FarceNews today features photos from the “Green Sedition Festival” which is being held for Ghods Day. What is worth noting is the strong emphasis on the Rajavis (heads of MEK). I’ve seen these sorts of festivals before, and there is always stronger emphasis on the West. In these posters however, Mousavi and Rahnavard are literally born into the bodies of the MEK leaders.

I wonder: how many people pass by these posters and laugh? How many take them seriously?

And here is Mana Neyestani - and Handala’s - version of events:

These days, when I talk to my friends in Iran, hardly anyone, even the most politically active, talks about politics anymore. I’m certainly not claiming that my friends are a representative of the entire Iranian population – they certainly are not. But it was at first somehow disappointing to hear them disregard the latest political news the way they did. When just months ago, they were the ones filling me in on things I might have missed. Now, even when I bring up things like “did you read Mousavi’s latest letter?” or “did you hear about so and so’s outrageous prison sentence?” They are quick to change the subject.

When I ask them about their schools, they tell me that most students are back to trying to catch up on their school work, admissions, master’s entrance exam, etc, etc. There is very little talk of politics.

And yet, you hear daily of new arrests, new prison sentences, new letters from prison. Many of those on hunger strike are students. These direct threats and hurdles are also a daily reality for a part of Iranian society that has continued the fight. As Mohammad Nourizad said in his interview: “these are realities we are living amidst.”

It is not that my friends are indifferent towards these realities. But it was somehow disappointing for me that they do not pursue them with the same vigor they did just a few months ago. My own unease about this made me uneasy, so I had to ponder it a little more.

These feelings are exasperated when I meet seemingly reasonable Iranians who insist that life shouldn’t go back to normal in Tehran, that things are still in a state of chaos and people are organizing against the establishment 24/7 ”until the regims ie toppled”, “Khamenei stands trial” and “freedom is achieved”. “We can’t take anymore of this” they insist and “the youth of Iran will get us freedom soon.”

Maybe they mean well, but as someone who was one of those “youth” not long ago, I feel these words are said self-servingly. I am more certain of this when I tell them about my observation: that most of my friends have indeed gone back to their usual lives …  and it angers them.

I realize that following the news on Iran for many on the outside, is a break from a life of daily calm, and a step into chaos. For my friends, this chaos is everyday reality. The latest policy change, university chancellor change, ban, sanction, etc, etc is what they live with. For many outside, finding out about these things, no matter how painful or difficult, has little connection to the physical, tangible reality of their everyday lives (although it has extreme repercussions for our mental, spiritual and psychological lives – but that’s another story). I want to be up to date with news in Iran, but my immediate life – work, school, bills, etc – would be no different whether I did or didn’t.

My friends don’t have that luxury.

In essence, maybe things have gone back to the way they always were: our people don’t forget. But rather, they’ve become experts at carrying on this heavy baggage, while simultaneously getting on with their lives. It is a painful art form that maybe only an Iranian would truly understand. And maybe as someone on the outside, a part of me wants to see them still leave their lives on the back burnder, as they did last June, and only show concern for certain political aspirations? In a very selfish way, is it that this might make me feel better thinking that that would guarantee a “quicker” result? As if my friends are trained soldiers who should be fighting on my behalf, and if ever they stop fighting, or at least not enough, it ticks me off?

Because this is a question I have always come back to when following the student movement, both as an insider, and as someone watching from the outside.

On one level, their activism seems necessary for the greater democratic movement in Iran. On another, I think it is in the best interests of the students themselves to focus on their school work, and not have to pay such a hefty price. Having worked closely with the Muslim Students Association at my school, I know that the students themselves and their families face this dilemma every single day even when the environment was less lethal: do we become more politically active and risk everything? Or mind our own business and just get on with our lives? Do we organize Kadivar’s visit to our school (as we did) or is it too much of a risk? Do we design a poster for Ghods Day or no?

I think that’s a nuance that’s often missing in analysis that comes from the outside however, as here, we just like the students to be active, to applaud them for both pushing the democratic aspirations of the country, and their own generation. From afar, they’re more like a band of warriors than real kids with fears and aspirations whose dreams are often jeopardized or shattered by political activity, and who may be better off personally had they not been active politically. These contradictions and complexities are so real when you deal with them on a day to day basis.

