of dithering and silent assent. If the protesters succeed, then there's a possibility for a real breakthrough that which the Administration can and would take full credit. How is that a situation from which the Administration shrinks from?

Meanwhile, Mousavi and some of his top allies are saying that they're prepared for martyrdom.

Rushing Headlong Into Confrontation

Mirhussein Mousavi's supporters still believe that the rally scheduled for today is on. The New York Times reports via a Facebook page that this is the case. Isn't technology grand?

Why exactly does anyone need the New York Times when the protesters are able to get their information out via alternative sources like Facebook and Twitter?

The Times is relying on these sources like everyone else because the regime is busy thwarting media outlets from reporting, and has attempted to do the same to Facebook, Twitter, and other online outlets with little success.

So, while there are concerns over the reliability of Twitter, Facebook, and other online sources, they remain the only way anyone knows what's really going on inside Iran.

That's both exhilarating and troubling since people are showing their resourcefulness to get news out but it means that rumors will often go unchallenged for days and misconceptions about events.

What is troubling is that several bloggers operating inside Iran are silent this morning, which is a first since the crisis began a week ago.

The 4pm local time rally means that it should be underway in Tehran (7am EDT).

The fact that the Iranian Guardian Council is offering a recount of 10% of the vote is meaningless at this point. That would be insufficient to deter Mousavi's opponents, and would do nothing to assuage Iranians that the election results were legitimate.

Iranian media reports that Mousavi and the other defeated candidates were offered to appear before the Guardian Council to discuss their complaints, but Mousavi declined to show.

So far, no photos of the demonstrations have been uploaded to Flickr or video posted to YouTube or LiveLeak. When they do, I'll post.

UPDATE:
Twitter is abuzz with postings from Iran claiming that the Basiji have been busy intimidating protesters and invading homes in Isfahan.

The BBC has increased the number of satellites used to thwart Iranian efforts to jam signals.

The Guardian's live coverage is superior to those of other outlets, but they too are relying on second and third hand information:

1.25pm:
The entrance to Tehran's Revolution Square, is blocked by fire engines, according to AP. It also reports that riot police have surrounded Tehran University.

Several unconfirmed tweets claim that protesters have clashed with the police. Some claim the police have used batons.

1.10pm:
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, admitted on the World Service that he cannot tell if the rally is actually happening, because of the restrictions on reporting. The Guardian's reporters in Iran are in no position to comment either.

1pm:
An unconfirmed Tweet from a usually reliable source says Mousavi is walking from his Ettelaat office to the Ministry of Interior and that 10,000 people are with him.

Photos, claimed to be taken today, show several rows of riot police.

The BBC says its witness have seen hundreds of riot police in Enghelab Square.

Al-Jazeera also reports a heavy police presence, but points out that it is difficult to verify because phones are jammed.

Photos allegedly of the Basiji and police preparing for the demonstrations:




UPDATE:
Twitterings reporting large crowds, and police to match.

UPDATE:
Tweet Grid is one way to try and keep up with the deluge of information.

UPDATE:
Multiple reports claiming that tear gas is being used to disperse protesters. Reports coming via AP and al Jazeera.

UPDATE:
Multiple reports of gunfire as well, no word on injuries, but I'm sure that reports will begin filtering in as to such injuries.

There's also a so-far unconfirmed report that there was a bomb blast at a mosque where Ali Khamenei preaches.

UPDATE:
Nothing official on the reported bomb blast at the Khomenei mosque, but it could have been the government itself using the incident as a pretext to crack down hard against Mousavi's supporters with extreme prejudice. With such a lack of reliable information, anything is possible. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
A bomb blast has been confirmed at Khomeni square. No word on injuries, but Iran state TV apparently set up cameras to tape before blast occurred. That's likely a coincidence.

This video claims to have been taken today:


UPDATE:
More video via BBC.

UPDATE:
More video and information (in French). The videos are pretty self-explanatory.

UPDATE:


UPDATE:
Is this Iran's Tiananmen Square moment?

