Iran's Brutal Military Dictatorship

I am breaking from my usual commentary on autism to express some thoughts about Iran and the brutal suppression of the Iranian people by what is clearly nothing more than a military dictatorship. Even if one's life is affected by autism, as mine is with the severe autism of my youngest son, we still live in a larger world and can not simply ignore profoundly significant events.

I do not profess to be an expert on Iran, far from it. In my limited, ill informed understanding of Iran I had believed that it was a theocratic autocracy, a theocracy, which had begun experimenting with democratic processes. My vague, obviously ill informed, view of Iran has been shattered in recent weeks and days. I do not understand how any religious based government could unleash murders upon their own people. I do not understand how any legitimate government, and certainly not a government which professes to subscribe to one of the world's great religions, could decide to execute people like the beautiful young woman known as Neda, slain, murdered, executed by a cold blooded, cowardly sniper's bullet.

CNN has strengths and weaknesses as a news organization. One of its shining lights is unquestionably Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, whose Sunday afternoon show on CNN focuses on intelligent, well informed discussion of international events with key world figures and analysts. This week Mr. Zakaria was questioned briefly by Wolf Blitzer about the events taking place in Iran. He noted that in the short term the people with the guns and money would probably prevail as they usually do ... in the short term. In the long run this could be the beginning of fundamental change in Iran.

When any government relies on guns alone to maintain control, to the point of executing their own innocent people with snipers' bullets, that government has only one ideology - power at any costs. That to me is the essence of a dictatorship, a military dictatorship. They can claim to worship God if they wish but what such a government really worships is the power of the gun.

Fareed Zakaria knows much more than I do about international affairs and events in Iran. He is probably right about the short term picture in Iran. In the long term though I hope the people of Iran achieve the freedom they are desperately seeking.

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