When I returned from covering the Iranian elections recently, I was surprised to find my email box filled with progressive writers bending themselves into knots about the current crisis in Iran.
They cite the long history of US interference in Iran and conclude that the current unrest there must be sponsored or manipulated by the Empire.
That comes as quite a shock to those risking their lives daily on the streets of major Iranian cities fighting for political, social and economic justice.
Some of these authors have even cited my book, The Iran Agenda, as a source to prove US meddling.
Whoa there, pardner. Now we're getting personal.
The large majority of US people, particularly leftists and progressives, are sympathetic to the demonstrators in Iran and also oppose any US military or political interference in that country.
But a small and vocal number of progressives are questioning that view.
They mostly argue by analogy. They correctly cite numerous examples of CIA efforts to overthrow governments, sometimes by manipulating mass demonstrations.
However, the multi-class character of the most recent demonstrations, which arose quickly and spontaneously, were beyond the control of the reformist leaders in Iran, let alone the CIA.
If the US was trying to secretly manipulate the demonstrations for its own purposes, did it succeed?
Or were the protests reflecting 30 years of cumulative anger at a reactionary system that oppresses workers, women, and ethnic minorities — the vast majority?
Is President Mahmood Ahmadinejad a "nationalist-populist", as claimed by some, and therefore an ally against US domination around the world? Or is he a repressive, authoritarian leader who actually hurts the struggle against US hegemony?
The left-wing Doubting Thomas arguments fall into three broad categories.
1. Assertion: President Mahmood Ahmadinejad won the election, or at a minimum, the opposition hasn't proved otherwise.
Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York, James Petras wrote on June 18 on his website:
"[N]ot a single shred of evidence in either written or observational form has been presented either before or a week after the vote count. During the entire electoral campaign, no credible (or even dubious) charge of voter tampering was raised."
Actually, Iranians themselves were very worried about election fraud prior to the vote count. When I covered the 2005 elections, Ahmadinejad barely edged out Mehdi Karoubi in the first round of elections.
Karoubi raised substantive arguments that he was robbed of his place in the runoff due to vote fraud. But under Iran's clerical system, there's no meaningful appeal. So, as he put it, he took his case to God.
This time, election officials illegally barred many opposition observers from the polls. The opposition had planned to use text messaging to communicate local vote tallies to a central location. The government shut down SMS messaging.
So the vote count was entirely dependent on a government tally by officials sympathetic to the incumbent.
Keep in mind that Ahmadinejad's victory takes place in the context of a highly rigged system. The Guardian Council determines which candidates may run based on their Islamic qualifications.
As a result, no woman has ever been allowed to campaign for president and sitting members of parliament were disqualified because they had somehow become un-Islamic.
2. Assertion: The US has a long history of meddling in Iran, so it must be behind the current unrest.
Jeremy R. Hammond wrote on June 23 on the progressive website Foreign Policy Journal: "[G]iven the record of U.S. interference in the state affairs of Iran and clear policy of regime change, it certainly seems possible, even likely, that the U.S. had a significant role to play in helping to bring about the recent turmoil in an effort to undermine the government of the Islamic Republic."
Eric Margolis, a columnist for Quebecor Media Company in Canada and a contributor to The Huffington Post, wrote on June 22 on his website: "While the majority of protests we see in Tehran are genuine and spontaneous, Western intelligence agencies and media are playing a key role in sustaining the uprising and providing communications, including the newest electronic method, via Twitter.
"These are covert techniques developed by the US during recent revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia that brought pro-US governments to power."
The CIA engineered large demonstrations, along with assassinations and terrorist bombings, to cause confusion and overthrow Iran's parliamentary government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. The US used similar methods in an effort to overthrow Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2002.
Hammond cites my book The Iran Agenda to show that the Bush administration was training and funding ethnic minorities in an effort to overthrow the Iranian government in 2007.
All the arguments are by analogy and implication. No one I am aware of offers one shred of evidence that the Obama administration has engineered, or even significantly influenced, the current demonstrations.
Let's look at what actually happened on the ground. Tens of millions of Iranians went to bed on June 12, convinced that either Mousavi had won the election outright or that there would be runoff between him and Ahmadinejad. They woke up the next day and were stunned.
The anger cut across class lines and went well beyond Mousavi's core base of students, intellectuals and the well-to-do.