… And it seems to me that for now, life has gone back to “normal” - the painful chaotic normal we are used to – in Tehran. And that is a good thing. People need to live their lives; they need to take trips and go to work and eat at jolly family dinners. For those who know Iran, they know that the events of last june did not come out of thin air. They were a continuum of what had come before. And this story is anything but finished. It is simply somewhere else – somewhere other than it was a year ago. Life goes on in Tehran … but it seems to me that some ill-wishers would rather that it never could.

I have written of Mohammad Nourizad before.

He was once again taken to prison (“called” to go to prison, as is customary these days), for writing a sixth, and according to him, final, letter to the leader. Here I have translated an interview he did before heading to Evin. This interview was published on his own website, so maybe more than an interview, these are simply things he wanted to say.

While many are put off by his language towards the leader, I am intrigued by him because I believe he represents a chunk of the opposition which is usually ignored: strongly devout followers of the Islamic Republic, whose faith in the system has gradually and surely dissolved in the aftermath of the election. But as authentic believers of the revolution, this crumbling does not come easy or lightly. It’s like watching your entire life, not only what you stand for, but what you are … dissolve. And as “children of the revolution”, it doesn’t come as many might interpret.It seems to me that they still believe in ideals that we may find unrealistic or naive. But maybe that is what keeps the poetics of the movement alive, beyond pure pragmatism. He comes from a fascinating place, and I follow his story with with the same vigor. It is the pluralism of voices within the Green Movement that makes it so intriguing and vibrant, so complex … and his voice is one which I will always be listening to.

Here is a bitter sweet video of him before heading to prison. In the background, you can hear women telling him “send my regards to …” or “give these sweets to …” which probably come from all the people who have loved ones in prison.

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Mr. Nourizad, are you being sent to prison once more for your most recent letter to the leader?

I believe so. That is, I see no other reason. I believe that I’m being sent to prison for humbly writing this letter. In this letter, I put myself before the judgement of God, and I put him [the leader], who I like very much, before the judgement of God. And I revealed to him the questions we must both answer. So I do believe I am being called to prison for this letter.

In the call they made to your home, what did they state as the reason, and when did they say you should be there?

I will go tonight. It seems as though these friends have missed me and I must go soon.

You have written six sympathetic, criticizing letters to the leader. What kind of a reaction did these letters invoke from your friends in the principalist factions? Are they too facing the same doubts towards the leader?

Yes, many have faced the same doubts. I am but a known repersentative of this group. I have become known for these questions I ask, but there are many others in cultural, economic, military and basij circles, even those in clerical or religious circles, and when they come to see me, they tell me that I am putting their views forward as well. But they say that they do not have the space to put forth their views, or are worried of the repercussions. I am not the only one who thinks this way. This is an all encompassing phenomenon. This is a crack in the wall which has appeared in many places, and will continue to expand. In the thirty or so years since the revolution,  there is a big population that has heard of the ideals we never achieved and has seen that we have actually sinked further and further. We have lost opportunities because of mismanagement and lack of wisdom. We have lost our national riches and resources and I am certainly not the only one who is worried about this. Rather, many of my ilk think the same way. I have written six letters to Mr. Khamenei, and have stated that the sixth letter is the last one. I hope that this letter is read, and with my attempts to depict judgement day, some of these calls, most notably the call to free prisoners, are heard.

You mentioned that this is your last letter. Are you disappointed in the prospects of this letter being read?

In the end of the letter, I mention that I hope the leader will read it and free political prisoners and act towards reconciling with each and every one of our people. This last letter is written to depict my hopes. I end it on a very hopeful note.

How did interrogators treat you, a child of the revolution and of the system, and who has fought in the war? How did they speak to you? Can you talk about the physical nature of the violence inflicted on you in prison?

I am not important. If only one person is harmed, that’s like all Iranians, and even all of humanity, has been hurt. I have been subject to physical abuse when I should not have been. But I know many good, loving, honest men who have been subject to torture, have been tormented and abused. Their families have been threatened. All of this comes at a time when we expect patience and wisdom more than anything else. We expect lawful, rightful action. When you are met with beatings and abuse, when they forcefully put your head into a toilet bowl, and when they swear using the most vile language, this is completely against any ethical or religious teaching we have ever known. I am distraguth with what is happening to our children in prison, and I loudly declare that in solitary confinement our youth and our men are under torture, and are subject to beatings and abuse and their wives and children are being threatened using the most vicious language. This is the very sad reality that we seem to be living in.

