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The Hollow Regime: Bragging in Tehran

[National Review ] Michael Ledeen - The Iranian regime has two fundamental instruments of power, whether at home or abroad: terror and deception. Both are dramatically on display. This past Sunday, 30 people were executed for a variety of alleged crimes, and a number of whom lost their lives because they dared to criticize the regime. This wave of executions in the world's second-most active killer of its own citizens (China tops the list) coincides with the anniversary of the resumption of public hangings last August, which was viewed as "sending a message" to would-be critics and anyone in the West who might be tempted to support Iranian dissidents. This weekend's mass executions mark a new, grisly watershed in the mullahs' ongoing terror war against their own people. This dramatic carnage surely bespeaks a profound insecurity in Tehran. It documents the fear that dominates the rulers' nightmares, the fear of their own people, who are the greatest threat to the survival of the mullahcracy. The Iranian regime is hollow. So far as we know, they are without atomic bombs and a reliable delivery system. Their economy is a shambles, their people hate them, they present us with Potemkin weapons systems. It is a political explosion ready to happen, it only needs the support of the West.
2008-07-30 01:00:00
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