Iran: The Saga Continues

Fire of Liberty

With the mullahs holding a runoff election tommorrow to determine the next president(dictator) of the Islamic Republic, I thought you'd like to see what a leading dissident in Iran has to say about the forthcoming election. During my early morning perusal of The New York Sun, I came across this article by Eli Lake with an interview with Ahmad Batebi, an Iranian dissident on the lam avoiding the clutches of the Iranian authorities. Just read what Lake had to report:

When asked for his impression of Mr. Rafsanjani, Mr.Batebi said, "He is wanted by Interpol for his role in the murder of Kurds at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. He appealed to young people, but he has the blood of the young people on his hands in the country."

In describing Mr. Ahmadinejad, Mr. Batebi said, "He is a founder of the Jerusalem force of the revolutionary guard. He has been nominated by the supreme leader who is concerned Rafsanjani has been too powerful." American intelligence considers the Jerusalem force as the wing of Iran's military responsible for funding and training anti-Israel terrorism.

Mr. Batebi, like many in the opposition and even several allies of the outgoing reformist president, Mohammed Khatemi, called for a boycott of last Friday's election. In the interview yesterday day, he told the Sun that the boycott was far more successful than the official voting statistics suggest.

"The people of Iran were so grateful, and there was enthusiasm to boycott the election on last Friday," he said. "A couple of the leaders of the Western country, especially President Bush and Condoleezza Rice, they issued a statement that this is an illegitimate government and it is a sham. It was a fantastic boost to the people of Iran and gave them enthusiasm to not cast their votes.

"When Western leaders like President Bush talk about human rights here, many people are losing their fear to go to the streets. We have been badly beaten before, but we can overcome this."

It's refreshing that Eli Lake can cut the jungle of distractions offered up by the regime and the MSM and get to a better source of what's going on in Iran via a true democrat like Ahmad Batebi who risks his life to knock this tyranny off it's feet. So pay no attention what you hear in the MSM about such so called election results in Iran.