How do you see the future? Where is this Green Movement headed? From your last letter, it seems you believe in fate and the end of tyrants?

I see a very bright future. The growth and maturity our people have experienced in the past year is one that takes a whole decade to achieve. And the vicious face we came to see on the other side can take ten to fifteen years to reveal itself. This can only mean brightness and hope. We are seeing harm, but no victory comes without  a price. We do not want to undo everything we have done. Every revolution in every country means a step back for that country. We want change. We say we want ugliness to be replaced with beauty, insecurity to give its place to safety, disrespect to give way to respect, and lawlessness to be replaced with the rule of law. It is only a truth that we utter. And to want this change is a holy tradition. We have learned this from the prophets. When your clothes are stained and dirty and you attempt to wash them, no one criticizes you because you have acted rightly. So we too are attempting to clean this dirt. We want to rid our country of this dirt and pollution and replace it with purity. I see a very bright future. I didn’t write this letter in hopelessness, I didn’t leave it to fate. Those questions I present are not only issues we will face on judgement day, but whether we want or not, complexities we will have to face in this world. The questions I put forth are not questions for the afterlife, but this life. Either way, we all have questions before us which we should be ready to answer.

You met with the family of Mr. Tajzadeh the day before. Would you have signed that letter if you were invited to do so? [letter of seven reformists who have taken legal action against Commander Moshfegh. I am currently translating this letter]. And like those seven reformists, do you believe in the coup d’etat?

That letter, is a letter which expresses the views of millions of people. If an action is righteous, we will support it, no matter who it comes from. This is a long held tradition which even our religion advocates. When an unknown person is treated unjustly, no matter what the religion of that person, when his rights are trampled and when he is subject to injustice, people must stand by him, so he does not feel that he is alone. It’s not only me, we are all standing with any move that aims for justice. Sometimes you say a word, but it is really a word that all of society feels, or you write a letter on behalf of all people. I believe Mr. Tajzadeh is innocent. But, there is a plan to force him to confess to certain things, and there is plan to force him and his colleagues to say certain things, and so he is subject to torture in solitary confinement. If you really think about the beatings he’s injured in solitary confinement, four days straight, your body will shiver. Who does this and with what mentality? So no matter what the religion of a person may be, no matter how little known or far away they may be, if they have been forced to endure injustice, all of humanity will stand by him.

Considering the fatal blow on religon that the establishment has caused, what do you think our relationship will be towards religon in the future?

We must plead with people, so that they do not consider religon the reason behind our horrible acts which have contributed to a terrifying depiction of religion. People have a right to turn against religion when they are so hurt with our actions. People have a right not to believe in god and the prophet, not to fast and not to pray. Becasue we have lied to people using this very prophet, this very prayer. We have tormented them using these tools, we have tyrannically trampled their rights. We have to plead with people so they know that if someone acts in the name of religion, that has nothing to do with the essence of religion. The essence of religion is a call to peace, calm, reason, wisdom and goodness. The call of all holy religions was a call to righteousness, reason and purity and if a group of people were impure and propagated this impurity in the name of religion, we must separate them. The actions of the past few years must not make people turn away from a religion that has come to humanity with open arms. And if such a thing were to happen, I completely understand why a wounded, hurt and traumatized people would turn away from religion.

You were close friends and colleagues with Mr. Avini for years. If he was alive, what do you think his reaction would have been towards the actions of the political establishment?

If Mr. Avini was alive, I don’t know what his reaction would have been. But from what I knew of him, I know that he was a wise, intelligent man, a fair man. So if I were to guess his minimal or maximal reactions: at the least, he would have been deeply distraguth with the current situation. At the most, he would have gone leagues further than where I have gone. This guess is based on what I knew of him. He would have been distraught from the inside, and he might have loudly and clearly voice his protest, much much stronger than I am doing today.

Long before the June 2009 Selection, at the time when reformist papers were being shut down faster than you can say “Khamenei” one after the other, there was always a discussion amongst reformist ranks of the need for the opposition to have its own indepedent TV channel and its own media outlet far from the reach of the hardliners. Karoubi often spoke about setting up an independent satellite channel.

The problem of course has always been that this “opposition” is so broadly defined that getting a group together has never materalized.

