Iranians Risk Their Lives to Voice Dissent

Iran is on the brink of chaos or on the doorstep of democracy. Or perhaps a little of both. Maybe it's the chaos currently erupting in Tehran, as hundreds of thousands protest the outcome of the disputed presidential election, that will be the catalyst for dragging this troubled country into the 21st century.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad likes to talk tough. And, like many other rulers in his corner of the world, he also likes to deflect criticism of his own government by railing against Israel and the United States. But now he's in real trouble, and change is coming from the grass roots. It's coming from the Iranian people, many of whom feel betrayed and toyed with by the election.

Who can blame them? They went to the polls and trusted the process, and many of them cast ballots for the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, but nothing changed. Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the state controlled news media.

When angry protesters raised their voices, they were met by violent suppression. And when CNN and other media outlets reported on these events, the government responded by pulling the plug on all foreign media reports and restricting foreign journalists to their hotels.

Some observers fear that, with the curtain drawn, Ahmadinejad might be able to crush the opposition once and for all.

But it's not easy for a tyrant to smother democracy once a population gets a whiff of it. Amateur photographs and videos, including many taken by cell phones, are being smuggled out of the country. Some of the more disturbing images show protesters being shot down in the streets of Tehran by the state militia. Social networks are spreading the word about what's happening there.

Ahmadinejad is in a war with his own people. Meanwhile, the whole world is watching. This includes the Obama administration. Despite the temptation to speak out in favor of democracy and human rights in Iran, President Barack Obama has decided to stay out of the fray for now, so as not to give Ahmadinejad what he wants and needs: a convenient foil, a third-party villain on which he can deflect some of the heat he's feeling. The United States should monitor the situation closely. If change comes to Iran, it will come from within Iran.

Whatever the outcome of this election, something momentous has happened in Iran. A threshold has been crossed. The Iranian protesters are modern-day heroes, risking their own lives by raising their voices against a government that simply will not tolerate dissent. We can expect more crackdowns on dissidents, and perhaps even the imposition of martial law, all in a desperate attempt by an illegitimate government to hold onto power against the tides of progress.

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