Iran's supreme leader rules out election fraud

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Can you imagine the leader of your country speaking to you at "worship" services?
His guy won and he's sticking to that story:

Iran's supreme leader rules out election fraud
By Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi
4:35 AM PDT, June 19, 2009

Reporting from Tehran -- Iran's supreme leader today ruled out massive fraud in elections last week and warned hundreds of thousands taking part in a series of peaceful protests against the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to get off the streets, blaming foreign leaders and media for exploiting differences within Iran's political scene in an attempt to destabilize the Islamic Republic.

Though Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized some of Ahmadinejad's campaign season conduct and condemned the killing of students by pro-regime loyalists earlier this week, he came down strongly on the side of the president and his faction while warning supporters of losing candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi of consequences if they don't end their civil disobedience.

...Analysts were unsurprised by Khamenei's speech. "The ball is now in Mousavi's court," said Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Denver. "His leadership will now be tested. Will he stand firm and continue his nonviolent resistance, or will he compromise and sell out the democratic aspirations of millions of Iranians?"

...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-iran-khamenei-speech19-2009jun19,0,664593.story

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Well, that's that . . . .

[imdjh]

2. The "revolution" is aimed at the wrong office.

If the "Green Revolution" needs to do anything, it needs to get rid of the Ayatollahs.

[PATRICK]

4. That is what is being sidestepped

Their Supreme Leader is a very active king figure. Challenging that is to challenge the embodiment of their revolution and their government and to an uncomfortable degree, their sectarian faith. That is a lot more than challenging an election for the second highest office to be a civil functionary and more searing than challenging a SCOTUS Florida decision.

I would guess, in the normal state of such things, the deal will be made to submit with everything being on the line, before the army starts thinking about getting into the act or the regime becoming irrecoverably tarnished by blood a la Shah..

[imdjh]

5. I read somewhere that some people want Reza to return.

[brendan120678]

3. Really, all of the candidates were "His guys"...

Doesn't the Supreme Leader have to approve all candidates? I think I read that somewhere recently.

[EFerrari]

6. Amnesty International pointed out that this speech put the responsibility

for keeping the peace on the protesters, not on the security forces -- and as a conseqauence. he is giving a permission slip to further brutality by security forces.

That's my worry right now.

I'd bet that Iran's elections have been fake for most of the Republic's history. This time, the fake just wasn't good enough.

Let's hope that the weekend doesn't see a lot of violence and bloodshed. :(