Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated "Color Revolution?"

Is This the Culmination of Two Years of Destabilization
Are the Iranian Protests Another US Orchestrated "Color Revolution?"
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

A number of commentators have expressed their idealistic belief in the
purity of Mousavi, Montazeri, and the westernized youth of Terhan. The CIA
destabilization plan, announced two years ago (see below) has somehow not
contaminated unfolding events.

The claim is made that Ahmadinejad stole the election, because the outcome
was declared before the votes could have been counted. However, Mousavi
declared his victory several hours before the polls closed. This is classic
CIA destabilization designed to discredit a contrary outcome. It forces an
early declaration of the vote; otherwise, results issued three days (with a
full vote count) after the challenger has declared victory are discredited
with the argument that the authorities spent three days fixing the vote. It
is amazing that people don't see through this trick.

As for the grand ayatollah Montazeri's charge that the election was stolen,
he was the initial choice to succeed Khomeini, but lost out to the current
Supreme Leader. He sees in the protests an opportunity to settle the score
with Khamenei. Montazeri has the incentive to challenge the election whether
or not he is being manipulated by the CIA, which has a successful history of
manipulating disgruntled politicians.

There is a power struggle among the ayatollahs. Many are aligned against
Ahmadinejad because he accuses them of corruption, thus playing to the
Iranian countryside where Iranians believe the ayatollahs' lifestyles
indicate an excess of power and money. In my opinion, Ahmadinejad's attack
on the ayatollahs is opportunistic. However, it does make it odd for his
American detractors to say he is a conservative reactionary lined up with
the ayatollahs.

Commenators are "explaining" the Iran elections based on their own
illusions, delusions, emotions, and vested interests. Whether or not the
poll results predicting Ahmadinejad's win are sound, there is, so far, no
evidence beyond surmise that the election was stolen. However, there are
credible reports that the CIA has been working for two years to destabilize
the Iranian government.

On May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: "The
CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black"
operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former
officials in the intelligence community tell ABC News."

On May 27, 2007, the London Telegraph independently reported: "Mr. Bush has
signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and
disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the
theocratic rule of the mullahs."

A few days previously, the Telegraph reported on May 16, 2007, that Bush
administration neocon warmonger John Bolton told the Telegraph that a US
military attack on Iran would "be a 'last option' after economic sanctions
and attempts to foment a popular revolution had failed."

On June 29, 2008, Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker: "Late last year,
Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation
of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military,
intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the
President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a
Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the
country's religious leadership."

The protests in Tehran no doubt have many sincere participants. The protests
also have the hallmarks of the CIA orchestrated protests in Georgia and
Ukraine. It requires total blindness not to see this.

Daniel McAdams has made some telling points. For example, neoconservative
Kenneth Timmerman wrote the day before the election that "there's talk of a
'green revolution' in Tehran." How would Timmerman know that unless it was
an orchestrated plan? Why would there be a 'green revolution' prepared prior
to the vote, especially if Mousavi and his supporters were as confident of
victory as they claim? This looks like definite evidence that the US is
involved in the election protests.

Timmerman goes on to write that "the National Endowment for Democracy has
spent millions of dollars promoting 'color' revolutions . . . Some of that
money appears to have made it into the hands of pro-Mousavi groups, who have
ties to non-governmental organizations outside Iran that the National
Endowment for Democracy funds." Timmerman's own neocon Foundation for
Democracy is "a private, non-profit organization established in 1995 with
grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), to promote democracy
and internationally-recognized standards of human rights in Iran."

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan
administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be
reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com