Word: mousavi
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Former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi is the public face of the opposition, but there are many others who are just as important, from former Presidents Mohammed Khatami and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to many grand ayatullahs in Qom, Iran's Vatican. Mousavi was chosen as spokesman for the opposition because of his impeccable revolutionary credentials. Even at the revolution's most militant violent and radical peak, Mousavi stood by Khomeini, never questioning his decisions. It was an office under Mousavi that coordinated a series of attacks against the U.S. in Lebanon, including an attack on the U.S. embassy...
Khamenei must be considering the risks of arresting Mousavi to put an end to protests. He certainly has the authority and power to do so. Since the election, the Revolutionary Guards, which report directly to Khamenei, have all but imposed a military dictatorship over the country. Its volunteer vigilantes, the Basij, along with the secret police, are the ones beating up and arresting demonstrators. But arresting Mousavi, Khomeini's political scion, would be akin to arresting Thomas Jefferson. (See pictures of the legacy of Ayatullah Khomeini...
...fight between Khamenei and the opposition candidate is almost personal. Mousavi's retirement from government in 1989 coincided with Khamenei's appointment as Supreme Leader. Mousavi had reportedly detested Khamenei, considering him a usurper - Khamenei was not an ayatullah when he succeeded Khomeini. Even today his clerical credentials are suspect. He has absolutely no spiritual following among the world's Shi'ites...
...disputed June 12 election was the last straw for Mousavi and those who view themselves as Khomeini's heirs. Their anger turned on a critical point of Islamic doctrine: they insist that the legitimacy of an Islamic ruler springs from the people; Khamenei, on the other hand, believes that legitimacy derives from God's will - and the Supreme Leader's interpretation of that will. In condoning Ahmadinejad's theft of the June 12 election, Khamenei, they believe, has indeed proved himself a usurper...
...current uprising is nowhere near as widespread as that of 1979. Yet the activism is creating a new political space in Iran. The public is defining its own agenda, with Rafsanjani, Mousavi and other opposition figures responding to sentiment on the street rather than directing it. After meeting on July 20 with the families of people detained following the election, Mousavi warned the power structure, "You are facing something new: an awakened nation, a nation that has been born again and is here to defend its achievements...