Within two days, hundreds of thousands of people were demonstrating peacefully in the streets of Tehran and other major cities.
Could the CIA have anticipated the vote count, and on two days notice, mobilised its nefarious networks? Does the CIA even have the kind of extensive networks that would be necessary to control or even influence such a movement?
That simultaneously gives the CIA too much credit and underestimates the independence of the mass movement.
The vast majority of Iranians have no access to Twitter and the demonstrations were mostly organised by cell phone and word of mouth.
Frankly, based on my observations, no one was leading the demonstrations. During the course of the week after the elections, the mass movement evolved from one protesting vote fraud into one calling for much broader freedoms.
You could see it in the changing composition of the marches. There were not only upper-middle class kids in tight jeans and designer sun glasses. There were growing numbers of workers and women in very conservative chadors.
Iranian youth particularly resented Ahmadinejad's support for religious militia attacks on unmarried young men and women walking together and against women not covering enough hair with their hijab.
Workers resented the 24% annual inflation that robbed them of real wage increases. Independent trade unionists were fighting for decent wages and for the right to organise.
Some demonstrators wanted a more moderate Islamic government. Others advocated a separation of mosque and state, and a return to the parliamentary democracy they had before the 1953 coup.
But virtually everyone believes that Iran has the right to develop nuclear power, including enriching uranium.
Iranians support the Palestinians in their fight against Israeli occupation, and they want to see the US get out of Iraq.
If the CIA was manipulating the demonstrators, it was doing a piss poor job.
Of course, the CIA would like to have influence in Iran. But that's a far cry from saying it does.
By proclaiming the omnipotence of US power, the leftist critics ironically join hands with Ahmadinejad and the reactionary clerics who blame all unrest on the British and US.
3. Assertion: Ahmadinejad is a nationalist-populist who opposes US imperialism. Efforts to overthrow him only help the US
Petras wrote: "Ahmadinejad's strong position on defense matters contrasted with the pro-Western and weak defense posture of many of the campaign propagandists of the opposition ...
"Ahmadinejad's electoral success, seen in historical comparative perspective should not be a surprise. In similar electoral contests between nationalist-populists against pro-Western liberals, the populists have won ... most recently, Chavez of Venezuela, [and] Evo Morales in Bolivia."
From 1953 to 1979, the Shah of Iran brutally repressed his own people and aligned himself with the US and Israel. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran brutally repressed its own people and broke its alliance with the US and Israel.
That apparently causes confusion for some on the left.
I have written numerous articles and books criticising US policy on Iran, including Bush administration efforts to overthrow the Islamic government.
The US raises a series of phony issues, or exaggerates problems, in an effort to impose its domination on Iran. (Examples include Iran's nuclear power program, support for Hamas and Hezbollah, and support for Shiite groups in Iraq.)
Ahmadinejad has ramped up Iran's anti-imperialist rhetoric and posed himself as a leader of the Islamic world. That accounts for his fiery rhetoric against Israel and his raising of "questions" about the Holocaust, saying "more study is necessary".
As pointed out by the opposition candidates, Ahmadinejad's rhetoric about Israel and Jews has only alienated people around the world and made it more difficult for the Palestinians.
Despite rhetoric from the US and Israel, Iran has little impact on a struggle that must be resolved by Palestinians and Israelis themselves.
So comparing Ahmadinejad with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez or Bolivian President Evo Morales is absurd.
I have reported from Venezuela and Bolivia numerous times. Those countries have genuine mass movements that elected and kept those leaders in power.
They have implemented significant reforms that benefited workers and farmers. Ahmadinejad has introduced 24% annual inflation and high unemployment.
As for the position of Venezuela, which has backed Ahmedinejad's claim that the protests are an imperialist attempt to undermine his legitimate government, it is simply wrong.
On a diplomatic level, Venezuela and Iran share some things in common. Both are under attack from the US, including efforts at "regime change". Venezuela and other governments around the world will have to deal with Ahmadinejad as the de facto president, so questioning the election could cause diplomatic problems.
However, Chavez has got it backward. The popular movement in the streets will make Iran stronger as it rejects outside interference from the US or anyone else.
Real lives are at stake. A repressive government has killed at least 17 Iranians and injured hundreds.
The leftist critics must answer the question: Whose side are you on?
[Freelance foreign correspondent Reese Erlich covered the recent elections in Iran and their aftermath. This is abridged from Commondreams.org.]