The momentum built after the June 2009 Selection however, gave that cause new impetus and new purpose. Why let the BBC and the VOA become our mouthpiece? many wondered. It’s time to have a voice of our own.

Now, two different groups have announced that they will be launching TV channels.

One group has set up a foundation called “Bonyad-e Neda” (The Neda Foundation) and the heads include academic Ramin Jahanbegloo, cartoonist Nik Ahangh Kowsar, journalist Masih Alinejad, writer Shahrnoush Parispour and activist and lawyer Mehranghiz Kar, among others. The channel is called Iran Neda.

The other group is those at JARAS (Rah-e Sabz) which include Mohsen Kadivar, Abdolali Bazargan, Fatemeh Haghighatjou and Mohajerani. Their channel is going to be called RASA (The Green Path of Hope).

Funding sources for neither network has been announced so far.

While both groups are compsed of a myriad of different people, if I were to generalize, I would say that the people involved with RASA are more religiously oriented and closer to the reformist political parties in Iran – some, including Mohajerani and Haghighatjou are actual former politicians. They are also probably close to Rafsanjani, who could be a possible source of funding (his son who was been residing in Britian for the last few months has got to keep himself busy with something, right?) Iran Neda on the other hand, has a more artistic/academic and secular orientation.

Both groups have a great wealth of scholarship and knowledge to invest, and while we might each be closer to one group than the other, I am looking forward to seeing these projects develop. I also keep my fingers crossed that they actually do develop – too many projects like this one end up in feuds even before the project itself gets off the ground.

It is also interesting to see how each is marketting itself just from the name and logo: the first group calls itself “Iran Neda” and writes “one medium, a thousand voices”. They have also steered far away from using green. The second calls itself “The green path of hope”, has a green background and a “V” logo and they write at the bottom “the green medium of Iran” clearly marketting themselves as a “green” outlet.

The Iran Participation Front has released a statement asking supporters of prisoners to go on hunger strike this Saturday “in solidarity with the political prisoners in Evin who are currently on hunger strike.”

Jila Baniyaghoub, the wife of Bahman Ahmadi who is one of the prisoners currently on hunger strike in Evin said in an interview that when Ahmadi was out of prison, he was strongly against hunger strikes and would always say: “that’s the stupidest thing a prisoner can do. It only harms them while they have no access to anyone or anywhere” … so just think what he’s had to endure to be on hunger strike himself.

As we and the imbecilic media laugh away at boobs, nukes and bizarre assassination plots, the state of Iranian prisoners is getting worse and worse.

In a case more bizarre and macabre than the worst of them, Mohammad Mostafaie, the lawyer who represented minors on death row and recently, a woman sentenced to stoning, has fled Iran and sought asylum in Turkey after he was called to the prosecutor generla’s office (which means he was going to be taken into custody). His wife and his brother-in-law have been arrested in Tehran. Mostafaie was quite successful at gaining national and international support for his clients, and while no one really knows why authorities are after him (like almost every other case) that is guessed to be the reason.

The story of Hamzeh Karami is also terrifying … Especially if we remember that there are hundreds of Karamis out there, nameless, faceless, and without a voice.

The story of Karami comes courtesy of Rah-e Sabz. The relationship between Rah-e Sabz (JARAS), the self described “news network which aims to promote and strengthen the green movement of Iran” and Rafsanjani has long been the subject of speculation. From one of their latest pieces, it seems to me that not only might they have a “spiritual relationship” (to use the language of the IRI) but also a financial or personal one. Does Rafsanjani help fund JARAS? Is he in direct contact with them? Is this stuff about Rafsanjanit going to Khamenei even true?

Whatever the relationship, I hope that the editorial board of JARAS will continue to improve – as it has been in the past few months. At the start of their launch, many of their articles were grossly similar to the tone of FarceNews – the pro-Ahmadinejad mouthpiece.

One of their recent stories, which may indicate that close relationship between Rafsanjani and JARAS is their story of Hamzeh Karami, a former Rafsanjani and Khatami chief of staff. Aside from his government positions, Karami an IRGC commander during the war. He was a supporter of Rafsanjani in the 2005 presidential election and campaigned for Mousavi in 2009. He was editor in chief of the Jomhoori website and was one of those imprisoned after the June 2009 Selection.

