Global and Iranian Media - June 19, 2003

Reuters June 19: Tehran has a martial law atmosphere. Paul Hughes reports that early Thursday, a multitude of police, riot guards, and Islamic government militias are monitoring the situation in some neighborhoods of Tehran as officials attempt to quell the nine-day protests. Despite President Bush's promise to support the demonstrators, it seems that protests against the clerical regime have lost their momentum. Occasional honking is the only remnant of the demonstrations. A police officer was seen holding a bunch of protestors' license plate numbers. However, analysts believe that despite the decrease in the number of demonstrators, their numbers will rise again around July 9. President Khatami stated on Wednesday that he is proud that only a few hundred opponents of the Islamic regime managed to take to the streets... The Wall Street Journal June 18, 2003: The United States has finally taken the side of freedom. President Bush supported the demonstrators in Iran last weekend, calling it 'positive'; he stated that this is 'the beginning of a people's movement raising their voice for a free Iran.' More importantly, it seems that the U.S. President managed to convince his State Department to align with him... About 250 Iranian intellectuals have signed a statement informing Ayatollah Khamenei that contrary to the image created of him, he is not God's representative on earth and must be held accountable for his actions before the Iranian people. All this news is encouraging in the war against terror and in President Bush's efforts to bring the Middle East into the 21st century or at least the 20th... The Kuwaiti newspaper Arab Times, citing the Marz-e Por Gohar website, June 18, 2003, states that 'the Islamic Republic is a large and important country' in the region. Unfortunately, the leadership and decision-making levels in Iran do not understand the geopolitical importance of their country. At a time when the world is trying to lay the foundations for stability and peace and create powerful economic blocs in the process of globalization, their behavior resembles that of Saddam Hussein. They should have learned from Saddam's downfall that he spoke to the world with an outdated language.