Quotes of the day
posted at 9:30 pm on June 13, 2009 by Allahpundit
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“I use this chance to honor the emotions of the nation of Iran and remind them that Iran, this sacred being, belongs to them and not to the fraudulent. It is you who should stay alert. The traitors to the nation’s vote have no fear if this house of Persians burns in flames. We will continue with our green wave of rationality that is inspired by our religious learnings and our love for prophet Mohammad and will confront the rampage of lies that has appeared and marked the image of our nation.”
***
“One man passing by told her, ‘You wrote Mousavi, they read Ahmadinejad!’ She responded: ‘They’re illiterate and need to learn reading.’
Then a man in a car moving in the other direction rolled down his window and shouted at her in anger, ‘You whore! Why are you creating conflict between people?’ A basiji (a member of the volunteer paramilitary aligned with Ahmadinejad) charged at her from nowhere with a metal rod and was about to beat her when he was held down and beaten himself by five or six men streaming out of nearby cars.
‘I mean, just look at this! If Ahmadinejad won 25 million votes, which they claim, we should be celebrating, right?’ an onlooker commented.”
***
“One employee of the Interior Ministry, which carried out the vote count, said the government had been preparing its fraud for weeks, purging anyone of doubtful loyalty and importing pliable staff members from around the country.
‘They didn’t rig the vote,’ claimed the man, who showed his ministry identification card but pleaded not to be named. ‘They didn’t even look at the vote. They just wrote the name and put the number in front of it.’”
***
“Washington now faces a newly fractured Iranian polity ruled by a leadership that is willing to jettison its own institutions and legitimacy in its determination to retain absolute control. That does not bode well for Iran’s capacity to undertake serious talks and eventually engage in historic concessions on its nuclear program and support for terrorism. Obama has to be prepared to move forward with diplomacy despite the wholesale setback for Iran’s limited democracy. In the wake of this disastrous election, opportunities for progress on engagement may unexpectedly present themselves. But he should do so in full awareness of the farce that has been perpetrated with this Ahmadinejad ‘landslide’ and of the seething frustration of so many Iranians.”
***
“From a reader: ‘My next door neighbor is an Iranian immigrant who came here in 1977. He just received a SAT phone call from his brother in Tehran who reports that the rooftops of nighttime Tehran are filled with people shouting ‘Allah O Akbar’ in protest of the government and election results. The last time he remembers this happening is in 1979 during the Revolution. Says the sound of tens of thousands on the rooftops is deafening right now.’ It’s almost four in the morning in Iran.”
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Many Islamics said that Freedom and Islam are incompatible.
Freedom may kill Islam.
William Amos on June 14, 2009 at 9:14 AM
From an article today.
“Several Iranian journalists who asked questions first congratulated Ahmadinejad for his victory. When asked about the allegations of voting irregularities, the hard-line president brushed the claims off, calling them unimportant.”
Sounds like press conferences we have here.
DLEW on June 14, 2009 at 9:15 AM
Maybe something will change there
But I’m not optimistic
blatantblue on June 14, 2009 at 9:17 AM
This is a 24 hour story then the police come and crush it.
If I was an evil bastard like Il or Ahmed-whatever..I couldn’t wait to talk to Obama.
I mean come on, you’ve got the most naive guy on Earth in DC why WOULDN’T you wanna have a nice chat?
Then you have the admin and the MSM saying “But….but….they gave their word!!”
B Man on June 14, 2009 at 9:21 AM
Jewish Writer. Thank God Obama doesnt “Wink” (Its not allowed in African American Culture) and thank God that Ahmadinajad was reelected ISrael needs him to force changes in Israel
William Amos on June 14, 2009 at 9:26 AM
We have demonstrations after elections, too. It is meaningless. The Iranians have demonstrated after other elections and when reforms that eased up restrictions were rolled back by the mullahs.
The only difference this time around is that it is covered so widely outside the country due to the internet and cellphones.
Nah. They just wait for things to die down and life to return to normal and then they start arresting people and trying them in their kangaroo courts.
Blake on June 14, 2009 at 9:27 AM
I didn’t know Iran had their own ACORN?
Frances on June 14, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Hey everyone, you can now follow Dinnerjacket on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ahmadinejad. YAY!
Lance Murdock on June 14, 2009 at 9:42 AM
Now that’s funny!
conservnut on June 14, 2009 at 9:48 AM
awesome! I’m excited
/ahmadinej-sarc
blatantblue on June 14, 2009 at 9:48 AM
The Iranian president is going to have to change his name to Imadisappointment.
William Amos on June 14, 2009 at 9:52 AM
I miss the guy who use to play Saddam on Conan O’Brien.
Blake on June 14, 2009 at 9:55 AM
The civil police has in the past by and large stood by and done nothing during previous citizen revolts. The Mullahs had to field the religious police (Baseej) and thugs from central Asia to do their bidding… there aren’t enough of those to go around. What we are probably seeing is an attempt by the IRGC to steal the election or just ignore it and mandate their own results. While they are technically more adept than the Mullahs, they aren’t necessarily socially more adept.
