*Image courtesy of AP Images.
Contrary to the fashionable and yet damning mutism presented by the White House concerning pervasive human rights abuses in Iran, citizens of that troubled country continue to protest courageously for their own liberties.
Significantly, tens of thousands crammed into Iran's primary prayer service on Friday as the cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called for "action to remove this doubt" stemming from Ahmadinejad's rigged election. And this after so many days of falling behind in the headlines. Tellingly, those attempting to attend the sermon received a government dose of tear gas before, during, and after services for their efforts.
Another less than pleasant vignette serves to illustrate what the average Iranian protester has to look forward to on any given day: human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr was kidnapped and beaten on her way to Friday prayers with friends, a practice apparently intensifying with Iran's repressive regime in recent days. Significantly, Sadr requires medical attention and was scheduled for an operation in the coming week--an appointment she is unlikely to meet while being relentlessly interrogated and beaten in prison for her pains in supporting the radical idea that all men, women, and children might in fact have God-given liberties. She joins a growing group of as many as 2,000 individuals that have been scooped up and arrested since the election protests began.
Hopefully, Iranians understand that American prayers are surely with them as they continue to fight the tyranny of their own government with commendable courage, even if our politicians are not. With this in mind, President Obama should not place his confidence in their kind feelings should they succeed in what is clearly a just revolution for freedom.
IN OTHER NEWS: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli populace in general buck some of the ridiculous strictures insisted upon by the international community by allowing a construction project in East Jerusalem to move forward. And just as a matter of record, it should be noted that there are those that popularly believe any such activity on this side of the city is a settlement, and therefore an obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, there is no word yet as to whether or not any descendants of the axis of aggression serving as the catalyst for the Six-Day War in June 1967 have finally recognized the depressing consequences of their own hubris. Then again, expecting such an admission would be paramount to suggesting that Israel has the right to both existence and natural growth--even in East Jerusalem.
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