The coverage in the American news media on the elections is severely slanted. I don't think the Iranian election was "stolen". But then, I'm one of the nation's newest fans of Al-Jazeera English (watch it first then criticize).
There's no talk of voter breakdowns in Iran and there's no mention of where these protest rallies are specifically taking place in Tehran or throughout the country. The American media wants us to believe that all of Iran is up in arms over this election except for a small few.
Don't get me wrong; I think Ahmadinejad is the Iranian version of George W. Bush and I hoped, like everybody else, that the Iranian people could get rid of him. However, given that he has a large core of support in the rural areas and sizable support in some urban areas, I believe that he was actually democratically re-elected and that the Moussavi supporters are an angry, but large minority that are sore that their horse lost. (I can definitely relate - I felt like they did in 2004.)
This is not to say that I think Ahmadinejad won in a way that was completely fair. Taking away the fraud (if ther was any), the numbers would be closer, but still in his favor. Would the media have screamed "election fraud" if the numbers had come out in Moussavi's favor and not Ahmadinejad's in 2 hours? I think not! It doesn't help the regime's cause to react violently to protesters or restrict their internet site access to control what's being sent out to the rest of the world. Perhaps drawing the criticism of Western governments serves the political purposes of the Iranian regime in the same way making their government appear illegitimate serves the purposes of the American government.
Let's face it: It would be really convenient for the war hawks in Congress to make an argument "to bring democracy to Iran through war" if the majority of Americans believed that Iran's government was not legitimately chosen by its people. If our leaders were really the supporters of democracy that they claim to be, they would look at the bigger picture, respect or at least consider that Ahmadinejad really won and move on. I know it would be better for the world if that weren't the case, but I would rather respect the will of a nation even if I dislike the leader that they choose. The will of a people is still a democracy, even when it disagrees with American foreign policy interests.
