[Daralundy]

Everything in the world in President Bush's fault apparently.

[xcamel]

Adolf Hitler was freely elected as a National Socialist too.

I wonder if Jimmy Carter helped.

[freeangel]

What this does tell me is that the majority of palis ARE terrorists--not the peace loving people the left love.

[freedom44]

The writer teaches at Tehran University, do you expect him to write a fair piece when hes under the watch of one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world? To compare the Palestinian elections which were monitored by world bodies and free and fair to Iran's dictatorship run election is ridiculous.

Here's a piece from my recent article on Iran:

Yes, Iran does have elections. These elections are a facade behind which manipulations of power are concealed. In an article in the National Review Online, pro-Democracy students Bahman Batmanghelidj and Kamal Azari point out that even if seventy percent of the people vote for pro-democracy candidates, “clerical hard-liners ignore the voice of the voters and continue to use their power to veto, repress, and crush even a few modest efforts at a political opening”. Anyone seeking to run for the presidency of Iran must first be examined by a hard-line group of twelve clerics. During the recent election, the Guardian Council disqualified over ninety-eight percent of the candidates, including all female candidates and virtually every single reformist. The seven candidates that made it past the Council were all Islamists loyal to the Islamic dictatorship. A dictatorship where all authority is vested in an un-elected ‘Supreme Leader’, currently Ayatollah Khamenei. Hence, although the Iranian government has elections, these elections are used as a propaganda tool directed towards the naïve rather than a tool of democracy . A recent poll conducted by pro-Democracy students in Iran shows that the current President of Iran enjoys the support of about twenty percent of the Iranian populace, likewise over eighty percent of the Iranian student body supports a secular democratic government.

[humint]

Washington's confused strategy of democracy promotion.

This article is a full blown manifestation of cultural relativism. Iran's electoral process is not a full expression of the will of the Iranian people. Iran's constitution makes clear the Iranian moral, ideological and political compass is under the command of an unelected few. It is an injustice to consider the Iranian state a democracy. President Bush is, as are Americans, fully aware of what democracy is and therefore promote true democracy. The confusion about what democracy is exists among those who control millions through despotism and is better described as willful ignorance.

DEMOCRACY: Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. This does not even remotely describe Iran.

IRAN’S CONSTITUTION - Article 110 - Following are the duties and powers of the Supreme Leadership:

1. Delineation of the general policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran after consultation with the Nation's Exigency Council.
2. Supervision over the proper execution of the general policies of the system.
3. Issuing decrees for national referenda.
4. Assuming supreme command of the armed forces.
5. Declaration of war and peace, and the mobilization of the armed forces.
6. Appointment, dismissal, and acceptance of resignation of:
   1. the fuqaha' on the Guardian Council.
   2. the supreme judicial authority of the country.
   3. the head of the radio and television network of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
   4. the chief of the joint staff.
   5. the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.
   6. the supreme commanders of the armed forces.
7. Resolving differences between the three wings of the armed forces and regulation of their relations.
8. Resolving the problems, which cannot be solved by conventional methods, through the Nation's Exigency Council.
9. Signing the decree formalizing the election of the President of the Republic by the people. The suitability of candidates for the Presidency of the Republic, with respect to the qualifications specified in the Constitution, must be confirmed before elections take place by the Guardian Council;, and, in the case of the first term [of the Presidency], by the Leadership;
10. Dismissal of the' President of the Republic, with due regard for the interests of the country, after the Supreme Court holds him guilty of the violation of his constitutional duties, or after a vote of the Islamic Consultative Assembly testifying to his incompetence on the basis of Article 89 of the Constitution.
11. Pardoning or reducing the sentences of convicts, within the framework of Islamic criteria, on a recommendation [to that effect] from the Head of judicial power. The Leader may delegate part of his duties and powers to another person.

[hosepipe]

Democracy is, has always been, and will remain MOB RULE..
Sharia law is MOB RULE too.. its all in the MOB we're talking about as to the character of democracy.. Monarchy is also democracy just a different kind of MOB RULE with an abbrevated MOB... thats ruling.. Rule by MOBSTERS is what democracy IS.. And parasiting "the people" is what it does.. many variations but always the same result..

The U.S.A. is ruled by two MOBS.. with a kind of Mob etiquette.. unless there is a HIT going on.. makes the U.S.A. a democracy and not a republic at all, the way it once was..

Funny that there are three words NOT present in the U.S. Constitution ANYWHERE..
1) democracy..
2) democratic..
3) democrat..

NOWHERE..... WHY IS THAT?...