The Line Has Been Drawn

Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has thrown down the gauntlet to Mirhussein Mousavi's supporters, warning them that further street demonstrations will not be tolerated.

In a somber and lengthy sermon at Friday prayers at Tehran University, Mr. Khamenei seemed to raise the stakes of the confrontation, according to Iranian and regional analysts, by evoking the possibility of bloodshed if the defiant days of vast protests continued.

Translations of the speech are under way.

Opposition leaders, he said, would be “responsible for chaos” if they did not call off the demonstrators.

“Street challenge is not acceptable,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a translation by the BBC. “This questions the principles of election and democracy.”

His remarks seemed to deepen the confrontation between Iran’s rulers and supporters of the main opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, who have accused the authorities of rigging the vote and called for or encouraged the huge silent marches of recent days. On Saturday, a group of reformist clerics loyal to the former President Mohammed Khatami planned to demonstrate against the election results, saying they had been given rare official permission. Some news reports, however, said that the gathering had been banned.

Ayatollah Khamenei instructed dissenters to pursue their complaints about the June 12 ballot through legal channels, insisting that the turnout — officially put at 85 percent — showed it to be a reflection of the national will.

Khamenei's towing the Ahmadinejad line, which bodes poorly for Khamenei if the demonstrations continue and Ahmadinejad can't squash the demonstrations.

He claims that Ahmadinejad's margin of victory was 11 million votes, based on 85% turnout. The numbers defy common sense, and harken back to the days of the Soviet Union when they would have gravity defying turnouts and massive margins of victory. It's what happens in totalitarian regimes, who attempt to claim that they are somehow governing at the behest of the people. Indeed, Khamenei is basically saying, rigging? What rigging? He's turning into Baghdad Bob right before our very eyes, and the Iranian people aren't falling for it.

Still, Khamenei isn't above slamming zionist media for sowing the seeds of doubt in the election result. Right. Mousavi contests the election results, and yet it's the Jews behind this? Classy and right on cue - blame the Jews for Ahmadinejad attempting to steal the election.

Khamenei's also threatening to send Mousavi packing into exile. That's a great lesson on Iranian mullahocracy tolerance for dissent. There is none.

Daylife continues posting photos and screen caps of videos from demonstrations in Iran and around the world protesting the election outcome.

UPDATE:
Amir Taheri notes that the Obama Administration should take a cautious approach, but seize the opportunity to lay out a groundwork for talks regardless of who takes power. He also notes the following:

Israel Radio's Farsi-language broadcaster, Menashe Amir, has been telling me for weeks to bet on an Ahmadinejad victory. Relying on pre-election statements, speeches and talks with Iranians in the know, Amir said Khamenei and his aides had decided in advance to declare Ahmadinejad the winner regardless of the actual vote.

"If I knew it, using only open sources, how come the American president, who has vast intelligence tools at his disposal, couldn't figure it out?" Amir said yesterday. (This week has changed everything, he added, and nobody can now predict with certainty the outcome of Iran's battle for democracy.)

But no special intelligence is needed to see the dangers in the whirling centrifuges. Even Mohammed ElBaradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency's director, told the BBC this week he has a "gut feeling" that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.

And then there was the mother of all Freudian slips: Iran's own envoy to the Vienna-based IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the agency that all Iranians are unified on their "inalienable right of a nuclear weapon." (The regime's catchphrase is to talk about the right to nuclear power.)

UPDATE:
This website tool has promise to track the events, including protests, and the crackdown ongoing against Mousavi's supporters. I'd hope that they add in additional details, including how they've come to corroborate the various incidents. If that's done, it would be a tremendously valuable tool.

UPDATE:
It's nighttime in Tehran, and the sound of protesters shouting from rooftops can be heard throughout the city.

UPDATE:
British Premier Gordon Brown said Friday that EU leaders are unanimous in condemning the violence against Iran protests.


Speaking at a European Union convention in Brussels, Brown added that the world's ewas now watching the Islamic Republic, and that Tehran must prove that the passing week's violence will not reoccur.


