To the Barricades !

Ayatollah Ali Khameni has issued a stern warning that street protests in Iran must end-

• In his first public remarks after days of protests, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the outcome had to be decided at the ballot box, not on the street.

The Ayatollah has thrown his full support behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a move that could either calm the recent street protests or backfire with (hopefully) disastrous consequences for himself and Mr. Ahmadinejad.

While the U.S. media pontificates about the response of President Obama to the crisis, roundly lambasting him for a decidedly weak response, they seem to be missing the larger point. The street protests, met with gunfire by the regime and their supporters, is more about throwing out a corrupt theocracy than backing any particular leader. With a large, youthful and educated population yearning to be free, we can only hope that they will overthrow their government, drag the parasitic mullahs through the streets and build a new country based on individual rights rather than the oppression of the religious fascist class.