Iran Protest

I spent most of my Saturday following the extraordinary events going on in Iran. This started as a protest against a corrupt election and over a period of a couple of days escalated into much, much more. When 85 % of the eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots, this should have sent a message to the Mullahs that the folks had serious change on their minds. They would not have turned out in such numbers just to re-elect Ahmadinejad. If the clerics in charge had just allowed a fair election, maybe Moussavi would have been chosen, but they would still have been calling the shots. But, they screwed up the vote count to keep their little puppet in place, thinking the folks would just roll over and life could go on as before. Severe miscalculation!! The voters are mostly young people who weren't around in 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeni came to power. All they have known is the repressive regime they have grown up with. Enter the age of cell phones, the Internet and satellite TV, and suddenly the young people were seeing what goes on in the rest of the world. They decided they wanted a chance at change, so they turned out to vote in large numbers, not necessarily for Moussavi, but against Ahmadinejad. The crooked vote tally got them into the streets, even without a leader to encourage them. After a day or so, Moussavi realized that he could be their leader, and sort of stepped into the role. Leader by default, one of the pundits called him. But, by now he has grown into the position and is acting like the committed leader. In response to threats from the ruling clerics, he has called for nationwide strikes in retaliation if he gets arrested, or worse. He has even claimed to be ready to die for the cause, if it comes to that. So, the protests at this point are pretty much taking place in all the larger cities, and are no longer just about the election. People are shouting, "Death to the Dictator!" from the streets and the rooftops. They want a regime change - no less.
Whether they will be successful or not still remains to be seen. The Mullahs could ratchet it up a couple of steps, bring out the troops with tanks and machine guns, and bring it all to a quick, bloody halt. A rational leader would not want to govern in the aftermath of such a situation. He would rather work out some sort of coalition so that everyone got a little something and life would go on. But remember, these guys are Muslims and they like killing and lording it over the masses. Besides, they could blame the West for what they had to do, and claim that Allah made them do it. It is all right here in the Holy Book - see it?
I really want the protesters to win this one. Just think of the things that would change if they did. Iran would have a chance to join the rest of the world and enjoy a lifestyle that modern countries have known for years. Hizbollah wouldn't have any funds to keep stirring things up in Lebanon anymore. Without Iran's funding, Hamas wouldn't be able to buy rockets to fire at Israel, and they would just dry up and disappear. Syria, without Iran nudging them in the other direction, would make peace with Israel and they would live next to each other in harmony. (They might even find it in their hearts to come clean about all the weapons of mass destruction that they hid for Saddam Hussein.) See where I'm going with this? After a couple of thousand years, finally peace in the Middle East!! It is almost too much to hope for.