A Chance for the New Iranian President to Prove He's a Reformer

WSJ ^ | Linda Frum & Michael Ledeen

[nuconvert]

Western diplomats at the Rouhani inauguration Sunday should challenge him to release political prisoners

The inauguration of Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran on Sunday has stirred considerable hope among some Western observers for the start of a new era of liberalization in the Islamic Republic. Mr. Rouhani may prove to be the reformer his supporters claim, but the luxury of such optimism isn't available to the hundreds of dissidents who have run afoul of the Islamic Republic and are trapped in its prisons.

Since Mr. Rouhani's election in mid-June, the regime's executions of prisoners—a good barometer of a government's inclinations—have increased in frequency. Between June 20 and July 20, at least 97 Iranian prisoners were executed. That's the regime's official count; as a rule, the actual numbers are higher. By contrast, in July 2012 there were 29 confirmed executions.

[nuconvert]

I understand the point they’re trying to make, but freeing dissidents doesn’t really prove anything

[MeshugeMikey]

how does one go about reforming a pile of rotten refuse?

[Nifster]

WSJ jumped the shark long ago....

[GeronL]

I saw a report that said the WSJ was more liberal than the NY Times on every page except the op-eds

[Nifster]

would not surprise me at all.....

[nuconvert]

This is an editorial and the people writing it are not liberals

[GeronL]

I understand that. But I think anyone who expects the new Iranian President to be a reformer is fooling themselves. He was approved by the Guardian Council. The GC has the real power.

[nuconvert]

“anyone who expects the new Iranian President to be a reformer is fooling themselves. “

You’re right & the authors know that. They’re just putting out a challenge to him, the regime and anyone else who thinks he may be a reformer.

[Jmouse007]

The author and these people are DELUSIONAL. There is nothing whatsoever in the history and doctrine of bloody Islam to indicate that they will change their doctrine or their ways and attitudes towards all us “Infidels” in order to “play nice” or to accommodate all us “unbelievers”. Their bloody moon god and his pedophile “prophet” along with the perverse Koran demands that “Infidels convert to Islam by choice or by force, become slaves under Muslum masters, and subject to Shariah “law”, or be killed for our heretical faith in anything but “Allah”, or our lack there of. Those are the ONLY so called “choices” bloody Islam offers all us “Infidels”, period. How many more murders, attacks and acts of barbarism do the followers of Mohammed, Islam and the Unholy Koran need to perpetrate before liberals finally get the message? I guess, Iran will have to Nuke America, England, Israel or fill in the blank, and millions will have to die in the name of bloody Islam before they finally “wake up, smell the coffee and get the message because 9/11 wasn’t enough, blowing the limbs off of their liberal compadres at the Boston Marathon wasn’t sufficient, neither was sawing off the liberal journalist Daniel Pearl’s head with a dull blade while he screeched in agony as they video recorded it for all the world to see what awaits all the Jews and “infidels” at the hands of murderous Muslums and their merciless “god” Allah. But not to fear, because Bush has told us that: “Islam is a religion of peace!”

[nuconvert]

“The author and these people are DELUSIONAL.”

No, they’re not. Perhaps you’ve missed 2 of Ledeen’s books: The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots’ Quest for Destruction; and The War Against the Terror Masters.
As for Ms Frum, I’m less familiar, but she’s a Conservative Party Senator in Canada and serves on the Special Committee for Anti-terrorism

[piytar]

The mullahs still rule Iran. So the President’s position is just a straw man.

[piytar]

Exactly.

[Netz]

Not buying it. He is as bad as Animidjad, just smiles more. West is fooled again, bomb coming...details at 11:00.