Mullahs retire from show business

It was evident from Iranian "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Khamenei's public statements after the election that he wanted the world to accept Iran's regime and give it the same deference shown to repressive governments in places like China, Vietnam, and Egypt, just to name a few.

In his speech announcing that after further review, the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would stand, the Ayatollah repeatedly cited the voter turnout in Iran as evidence that the regime is legitimate.

So that was the plan: Hold a sham election in which both candidates had been selected by the "Supreme Leader," and then hold it up to the world as proof that Iran's government is a freely elected, legitimate expression of the will of a majority of the Iranian people.

There's a scene in the first Rocky movie in which Apollo Creed, the boxer who was supposed to defeat Rocky in a sham match and instead finds himself being pounded, complains to his corner man, "He don't know it's a damn show. He thinks it's a damn fight."

So it goes.

The people of Iran have succeeded in destroying the mullahs' plan to use the election as a means of solidifying their power and their international standing. Governments that had intended to find a way to do business with Iran, including ours, will find it very difficult to go forward with their plans.

It won't be easy for elected leaders to shake hands with a man who dropped lye from helicopters to get demonstrators off the streets.

The show's over.



Copyright 2009

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