In Iran, the protests have quieted, but the protesters are simmering

Those caught up in the "green wave" built on the presidential campaign of Mir-Hossein Mousavi are still trying to understand what has happened to their country in the short space of a month. According to conversations with dozens of analysts and ordinary people, most of whom did not want to be identified by their full names, their view of Iran and understanding of the rules that governed it for 30 years have changed dramatically.

The elation of a lively political season highlighted by a series of boisterous debates was crushed by election results grossly out of whack with Iranians' understanding of their nation's demographics and previous voting patterns.

"At the beginning, during the campaign it was promising," said Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, a Tehran political scientist. "Mr. Mousavi was not important, but the turnout for him was important. The results of the election were shocking, and the youths became disappointed."

Iran had anticipated a fair vote -- within a system constrained by rules set by the country's clerical leaders. True, all candidates were vetted by the Guardian Council for fealty to Iran's Islamic system. But each vote still counted.

The election and its aftermath ripped away a facade.

Ahmadinejad was quickly declared a landslide winner. Then, as daily protests grew, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei broke precedent by explicitly standing with one side of the political spectrum.

What's more, many Iranians felt they were being patronized. Khamenei depicted any vote cast as one for the system, and he seemed to say that it didn't matter who people wanted because his views were closest to Ahmadinejad's. He threatened those who resisted with a crackdown.

The day after Khamenei's speech, as Tehran burned, the slogans took a nasty turn.

"Rue the day when we're armed!" protesters chanted as they hurled rocks at the detested Basiji militiamen and tossed Molotov cocktails at offices of the morality police.

The crackdown that ensued was the worst since the 1980s, as was the Orwellian twist taken by state and pro-government news media: Neda Agha-Soltan, a young, aspiring tour guide fatally shot on a street, was transformed into a Basiji volunteer whose killing was arranged by a BBC correspondent.

The elite Revolutionary Guard, under the control of Khamenei, appeared to take control of the city, even trumping the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and other government agencies.