Notwithstanding we are ill-positioned to express our support for a republican form of elective government with honest elections, there are indeed things that we can do to assist the Iranian people. I'll give some of them below the fold.
- The creative leak. We have a huge national intelligence apparatus, full of radio intercept devices complete with the spy satellites that pick up cell phones, photo reconnaissance, etc. When the Iranian government talks to its own military, police, tame thugs, etc., we can hear and understand them.
The listening needs to spring a leak. When the small town police report that 2/3 of the population is marching, that report should circulate in a sourceless way across the internet. Not only can private people use the internet in the service of liberty, but the BSA can, too.
- The extra picture. When there are marches, military-resolution satellite photos and head counts of the Iranian cities in question may usefully appear, to tell Iranians especially those in smaller towns that they are not alone. It seems there are substantial demos in many cities; we can get out to the world and back in to the Iranian people.
- Communications support. Iran has several large borders with friendly countries. The borders are filled with smugglers. We can arrange to have smuggled in the booster gadgets that turn a normal satellite dish into something that can effectively send messages out, and other clever ideas.
- Radio Free Iran. As sponsored not by us but by any of our friends, who may well see that an Iran in disorder may send streams of refugees across their borders, among other things. When the Iranian people cannot be cut off from the world, they may yet take heart.
But we do not try to tell the Iranian people what to do. We just try to give them the information they need for informed decisions.
We do all this entirely deniably. All those pictures...they just happened to appear on Kos's doorstep. Perhaps the stork will leave them.
And I post this here because historically significant members of the majority party in DC have been known to read entries.