'Don't Worry. It's Just One Bullet and It's Over'

These maniacs in Iran might think they can hide what they've done from their own people, yet now the entire world knows what evil they're capable of.

Neda Agha-Soltan's memory will live a lot longer than the 26 years she had on earth, senselessly murdered in broad daylight by subhuman thugs.

Sure, they'll try to silence the people, but I'm optimistic they're too late.

The young Iranian woman whose gruesome killing has become a rallying cry for the nation's opposition movement eerily predicted her violent death by gunfire -- but was determined to protest against "the injustice of it all," a friend said yesterday.

As the violence continues to escalate on the streets of the embattled Middle Eastern nation, the beautiful philosophy student, Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, who had been engaged to be married, is being hailed as Iran's Joan of Arc.

The government yesterday blocked a wake for her in a central Tehran mosque for fear that the outpouring of grief would lead to more anti-regime protests, her fiancé, Caspian Makan, told the BBC.

"The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story," Makan said.

"They were afraid that lots of people could turn up."

The 40-second video of Neda's death has not been aired on Iranian state-sponsored TV, but many in the country -- and worldwide -- have seen it on the Internet.

It captures Neda, shot in the heart, in her last moments of life, bleeding to death on the street as a friend wails, "Don't be afraid! Neda, dear!"

As the life leaves her face and blood pours from her nose, a white-haired man, her music teacher, yells, "Stay with me!"

Since the video made shock waves across the Web, her photo has been held aloft at demonstrations all over the globe.

But to her relatives, she is more than just an icon of change.

She loved Persian pop songs and her piano lessons, was the second of three children, and was passionate about travel.

In turns mischievous, smart and caring, Neda studied to become a tour guide and took Turkish language courses in the hopes of leading Iranian tourists on trips abroad, friends and relatives said.

On Saturday, the day she was killed, her friend told The Los Angeles Times that she had tried to persuade Neda to stay away from the massive march.

"I told her, 'Neda, don't go,' " the friend, who gave her name only as Golshad, told the paper.

But Neda was adamant.

"She said, 'Don't worry. It's just one bullet and it's over,' " recalled Hamid Panihi, the music teacher and friend who was with her when she died.

"She couldn't stand the injustice of it all," he told the paper.

Neither can most of us. Don't worry though, there won't be any repercussions from the hot dog crew.

Meanwhile, it appears the hairy munchkin could soon be jettisoned to sooth protests.

Iran's powerful mullahs are considering replacing the nation's hard-line "supreme leader" or forcing the resignation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in hopes of ending the 10 days of angry protests by pro-democracy demonstrators, it was reported yesterday.

A committee of religious leaders would take over for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the plan secretly under review by members of Iran's Assembly of Experts, sources in the holy city of Qom told Al Arabiya TV.

Another option to end the crisis is the resignation of Ahmadinejad, the news channel said.

Considering Ahmadinejad came in third, that's the least he should do.

Check out Amir Taheri on the differences between now and 1979.

In 1979, the people looked to the Shiite clergy for leadership. This time, the clergy is pushed into the background. The new "moral references" of Iranian society are no longer clerics; they are intellectuals, academics, lawyers and independent trade-union leaders. Whatever the struggle's outcome, one thing is certain: Mullahs will never regain their position of moral authority in Iranian politics.

Another difference is that the ruling elite in 1979 had little stomach for a fight. Many of its members had homes and investments abroad and thus could just pack and leave -- they weren't forced to fight with their backs to the wall.

But the overwhelming majority of today's ruling elite has no fallback position. If driven from power, "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei or Ahmadinejad would have nowhere to go. They have no choice but to fight to the bitter end. This time, it is in the opposition camp that one finds most of those who can pack and go to golden exile abroad.

Maybe there'll be some teaching posts available at Berkeley.

It's curious, but has anyone noticed the American left, still seething over the Florida recount nine years ago, has been virtually silent over an actual stolen election?

Funny how that is. They're outraged daily over some innocuous Rush Limbaugh comment taken out of context, yet can't summon the energy to decry a murder in broad daylight in front of the entire world.

Instapundit links. Thanks!