After having spent more than 70 days in solitary confinement, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison – with no lawyer present. Once sentenced, he appealed and released a document denying all his confessions in court, writing that they were taken under torture. He was then sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Karami was released on a bail of 2 BILLION Tomans (~ $2, 000,000) in May and arrested 5 days later. Intelligence forces had wanted him to make a TV appearance condemning Rafsanjani, and once he refused, he was taken back to prison.

He is now in the hospital after a heart attack. JARAS quotes his doctors stating that his body has been severely damaged due to torture in prison.

Karami has written a letter to Khamenei. Among other abuses he was subject to in prison, his head was pushed into a toilet bowl filled with urine more than TWENTY times, so that he would confess to an extramarital affair with a “close family member of one of the leaders of the green movement.”

According to JARAS, Rafsanjani has personally taken this letter to Khamenei, telling him “I was afraid that the letter would get lost in the stack of mail that comes to your office.”

There’s no way to know for certain if this story last part of the story is true, but that is irrelevant. More than a year after the Selection, the state of prisons and prisoners has only gotten worse and will continue to go that path. The increasingly loud drumbeats of war, sanctions, and boobs only dims the already soft voices of prisoners to a state of nothingness.

The hunger strike political prisoners are on  can only be effective if they can win public support, and public attention – as Akbar Ganjni did years ago. But the headlines today are NOT about the prisoners, even though it’s been TEN days now, and that is what worries me. Things are so bad today, that security forces have gone to the home of a mother of a political prisoner on hunger strike, Hossein Nouraninejad, and threatened her with imprisonment. The families of those on hunger strike, who have gone on hunger strike themselves, are also being subject to abuse and threats.

In remarks he made yesterday, Mir Hossein Mousavi has actually pointed to the 1987 executions. He said: ”we must look at the events of 87 through the historic lens in which they were situated, and then we must see if the government had any knowledge about them at all? Did the government play any role? Did it even had the smallest opportunity to intervene? Is the government’s name mentioned anywhere in the remaining documents? The government did not play any role. Neither did many other people. But to open this subject and to dig deeper, I too have my own reservations.”

The blog “dastneveshtha” has a portion of Rafsanjani’s memoirs that refer to the executions of 1980/1981. It may give us a half hearted glimpse into the role officials played during that era. Take a note of Rafiqdoust in the text.

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June 24th, 1981

At night, I saw the interview of the prosecutor general, Lajevardi, and the religious advisor to Tehran’s Revolutionary Courts, on TV. The interview was about fighting anti-revolutionary forces. It was not interesting. It was harsh, irrational and shallow.

August 26th, 1981

Early evening I saw a leading Mojahedin member repent on TV. It was influential and interesting.

September 26th, 1981

We had lunch at the home of Mousavi Ardebili. Mr. Khamenei, Mahdavi Kani and Ahmad [Khomeini] were also there. Mr. Mahdavi Kani suggested that we stop all executions, and that the militants be treated kindly – a suggestion which was rejected. But the suggestion that they be allowed to repent and to return [to society] was accepted. And Mr. Mousavi Ardebili was tapped for leading the efforts. I went to parliament at 6. I read the reports and finished work. Terrorism has decreased, but it has still not been uprooted. We have approximately 20 accounts of terrorism in the country everyday … But at the same time, everyday a number of the terrorists are arrested and sentenced and some become isolated.

October 5th, 1981

I slept the night at work. Two interviews were broadcast on TV with former Mojahedin who were regretful of their past actions. It was interesting and educational.

October 19th, 1981

We had a meeting with Mohammad Yazdi and Rabbani this evening. And then a meeting with the IRGC, judiciary and government. We talked about what to to with anti-revolutionary forces, and the imprisoned and those on death row. They reported that anti-revolutionary forces have been dealt a severe blow, over 85% of these forces have been arrested, some have already been prosecuted. I t was decided that there would be few executions and that the number of executions would be proportional to terrorist attacks.

November 9th, 1981

I had an interview with English reporters in the afternoon. They were targeting our weaknesses – they thought so. The executions, imprisonment, … And I answered them calmly. I spent the night in parliament. A mourning ceremony for the prisoners was being broadcast on TV. A thousand or so young people chanting against the Mujahedeen, and  asking for forgiveness. This sort of thing is unprecedented in the history of political prisoners. They were chanting for the Imam, the revolution and officials and against the Mujahedeen. This shows that these terrorist groups have not been able to sink deep.

