http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gD1NHSXvV4

I can assure you that I believe 100% the beliefs which I express, beliefs which I try to back up with careful analysis, historical facts, political events which are analogous, original and secondary sources, and links to sources whenever possible.

I am an extremely strong supporter of the Revolution, the Legacy of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and of the Supreme Leader Khamenei. I also strongly support the security institutions created by Khomeini to defend the Revolution, namely, Pasdaran and the Basij militia.

I am not nor have I ever been a supporter to the same level of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I obviously do not demonize the President like the Reformists but there is much in his style that I disagree with (his pointless mentioning of the Holocaust over and over to name one example). I would be more content with a more cerebral, less outlandish hardliner as the President of Iran and defender of the Revolution.

Speaking to friends in Tehran, they say it was far more than a mere ‘tens of thousands’ and more similar to the Rafsanjani-led Prayers that saw a turnout of hundreds of thousands. Would the regime have sent out three helicopters for just 10s of 1000s?

AP and AlJazeera give conservative estimates because they are afraid of overstating “facts” they cannot verify, whereas people on the ground seem to think otherwise based on their observations of the areas teeming with crowds (from Enqelab to Azadi, Haft-e-Tir Sq and St, Kargar and Keshavarz Blvds, 16 Azar St, Valiasr Sq, etc).

Plus you need to factor in the turnouts (at least thousands) in Shiraz, Esfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Mashhad, and Rasht – as reported by BBC Persian.

The feeling is quit mutual. From all the replies yours are always the one that open doors i would have risked passing by without looking inside or focussing enough on.

Regarding the situation in Iran, I would say HOPE is actually our biggest ally. Looking at the situation one can not even imagine that what happend today should have even been possible. Hope is giving us a futur. giving Iran the courage to fight for a better tommorow.

CNN just showed Footage of Mousavi attending todays rally.

Your opinions always interest me, and I always enjoy reading them. Here is two reasons.

1) You are detailed in your analysis and this shows a depth of understanding

2) You see the good and positive in everything and so always gleam with hope for all.

Although I doubt that Samuel will be reformed by reading alone, but the angle you put on it shows us all that even int he darkest days of AN / Pasdaran rule, there is always hope.
Dooroud bad bar Afshin va Ayehe Omid

A) its good to hear the other side with complete diffrent view on things
B) Call me naive but I do belive his beliefs are genuine… he really believes the words he is saying…

so hopefully by seeing more and more of the truth, one day he starts realising that the people he so defends are nothing short of criminals, murderers, rapists.

I thought I was skeptical of the news before finding EA, but now I have a much better understanding of the magnitude of the FAIL than ever in the past

It is possible that the regime, in what may be their only clever move of the day, forced Mousavi to attend the Quds day rallies and dragged him to one of the pro-government demonstrations? That would explain why Mousavi looks down in the photo, a little like a bored animal at the zoo.