Neda
| Mon Jun. 22, 2009 12:24 PM PDT
"Neda," it turns out, is Neda Agha-Soltan, 
a 26-year-old native of Tehran who was shot dead during Saturday's clashes at Azadi Square. Borzou Daragahi of the LA Times reports from Tehran:
Security forces urged Neda's friends and family not to hold memorial services for her at a mosque and asked them not to speak publicly about her, associates of the family said. Authorities even asked the family to take down the black mourning banners in front of their house, aware of the potent symbol she has become.
But some insisted on speaking out anyway, hoping to make sure the world would not forget her. Neda Agha-Soltan was born in Tehran, they said, to a father who worked for the government and a mother who was a housewife. They were a family of modest means, part of the country's emerging middle class who built their lives in rapidly developing neighborhoods on the eastern and western outskirts of the city.
Like many in her neighborhood, Neda was loyal to the country's Islamic roots and traditional values, friends say, but also curious about the outside world, which is easily accessed through satellite television, the Internet and occasional trips abroad....But she was never an activist, they added, and she began attending the mass protests only because of a personal sense of outrage over the election results.
"She was a person full of joy," said her music teacher and close friend Hamid Panahi. "She was a beam of light. I'm so sorry. I was so hopeful for this woman." The Lede has more, including a report that Basij militia members and police officers broke up a memorial service for Soltan on Monday by violently beating and arresting the protesters.
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Comments
What a tragic waste of a
Submitted by Gregory (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 12:37 PM PDT.
What a tragic waste of a young life. The callousness of the thug who shot her is highlighted by the grief of her father, who had to watch her bleed out on the street. I hope her killer, and those behind him, are someday brought to justice. Beyond that, I have no words.
What Gregory said
Submitted by thersites on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 12:47 PM PDT.
I would add one thing. To those who mindlessly advocate that we bomb Teheran back into the stone age, keep in mind; these are the people who would suffer and die if we took such action.
The death of any civilian is
Submitted by tpx on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 12:59 PM PDT.
The death of any civilian is terribly sad and a horrible thing when done by government. Unfortunately the US government kills people like Neda every day in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Motto Of American Democracy: No One Really Cares
Submitted by Anon92107 (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 1:04 PM PDT.
God Bless Neda Agha-Soltan.
"she began attending the mass protests only because of a personal sense of outrage over the election results"
Wake Up America, Americans must learn quickly from the ultimate daily sacrifices of heroines like Neda and our military heroes and patriots in the Middle East or lose everything we gained since the American Revolution.
While the world’s heroes continue to lose their lives fighting for our freedoms, We The People have given up, with very few even bothering to vote in America anymore.
We have devolved from a nation founded on the principle of We The People Democracy to a nation of No One Really Cares, allowing our representatives in Washington to sell out our Democracy to satisfy their personal lusts for power and greed, selling out Democracy to special interests who control them totally and completely.
That’s why our economy is a disaster, No One Really Cares. No one that is but Heroes around the world like Neda and our own Heroes and Patriots in the U.S. Military who continue to sacrifice everything while We The People watch and do nothing, failing even to demand immediate replacement of all political leaders in congress, failing the test of Democracy that might be our last failure.
there are no American heroes, only war criminals
Submitted by tpx on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 1:59 PM PDT.
If Americans had cared in 2000 and 2003, they would have protested like Iranians.
But protests dont get
Submitted by Mary (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 2:19 PM PDT.
But protests dont get attention from mainstream media, so when they happen no one really knows.
For instance the mayday protest in LA a couple years back hand more than 500,000 participants.
the metro was clogged so that someone 2 feet from an entrance or exit on a train could barely get on or off...
the mainstream media reported the protest as having "thousands" of participants.
Americans value their civil liberties too much to use them
Submitted by tpx on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 3:16 PM PDT.
Passive one day protests are easily ignored. The Iranians have created unrest for over a week now; they have thrown rocks, burned cars and battled with the riot police. That is what Americans should have done in November 2000 and March 2003, but even when Americans poor blood on missile silos they are sentenced to prison. Americans value their civil liberties too much to risk using them.
They didn't
Submitted by Sebastian (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 7:40 AM PDT.
"they have thrown rocks, burned cars and battled with the riot police."
The last part is true, but the first part for the most part wasn't. By all reports except the Iranian offical news stations, most of the throwing rocks and nearly all of the burning cars has been done by the Basij Revolutionary Guards, not by the protestors.
(but a lot of people care, a
Submitted by Mary (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 2:21 PM PDT.
(but a lot of people care, a lot). and its always been this way. with us caring. even with prescription drugs to make us apathetic. we still care.
Cowards
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 3:56 PM PDT.