To give you an idea of the Baseej, they were the ones herding children to attack Iraq during the ’80s. Unarmed children. They are also the workplace religious enforcers and run a number of the very worst prisons that have been cited for torture and ‘disappearing’ people.
I don’t expect the Iranian Army to come out in support of the regime, either, as their mid-command ranks are populated by men drawn from the civilian population at-large. In theorty the IRGC can call them out, but that would be the equivalent of the Russian Army returning from the front in 1917: it joined the Revolution, not put it down. The regime won’t try that for an internal revolt, unless they are horrifically desperate and then 1917 may very well be the result.
As it is the IRGC, Baseej, hired thugs and any Hezbollah laying around used to attack Iraq or Afghanistan are about it. Plus the regime has had to raise natural gas and gasoline prices as it has become a net importer of those. In late 2007 Iran was attacked economically with natural gas, and that has the possibility of being linked with a Red Mafia organization based on past and current positions of natural gas storage in Ukraine. Needing to buy gasoline is due to the decaying oil refining industry in Iran that even Gazprom and China will not touch.
So after rationing of natural gas, price hikes in subsidized gasoline, and a general feeling that the regime can’t confront the Red Mafia and is inviting trouble, the question of the civil police in multiple cities coming to the rescue of the regime is problematical. The places to keep watch are the ethnic areas of Iran: Baluchs (east), Azeri and Kurd (along northern Iraq’s border). Each of these has had uprisings in the last two years, and the Baluchs have demonstrated organization and capability to pull of terror attacks deep inside Iran. The Kurds may finally want to call it quits with Iran and join up with their ethnic brothers, and the Azeri would follow suit if that happens as they have ethnic ties to the north. If any one of those three shifts the Army might get called out, but that would generally indicate the incapacity of the regime to hold any order at all. And as the Army is Persian and those that would seek to revolt or even secede are not, and the population at home is in turmoil… somehow calling the Army out isn’t looking good no matter how you cut it. Nor the civil police.
The Mullahs deserve this as does the IRGC.
ajacksonian on June 14, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Finally, time to take your country back Iranians.
Dr Evil on June 14, 2009 at 11:05 AM
heh
UltimateBob on June 14, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Thanks for sharing the insight.
a capella on June 14, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Another form of card check- Obama style
bluegrass on June 14, 2009 at 11:32 AM
The historical case is that islam kills freedom, always. There is not a single islamic society that has self-rule with individual liberties. The closest one gets is Turkey, but there the secular military has always been the supreme power (against the encroachment of islam) and has had to overthrow four civilian governments (with a fifth looking to be on the horizon, though the EU forced Turkey to change their constitution 6 or 7 years ago).
When individual freedom and self-rule is allowed in any islamic society, freedom is quickly and violently put to death. It’s always been that way.
progressoverpeace on June 14, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Isn’t the very word “Islam” Arabic for totalitarianism?
JiangxiDad on June 14, 2009 at 11:45 AM
Big laughs! You are a clever one. Thanks.
Loxodonta on June 14, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Heh. I used to say that there are only 5 things one needs to know about islam:
1) ‘islam’ means ’submission’
2) muslims must kiss the ground 5 times a day, every single day
3) there are no days of rest in islam
4) apostacy is punishable by death
5) the islamic calendar is a totally lunar calendar (putting muslims always at odds with modern societies) and the insertion of any intercalaries is punishable by death
These 5 little facts about islam say everything one needs to know. They are minor bits, but show the true nature of the ideology. At least, that’s how I look at it.
I would also add an addendum to my response to Willam Amos: islam in the free world has flourished and radicalized. Europe is about to be swallowed by a freed islam.
progressoverpeace on June 14, 2009 at 12:05 PM
This shocked me, too. However, I think it is correct and was the conclusion that I, personally came to after watching a course from the Teaching Company about the history of the Middle East.
Unless you are an expert in any subject that is covered in the news, it is difficult to form an opinion or understand what is happening without some perspective. In my time here on earth reading blogs, magazines, newspapers and watching TV doesn’t really inform you. It’s like knowing separate pieces of the puzzle, but it is difficult to pull it altogehter to finish the big picture because pieces are missing.
Thomas Friedman in the NY Times seems to be able to do it. Don’t know his credentials, but he seems to have come to the same conclusion that I did after I had seen this course.
Truman’s Middle East foreign policy was to spread democracy everywhere the US could. Subsequently the next presidents either ignored the Middle East(read Israel for the most part) or took a huge interest in it because they were afraid that the USSR would influence them and get the oil. Cold War, you know.
It wasn’t until 9-11 that Bush’s policy of creating a democracy in the Middle East other than Israel was possible. I don’t know if he had this in his mind in the beginning or not. He chose Iraq because they were the victims of circumstances and geography almost dictated it. It was the best place to go if the US was going to do it. He also stated that democracies for the most part do not attatck each other. Stop groaning out there. I know you might think of an instance, but I haven’t.