November 20th, 1981

I spent the night in parliament. I studied a little and watched TV. A show was on about the Monafeqin and it was very interesting.

December 5th, 1981

At night, a young member of the Monafeqin who was regreftful for his actions, was on TV. This young 20 year old spoke about the tactical and practical weaknesses of the Monafeqin. It was interesting.

January 14th, 1982

Imam had called all the officialss along with judiciary officials to discuss crucial matters … Imam brought up the rumors of prisoners being torture and Mr. Fahim said things in this regard. Imam wanted explanations from Mr. Lajevardi. Mr. Lajevardi replied that they only act within the confines of religious authority, and certain acts are permitted within religious rules. He added that because of the extent of terrorist acts, and the overcrowding of prisons and the lack of adequate facilities, a situation like this was inevitable. But he said that it would not happen again. From now on they are expected to show restraint.

August 18th, 1982

We had a meeting about the state of prisons in the president’s office. We spoke about the state of prisons and the extreme sentences being given in the Revolutionary Courts.

August 19th, 1982

Mr. Rafiqdoust came in and he was worried about Mr. Lajevardi being replaced. I told him that Mr. Lajevardi must act towards solving the existing problems. Imam appointed 3 people to write a report about the state of prisons. The president also insists on this.

August 21st, 1982

I spent the day at home. I called Mr. Tabrizi. He told me that replacing Mr. Lajevardi is currently under consideration. Early evening the 3 member committee responsible for writing the report on prisons, which included Hadi Khamenei, came to see me. They said that the circumstances are not good and that prisons are operating under double their capacity, and that many of the problems stem from this. The other root of the problem is the officials’ anger towards the terrorists. Mr. Lajevardi and his colleagues came to defend themselves. Some of what they said is unacceptable. They have unlawfully banned the building of any new buildings near Evin prison.

August 25th, 1982

After evening prayer, we had a meeting with the High Council of the Judiciary in Mr. Khamenei’s office about the disarray in Evin prison. After much consideration, we decided to seriously pursue these violations. Mr. Mousavi Tabrizi was tapped to follow the investigations.

January 12th, 1984

There’s many questions to be resolved in regards to replacing the prosecutor general and we don’t have a convincing answer to give to the people.

January 14th, 1984

The trial of the Communist League was on TV. The same group that is responsible for attacking Amol and killing many people. They were mostly voicing their regret, but the leader of the group was ambiguous.

January 18th, 1984

I watched another day of the trial. They were being prosecuted terribly.  This sort of behavior will do a lot of damage.

January 19th, 1984

Ahmad [Khomeini] called and strongly objected to the trial that was shown last night and said they deserve to be punished. I notified the IRIB [state broadcasting] deputy. He promised to follow up.

The Iranian political libido is going berserk. Ahmadinejad has just openly used the word “boob” in a speech:

He made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian expats when declaring that the West’s tactics for scaring Iran will never work; that they are but “empty threats”.

But who are these ”expats”? Scroll to 2:23 to get a real sense of the gang. George Galloway was there of course, as always.

In another video, a religious preacher of some sort is preaching to young girls about the need for daily prayers. He tells them that we should pray to thank god for all our blessings … one of those blessings being our “lips”. We use our lips to suck milk from our mother’s breasts … and do the other things, like “kissing out mothers and fathers” and “kissing” those ”other things” you can do “once you are older” he tells them.

I look at those girls giggling and laughing and I remember myself in those awkward religious studies classes. There is no sex ed in Iranian classrooms, but the religious studies classes always end up there some time or other, in the most uncomfortable, stupid ways. We never had anyone as crazy as this man, but it never fails to be an embrassing situation irrespective of the teacher.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi is an Iranian cleric, reformist politician and former vice president. He was imprisoned following the June 2009 Selection and was forced to confess harshly against Mousavi and Karoubi on state TV and in court.

He has been relatively quiet since his release, but today he updated his facebook page with a picture from his trial and a message:

“last year, on a day like today, I was in court. We’d practiced the day before. What a day …………………”

Mousavi in parliament. The banners behind him say: “jangh, jangh ta pirouzi” [war, war until victory] And “dirouz Khoramshah, emrou Karbala” [Yesterday (we freed Iranian) Khoramshahr. Today, (we capture Iraqi) Karbala].

