New York Times Editorial: Iran’s Nonrepublic

New York Times Editorial: Iran’s Nonrepublic
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: June 17, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/opinion/18thu2.html?th&emc=th


Looking at the behavior of Iran’s government, one can only conclude that it is terrified of its own people. Looking at the courage of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets, one can only feel admiration and anxiety for their safety.

Government authorities bulldozed the results of last week’s presidential election — declaring the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the winner by a landslide before the votes could be credibly counted. Now they are threatening and killing protesters, arresting opposition leaders, trying to block journalists from reporting and predictably blaming everyone but themselves.

Fortunately, many of the same people who fomented the 1979 revolution with what was then advanced technology — recorded speeches by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — are being thwarted by Twitter and the Internet. While authorities are trying to block communications, Iranians have become skilled at using proxy Web sites and posting videos on YouTube to get messages out.

On Wednesday, tens of thousands of Iranians were again on the streets silently protesting the bogus results. Mir Hussein Moussavi, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s main rival, has called for more peaceful protests on Thursday in honor of people killed in postelection unrest.

The Guardian Council — which supervises elections — has tried to pacify the opposition by offering to recount votes in a limited number of districts. This was a cynical gesture not least because the authorities made clear that the recount would not change the final result. Even a full recount would be suspect. How could anyone be sure that the ballots were valid?

More violence against the Iranian people will only highlight the government’s illegitimacy and desperation.

If the authorities want to resolve this impasse peacefully — that must be the goal — they should call a new election, monitored by independent Iranian observers. Before last week’s results were prematurely and improbably declared, a runoff was expected between Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Moussavi. As a first step, authorities should set up a commission representing all major candidates to examine the election data and jointly determine a face-saving and credible way forward.

Some in Washington, meanwhile, have been complaining that President Obama hasn’t been tough enough in his criticism of Iran’s government. He may have to speak out more forcefully in the days to come. But given its history with Iran, the United States must take special care not to be seen as interfering. That would only give Iran’s hard-liners a further excuse to blame the United States for their own shameful failures.