You did it, man ! On Friday June 19, 2009, you told your people to shut up !
Now, that was a fateful moment. Your well-articulated speech was heard and watched by the global village. You made your declaration loud and clear.
Loud and clear enough to be noticed and picked up by the future generations as a crucial moment of their history! Unborn Iranian children whose parents have not yet met will become familiar with your speech in their history courses.
All of us know those pathetic words pronounced by the late shah : “O’ Iranian people, I heard the voice of your revolution.” It appears that the poor guy was the first to call what was going on a “revolution”. Everybody else was just talking about a “movement”.
But you are no amateur! Facing unidentified social events, a head of state should closely watch his mouth. And in Iran more than elsewhere! I even suspect that you had a few words in private with the clown who had said “khas o khashak” a few days before. After all, “ridiculous” has never been one of those many unfavourable adjectives that the opposition likes to associate with your name.
In your carefully chosen words, there is no sign of weakness. You were present in 1978, when the Shah gave that awkward speech and you know how it works. Give “them” a finger and “they” will ask for your whole arm. After all, then, you were one of “them”.
Now you are at his place. You are the shakhs e avval e mamlekat. And you are not going to repeat his mistake. No revolution is going on here. Just a number of loyal people having some difficulty with arithmetic and with admitting their defeat! You refused to give a fingernail! Nothing! Hichee! Rien! Nada de nada! Any sacrifice would only sharpen the appetite of the beast.
There is no way for those future schoolchildren to mix you up with Mohammad Reza Shah, that wimp. You got guts. But those kids may have difficulty distinguishing you and Mohammad Ali shah, the one who had a beard and who ordered to bomb the Majlis a hundred years ago.
Do you remember your history courses, Seyed Ali? I am talking about Mozafareddin Shah’s son who ended up in exile like all other rulers of Persia wince then and before the arrival of your mentor. By the way, did you know that Khomeini’s main achievement was to rule Iran and end up dying in Iran?
It is a tough job to rule this country, man. Since 1848, with two exceptions, no ruler of Persia has died of a natural death in his own country. You were close enough. What a shame! After twenty years, with a few words articulated on June 19, 2009, you deprived yourself of such a privilege.
Kamran Behnia
PS- Of course, now you have no time to read such a letter, now. But, if you survive, you will have plenty of time later. For example, during one of those sleepless nights in Caracas or Moscow, wondering what went wrong and when…
