I was reading this report about Moussavi’s involvement in the massacre of more than 10,000 political prisoners in 1988, and it dawned on me: out of all of these perennial IR characters that we have seen for the past three decades—you know, Rafsanjani, Karroubi, Moussavi, Khatami, Khamenei, et., al.—Ahmadinejad remains the one with the least blood on his hands. He also remains the person least involved in IR’s crazy and disastrous adventures, such the hostage taking, the prolonging of the war with Iraq, etc. The only atrocity that took place under his watch was the crushing of the uprising in 2009, but even the extent of his involvement in that heinousness is disputed. Wasn’t there a report that he was slapped in the face by an IRGC commander for his defense of the demonstrators during the uprising?
Now, I know that IC readers are really not that keen on nuance. So, let me spell it out: I am not an AN fan. In my opinion, the entire IR cadre, including AN, should be put on trial for crimes against humanity. All I am saying is that in the context of the IR, Ahmadinejad seems to be less of a criminal than the rest. Kind of like looking in a toilet bowl after a massive bowel movement and deciding that one of the pieces of excrement looks better than the rest.
But while we’re at it, we should really give him credit for some of his other accomplishments as well:
-He is first politician in the history of Iran, let alone the IR, who agreed to live, televised, no holds barred debates where he was called everything under the sun by his opponents, and he took it like a champ;
-He tried to show Iranian women some respect by declaring that they are allowed in football stadiums;
-He is a nationalist, and at least gives lip service to Iran’s pre-Islam history;
and last, but certainly not the least:
-He is one of the few in Ommatestan-e jomhoori eslami who is not an Ommati poet. That should count for something, no?
