Young Iranians to Ayatollah Khamenei: Bring It On!

I have been following the Iranian election news on Twitter and their links and I have been surprised by the defiance of the young Iranians after Ayatollah Khamenei's edict to stop the protests. They are very defiant and this has been confirmed by Richard Engel on MSNBC. It looks like the protesters are unfazed by the Ayatollah and plan to protest tomorrow in huge numbers. I do hope that Mousavi has the fortitude to support them and not to run and hide. I hope that Ayatollah Rafsanjani also supports the Iranians who dream of being free from the repressive theocracy. If you read a little bit of Iran's history you will find that this defiance is not unprecedented: There were protests in 1906, 1909 and 1925 against the last three Qajar Shas: Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, and Ahmad Shah Qajar, which ended up toppling each of them and also in 1941 and 1979 against the two Pahlavi Shahs: Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which also caused their downfall, the latter bringing the Islamic revolution that put in power the exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.Fast-forward to 2009, the people of Iran are restless again and want to be free. This is the most dangerous challenge to the rule of the Mullahs, but this time they cannot demonize our American President or the Western world because the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei and the repressive regime that they lead. So I send many prayers to the courageous Iranian people so that they can achieve their dreams and objectives in search of freedom..and I hope that if there is a showdown in the streets of Tehran, our government sends signals of support for the Iranian people. President Obama has been doing the right thing in staying on the margins of this event (even if the careless and warmongering GOP has been attacking him and accusing him of being weak), but if there is an escalation of such magnitude that there is a violent crackdown against the protesters, then we as Americans should do every thing possible to support them diplomatically.