War Handwavium

Reformists in Iran have been protesting Ahmadinejad’s election in June. This weekend, the Iranian government released images of what they claim to be “reformists” tearing up, burning, and trampling a picture of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who came to power after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Khomeini died in 1989, but is widely revered in Iran.

Burning a picture of Khomeini is against the law in Iran. That pictures of reformists burning a picture of Khomeini would be shown by the Iranian government leads one to wonder whether the whole thing was fabricated by the government to taint the reformists and give justification for more arrests.

While it’s possible the images are what the government says they are, that would mean that the reformists in Iran burned pictures of someone who has nothing to do with the presidential election, and is revered by many in Iran.

It’s not entirely equivalent, but it might be about as smart as if Americans protesting and opposing the US invasion of Iraq back in 2003 were to burn a picture of George Washington, revered by Americans as one of its founding fathers.

George Washington has nothing to do with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. And Khomeini, who died twenty years ago, has nothing to do with the stolen presidential election in Iran in 2009.

I would not be surprised if the images of “reformists” burning the pictures of Khomeini were fabricated by the government of Iran.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/12/20091213131421866166.html