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OP-ED: "Domestic Terror in Iran: Iranians are restive. And it's no coincidence the mullahs have just carried out the largest wave of executions since 1984," by Amir Taheri, Wall Street Journal, 6 August 2007, p. A13.
The money section:
The regime especially fears the growing free trade union movement. In the past four months, free trade unionists have organized 12 major strikes and 47 demonstrations in various parts of the country. They showed their muscle on International Labor Day on May 1 when tens of thousands of workers marched in Tehran and 18 provincial capitals. The regime retaliated by arresting scores of trade unionists and expelling many others.
Observers estimate 1,000 workers or more are losing their jobs daily, and "suspicious deaths" are rising.
Beyond that, we're looking at the "biggest purge of universities since Khomenei launched his 'Islamic Cultural Revolution' in 1980."
Naturally, all of this crackdown is augmented by a huge effort to try and cut off ordinary Iranians from outside sources of information.
Naturally, to make all this seem even close to logical, "the regime is trying to mobilize its shrinking base by claiming that the Islamic Republic is under threat from internal and external foes."
Summary?
Iran today is not only about atomic bombs and Iranian-American hostages. It is also about a growing popular movement that may help bring the nation out of the dangerous impasse created by the mullahs.
Again, what Taheri describes is clearly our biggest asset in this struggle. Ask yourself what helps that movement and what would torpedo it by solidifying the grip of the hard-liners.
I say it now in every brief: We got the Lech Walesas and Vaclav Havels
after we provided the diplomatic top-cover to facilitate their rise by shining a light on the subject of human rights in the region.
Where is that diplomatic top-cover in the Middle East? Why do we constantly let ourselves become captive to various bilateral fights that are kept alive by neighbors fighting proxy wars? How do we expect to move the ball?
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