Unrest
The EU has unanimously condemned Iran's crackdown against the protesters.

British Premier Gordon Brown said Friday that EU leaders are unanimous in condemning the violence against Iran protests.

Speaking at a European Union convention in Brussels, Brown added that the world's was now watching the Islamic Republic, and that Tehran must prove that the passing week's violence will not reoccur.

The UK premier added that London's future relations with Tehran will stand on three things: Its ability to prove that the presidential elections were held in a fair manner, observing human rights and maintaining freedom of the press.

Guess they aren't waiting around for Obama to come out and say something other than a bland non-committal meh. It also looks like they're not falling for the "meddling" nonsense either.

Defiance in the Face of Crackdown

Iranians continue protesting against the Ahmadinejad regime's crackdown against protesters who contest the election results. Human rights groups note that hundreds have been arrested. Ahmadinejad's thugs must think that arresting enough of the leaders will sap the strength of the protesters or cow those who might otherwise protest into going home.

That hasn't turned out to be the case, in part because of the way the Iranians are using technologies like Twitter to coordinate their activities. As hard as the regime has tried to curtail access, the protesters have managed to continue using the Internet as a conduit for their activities.



This video shows the demonstrations ongoing yesterday:


Massive rallies show that the Iranian people aren't going to tolerate Ahmadinejad's efforts to predetermine the outcome of the election.

The Iranian legislature is investigating hundreds of complaints about election fraud in last week's election. It's a little late for that, especially when Ayatollah Khamenei vouched for the results, and given that he's the official spokesman for Allah on earth, if the vote results turn out to be any different, his credibility is shot (as it should be in any event). He's lost his legitimacy, which means that in the eyes of many Iranians, there can be no return to the mullahocracy.

Michael Totten deflates one of the media memes, which was that Ahmadinejad's base was in the rural areas. An analysis of his support shows the opposite; it was strongest in urban areas, which makes the current demonstrations all the more startling. They're happening in his areas of strongest support.

This strange meme in many media reports that Ahmadinejad has a “base” of support in the countryside is not only wrong, it’s backwards. The uprising we’re all watching on YouTube is taking place inside Ahmadinejad’s “strongholds,” such as they are.

Ahmadinejad is a “conservative” in the relative sense of the word, as he resists any and all reform of the 1979 revolution. He is not, however, a conservative in the traditional sense. Khomeinism and radical Islamism are 20th Century totalitarian ideologies. Traditional village people, conservative as they may be, have little use for them.

Mousavi isn't a reformer in the traditional sense either. People may have latched on to his campaign and the demonstrations because of their disapproval of Ahmadinejad, but the kind of reform Mousavi would bring doesn't mean the end of Iran's nuclear weapons programs, support for international terrorism, or the other aspects of foreign policy that cause conflict throughout the region.

Meanwhile, Totten also warns that we should brace for more violence, and he's surprised that there hasn't been more to date. I concur on that. It is surprising, but this could be simply the deep breath before the plunge. Neither side can back down now, and there is little common ground when the elections are seen as illegitimate by a significant portion of the population.

One thing that is all too noticeable in all the videos coming out of Iran is just how many people are using digital cameras and video to capture the events; many have found their way online. It's showing that the technologies are being used by both sides to get their message out.

UPDATE:
Daled Amos makes a good point about Twitter and other social networking sites that are proffering news. Many of them turn out to be unsubstantiated rumors, so the usual skepticism should apply. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. However, expecting the traditional media outlets to get news reports is also dubious given that their movements are being restricted by Ahmadinejad as he tried to secure his power and control.

UPDATE:
Demonstrations against Ahmadinejad continue around the world, including here in the NYC metro area. This is video of demonstrators at New York's Union Square:



UPDATE:
Khamenei is throwing down the gauntlet. It may happen as soon as tomorrow if Mousavi and his supporters don't back down.

