Iranian Unrest Continues

It's been a while since the rigged election in Iran, but things still haven't quieted down:

Far from stamping out the resistance movement triggered by a foolishly-rigged presidential election, the heavy-handed tactics of the Iranian mullahcracy has galvanized opposition to the regime. The AP reports that all of the leading figures of the protests following the rigged election have agreed to create a single movement for change in Iran. The show of unity will challenge Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his ruling clique:

Iran’s top reformist leaders are all joining the “Green Path of Hope,” a political movement created to challenge the ruling system after a government crackdown crushed massive street protests.

The movement was created by Mir Hossein Mousavi, the top opposition candidate in disputed June 12 presidential elections.

Ali Reza Beheshti, a top aide to Mousavi, said Tuesday that former president Mohammad Khatami and defeated reformist candidate Mahdi Karroubi are joining the movement.

Beheshti is quoted in several reformist websites as saying that the “Green Path of Hope” will be a rallying point for the opposition to continue its campaign against the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which it calls illegitimate.

The unity is fairly impressive. Two months after the protests filled the streets of Tehran, the various politicians — most of whom had been part of that same ruling clique — have avoided a power struggle of their own. That demonstrates the fervor of their protests, and also how little this has to do with a clash of personalities between Mousavi and Khamenei. It underscores the sincerity of the movement, at least for the moment.

It's amazing to see the kind of motivation that people yearn for when they are grasping for true freedom. To stand up in the name of justice and liberty, even in the face of brutality, is something Americans should understand very well. We should stand united with the Iranian people and hope they win their freedom over the thuggish theocracy that now reigns.

It's shameful and inexcusable that our elected leaders don't.

There's my two cents.