Iranians aren't about to overthrow the Mullahs

Excellent article
from Newsweek.








Dispatch From Iran

Iranians may have lost faith in the mullahs, but they're not about to overthrow them.

By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek

July 2-9, 2007 issue - Where the heck are the mullahs? And what happened to all those angry young Revolutionary Guards eager to take you hostage—or, at the very least, spit in your face for personally representing the Great Satan?

This is the most jarring impression an American caught in the time warp of 1979 has upon landing in today's Tehran, where Islamic fervor has been replaced by Islamic bling. Luxury stores are loaded with jewelry, leather handbags and knockoffs of Western designer brands, and coffee shops and restaurants are crowded late into the night.

This is still the Islamic Republic of Iran, of course, so there are no bare shoulders or legs in sight, much less midriffs, even in the summer heat. But many Iranian women have long since cast off their chadors and gone defiantly chic, despite an abortive attempt by the government this past spring to reassert strictures on modesty, when it sent carloads of basij—or young paramilitaries—out to harass females who dared show too much skin or hair. The typical look around town consists of perfect makeup (spread over exquisitely straight noses; cosmetic surgery is a huge business here), faded jeans under form-fitting Islamic "manteaus"—a sort of truncated raincoat that comes to mid-thigh—and colorful silk higabs loosely arrayed over the backs of their heads.

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