Iran's Intolerable Meddling

Iran is now busy claiming that the United States is intolerably meddling in the internal affairs of Iran.

That's a rich statement.

Iran had no problem meddling in the affairs of Iraq or Lebanon via its proxies.

Let's not forget that Iran was bankrolling Moqtada al-Sadr's thugs in Basra, aiding and abetting the insurgency against the US and Iraqi forces in Iraq or the fact that EFPs were repeatedly found throughout Iraq bearing Iranian features.

Let's not forget Iran funds Hamas and Hizbullah in the ongoing war against Israel's existence.

Let's not forget that Hizbullah has inserted itself like a cancerous tumor in Lebanon, and has carved up Southern Lebanon as its own fiefdom, defying UNIFIL and international law in the process.

There is word that Hamas is busy doing Ahamdinejad's dirty work in Iran because Ahmadinejad has little faith that the IRGC - the Revolutionary Guard - may not be all it's cracked up to be and its loyalties may not be with Ahmadinejad after all.

Despite all that, Iran thinks that President Obama's bare minimum statement on the situation in Iran is meddling.

President Obama's failure to say anything in a timely fashion is because of a willing failure on his part to step up and support liberty over tyranny. He could have spoken in terms of liberty and freedom and human rights - on the scope of his Cairo speech, but he didn't. He's playing realpolitik, and doesn't understand that his reality and the politics aren't in sync.

Besides, so what if the regime claims that the US is meddling in the elections. It's what Iran's thuggish leaders would do in any event. They already laid that groundwork previously. They trumped up charges against the Alaei brothers, Roxana Saberi, and now they roll them out again. It's what dictatorships and totalitarian regimes do.

President Obama could point out the splendidly obvious, but that's meddling? Sorry, I don't buy it, and it certainly isn't going to make it easier for the regime to crack down on the opposition. We already know that the regime is more than willing to lie to further its agenda, so we're left with the fact that Obama chose to tacitly support the Ahmadinejad claims of winning the election, and has steadily backed off that as the election fraud claims became more than just claims, but factual.

Words in support of freedom and liberty are dangerous only to totalitarian dictatorships, mullahocracies and enemies of human rights. The words might not be sufficient for the people of Iran to rise up against the mullahs, but they will have the effect of giving support to those elsewhere in the world who are bolstered by dreams of liberty and freedom, and that still see the US as a shining city on the hill.

That's what President Obama doesn't get. Iran isn't in a vacuum. Neither is Iraq or Afghanistan. Overthrowing and toppling totalitarian regimes has a benefit that goes beyond just knocking off dictators. Giving people a chance to see that makes the situations in other dictatorships all the more precarious because once news filters into those regimes, it might take hold and grow.

Holding elections as Iran did was a way for the people of Iran to seem like they were choosing, but this election gave lie to that fact when it was so blatantly manipulated by Ahmadinejad and one or more mullahs.

Now, they're reaping what they've sown. President Obama should have spoken to the nature of elections as respecting the will of the people.

Heck, President Obama could have spoken of the fact that we had our own issues with elections in 2000, but noted that we had a mechanism to deal with it and the government didn't clamp down on demonstrations and there was no rioting in the streets and the government didn't murder its own citizens to retain power. It was done peacefully.

That's not what Iran is doing. Ahamdinejad is trying to grab power for himself, under the guise of an election that was anything but free and fair. It was rigged, and the evidence continues pointing in the direction of overwhelming evidence of fraud on behalf of Ahmadinejad - aided and abetted by one or more of the mullahs on the Supreme Council, including Khamenei. That's not the will of the people. That's a totalitarian regime in action.

It's time for Obama to start treating it like one instead of consorting with the idea that Iran is a representative democracy albeit with a genocidal thug at the helm.

UPDATE:
Ed Morrissey makes a similar point.

Iranian Turmoil Continues

Various sources like Twitter continue to be a font of information and disinformation, so take reports with a grain of salt. There's quite a bit of rumors floating about, and hard news is harder to come upon.

