In a rare moment for European media, the Scotsman published a powerful article today about the "sham" election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iranian president and the effect it will have on liberating influences on the Islamic Republic. The first fruits of this election, swayed by an increasingly powerful Revolutionary Guard, showed themselves in the execution of political prisoners this week:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incoming Iranian "elected" president, will assume his post next month, but his presence is already felt in the political circles and on the streets of Tehran. Since his election, under the banner of a renewed Islamic revolution, the clerical regime hanged six people and sentenced another to death in the space of seven days. ...

Indeed, the real story of this election is the metamorphosis of the Guards Corps from an ideological army to an omnipresent political/military powerhouse. With Ahmadinejad's win, the IRGC is now able to spread it wings over all key centres of power in Iran. This may account for the most major power realignment within the ruling theocracy since Ayatollah Khomenei's death in 1989.

The first success of the IRGC's resurgence took place during national municipal elections in 2003. Then, in the February 2004 parliamentary elections, at least 40 former IRGC commanders won seats. Shortly after, Khamenei appointed a top IRGC general as head of Iran's national broadcasting.

Ahmadinejad's election has triggered more than just these executions. The new national chief of police has ties to the IRGC. Supreme Leader Ali Khameini has also put the intelligence/terror services under the control of the IRGC, and their nuclear weapons program has also ome under their direction. The Governing Council even put IRGC leaders in charge of newspapers and other Iranian media, as well as municipal councils and the like.

For a nation flirting with nuclear weapons, the establishment of a military junta with such extreme ideological philosophies does not bode well for peace in the region. It looks like Iran may have decided to prepare for total war, if these accounts are accurate. They rigged an election to ensure that a hardliner would be their point man while the Governing Council consolidates power through the use of their military in all domestic areas of Iranian life. Student protests have increased as a result, and some consider this hopeful as it might finally wake Iranians to the threat of military dictatorship in the name of Islam, finally dropping the illusion of democracy from their eyes. By the time that happens, however, it may be too late to stop Iran from going to war.

What enemy awaits the creation of Fortress Iran? The mullahcracy probably thinks the US plans to attack it as part of the war on terror. Certainly Iran qualifies, as a big supporter and host of Islamofascist terrorists. They may decide to press the issue themselves by attacking Israel and holding Europe hostage through its Shahab rockets, which could deliver nuclear warheads to the capitals of the Continent now.

One thing is certain. Military juntas do not make these kind of preparations without an end goal in sight. The mullahcracy plans on doing something with its military control over Iran. We need to find out what it is and stop it while we can.

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