Iranian Election-Good news. Now, watch Condi & Cheney blow it.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

Ahmadinejad's hopes for strong support were dashed when relatively moderate candidates beat out his hardline supporters. In five cities, not one hardliner won. A very high turnout meant that the religious leaders had great difficulty pulling their own version of Florida or Ohio.

This means that Iranians, a proud, educated people who have survived many trials and tribulations, are again changing the direction of their country.

Unfortunately, this election will have little or no impact on darth Cheney and his piano playing puppet, Condi Rice. Their long term goal is for total war in the region. Unfortunately for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, they have miscalculated horribly in their first PNAC war, in the IraqNam quagmire. No rational person expects them to do any better in Iran.

Condi has already stated that she will not negotiate with Iran - allegedly due to a quid pro quo. This bullshit statement must be viewed upwind, lest the fumes cause you to faint. Simply talking to a country requires a quid pro quo? Who fed you that can of beans, Condi? And why does no reporter or journalist or talking head bother to call you on your garbage? Instead, so long as Cheney remains in power, and so long as Gates remains his lapdog, and so long that Condi's strings are controlled by Darth, we can anticipate a war against Iran within the next two years. Despite major shifts in the political climate in Iran, our war-mongering leaders will ignore the public and attack.

a reasonable article on the election in today's NYT here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/world/middleeast/19irancnd.html?hp&ex=1166504400&en=e968ae0e0d9ff6cc&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[annabanana]

1. the "quid pro quo" kill me... Like it's such a friggen

REWARD to ba allowed to talk to us...

They haven't been giving interviews recently (Cheney & Condi) and I don't expect them to. Except maybe on Faux.

(or Couric: "Jeepers, How does someone, you know, ask you for a date?")

[blm]

2. ugh...what a horrid reminder.....

I had filed that one away under P....as in uke.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Watch Flynt Leverett's speech today..You bet they'll blow it...

http://www.newamerica.net/files/video/naf121806a.asx

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. thanks. I did not know he was on today.

this administration is nuts. effin nuts.

[Junkdrawer]

5. A collection of links is on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2941584

[Redstone]

6. They won't have any effect on Darth Ahmadinejad, either.

The clerics and/or the Revolutionary Guards can overturn any election in Iran.

Don't kid yourself about Iran's government. They are NOT nice people.

Redstone

[scarletwoman]

7. I can't understand why I am only the 2nd person to recommend this post!

I don't understand how people can't see that the future of OUR country depends on the choices made by the criminal cheney/bush regime in the Middle East. How is that so few people care to pay attention?

If the U.S. attacks Iran -- and from all appearances, this IS going to happen -- it's *game over* for our Republic for at least a generation. How is this not important?

Thank you for your well-written post!

sw

[rollopollo]

8. I can see it now

Iranians move towards centrism. We respond by increasing troops in Iraq, expanding our threatening military presence in the Gulf next to Iran, and continue our ill-advised petitioning of Sunni Arab nations to confront Sh'ites in Iran. Suddenly, Iranians realize that the US is a larger threat than Ahmadinejad and reverse course (or the Supreme Guide reverses course and the Iranians are fine with it).

Belligerence has a tendency to alienate even those who are supporting your cause; this is why it's such a shame we don't have people like Colin Powell any more in the administration- someone who knows that there are more ways to resolve disputes than using brute force. I read a good quote recently (I may have the wording off): Militarism increases when people assume the cost of aggression is low.

[magellan]

12. Welcome to DU, rollopollo

The Iranians were actually moving towards the center when Bush** stole office. It was his huffing and puffing and the invasion of Iraq that squashed those efforts and fueled the lurch back to conservatism in the form of Ahmadinejad. People do crazy things when they're afraid.

With this election it seems in an odd way that they're mirroring our political landscape: scary madman at the helm, temper him by electing moderates to the government.

[rollopollo]

15. I remember that

That was tragic. Iran's moderate leader Khatami was pushing for US relations, at considerable personal risk. Rather than take that olive branch, in his State of the Union, Bush labeled Iran as part of the Axis of Evil. Khatami looked like a fool to his own people and was replaced with Ahmadinejad. Maybe there were good reasons we didn't open relations with Iran, but I don't know what they are.

This Timeline is somewhat dispiriting:

*U.S. Ambassador On Chances For Improved Washington-Tehran Relations - REE (January 25, 2001)
*Atlantic Council Report Calls on U.S. to Relax Economic Sanctions on Iran - Washington File (June 8, 2001)
*America and Iran: From Containment to Coexistence - Brookings Institution (August 2001)

*US targets 'rogue nation' Iran - The Guardian (May 10, 2001)
*U.S./Iran: Relations Become Tense After Washington Comments, Warnings - RFE (January 11, 2002)
*Bush's 'evil axis' comment stirs critics - BBC (February 2, 2002)
*Gary Sick Says 'Axis of Evil' Label Promotes a Pentagon, Not State Dept., Agenda (February 27, 2002)
*End of a Brief Affair? The United States and Iran - CEIP (March 2002)

*Iran-US rift widens - BBC (May 25, 2003)
*U.S. Imposes Iran-Related Sanctions - Arms Control Today (January 14, 2005)
*Special forces 'on the ground' in Iran - The Guardian (January 17, 2005)
*Now US ponders attack on Iran - The Guardian (January 18, 2005)
*'The neo-cons seem desperate to attack' - The Guardian (January 25, 2005)
*US jets 'flying over Iran to spot potential targets' - The Guardian (January 29, 2005)
*Iran's ex-president: U.S should show goodwill - USA Today (February 6, 2005)
*Rice warns Iran against provoking Israel - The Guardian (February 7, 2005)
*Bush: talk of strike on Iran is ridiculous - The Guardian (February 23, 2005)
*Taking on Tehran - Foreign Affairs (March/April 2005)

And of course we know what happens after this in terms of the Administration's saber-rattling, military threats, and now positioning of a force next to Iran in the Persian Gulf.

[annabanana]

9. I am kicking this back up in hopes of some rec.s

This article should be out there where people can see it...

[killbotfactory]

10. Turn up the rhetoric!

If they keep electing moderates it will make bombing them less desirable! And then where will the PNAC plans be?

[annabanana]

11. c'mon! nominate this thread!

[The Count]

13. "their own versions of Florida or Ohio"??? In the NYT?

A very high turnout meant that the religious leaders had great difficulty pulling their own version of Florida or Ohio."

Stop the presses!

NYT KNOWS!

Sigh...that was you, not them...

[drm604]

14. K&R

:kick: