Ousting the Ayatollah (Iran's Uprising)

For the last 48 hours, I've been glued to CNN watching the political unrest unfold in Iran. If anyone has ever doubted the power and usefulness of the Internet and social networking sites, now is the time to say "I TOLD YOU SO". If it weren't for these new tools of communication, I really don't think we'd know what the hell was going on in Iran. The Ayatollah has tried to shut down all outside communication, but with today's technology, that's virtually impossible. Right now the United States has an amazing opportunity. We've tried to remove the Ayatollah in some form or another for decades now. Our biggest misstep, was publicly backing The Shaw way back in the 60's. The Ayatollah used the common Muslim fear of western influence and control to slowly discredit and remove the Shaw. This plot worked so well, that it has been adopted by many Muslim extremist groups (i.e. Al-qaeda, Hamas, etc) as a powerful recruiting tool ever since. Keeping that in mind, our country needs to take a laissez-faire approach, and let this political uprising take it's course. That's the absolute best help we can give Iran right now. President Obama has been very smart to do so. If we take any kind of official stance siding with the uprising, then that gives Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah more ammunition to scare the protesters into submission. The threat of western influence is the most powerful tool they have right now, and we can not play into that.

What concerns me the most is not weather Ahmadinejad or Moussavi won the election, because if you look at where the real political power resides in that country, you'll see that The Ayatollah holds all the real power. An Iranian president is nothing like an American president. Iran is more Imperialistic than they would like us to think. Ahmadinejad won the election because The Ayatollah wanted him to win the election. Simple as that. They tout the Ayatollah as some sort of religious adviser or councilor, but ask yourself, what kind of religious adviser has the gaul and the power to threaten military action against a group of protesters. It would be a huge step in the right direction for the people to prevail and place Moussavi in power as president, but Iran's oppressive political policies and any real change toward freedom will not happen with that alone. The only way we will see any change in Iran, is by removing The Ayatollah from power. Anything less would only serve as window dressing.