Editor's Note: The heavy response to James Petras' article on the Iranian presidential election, serves as an indicator of the wide range of passionate views people hold on the election. Isabel Rodríguez provided her critíque of Petras' article and "NDP" responded to Isabel. Both Axis readers are from Mexico and their comments are published here. Read many more interesting reader comments below Mr. Petras article.

- Les Blough, Editor

Respectful response to Mr. James Petras about the Iranian elections

Alike you and The Supreme Leader of Iran, I believe that elections should be decided on the ballot boxes and not on the streets.

Alike you, I do believe that you cannot reject the legitimate winner of an election, just because you liked the other candidate.

Alike you, I do believe that you cannot condemn the result of an election without factual evidence.

Alike you, I do believe that street demonstrations can never be trusted as a reflection of an overall public sentiment. For this, you would need to run a poll, using a representative random sample.

Alike you, I believe it is plausible that the US wars in Irak and Afghanistan may have had a considerable impact on Iranian public opinion. Did this influence the vote? Why not? Do you have evidence provided by a scientific poll?

Alike you, I believe that the policies of Mr. Amhadinejad may be popular among the poor in Iran. Why not? Do you have evidence provided by a scientific poll?

However, your arguments in defense of Mr. Amhadinejad's victory are flawed for the same reason for which protesters cannot prove Mr. Mousavi's victory.

The big problem with the election in your country is the following:

There are not independent bodies responsible for organizing the election, deciding over electoral disputes, and regulating and overseeing polls to make sure that they are scientifically conducted. A judge cannot be accuser or defender at the same time.

Therefore, THERE IS NO SURE WAY OF TELLING WHO THE LEGITIMATE WINNER OF THE ELECTION IS and as much as you are entitled to distrust protesters, protesters are entitled to distrust the official results.

In my opinion, at this point, your arguments in favor of Mr. Amhadinejad's victory are irrelevant because no party can prove who the winner is.

Moreover, much of the international public outrage does not come from the fact that Mr. Amhadinejad is the official winner, according to Iranian authorities.

THE OUTRAGE COMES FROM KNOWING THAT FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ARE SEVERELY VIOLATED.

THE OUTRAGE COMES FROM SEEING HOW A PART OF THE IRANIAN POPULATION IS BEING TREATED.

It does not matter how much you dislike the upper-class technocrats and the Western-oriented privileged youth, as you call them. There is no excuse for threatening, beating, silencing and killing dissidents, even if they are right-wing. Western media may be biased, but it should be the prerogative of the Iranian population to judge what they like or dislike. And if your government conducts its affairs with legality and respect for its own population -regardless of their political opinions, why are Iranian authorities so afraid of showing what is happening on the streets of Tehran?

I come from a country with a long history of very disputed elections: Mexico. We learned the hard way, how important it is to have independent electoral bodies. Nevertheless, the last presidential election was very disputed and there were popular marches on the streets to protest the results. However, my government did not restrict the work of journalists and the media, and there was no violence against dissidents, not even when they tried to avoid the newly elected president from taking oath in congress.

In my country, there is also that traditional mistrust and despise between social classes that you reflect so well in your article. Obviously, you distrust and despise the upper-class in Iran. Unfortunately for you, the abuses committed in many countries, throughout history, against left-wing movements that were seeking to vindicate social, economical and political rights for the poor, do not justify revenge. ABUSE AND REPRESSION ARE ALWAYS WRONG.

Your article reflects that you worry too much about the Western interference in the Middle East, but too little about the respect that the government of Iran should have for its own citizens. The fact that you do not feel outrage by the treatment that protesters are receiving, makes me feel outrage.

And this makes you as qualified to talk about social justice and legality, as the FARC in Colombia.

Most respectfully,

Isabel Rodríguez

In response to the following article:
Iranian Elections: The 'Stolen Elections' Hoax
By James Petras. Axis of Logic.
Thursday, Jun 18, 2009