John the Libertarian also said that when the people in Iran see that Iraq has democracy, the people want it, too. George Bush also stated that and that was more justification for the Iraq War for him. He had many, many reasons for going into Iraq, but the press and Libs decided that WMD’s were the reason they chose and relentlessly focused on it. Bush had a bigger plan.
There were reports that the students in Iran were the ones that were ready to throw off the rule of the mullahs and if we would only send them lap tops that they could pull of an uprising. I often wondered why we didn’t do that. Probably because we had enough on our plate and Bush was willing to wait. Or the reports weren’t true. I have no idea.
Our oil supply is threatened now and we should have started drilling in our own back yard. Research on alternative fuel is certainly not produced results yet. Obama just recently canceled all of the government vehicles that were going to be produced using fuel cells. Bio fuels are not working and making and depending on bio fuels needs to go back to the drawing board. Using corn for fuel only causes food shortages. It’s manufacture and transport is not cost effective and the extra caution is expenive.
I highly recommend the Teaching Company to flesh out your education. You can Google them. The courses are kind of expensive as CD’s go, but there are frequent sales. We discovered them because a Dr. friend decided that he wanted to learn more about calculus. Not my idea of a good time, but he already had purchased one on the history of music so was familiar with them. In the meantime my husband wanted one on astronomy so we bought it. We have ended up trading back and forth for quite a while. My home school friend gets them for her teenagers. They are on a college level, but no tests or papers to write. Perfect!!!!
BetseyRoss on June 14, 2009 at 12:18 PM
This is so awful. Too bad we don’t have a president who will give a rat’s behind about democracy.
Terrye on June 14, 2009 at 12:18 PM
progressoverpeace:
I can remember a time when a lot of Muslims were about as religious as secular Jews are today. It seems to me that not all Muslims are alike, some are a lot more zealous than others.
I wish I could find the link, but I read somewhere that almost half the Muslims in Iraq do not attend regular religious services.
Terrye on June 14, 2009 at 12:20 PM
What are you talking about? Cnn/Msnbc/Fox News feature important news. Like the latest interview with Hollywood actors, the latest poll results of 500 people nationwide, and what Palin/Limbaugh/Left Wing Nuts/Obama said in some publication.
V-rod on June 14, 2009 at 12:21 PM
“African American Culture” doesn’t have any particulars against winking or “Wink”. We wink “Wink” all the time. Maybe Nentanyahu was over-winking the “Wink” and appeared to have a nervous tick.
Magnus on June 14, 2009 at 12:28 PM
I’m just pointing out the historical facts of governance among islamic cultures. And the European situation of muslims, with total freedom, puts an exclamation point on it.
But the sad fact is that no one can point to any islamic society that had/has self-rule with individual liberties and has not been swallowed up by islam, eventually. As I said, Turkey comes closest, but it was military supremacy (anathema to Western sensibilities, which is why the EU forced Turkey to change their constitution) that was always needed to keep islam from taking over. Pakistan provides another such example, though messier and more immature than Turkey.
This is because islam is, at its core, not a religion, but a political ideology with an attendant mythology. Ataturk understood this (and he loved islam). Islam always demands the powers of state, and when it gets it things are just ugly, as islam is nothing but the formalization of desert arab culture which is stuck back in the stone age (and worse).
If you have some counter examples I’d be happy to take them into consideration.
progressoverpeace on June 14, 2009 at 12:36 PM
I think the Iranian people are tired of being, sanctioned, isolated, and the laughing stock of the Middle East. I believe the new generation want to practice Islam but not have Islam be the government. But that is the only way change will ever come to Iran. If they government that isn’t run by Religious nutcases.
Islamic culture is incompatible with any type of freedom or democracy by its nature unless it exist in a diverse environment where it is not the law of the land. We are doing a social experiment in Iraq but once the US moves out of their government affairs it’ll revert right back to rule by Islamic extremism down the road.
My father, who is a black American convert to Islam and is currently an Imam tries to make a distinction between the religion and the culture. But the culture is actually a product of the Religion. So something is defunct in the Religion. There is no question that I have not seen any religion in particular in current History that consistently throughout the world blows up babies and cuts off peoples heads and put it on the internet.
Take the Palestinians. They practice democracy but elect terrorist as their leaders. I feel bad they have to be “oppressed” but they are 90% doing it to themselves. They should study the African-American Civil Rights Movement to see what finally WORKED! Definitely not lobbing half-ass RPGS into people’s homes.
Magnus on June 14, 2009 at 12:42 PM
a capella – Very welcome. Just some more of the detritus I pick up looking at subjects that I share as best I can.
ajacksonian on June 14, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Funny. Say hi to HAL.
Geochelone on June 14, 2009 at 5:47 PM
How long before Uhhhhbama announces his support for Ahmabigganutjob?
darwin-t on June 14, 2009 at 9:15 PM
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