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The Iran-Iraq war began on September 22nd, 1980 when formations of Iraqi MiG-23s and MiG21s attacked Iran’s air bases at Mehrabad and Doshen-Tappen (both near Tehran), as well as Tabriz, Bakhtaran, Ahvaz, Dezful, and Abadan – across the Southern and Western borders. Saddam hoped to take advantage of the revolutionary chaos within Iran, and attacked without warning. The conflict ended in August of 1988, and remains one of the longest wars of the 20th century.

Why the war did not end with Iraq’s retreat in 1982 and Saudi Arabi’s promise of $70 billion dollars in reparations to Iran is still a debate very much a taboo in the Iranian press, much like criticizing the supreme leader. From what little does get out we hear two dominant narratives: (1) the war should have ended, the clerics used it to further their dominance and suppression. (2) Saddam was a madman supported by the United States and much of the Arab World and would have attacked again. Iran had no choice but to carry on with the war.

The war went on for another six years, and the story of its ending is tied to one of the most infamous phrases of the post-revolution era: “the poison hemlock“:

The government was no longer able to carry on with the war. Rafsanjani, as head of the war effort, goes to the supreme leader (Ayatollah Khomeini) and informs him that the country can no longer afford to fight a war. He volunteers to appear on TV and announce that Iran will accept a ceasefire. Khomeini can in turn pretend that he had no previous notice of this announcement, and prosecute Rafsanjani. Khoemini agrees to end the war, and writes a letter to the nation declaring that he is “forced to drink the poison hemlock” – that is, accept UN resolution 598 and end the bloody, decade long battle.

After Mir Hossein Mousavi announced his candidacy, on May 24th, 2009, , Hassan Abbasi, a leading “theorist” of the hardliners met with pro-government bloggers and announced: “Mir Hossein Mousav, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Rezaie [the other conservative candidate] formed a deceptive triangle during the days of the holy war and forced Imam Khomeini to drink the poison hemlock.”

He argued that the country was in a good position to fight and win the war (no reference to why it hadn’t for 8 years if it was in such good shape), had all the resources it needed to maintain the war … But that it was Rafsanjani and Mousavi that wanted defeat and “humiliation” for Iran, and thus they “forced” Khomeini into ending the battle.

These arguments have been made continuously since before the election by the hardliners, used to “prove” their point that Mousavi is an agent, wanting to take Iran “towards humiliation and defeat” … just like he wanted Iran to fail in the war with Iraq, they argue.

Now Mohsen Rafiqdoust has come out with similar statements. Rafiqdoust is the former minister of the Revolutionary Guards under Mousavi, and former head of Bonyad Mostazafan (Foundation of the Oppressed). During his time at the foundation, he is infamous for his shoddy business dealings which turned the foundation into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Funny enough, in the interviews, Rafiqdoust has tried to prove how dedicated to the war he was with statements such as “I would go and confiscate goverment factories and produce weapons there.” He also admits to smuggling “unlawful materials” … but all is ok, because he only did it to support the war. He slams “the government” (Mousavi) however for not being “pro-war”.

He complains the sometime in the middle of the war, Mousavi orderd him to send IRGC trucks from the frontlines to distribute bread and flour among villagers saying: “many of the ministers within the cabinet too just did not have the spirit for war.” He also implies that it was terrible for the government to allocate resources to feeding citizens and attending to their needs when these resources should have all been utilized to fight the war.

Mousavi has finally come out with a response to these allegations. Mousavi states that he “never intended to open discussion about the first decade of the revolution” (most of which he was PM) but that that he may be “forced” to do so in the future.

“That old minister [Rafiqdoust] who knows very well how he was forced on my cabinet, and who knows all too well how much the government’s resources were committed to the war, now comes out and says that if the government’s resources were committed to the war, we would have captured Baghdad. I don’t know who has incited this man to to talk against the very government he worked for, but I know that if he had the government, he would have done to public money, to the property of the oppressed and the poor, the same thing he did to them while he was head of the Foundation of the Oppressed.”

These discussions from the hardliners have been making me queasy from the start. Not because I buy any of it, but because it shows you what warmongering mentality rules over Iran today all too well.

More than two decades later, the poison hemlock of war reigns supreme.

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Also see neo-Resistance for a related article: The Iranian Wikileaks: Fars News and Rafighdoost prove why war profiteers who are running Iran today hate Mousavi.