Ahmadinejad Wins Rigged Election In Iran

Rioting broke out in Iran among many young voters and supporters of reform candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi who had been leading by a landslide in most every recent poll in Iran supposedly lost by a landslide to the far right incumbent leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Immediately many observers in the world press as well as many in Iran suspected widespread fraud in the election results. Equally disturbing was a statement by a ruling member of Islamic clerics who hold much of the control claiming the results were blessed by some sort of "divine" blessing.

The fact of the matter, with a widespread crackdown in civil liberties in Iran, as well as public executions to promote a climate of fear on the part of the Ahmadinejad regime, as well as a very poor economy, many in Iran desperately wanted change. Further many were fearful that Ahmadinejad could ignite a nuclear war with Israel that could cost millions of lives. On the Internet, with things such as Facebook, reformer Mousavi had all the buzz among many in Iran. All of this leads many to believe that a group of religious hardliners as well members of the Ahmadinejad government rigged the election results because they felt that Mousavi was too liberal and did not share their intense and extreme view of the Muslim faith.

Based on the intelligence information available to the Obama Administration, the administration condemned the claimed outcome as "not credible", strongly suggesting that the vote appeared to be largely manipulated compared to internal CIA and State Department information.

And in Israel, the claimed landslide vote as well as the likely vote manipulation only helped to further reaffirm that Ahmadinejad is a dangerous dictator and push the two countries closer to an eventual war.

About the only hope now is that mass rallies in Iran could bring down the government, much like the peaceful efforts in Eastern Europe brought down their Communist dictatorship governments. However, the fact that many in Iran are involved in rock throwing or other acts of violence, and that riot police are responding with force only invites a tough crackdown on civil liberties by the Ahmadinejad regime. Only through peaceful mass protests or work strikes can Iranians force the Ahmadinejad regime from power and help to establish a truly democratic state with free speech and open and honest elections. Any violence must immediately stop, replaced with peaceful protests.

A former UK ambassador to Iran, has warned that violent street protests would be seen as a coup attempt in Iran, and would be quickly crushed by the Ahmadinejad government in an attempt to hold on to power. And while reformist candidate Mousavi refuses to concede the election, he must be careful to warn his followers to peacefully and orderly protest the outcome and avoid a massive police or military crackdown or a declaration of martial law in the country. However, the entire situation is nearly identical to the times when dictators in the Philippines attempted to hold on to power through rigged elections or phony results.