Breitbart TV has put together these 14 videos showing the ongoing protests and violence in Tehran. The first segment reportedly (according to AllahPundit) shows an Iranian whose home was invaded by policemen and who was beaten to death. The footage is, obviously, extraordinary:
Accustomed as we are to normal life, it is easy to assume that a regime cannot possibly remain long in power amid such turmoil. That may turn out to be true, but I don’t think history provides any great reassurance.
UPDATE: Michael Totten has much more. He seems to take seriously the idea that the regime could be in trouble. This is painful to read:
According to our private phone conversations with people in Tehran, hundreds of parents have gathered by a police station in Yousef Abad, now known as Seyyed Jamal Aldin Asad Abadi, with their hands raised to the sky saying “Obama, please help us, they are killing our young children.”
Yeah. Right. A reader at The Corner makes a cogent point:
Obama has squandered [strategic opportunities] by demonizing Bush and the Iraq war for years.
Imagine how powerful it would be for Obama (or, more likely, a surrogate) to be able to stand up and say to the Iranian protesters, “Under the USA, your neighbor Iraq held free and fair elections. The government of Iran went out of its way to demonize the US and undermine those elections. We are now seeing the results of that mindset come home to Iran as you are denied a voice by your government in your own elections. The US government stands behind all who seek free and fair elections.”
Of course, he can’t say that with any legitimacy because he has spent years putting down Bush and Iraq. This is a classic example of why partisan bickering needs to be toned down; it hamstrings the new Administration. So frustrating to watch.
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