Re: Dr. Pipes, You Are Wrong On Three Points.
Reader comment on item: Assessing the Iranian Election

Submitted by Aymenn Jawad (United Kingdom), Jun 15, 2009 at 15:33

Dr. Pipes:

1. You claim that Khamenei "stole" the election for Ahmadinejad. Does it not occur to you that Ahmadinejad is actually very appealing to the rural and uneducated folk in Iran? If Mousavi's supporters are rioting, it is only because they are whining about the fact that their candidate, who promised "change" under a "Green" (not eco-friendly, but Islamic) Revolution, didn't win. That renders your wondering over why Khamenei would ensure that Ahmadinejad won null. There is no evidence that the election was rigged. All that said, I agree with you that it was better for him to win. He will hopefully force Naive-in-Chief (Obama) to wake up and smell the hummus of reality.

2. To claim that Ahmadinejad is the one responsible for "wrecking" the economy is untrue (though he certainly hasn't improved the economy). Iran's economy has long been in decline because its only major export is oil, on which it has become increasingly dependent since 1979 (interestingly, Iran was once an exporter of vodka). Have you not heard of peak oil? Iran reached it in 1974 and has been in exponential decline in terms of output ever since. Khatami did not improve the economy, nor have any of the "reformist" presidents. "Economy is for donkey," as Khomeini put it. Corruption has also been a pervasive problem since the days of the Shah.

3. Obama's foreign policies are not "pro-Islamist", they are simply naive.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

1. Statistical analyses show that Ahmadinejad winning the election with 63 percent is a near-impossibility.

2. Ahmadinejad's populist policies have done severe damage to the economy.

3. They can be both at once - no contradiction there.