Still, Twitter is an invaluable resource since the Iranian regime has attempted to thwart all news access and block attempts for the rest of the world to learn of what is going on inside the country.

Ahmadinejad's thugs are busy with their propaganda efforts, and it appears that they may have engaged in fauxtography, increasing the size of crowds to inflate their numbers in comparison to the strong showing by Mirhussein Mousavi's supporters. (Via the Guardian, which has running updates). Here's another photo that shows a state-supported rally backing Ahmadinejad, and it's considerable in size.

The online arena is another aspect of the conflict growing inside Iran, and the Iranian military is targeting websites and bloggers.

Meanwhile, Iranian leaders have arrested two elections officials who sent around an "official" letter claiming that Mousavi won the election. The authenticity of that letter isn't clear, but that only adds to the confusion surrounding the election results:

An Iranian news website reported that two suspects, who are believed to be behind the letter's distribution, have been arrested. The conservative website claimed that the two also handed out copies of the letter on board Tehran's train.

Apart from the "odd and absurd" data contained in the letter, said the site, the document lacks a serial number and does not bear the minister's signature.

The letter is said to contain the allegedly true results of the presidential elections, which protesters claim were widely forged. According to the document, Mousavi is the real winner of the elections with 19 million votes, reformist candidate Mehdi Karoubi came second with 13 million votes and President Ahmadinejad only came third with 5.6 million votes. The second conservative nominee, Mohsen Rezai got only 3.7 million votes, the document stated.

The protests continue around the country, and there are reports that some prosecutors are threatening the death penalty against those leading the demonstrations. They're looking to blame the unrest on foreigners:

Security forces arrested a pro-reform activist and an editor on Wednesday while a provincial prosecutor warned that those causing unrest faced the death penalty. An official inquiry was launched into an attack on university students.

Tens of thousands of pro-Mousavi supporters defied authorities to rally in Tehran on Tuesday after the seven were killed in Monday's violence but international media were forbidden from leaving their offices to cover the event.

After Monday's deaths, Mousavi had urged followers to call off a planned rally in the same downtown area on Tuesday so the marchers headed north instead. Some sent messages to meet again on Wednesday for a rally at Tehran's central Haft-e Tir Square.

Pro-Mousavi protests have been reported in the cities of Rasht, Orumiyeh, Zanjan, Zahedan, and Tabriz. ISNA news agency said 88 people were arrested during post-election unrest in the city of Mashhad and up to 60 people in the city of Tabriz.

Mohammadreza Habibi, prosecutor-general in Isfahan province, said: "We warn the few ... controlled by foreigners who try to disrupt domestic security by inciting individuals to destroy and to commit arson that the Islamic penal code for such individuals waging war against God is execution."

A reformist source said Saeed Laylaz, editor of business daily Sarmayeh, and activist Mohammadreza Jalaiepour were both arrested on Wednesday. Jalaiepour was detained at Tehran's international airport, the source said.

Keep in mind that the Iranian regime has arrested Iranian-Americans in the past, including the Alaei brothers (doctors who work to reduce the spread of AIDS), and journalist Roxana Saberi, all of whom were charged with actions against the state. Saberi was released, but the Alaei brothers remain in Iranian custody. Watch for the regime to continue linking the demonstrations to foreign elements. It's far easier for a regime to do that than acknowledge that the demonstrations and unrest is due to the regime throwing the election.

Also note that the prosecutors are claiming that the demonstrators and those who engage in violence are waging war against God. They're trying to impose their religious authority and supremacy, and the Iranian people are having none of it.

Twitter and other outlets have enabled photos of the violence against Mousavi's supporters to be sent around the world, and the protests in places like Dubai, Paris, Vienna (and here), Berlin, and Frankfurt have used them to further their cause.

UPDATE:
More video:



This video shows protesters torching what is claimed to be a police station and gunfire can be heard in the background:


UPDATE:
This point cannot be stressed enough. Mousavi isn't necessarily better than Ahmadinejad, but these protests have the potential to go beyond Mousavi and get at real reform - and ending the Islamic regime altogether. The mullahs are doing whatever they can to suppress the demonstrations precisely because they see their power being challenged.

