Clerical Cracks

In the context of Scott’s link below to Anne Bayefsky’s analysis of the Obama State Department’s position on Iran–throw the freedom movement under the bus–this headline from the New York Times is noteworthy: Leading Clerics Defy Ayatollah on Disputed Iran Election:

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final.

So the Obama administration is now more pro-Ahmadinejad and pro-Iranian repression than the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum. If that isn’t Hope and Change, what is?

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