Khatami is a chicken:
http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp;:4005361e:1994daecace88464?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4123516 Iran MPs rebuff Khatami appeal to suspend sit-in
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Reformist Iranian MPs on Wednesday rebuffed President Mohammad Khatami's appeal to suspend their four-day protest over a hardline move to bar hundreds of reformist candidates from standing for parliament.
Pro-reform Khatami, apparently confident he could defuse a crisis that has sparked resignation threats by most of his cabinet, had urged dozens of MPs who have been sleeping on floors in parliament since Sunday to end the sit-in and go back to work.
But the lawmakers, most of whom have been barred from standing in the February 20 vote by the unelected hardline Guardian Council constitutional watchdog, rejected Khatami's conciliatory approach.
"It's natural for us to continue because we haven't achieved our demands yet," Mohammad Reza Khatami, younger brother of the president and deputy speaker of parliament, told Reuters.
The decision was a further blow to the weakened authority of Khatami, who is also under pressure from cabinet colleagues and state governors to take a firm stance against the hardline move.
Khatami had told MPs he was hopeful negotiations would bear fruit with the Guardian Council over its decision to bar almost half of the 8,200 aspiring candidates from the race.
Most of Khatami's cabinet, including four vice presidents and 12 ministers, have said they will resign within a week unless the election bans are overturned. State governors have issued the same warning.
But the Guardian Council said on Tuesday it would not be pressured into lifting the election bans.
Khatami called for unity on Tuesday, telling state governors: "We will leave together (or) we will stay together."
KHATAMI TOO SOFT ON HARDLINERS
Even close allies of Khatami, who swept to power in 1997 on a platform promising to promote civil rights and the rule of law, now criticise him for failing to stand up to hardliners.
Iran's complex political system means that although elected reformists currently run the government and hold a majority in parliament, unelected hardliners who control the judiciary, armed forces and constitutional oversight bodies such as the Guardian Council have been able to block most reform attempts.
Hardliners fear reforms proposed by liberals on issues such as a free press, free speech and women's rights will undermine the system of clerical rule that has been in place since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
The reformers say they do not want to dismantle clerical rule, only to place more emphasis on the rule of law and citizens' rights.
Many of Iran's disproportionately youthful population have already lost faith in Khatami's ability to overcome conservative resistance, and the public have shown no sign of rallying to the reformists' cause.
Analysts say the disqualification of candidates was a crude attempt by hardliners to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election, when reformists won about 70 percent of seats in parliament.
Pro-reform Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi echoed Khatami's opinion that a negotiated settlement could be found.
"I'm confident that the Guardian Council will reconsider. It has no choice," he told reporters.
He said if talks with the Council failed, the reformists would appeal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters and has tended to side with hardliners in the past, said on Monday he would get involved in the row only if other methods failed.
(Additional reporting by Amir Paivar and Parinoosh Arami)
Either Khatami is not skilled in the art of negotiations or he is working together with the hardliners. Choose your pick.