JOHN KERRY GIVES THE AYATOLLAH A DEMOCRACY UPGRADE
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323978104578330551630532848.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
‘Iran has a government that was elected and that sits in the United Nations.” So said John Kerry in Paris on Wednesday, on his first tour of Europe since becoming Secretary of State. The former Senator was answering a reporter who asked why he had publicly applauded the French for refusing to negotiate with terrorists in Africa—on the same day the U.S. and its allies were trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with a “terrorist” regime in Tehran.
Good question. Regarding the Secretary’s answer, well, he’s right about Iran having a seat at the U.N. As for the part about an elected government, Mr. Kerry surely knows that ultimate authority in Iran rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Grand Ayatollah has held office for nearly 24 years and was elected in roughly the way Leonid Brezhnev became the Soviet General Secretary.
Mr. Kerry also knows that the last time Iran had an election for the secondary post of president, the results were almost universally regarded as fraudulent. He knows that the re-installed government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded to protests by murdering demonstrators in the streets, putting defeated candidates under house arrest, and jailing hundreds if not thousands of Iranians suspected of opposition sympathies.
Mr. Kerry also knows that in the latest round of parliamentary elections, the unelected Guardian Council arbitrarily disqualified nearly 3,000 candidates. He knows that neither women nor non-Shiites are allowed to run for the presidency in Iran, and that parliamentary representation for minorities is limited to a few token seats.
We realize the Administration is eager to cut a deal with the mullahs before they cross the point of nuclear no return, and sometimes talking with nasty regimes is necessary in diplomacy. But a U.S. Secretary of State owes the Iranian people better than to pretend their government can claim any sort of popular consent other than what it exacts through brute force.
A version of this article appeared March 1, 2013, on page A12 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Iran’s ‘Elected’ Government.
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