The youth of Iran - more than two-thirds of that country's population - want to be free and, in the spirit of America, seek to attain it through an escalating revolution:
Iran's supreme leader raised the possibility of a harsh crackdown Thursday after two days of pro-reform demonstrations during which hundreds of increasingly bold young people have gone so far as to call for his death. The last two days have seen the largest demonstrations against Iran's political leadership in six months. Among the youth in particular, frustration with the regime has grown stronger than fear of arrest or of the hard-liners' well-established reputation for brutality.
Indeed, they do. From Koorosh Afshar, pseudonym for an Iranian democrat student:
Today, however, despite our despair, we have found hope. Hope among ourselves. Hope in our numbers. Hope in the fact that world seems to finally be caring. Hope in the fact that we may at last have a chance against the mullahs' rule.Yet, we are nervous. Nervous of the endless debate among your opinion-makers: Shall we, or shall we not listen to the Iranian people? Is their discontent real or is it not? Should we engage moderate Islamists or should we not? Axis or no Axis?
Listen to our story. It is the story of life. It is the story of liberty. It is the story of the unalienable right to pursue happiness. It is the dream that made America, America. We have been deprived of the very basic rights which you take for granted every day in your free world.
We, too, want and deserve the freedom to dress. The freedom to speak. The freedom to assemble. The freedom to love and the freedom to dream.
We do not need military intervention in Iran. We do not need clandestine operations either. We need nothing but your resolve. Lend us a hand and we will take care of the rest. How, you ask? Simple: Do not deal with our mullahs.
It isn't only America's children that deserve to dream.
It is comforting to know that Iranians do not believe they require military aid. While I am wary of the ruthless power wielded by an established government and the inability of a popular revolt to maintain itself in the kind of "first months" as experienced in Iraq, that the revolution itself is confident of its ability to work under the warm embrace of the West is no small observation.
They will, nevertheless, need acknowledgment from the West and, more specifically, the White House. Bush has been no enemy of Iranian democracy - but he must loudly declare himself its friend and ally. By all means, Mr. President, Iran is a four-letter word you can acceptably utter from time to time.