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Iran Purges Moderate Parliament Members

[New York Post] Amir Taheri - Iran's Council of the Guardians of the Constitution last week rejected applications from nearly 4,000 men and women to run in the March 14 general election. Nearly all the denied applicants belong to the 21 groups designated by Western observers as "reformist." In what looks like a massive purge, 103 members of the present Majlis (parliament), all critics of Ahmadinejad, were also declared "unfit" for re-election. To be sure, the so-called reformists have never proposed any reform program. Rafsanjani spent most of his eight years as president building his business empire; Khatami spent his tenure traveling the world and building his image as an amateur philosopher working for "a dialogue of civilizations." More regime opponents were killed or thrown into prison under Rafsanjani and Khatami than under Ahmadinejad. And both "reformers" tried to export the Khomeinist revolution via agents and clients in many Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East. What differentiated the two men from Ahmadinejad was their penchant for taqiyeh (dissimulation) - an old trick of the mullahs who have turned speaking with a forked tongue into a fine art. Ahmadinejad, by contrast, says what he thinks. He firmly believes that his brand of Islam stands on the threshold of victory against a corrupt, weak, fat and cowardly West led by a deeply divided U.S. Rafsanjani and Khatami are the guys that Secretary of State Rice seems to be banking on to bring the Islamic Republic back to reason. With enemies like that, Ahmadinejad needs no friends.
2008-01-29 01:00:00
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