Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Pro-American Demonstrators

Wednesday June 18, 2003

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Don't Know Much About History Department:

In the 6th Century BC, King Cyrus the Great consolidated power in what became known as Persia.
Dear Mr. Mullings. Can we fast forward, please? This column is one paragraph away from becoming a James Michener novel.
Ok. About 2,500 years later, on January 16, 1979 the Shah of Iran - whose family had ruled since 1923 - fled to the West leaving a power vacuum which was filled by the Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini who, upon returning to Iran from exile in FRANCE: Took political control of the country; instituted a ruthless regime of religious fundamentalism; held US Embassy personnel as hostages (after proclaiming the US to be the "Great Satan"); thus clearing the way for Ronald Reagan to defeat President Jimmy Carter in the election of 1980.

According to published reports, some 65% of the population of Iran is under the age of 25. Inasmuch as 1979 was twenty FOUR years ago, the vast majority of Iranians have never known life under anything but the extreme rule of Khomeini (who died in 1989) and his successors.

And, it is now becoming clear, they don't like it. One bit.

For the past seven nights there have been demonstrations in Tehran and at least eight other Iranian cities protesting the extreme restrictions of the Islamic government.

The Iranian government has not taken this lightly. It has loosed official police to put down the demonstrators and, it was widely reported over the weekend, militant Islamic fundamentalist groups went into university dormitories beating and stabbing students suspected of participating. According to Reuters, "Wielding metal bars, chains and knives, vigilantes raced around in pick-up trucks and on motorbikes, terrorizing the protesters as police stood by and watched."

Add to this, the fact that the US has troops on both Iran's Eastern (Iraq) and Western (Afghanistan) borders and you can see these are not nights for sound sleeping for the government of Iran.

President Bush said, over the weekend, "This is the beginning of people expressing themselves toward a free Iran, which I think is positive," which caused the Iranian government to complain to the Swiss government about US "intervention."

Dear Ayatollah Whatever: If you want to see what happens when the US really wants to intervene, come and visit me. If you can find me. Signed: Saddam Hussein.

What has happened is this: Young people who have grown up watching commercials for Levis and Big Macs and now go on-line to listen to (arrgggghhh) Eminem and Ashanti are eager for more than just a look at, taste of, or an illicit MP3 from, Western culture.

The BBC quoted one demonstrator as saying, "We want a complete overthrow of the Islamic republic and establishing a proper democracy like the one in UK or USA."

On the Fox News Channel last night, Brit Hume asked Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute whether these demonstrations were, indeed pro-American. From the transcript of the show:

LEDEEN: Wildly pro-American. And they're very enthused, actually. I mean for us, what the president said and what the State Department spokespeople are saying in the last few days may seem relatively mild.

Speaking of a pro-American demonstration, the Mullmeister attended the first fundraiser of the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign last night at the Washington Hilton.

I didn't count the house and I CERTAINLY didn't count the take but there were a lot of people who paid $2,000 each to attend a reception honoring George W. Bush.

At the reception the many people ate hotdogs and hamburgers, drank wine similar beverages, and listened to the President kick off the re-election campaign.

If you would like to see an actual photo of me eating a $2,000 hotdog, go to the Secret Decoder Ring page.

The Democrats will make a big deal about the President using his office to raise money. Not a prob. We did the same thing when President Clinton ran for re-election.

The major difference between the Clinton re-election campaign and that of President Bush is this: While some previous Administration may have accepted donations in Thai Baht, or Chinese Yuan, or Indonesian Rupiahs or Hungarian Forints or Malaysian Ringgits, every dime this campaign accepts will be in good old US Dollars.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: The complete transcript of the Michael Ledeen segment from Brit Hume's show; the Mullfoto of the hotdog and the usual things.

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