Why are leftists such cowards? The One's Muslim ideology explains why he does not wish to confront the thuggish clerics in Teheran but why do other leftists never learn? Do you remember the 80s when the left in the US and Europe pilloried Reagan because he called the evil empire just that -an evil empire. The left said we had to accomodate and negotiate with the USSR because they were in power - yet Reagan single handedly brought the evil empire down. Ogabe will never have that kind of courage.
Neda will have died in vain -and BTW- the Iranian diplomats are still invited to the 4th of July celebrations on DC - Reagan and all true believers in democracy would be and are appalled.
Almost all of the protesters
Submitted by tpx on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 5:46 PM PDT.
Almost all of the protesters in Iran are devout Muslims. They are considered liberals by their political opposition. Neda was a protester on the street while being told by authority to disperse. If Neda were in Palestine protesting the Wall in the same way, she could easily have been a victim of the IDF. Would Reagan mourn for Neda if she were Palestinian?
Intended irony?
Submitted by jcricket on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 4:05 PM PDT.
Cowards
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on June 22, 2009 - 4:56pm.
Ironic. A note decrying cowardice submitted by 'anonymous'.
The government problem of control of a population
Submitted by Rick B on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 6:22 PM PDT.
The killing of Neda is much the same kind of government misstep as the American air strikes that kill civilians in Afghanistan are. The problem in both cases is that the government has the official power, but it is tasked with providing social stability and protecting the people. That's the basic function of government. The government is removed when they fail to do that for a large majority of the population.
If the government is instead killing good citizens (as opposed to bandits or such) then the entire legitimacy of the government is called into question. The non-violent methods the Iranian protesters have been using, together with the excellent news network Iran has, accentuates this disparity greatly. A Gandhi type non-violent protest is extremely difficult for a government to deal with in the best of times, and the Iranian militia is clearly out of control and causing additional trouble for the Iranian government as they kill and beat protesters.
In our case, the difference in Afghanistan is that the Taliban are not as sympathetic as the Iranian protesters have been, and the news network is essentially non-existent. But the Bush administration and conventional military thinking has reduced our advantages there. Gen. McChristian apparently gets this. That's why he is reducing the number of air strikes and reigning in the use of them by our Special Forces.
In short, the Iranian government is facing an insurgency that is well-designed and disciplined to play on their weaknesses. Neda's death had to happen. And Amahdinejad pretty clearly has no clue how to command an effective counterinsurgency. They were handed the rope and by now they are having a hell of a time breathing. That's why my best guess is that Amahdinejad himself is toast. So is the Ayatollah if he can't stop the rot from spreading to him and the religious government.
Neda
Submitted by Jim G (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 6:53 PM PDT.
When I first heard the reports, I imagined it as something like the Kent State shootings in 1970... a demonstration, a lot of protesters, a bunch of National Guardsmen, fear and tension, loss of control, and suddenly 67 shots and four dead... awful!
But this video of Neda... it wasn't like that at all. This was one shot, one kill... one shot - one kill. It looked more like an assassination than anything else. Which of the soldiers did that? Who could do that?
Man, they sure are rough on their women in that part of the world.
The sadness is just unbearable...
One shot kills are the
Submitted by tpx on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 7:51 AM PDT.
One shot kills are the specialty of US Special Forces, who are operating in Iran, and organized crime. Was Neda sacrificed for the Pahlavi Throne?
Re: Cowards
Submitted by Bill D. (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 8:51 PM PDT.
Obama does not have a Muslim ideology.
Most of us here are not leftists. Liberals are not the same as, nor all that similar to, leftists, contrary to the ubiquitous but moronically and willfully ignorant conservative party line.
Reagan did not single-handedly bring down the Soviet empire, and he was roundly pillaried by conservatives at the time for negotiating with that "evil empire" once Gorbachev was in power. Conservatives wanted continued saber-rattling and mouthing off, but Reagan was pragmatic enough to see the best way forward once the Soviet leadership was open to change. Iran is not at that point yet.
Reagan also did not bother to demand that the Berlin Wall come down until Gorbachev was leader of the Soviet Union. That same demand would have been laughed off by Andropov or Chernenko.
There is no simple rule as to the best way to support change in repressive regimes. Obama is cognizant of the unfortunate history of American meddling in Iran and the consequences thereof. His measured approach to the current crisis has been supported by a number of foreign-policy realists including some leading Republicans. Are they also leftists with a Muslim idealogy?
Are you interested in feeling good about yourself by having the president mouth off, or are you interested instead in freedom for the Iranians? I prefer the latter if the two are in conflict, as they are at the moment.
I'm no coward
Submitted by thersites on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 9:16 PM PDT.
