Iranians are angry, and rightfully so, that their vote didn't seem to count. Having your vote count is key to a democracy. But I was wondering this today: What if Moussavi did win? How much of a step up is Moussavi? Moussavi did say he wanted better relations with the U.S., and he doesn't deny the Holocaust, and his wife did say she admired Michelle Obama. But CNN says Moussavi may not be much of an improvement over Ahmadinejad:
Though the 67-year old is credited for successfully navigating the Iranian economy as prime minister during a bloody eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, he also was a hard-liner whom the Economist described as a "firm radical."
He, like most Iranians in power, does not believe in the existence of Israel. He defended the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1979, which led to the break in ties between the countries.
He was part of a regime that regularly executed dissidents and backed the fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie.
And as late as April, he opposed suspending the country's nuclear-enrichment program but said it would not be diverted to weapons use.
"I wouldn't go as far as (call it) a 'Velvet Revolution,'" Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said of the phrase many are using to describe the rallies in Iran. Read the rest.
