What was Bush saying again about Iran needing a democratic government?

[bigtree]

looks like it's working just fine without our interference . . .


Ahmadinejad Opponents Win Elections

(AP) TEHRAN, Iran Opponents of Iran's ultra-conservative president won nationwide elections for local councils, final results confirmed Thursday, an embarrassing outcome for the hardline leader that could force him to change his anti-Western tone and focus more on problems at home.

Moderate conservatives critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a majority of seats in last week's elections, followed by reformists who were suppressed by hard-liners two years ago. Analysts said the president's allies won less than 20 percent of local council seats across the country.

Final results of Friday's local elections announced by the Interior Ministry show moderate conservatives opposed to Ahmadinejad have won a majority of the seats.

The voting also represented a partial comeback for reformists — who favor closer ties with the West and further loosening of social and political restrictions under the Islamic government.

Similar anti-Ahmadinejad sentiment was visible in the final results of a parallel election held to select members of the Assembly of Experts, a conservative body of 86 senior clerics that monitors Iran's supreme leader and chooses his successor.

A big boost for moderates within the ruling Islamic establishment was visible in the big number of votes for former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election runoff.


Bush on Democracy in Iran:

21 March 2005


At a news conference in Washington, D.C., President George W. Bush said that the Iranian people deserve a democratic government:

"I believe the Iranian people ought to be allowed to freely discuss opinions, read a free press, have free votes, be able to choose amongst political parties. I believe Iran should adopt democracy; that's what I believe."

http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/archive/2005-03/2005-03-22-voa2.cfm?CFID=12674123&CFTOKEN=27409451



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[crim son]

1. The timing is excellent.

It will be somewhat harder for Bush to demonize Iranians after this election.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Au Contrare...You're Using Reason & Logic

Let's spin it through the Perle/Wolfowitz/Feith filter...rinse it with Crashcart and then deliver it to Rove who then feeds it to Rushbo and Hannity as well as spoon-feeds it to Numbnutz. The meme is that it's Armenjad and the Mullahs (demonized already as "Islamofacists") as holding back the people...just like Saddam held back the Iraqis. That these elections show only the surface "discontent" that they are sure is widespread and total and all we have to do is "shock & awe" the Iranians into action and we'll be greated as "liberators". I heard the asshat Cliff May already astroturf that crap.

[crim son]

3. Sigh. You may be right.

I am hoping that Americans, in the wake of our election, might be on the lookout for bullshit propoganda from the White House. But even if they are, and even if there is some sympathy for the Iranian people, we do seem more than willing to kill a few thousand of them in the name of "freedom".