You can't tell the players without a program: Color revolution in Iran -- or not?

Usually the Left's POV is pretty cut and dried. We are for healthcare, against Republican hypocrite perverts, for Chavez in Venezuela, against waterboarding, etc. But I STILL don't know who the good guys and the bad guys are in Iran.

Chavez says that the Iranian protest is just another "Color Revolution". James Petras claims that Ahmadinejad truly does have the support of the salt-of-the-earth people in the countryside. Paul Craig Roberts appears to think that it might all be a CIA plot. And the Guardian claims that Mosauvi is practically the next George Washington. So. Who exactly is right, er, I mean, Left here? And will this be the issue (aside, of course, from Obama) that will finally tear the Left apart?

Here's a quote from the Guardian: "If Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, had wished to show that the state could be responsive, he would have avoided the harsh language he used yesterday at the Friday prayer meeting at Tehran university. He would have said, or at least hinted, that the election results could be reconsidered. He would not have threatened demonstrators. He would not have attacked foreign powers. He would, in short, have faced up to the fact that his problem is that huge numbers of Iranians will not accept his mere assertion that the results were genuine. If he ever had that kind of authority, he does not have it now. They deem him to be a liar."

And here's a quote from Craig Paul Roberts: "The claim is made that Ahmadinejad stole the election, because the outcome was declared too soon after the polls closed for all the votes to have been counted. However, Mousavi declared his victory several hours before the polls closed. This is classic CIA destabilization designed to discredit a contrary outcome. It forces an early declaration of the vote. The longer the time interval between the preemptive declaration of victory and the release of the vote tally, the longer Mousavi has to create the impression that the authorities are using the time to fix the vote. It is amazing that people don’t see through this trick."

But no matter who is right, er, Left, in this matter, it still breaks my heart to see so many people injured and killed in Tehran.

All of Iran seems to be falling apart right now -- and this is a true tragedy, no matter what the cause or who is right or wrong. And at this point in time, I don't freaking CARE which side is right and which side is wrong in Iran. I only care that a country I have traveled in and have become deeply attached to is currently being torn apart.

PS: After reading an e-mail from an Iranian posted on Novekeo, I think I understand the situation over there a little bit better. Iranians appear to be pissed off because they are tired of the old religious dictatorship that is hoarding the oil money and making the ladies wear unstylish clothes. Plus the government is cutting off cell phones and dismantling satilite dishes too and that pisses Iranians off even more.

However. According to the Novekeo source, Iranians are also quite angry because Voice of America and the western press are feeding the flames of dissent, and Iranians also feel that America is taking advantage of this internal debate to verbally (at this point) attack Iran. But make no mistake. If Iran is under threat from outside, ALL Iranians will rally to the cause. They all remember what America did to Iran in the 1950s and what America did to Iraq. And Obama had better keep his mouth shut too.