Quoth Maurice “Snoopy” Miller in Steven Soderbergh’s brilliant adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight (1998). And, indeed, unlike the film’s anti-ish hero, Jack Foley, and despite his heretofore increasingly vocal criticism and defiance of the régime, Mîr-Ḥusayn Mûsavî hath indeed bitched out.

The Œc. Vol. doesn’t want to claim the mantle of prophecy, but he will note that if you’d been following the Gormogons’ coverage of Iran, you’d have run across the following sentiment:

Also, there’s a lot of talk about the person of Mûsavî. He is only important insofar as his being robbed was the inciting incident here. He’s a régime-picked stooge, though a saner, more hygenic one than Ahmadî-Nezhâd. Anyone who hangs hopes on him is a fool. If things continue to be unstable, the government is toppled, and he ends up on top, most likely he’ll not be Boris Yeltsin but either a Thermidorian figure or a ten-minute man like Abo’l-Hasan Banî-Sadr. Remember him? I didn’t think so.

Et voilà. Or as we say in Persian, اینك…

Mousavi, who claims he actually won the vote, says he will seek official permission for any future rallies, effectively ending his role in street protests.

The opposition may have little opportunity to keep momentum going within the limits of the law, and the international attention that appeared to bolster their morale could be waning. Also, Mousavi’s Web site, his primary means for communicating with supporters, remained down on Saturday; an aide told the Associated Press Friday that the site had been hacked.

Mousavi said he would seek official permission for any future rallies, effectively ending his role in street protests organized by supporters who insist he won the election.

“The problem is we have no one to lead us,” a 30-year-old resident of Isfahan told AP on Saturday on condition of anonymity because he feared government reprisal. “We are waiting for a new message, but Mousavi does not want to continue, because after all he is part of the system.”

“People are angry and afraid,” he said. “They are afraid of the future and angry because they failed to achieve change with their ballots.”

People continue to resist the government oppression, he said, although very few dare to defy the government on the streets due to massive police presence.

But they continue to shout from the rooftops at night in Tehran and Isfahan, he said. The shouting was particularly loud after ruling clerics accused protesters Friday of challenging and opposing God with their dissent.

Mousavi alleges he was robbed of victory through widespread and systematic fraud. The regime rejects the claim, refusing to consider new balloting, and on Friday, the Guardian Council—Iran’s top electoral body—proclaimed the vote the “healthiest” held since the revolution.

آه. Which is to say, sigh.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.