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Friday, April 27, 2007

The students are rising in Iran... 

...and Fred Thompson says that we should be prepared to help them. Good for Fred, but let's not get carried away.

Much as I would love to see a revolution overthrow the Islamic Republic, we have to remember that there is a huge difference between the spring fever of college students and credible rebellion. The demonstrations that turned Iran against the Shah - who by 1978 was a sick and exhausted man - were the largest in the history of the world. The Islamic Republic is built around an entire group of leaders, many of whom have greater credibility and deeper resolve than the Shah did at the end. And, without question, a far greater willingness to brutalize their own citizenry. How many millions will have to take to the streets to run the mullahs out of town?

(From my Blackberry outside a PetSmart in West Windsor, New Jersey.)

3 Comments:

By Blogger Christopher Chambers, at Fri Apr 27, 10:32:00 PM:

Here we finally agree. Folks overstate this "silent majority" of Iranian youngsters who pine for iPods, cable, Paris Hilton and Fiddy Cent CDs. OK some might secretly bemoan the orthodoxy, but never underestimate the power of plain ol' nationalism and yeah, pride and patriotism. Even in Iran...

(I'm not in Petsmart...was in Borders in Silver Spring, MD however and then Pier One)  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Sat Apr 28, 12:45:00 AM:

Do the iranains see the great satan in their own president?  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Sat Apr 28, 01:54:00 PM:

It's not the number of revolutionaries that counts, it's the number of armed, trained, organized revolutionaries.

A million civilians can easily become a million corpses if you're rebelling against a tyrrany.  

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