Published: June 12, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor
Iranian Elections june 17 are a total sham
By SpecialGuests.com
Hunger Fast in Los Angeles Protests Election Farce
Just as it appears democracy is finally taking root in Iraq, the prospects for freedom in Iran look bleak as June 17 Iranian elections are anything but free or fair.
Harvard PhD Jerome Corsi is an expert on Iran and author of "Atomic Iran" (see below).
Said Dr. Corsi, "The presidential election in Iran is a sham. Over 1,000 people came forward to run for president, yet the list was narrowed to six candidates by the mullahs' 12-man Guardian Council. Then the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei intervened and inserted two more 'reformist' candidates, bringing the total to eight candidates. All eight are present or former government or security officials. All of the 89 women who registered were eliminated, as were any true opponents of the government."
According to Dr. Corsi, Iranians have a choice between electing one of the current "Mad Mullahs" or a 'reform' Mad Mullah since the election is reduced to a mullah-approved slate with the variations among the candidates little more than narrow differences being debated amongst the mullahs themselves.
Corsi contends that no candidate with a true reformist position or advocating alternative viewpoints from the ruling clerics themselves was permitted to be on the ballot. To call this process a "free election" mocks the concept itself. The Iranian presidential election is not free and it is not fair.
Corsi added, "Those calling for an internationally-supervised referendum make the point clearly. If Iranians were permitted to vote in a 'YES or NO' vote on the mullahs themselves, the ruling clerics would be tossed out on their turbans by an overwhelming majority of the Iranian voters. The mullahs know this, so they rig the election to create the appearance of choice in the hope that they can continue fooling the world into believing they are a legitimate government. The argument is so transparent that only communists, or the extreme left in Europe and America, would ever dare to argue that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a 'democracy.'"
In the June 17 Iranian elections, the odds-on "favorite" is Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is virtually assured of a win, just as Castro has continued to "win" his "elections" in Cuba. When Rafsanjami ran for president in 1989, he positioned himself as a "moderate," the same way he is positioning himself today. Yet, the record is clear. Rafsanjani is a hardline killer who as president brutally put down the student rebellion with thugs who broke up the dormitories and beat upon the dissidents.
Now, Rafsanjai is boasting that he can open up negotiations with the United States and improve Iran's economic lot by having sanctions removed. At the same time, rumblings out of Iran suggest that the government plans to resume enriching uranium by the end of July. Other reports suggest that Iran plans to install tens of thousands of advanced centrifuges at their underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Before temporarily halting uranium enrichment in November last year, the mullahs made sure the completed enriching 37 tons of yellowcake uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas at Isfahan, ready to return to Natanz for final weapons-grade enrichment by centrifuge.
Dr. Corsi thoroughly covers the Iranian Atomic threat in his book, "Atomic Iran," considered by leading geopolitical experts as a "must read" for all Americans.
Some 50 Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles are conducting a three-day hunger strike protesting the illegitimate presidential election farce being staged by the mullahs ruling the Islamic Republic of Iran on June 17, this coming Friday.
The hunger strikers are joined by Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran and the heir to Iran's throne. The protest, being staged in front of the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard, began on Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm PST, and will end on Monday afternoon at 2:00 pm PST. On Sunday evening, the protestors walked with candles in the memory of all those countless souls who lost their lives being tortured by the mullahs for their political and religious views.
On Election Day, June 17, we expect millions of Iranians to boycott and stay home. While the time for peaceful change is growing short, time yet remains. If the mullahs were not truly weak and desperately afraid, they would allow a genuine referendum to be held. The hunger strike going on in Los Angeles is important. If the mullahs and Rafsanjani do not win their current gambit, the time may be growing short and mullahs' day of reckoning may be drawing near.
JEROME R. CORSI, Ph.D., is the author of the new book, "Atomic Iran" and coauthor of the New York Times #1 bestseller, Unfit for Command. Dr. Corsi received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and is an expert on America's antiwar movement and political violence. He is the author of many articles and books and currently is traveling back and forth between New York and Washington, DC.
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