Saturday June 20, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

Election irregularities in Iran have captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world.
Some people demanding a recount are even expecting to get results from the investigations.
What these good hearted, well intentioned people don't understand is the problems involved in investigating rigged elections in dictatorships, especially religious dictatorships.

The theocratic leadership in Iran has promised to look into the over 600 irregularities and formal complaints that have been registered as a result of last week's election.
And odds are that there will be some superficial misconducts uncovered by the investigating committee.
But the real violations that are uncovered during this investigation will be errors and misconduct on the part of the reformers.

One example has already emerged. An email document announcing Mousavi's victory was found to be a fraud. It was sent on the Minister of the Interior's stationary.
Two people have been arrested.

Life in a religious dictatorship is life on a double edged sword.

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