Teenage girls were raped before their deaths because the regime felt this would prevent them from going to heaven. Boys were rounded up and hanged from cranes.

The Coming End Of Islamic Fascism In Iran

Crucial signs that freedom is not only possible but imminent. Reza Kahlili - The Iranian Revolution of 1979 began with Ayatollah Khomeini promising Iranians full freedom and a government by the people and for the people. In his speeches leading up to the Revolution, the Ayatollah proclaimed that, "A nation that doesn't have freedom does not have civilization. A civilized nation is one that is free." He also said that, "There should be freedom of the press and people should have the right to their opinion" and "In our government, clergy will not govern but help you with your spirituality. In our government, women will be free, and officials can be publicly criticized."

People, joyful of his positive messages, turned their backs on the Shah--who had brought them peace, respect, and luxury--in the hope of the political freedom that was nonexistent during the Shah. Sadly, this joy quickly turned to horror. Instead of the freedom he'd promised, Khomeini snatched back the liberties women had begun to gain under the Shah, reducing them to second-class citizens without the right to inheritance, child custody and divorce. Khomeini and his cohorts forced women to wear the Islamic hijab--whipping them if they didn't--and reverted to stoning woman for adultery. The Islamic regime claimed that anyone speaking against them was mohareb, an enemy of God. Because the regime purported to be representatives of God on Earth, they ordered the execution of all opposition. Teenage girls were raped before their deaths because the regime felt this would prevent them from going to heaven. Boys were rounded up and hanged from cranes.

Still, this was not enough. The regime insisted on exporting their religion to the world, expanding their terror network by helping establish Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, killing Americans and Israelis, destabilizing the Middle East and effectively destroying any chance for a negotiated settlement between Palestine and Israel. They fought a war with Iraq where more than half a million Iranians lost their lives and tens of thousands more were maimed before Khomeini bitterly accepted peace.

Things got progressively worse. In the late 1980s Khomeini issued a fatwa to kill all opposition in jails around Iran. A Death Commission carried out mock trials behind closed doors, interrogating prisoners about their associations, affiliations, and allegiances with a series of questions designed to elicit an answer that assured the death sentence. The fatwa led to the execution of thousands of innocent men and women of all ages in a very short period. Another fatwa by hard-line clerics in the 1990s led to the murder of dozens of dissident intellectuals, journalists, poets, writers and political activists. Hundreds of students were killed and hundreds more tortured in response to their attempts at generating an uprising. The nightmare continues to this day.

The Islamic regime has taken hundreds of thousands of lives while making a mockery of terms like compassion, love, mercy and justice. However the revolution that the overwhelming majority of Iranians once embraced now faces resentment and disgust. The people want to be free from the tyrannical rule of the mullahs.

As remarkable as it might seem, there are signs that such freedom is not only possible but imminent. Today the divide within the regime's establishment is sharper than it has ever been. There is dissent in the Revolutionary Guards. The very force that has kept this regime in place is now in disarray. Mohammed Jafari, the chief commander, has replaced many of those who served him. Some others have been arrested, while others, having lost their sense of loyalty to the regime, have defected. Meanwhile, the hard-liners are at each other's throats. The Parliament, Ahmadinejad's government, the Guardian Council, the Assembly of Experts and the Supreme Leader's office are all in a struggle to stop the dissension within their forces that started after last year's fraudulent presidential elections. Ayatollah Khamenei has lost all credibility, and the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic which they claimed for so many years is now completely lost.

Unrest is everywhere: among students, teachers, union workers, Iranian regular army officers and, most importantly, the merchants at Tehran's bazaar, who had until now been supportive of the regime and who helped finance Khomeini's rise. The traders in the bazaar went on strike in early July to protest an increase in income taxes, and the regime let loose their thugs to intimidate them and force an end to the strike, even stabbing a merchant to death.

The Islamic rulers are losing control of their people and their economy. Inflation is on the rise, government workers are not being paid in a timely fashion and people are suffering to make ends meet. Recent sanctions will put more pressure on an already destabilized situation in Iran.