The real Mousavi

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Nope, he's neither a liberal nor a democrat -- at least not as we understand those terms. And his past, as CQ's Jeff Stein finds, is hardly encouraging:

He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Mousavi, prime minister for most of the 1980s, personally selected his point man for the Beirut terror campaign, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-pur, and dispatched him to Damascus as Iran's ambassador, according to former CIA and military officials.

This should take nothing away from the "green" movement in Iran today, the push for freedom that finds so many courageous men and women protesting against the brutal rule of the regime in Tehran. It needs a leader, and, for now, Mousavi is what it's got. I hope it succeeds -- and I hope he succeeds -- but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that he is what he is not.