A more sinister reading, hopefully that which is ignorant

Unlike in Iran, please excuse the past few days of quiet on this blog.

On Wednesday, when a dramatic showing of opposition to Ahmadi's swearing in ceremony, there was a general reading of the celebratory hug/"shoulder kiss" between the Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad: the Supreme Leader is pushing Ahmadi away as if he were the plague of death.

I re-watched it, and the CNN commentator was almost announcing the situation as if it were an American football playoff, which may have impacted my reading. But is it not Ahmadinejad who is the one in control? Is it not he who is going in for a "shoulder kiss" a sign of power over he who is kissed, which is like when a little boy who feels that he has grown into more responsibility attempts to show this to his father through spite?

And if it is Ahmadinejad who feels emboldened with the shake-up in power, I cannot think of anything more sinister that may face the Iranian people. Although most states, especially the US, have presidential policies that effectively believe all Iranian common citizens are terrorists until proven otherwise, these bodies of power have hopefully decided to take a different slant and instead determine that all Iranian cabinet members may be terrorists until proven otherwise, and the grand majority of Iranians are against the tyranny that has been playing out for the past two months.

In this time, Ahmadinejad has passed legislation that allows for internet sniffing beyond what the US even allows; he has dismissed the intelligence minister and now is the acting minister; he has revved up the hatred as found in the three million strong militant aspect of the basij & the Revolutionary Guard and they are more organized and ready for a drawn out siege on the freedom of the Iranian society; more than one hundred fifteen people have been executed by the Iranian state in the past two months (as an aside, GW Bush took almost six years to execute 152 Texan prisoners); and at least ten people who have been detained, but not charged with any crime, have been murdered while in basij custody (this last point is confirmed by the Iranian government which originally stated 20 people have been killed in the streets changing that number to 30 corresponding to those murdered while in police protection).

While in Iran, Ahmadinejad was infamous before he was appointed mayor of Tehran and later elected in 2005 as president of Iran. Before I continue, it must be stated that sometimes in Iran information is passed from person to person, sometimes not allowing for fact checking to occur. I mention the following story to highlight that perhaps unproven facts have a very powerful effect. In the first years after the revolution, Iran had imprisoned thousands of people, executing a great many of them. Many were enemies of the state, either through their words and less often, through their violent acts. Word got around to international organizations that work with human rights: they requested to visit Iranian prisons and determine the treatment that was being offered. The day before, 7000 of these prisoners were executed, with bullets. Ahmadinejad went around with the handgun after the initial shooting to make sure each prisoner was in fact dead, shooting whoever he thought was still alive in the head at point blank range. By the next morning, when the inspection occurred Iran passed with flying colors and Ahmadinejad had his first kills in this vein. For the longest period of time, I at least felt okay that Khamenei was the Supreme Leader because I didn't think him as ruthless as Ahmadinejad: now I am even more frightened with the latest thought, which I hope proves to be ignorant, that the level of sinisterness is much more elevated with Ahmadinejad securing a buffer of insulation allowing him to kill, imprison and otherwise destroy.

The only thing that keeps my faith alive is that the Iranian people overthrew the Shah in a people movement which was summarily stolen by the Islamic factions of society. The Iranians still have vivid memories of the tyranny that existed under the monarchy and its supporters. They also have the present thoughts that the only regime that has time and time again proven itself to be worse than the Shah, is the present non-democratic condition. As an Iranian may say, "Thanks god" that the majority of Iranians are against the present condition and just like the Shah, a shake down will be coming. This shake down will be designed, implemented, organized and responsible to the Iranian people who live in Iran.

I hope, in this last paragraph, that I have never had a less ignorant thought.