By John P. Hannah
On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian police raided offices connected to top opposition leaders and former presidential candidates, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Many fear that the move signals that the regime's efforts to extinguish Iran's post-election unrest is moving to its next, perhaps decisive, phase: the arrest and decapitation of the opposition's leadership, first and foremost Mousavi and Karroubi themselves.
The Obama administration desperately needs to find its voice and rally the international community in an effort to deter the regime from taking this step. The courage that Mousavi and Karroubi have demonstrated in continuing to speak out forcefully--not only against the government's falsifying election results, but about the brutality of its subsequent crackdown--has been extraordinary. The fact is that the vast majority of Western observers expected these formerly loyal servants of the Revolution to fold up their tents long ago after being commanded to do so by Iran's supreme ruler, Ali Khamenei. That they did not whither, and on the contrary have only ratcheted up their attacks on the government's lack of legitimacy, has been absolutely essential to the opposition's ability to sustain itself for nearly three months--and to pose, without question, the most potent threat ever to the Islamic Republic's survival. Read more ...
On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian police raided offices connected to top opposition leaders and former presidential candidates, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Many fear that the move signals that the regime's efforts to extinguish Iran's post-election unrest is moving to its next, perhaps decisive, phase: the arrest and decapitation of the opposition's leadership, first and foremost Mousavi and Karroubi themselves.
The Obama administration desperately needs to find its voice and rally the international community in an effort to deter the regime from taking this step. The courage that Mousavi and Karroubi have demonstrated in continuing to speak out forcefully--not only against the government's falsifying election results, but about the brutality of its subsequent crackdown--has been extraordinary. The fact is that the vast majority of Western observers expected these formerly loyal servants of the Revolution to fold up their tents long ago after being commanded to do so by Iran's supreme ruler, Ali Khamenei. That they did not whither, and on the contrary have only ratcheted up their attacks on the government's lack of legitimacy, has been absolutely essential to the opposition's ability to sustain itself for nearly three months--and to pose, without question, the most potent threat ever to the Islamic Republic's survival. Read more ...
Source: The Weekly Standard
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