A consensus now seems to exist that the Iranian election was rigged. But was it?
A nationwide survey by the Washington Post three weeks before the vote showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin, greater than his margin of victory in Friday's election.
George Friedman of Stratfor.com makes some interesting points, which you may not have seen in western news reports:
-Ahmadinejad enjoys widespread popularity outside of large urban areas, among Iranians who care as much or more about faith and tradition as urbanites care about western-style freedom.
-As much as we see Ahmadinejad as a rogue character—his skeevy appearance reminds me of the bad guy in one of those Chick gospel tracts—Ahamadinejad is known in Iran as an anti-corruption figure and champion for the little guy. (Don’t laugh.)
-a margin of victory as wide as Ahmadinejad’s would be difficult to produce through fraud.
Friedman writes, “Though it may be difficult for Americans and Europeans to believe, there are people in the world to whom economic progress is not of the essence; people who want to maintain their communities as they are and live the way their grandparents lived. These are people who see modernization — whether from the shah or Mousavi — as unattractive. They forgive Ahmadinejad his economic failures.”
Do I like Ahmadinejad? Absolutely not. But a large chunk of Iranians apparently do.
Whether there was election fraud or not, these protests demonstrate just how deeply divided Iran is.
Perhaps you've seen the slogan "Iran Wants Freedom." We know from watching the demonstrations that some Iranians desperately want freedom and are willing to die for it. But everyone in Iran does not want freedom. And, sadly, the same can be said about a lot of Americans.