The Leaders of
By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI in
14 June 2009
Teheran Bureau
http://tehranbureau.com/2009/06/16/the-leaders-of-iran's-election-coup/
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders chant slogans during their meeting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, not pictured, in
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The coup leaders represent the second generation of
The young revolutionaries fought against far better financed Iraqi forces for eight years, expelled them from all of the Iranian territory occupied by Saddam Hussein's forces, and ended the war in a stalemate, which was a great achievement for Iran considering its international isolation while Iraq was supported by the West and the Soviet Union.
Domestically, the young revolutionaries fought a bloody war with the forces of Mojahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MKO), an armed Islamic leftist group that had fought against the Shah's regime. After the MKO began assassinating
At the same time, exploiting the threats to
The result of the repression was the effective elimination of all secular groups from
After the war with
The young revolutionaries then broke off into two camps, generally speaking. In one camp were those who believed that the country needed a political opening and a relaxation from the extreme repression that existed in the 1980s. This group included not only those who had fought the war with
The young revolutionaries in the second camp remained within the ranks of IRGC. By the early 1990s, they had risen up to command important positions within the Guard. People such as Major General Mohammad Ali (Aziz) Jafari, the top IRGC commander; Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, the head of the IRGC's political directorate; and Brigadier General Ali Reza Afshar, the deputy Interior Minister, belonged to this group. Some of the second-generation revolutionaries of this camp joined the government, including Ezatollah Zarghami, who runs the Islamic Republic National Radio and Television, and Mr. Ahmadinejad. These were the right-wing revolutionaries.
The death of Ayatollah Khomeini had another long-term consequence whose effect is felt today. His death allowed the ultra-right reactionary clerics to gradually make a comeback in
Hojjatiyeh members believe, as most Shiites do, that the Mahdi, the Shiites 12th and last Imam, will come back some day to save the world from corruption. But, they also believe that they should "prepare" society for Mahdi's return. In the early days of the Hojjatiyeh, its adherents believed that a chaotic society would provide the best conditions for the return of Mahdi, a view that is rejected by most Shiites.
The Hojjatiyeh did not participate in the 1979 Revolution. In fact, it also actively opposed it. At that time, they believed in group leadership and, therefore, they also opposed Ayatollah Khomeini's concept of Valaayat-e Faghih (governance of the Islamic jurist), which is the backbone of Iran's Constitution and bestows upon the Supreme Leader most of the constitutional power. Thus, Ayatollah Khomeini banned them in 1983 and said famously about them, "they cannot even run a bakery, let alone a country." Hojjatiyeh went underground and patiently waited to make its comeback.
When the Hojjatiyeh started to make a comeback in the 1990s, its member no longer used that name. In fact, some of them even denied that they belonged to the Hojjatiyeh. Instead of believing in a chaotic society for the return of the Mahdi, they began advocating an Islamic Government led by an unelected Supreme Leader, rather than an Islamic Republic. Their present leader is Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a hard-liner who has openly opposed any elections. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi issued a Fatwa two weeks ago saying that if the achievements of Mr. Ahmadinejad in spreading Islamic values around the world, it is proper to do what it takes to re-elect him, implying that fraud and cheating are allowed (a view which has been rejected by other Ayatollahs). He once said, It does not matter what people think. They are ignorant sheep.
Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi believes that sovereignty does not reside with the people — it resides with God. He also believes that the Supreme Leader is selected by God and is Mahdi's deputy in his absence. In his opinion, the task of the ayatollahs in the Assembly of Experts (AE), a constitutional body that appoints the Supreme Leader and monitors his performance (and can even dismiss him), is to discover who the selected Leader is. He believes people must never question the Supreme Leader and obey him absolutely. He is currently a member of the AE. Former reformist president Mohammad Khatami has referred to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's followers as shallow-thinking traditionalists with Stone-Age backwardness.
Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's base of power is the Haghani seminary in
After Ayatollah Khomeini's death, in order to create a political cover for himself and his followers and counter the accusations that he had opposed the Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi also founded the Imam Khomeini Educational Institute in Qom — even though he opposed the Ayatollah and had turned down the invitation of his students to join the Revolution — and publishes a weekly, Partow-e Sokhan. He is the spiritual leader of many of the top commanders of the IRGC. The Basij militia, a paramilitary group controlled by the IRGC, has also been deeply penetrated by his disciples as well, as has been the Judiciary. Ayatollah Khomeini's chief of staff, Ayatollah Ahmad Tavassoli, said after the election of Mr. Ahmadinejad in 2005 that, "the executive branch of the Iranian government, as well as the troops of the IRGC, have been hijacked by the Hojjatiyeh."
Ever since he was elected the President in 2005, Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spoken about the "Islamic Government of Iran," rather than the "Islamic Republic of Iran," as well as the return of Mahdi, hence advocating Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's views. Followers of the Ayatollah make up an important segment of Mr. Ahmadinejad's supporters. He has also repeatedly accused Mr. Rafsanjani and other first-generation revolutionaries of being corrupt, and has claimed that he knows of thousands of corruption cases, mostly pointing to first-generation leaders, although he has never ever presented any concrete evidence. Thus, he has been sending signals of what is to come (see below).
In
Ever since General Jafari was appointed the top commander of the IRGC, he has been warning against internal dissent and internal "enemies," clearly implicating the reformist/democratic groups. He even re-organized the IRGC to better respond to domestic disturbances.
In the last week of the campaign, signals started emanating from the high command of the IRGC that it was not happy with developments. General Javani warned on June 8 in Sobh-e Saadegh (True Dawn), the weekly published for the armed forces, that the high command of the IRGC considers the campaign of Messrs Mousavi and Karroubi tantamount to preparing for a "velvet revolution." He warned that the IRGC "will kill it [the velvet revolution] at its inception." Kayhan, the newspaper that acts as a public mouthpiece for the IRGC/security forces, also warned of a colored revolution. This was a clear signal something was being planned behind the scenes to prevent a victory by a reformist candidate. The leaders and ideologues behind the election coup were none other than second-generation revolutionaries, mostly from the IRGC, whose spiritual leader is Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.
The goals behind the coup include the following:
The first goal is to purge first-generation revolutionary leaders (with the exception of Ayatollah Khamenei). The main target here is former president Rafsanjani, a powerful politician who heads two important Constitutional bodies, the Assembly of Experts (AE), and the Expediency Council that arbitrates the differences between the Majles (parliament) and the Guardian Council. Also included in this group are Mr. Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, a mid-ranking cleric, former Speaker of the Majles, and a strong critic of Mr. Ahmadinejad; Mr. Mahdi Karroubi, the second reformist candidate in the election and a disciple of Ayatollah Khomeini; and Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main reformist candidate, and Iran's Prime Minister in the 1980s.
Why do they want them out of the scene? For two reasons. One is that the coup leaders consider themselves — and rightly so — as the saviors of
In his "victory" speech on Sunday, Mr. Ahmadinejad never once mentioned Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic, or even Ayatollah Khamenei, his main supporter. The significance of the intentional omissions should not be missed. Just as Joseph Stalin and Deng Xiaoping kept Vladimir Lenin's and Mao Zedong's pictures everywhere, they always acted in the opposite way of what they appeared to be advocating; Iran's second-generation revolutionaries will keep Ayatollah Khomeini's pictures everywhere, but will act against his teachings, including his most famous saying,
The scale [for people's acceptance of a politician] is people's vote.
The second goal of second-generation revolutionaries is moving the country closer to an "Islamic Government," and further away from an "Islamic Republic." This is done by making elections a meaningless process by resortign to any means available, including rigging and manipulation. This move has marginalized reformist and democratic groups in
The third goal is to start preparations for the eventual successor to Ayatollah Khamenei. He is known to be ill. By accusing Mr. Rafsanjani of corruption, the second-generation revolutionaries wish to eliminate him — the head of the Assembly of Experts appoints the Supreme Leader — as the natural successor of Ayatollah Khamenei, hence paving the way for Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi who is a member of the AE. Everything appeared to have been planned well in advance, but the coup leaders did not expect the people to stand up to them.
This is a pivotal moment in
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