I want to feel good about myself and see Obama in a flight suit.
We'll know in about 37 days
Submitted by B on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 9:40 PM PDT.
We'll know in about 37 days whether Neda is a call to arms like the Boston Massacre or signal of collapse like Bacon's dysentery. Why 37 days? Well Fox News says the Shi'a are a lot like locusts or cicada and they work that way.
Will They Send Her Family
Submitted by bob h (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 3:08 AM PDT.
a bill for the bullet used to kill her? There are reports today that is happening for some victims. These people, Khamenei, Ahmdinajad, the Basiji, are truly evil, and have to go.
I'm coming round to Netanyahu's depiction of them.
Intended irony? Redeux
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 4:08 AM PDT.
What is really ironic is someone accusing someone else of hiding behind "anonymous" (which is what the system calls for) and that person using the screen name "jcricket"-unless, which is possible, you are a small, Disney insect.
Reagan, of course, single-handedly brought the evil empire down, despite the best efforts of the American left to accuse him of not being realistic and engaging in "cowboy" tactics. BTW- the "axis of evil" as identified by President Bush was Hussein's Iraq, Iran, and N. Korea. One down, one tottering and one tough nut to go.
We should support any Gorbachev like figure in Iran in the hopes that he, like Gorbachev, will be only an interim between the old thugs and a new Yeltsin.
Neda had a nice face. If we
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 7:04 AM PDT.
Neda had a nice face. If we see their faces and their smiles, we geniuses suddenly discover that these are people. "21 Killed in Middle East Bombing" means nothing to us, without pictures.
God, give us eyes to see.
Another thing. It takes a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 7:36 AM PDT.
Another thing. It takes a picture like this of Neda's face to evoke the breathtaking horror of death. How many minutes, before we gratefully refocus on our carpet stains, wardrobe deficiencies, and whatever else the TV tells us to worry about?
TVocracy!
Is this really the face of Neda?
Submitted by Sidewinder (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 6:22 PM PDT.
Reports are circulating that this photo is not the face of the woman who was shot, but of another woman called Neda who also had a Facebook account.
Please look into this & make a correction accordingly.
Reagan, of course, single-handedly brought the evil empire down?
Submitted by Trippp on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 8:42 PM PDT.
Um, anonymous coward, that word doesn't mean what you seem to think it means.
But hey, maybe if you repeat the incantation a third time it will make it true, just like magic. Except without the magic. And with stupidity. And willful ignorance.
Tripp
Part three
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Jun. 23, 2009 10:56 PM PDT.
So if "Jcricket" doesn't mean the Disney singing insect, what does it mean? I'm still trying to wrap my head around a leftist referring to anyone else as stupid. And yes, Reagan did single handedly bring down the USSR despite the weeping and wailing of the American and European leftists.
Speaking of willful ignorance - how is that "smart diplomacy" thingy of Ogabe working out?
Brezhnev's death caused the fall of the Soviet Union. If Brezhnev was still alive, the Soviet Union would still be America's nemesis. Unfortunately, Brezhnev died before W. Bush became president, so he could not prevent the invasion of Iraq.
W. Bush resembled Mugabe in policy and deed. Mugabe is much smarter than any Texan, though. Obama resembles Mugabe in skin tone, which is why American racists attempt to link them together, but of course it was W. Bush who stole an election and ruined the economy, much like Mugabe would.
Super Reagan
Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on Wed Jun. 24, 2009 1:32 AM PDT.
"Reagan did single handedly bring down the USSR despite the weeping and wailing of the American and European leftists."
Really? I thought the Soviet collapse had a lot to do with the fact that Communism didn't work. I had been taught that living conditions under communism were terrible and that the planned economy was unworkable.
But apparently all of this was irrelevant; Ronald Reagan "singlehandidly" dissolved an empire of 300,000,000 people because it was "evil".
Does this mean that communism is not a failed system? I mean, if Reagan hadn't used his superhero ability of belligerent speech, the Soviet Union would still be here, right?
Super Reagan
Submitted by Tommy (not verified) on Wed Jun. 24, 2009 1:42 AM PDT.
"Reagan did single handedly bring down the USSR despite the weeping and wailing of the American and European leftists."
Really? I thought the Soviet collapse had a lot to do with the fact that Communism didn't work. I had been taught that living conditions under communism were terrible and that the planned economy was unworkable.
But apparently all of this was irrelevant; Ronald Reagan "singlehandidly" dissolved an empire of 300,000,000 people because it was "evil".
Does this mean that communism is not a failed system? I mean, if Reagan hadn't used his superhero ability of belligerent speech, the Soviet Union would still be here, right?
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