It also presents difficulties for the Obama Administration, since they were more than willing to have open talks with the Ahmadinejad regime and it appears that the facade of legitimacy of the regime has fallen by the wayside and with it Obama's foreign policy agenda regarding Iran.

UPDATE:
Mousavi is now calling for mass demonstrations tomorrow, despite warnings from the regime that there will be crackdowns. Things are coming to a head quickly.

Demonstrations continue in Tehran, and there's reports that 500,000 are marching towards Vali Asr Square.

Reports via Twitter also suggest that some of the police and basiji are turning and supporting the demonstrators.

UPDATE:
Richard Fernandez on Iran:

The reorientation of the IRGC mission to face internal threats is a tacit admission of political weakness. Contrary to the narrative that Iran has been strengthened by the events of recent years, it is strongly suggestive that the opposite is true. And now that the internal threat has actually materialized, the Obama administration should ask itself whether it is wise public policy to throw a regime racked by internal dissention and possibly collapsing upon itself the lifeline of “engagement”; whether it is opportune to give it international legitimacy and remove the sanctions at a time when it is beating itself up. In others words, the administration must ask whether it makes any sense to ring the bell just as Teheran is on the ropes. Following the lead of Kim Jong Il can be described as an act of dialogue without precondition, or it may simply be stupidity without precedent.

UPDATE:
At least 30 districts had voting totals that exceeded 100%. Yeah, I'll say someone screwed up rigging the election.

At least 200 polling stations across Iran had participation rates of 95% or above, say sources of centrist Auyandeh site

Turnouts of more than 100% were recorded in at least 30 Iranian towns in last week's disputed presidential election, opposition sources have claimed.

In the most specific allegations of rigging yet to emerge, the centrist Ayandeh website – which stayed neutral during the campaign – reported that 26 provinces across the country showed participation figures so high they were either hitherto unheard of in democratic elections or in excess of the number of registered electors.

Taft, a town in the central province of Yazd, had a turnout of 141%, the site said, quoting an unnamed "political expert". Kouhrang, in Chahar Mahaal Bakhtiari province, recorded a 132% turnout while Chadegan, in Isfahan province, had 120%.

UPDATE:
It looks like a schism has developed among the mullahs. There are now two factions fighting for control, the one backing Ahmadinejad, and the other is backing Mousavi. Those backing Mousavi do not have the IRGC at their beck and call, since Ahmadinejad has put his cronies in positions of power throughout the Iranian political structure, and his faction, which appears to include Khamenei is seeking to pursue an even more confrontational and aggressive agenda internationally. It's what this NY Times op-ed calls a silent revolution, which has moved the regime away from theocracy to a military dictatorship.

JUST after Iran’s rigged elections last week, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, it looked as if a new revolution was in the offing. Five days later, the uprising is little more than a symbolic protest, crushed by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Meanwhile, the real revolution has gone unnoticed: the guard has effected a silent coup d’état.

The seeds of this coup were planted four years ago with the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And while he has since disappointed his public, failing to deliver on promised economic and political reforms, his allies now control the country. In the most dramatic turnabout since the 1979 revolution, Iran has evolved from theocratic state to military dictatorship.

UPDATE:
There have been rumors over the past few days that Ahmadinejad has brought in ringers from Lebanon and Gaza to supplement his IRGC, in particular Hizbullah. Now, there are reports that Hamas thugs have been brought in, and the Iranians have taken note - Iranians can tell when someone doesn't speak their language. It's too soon to tell if that's indeed the case, but it bears watching that Ahmadinejad doesn't trust his IRGC to do the job of controlling the situation, that he was forced to bring in thugs from Gaza.

I'm sure that will sit well with Iranians. It's yet another sign of how tied together Ahmadinejad is with the jihadis of Hamas and Hizbullah, and that they are little more than proxy armies for the Iranian regime.