Iranian Alert -- October 29, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

PS I have a daily ping list and a breaking news ping list. If you would like to receive alerts to these stories please let me know which list you would like to join.

U.S. Plans Funding Broadcasts into Iran

October 29, 2003
United Press International
Eli J. Lake

The State Department plans to fund some independent Iranian radio and television stations that broadcast into that country, a senior official told Congress yesterday.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. support for the private Iranian broadcasters would be on a "case- by-case basis."

The department would consider funding for these stations through the Middle East Partnership Initiative, a program started last year to support democratic movements in the Middle East and spur the region's authoritarian regimes to reform, he said.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, oversees the initiative and has received more than $100 million so far in funding for its projects.

Since last spring, the State Department and Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican, have been locked in a battle over U.S. funding for U.S.-based satellite stations that broadcast into Iran and are run by Iranian exiles who seek to overthrow the Islamic Republic's theocracy.

Unlike current U.S. broadcasting into Iran that is overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the exile-run stations usually broadcast a much tougher line against the ruling mullahs in Tehran and have been more closely associated with the son of the late shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi.

One such station, Azadi (Freedom) TV, has been operating for the past year at a considerable loss.

"We needed the money like yesterday," the station's owner, Fariborz Abbassi, said in an interview yesterday. He said he raises on average around $25,000 a month from individuals in Europe and the United States, but his costs exceed $120,000.

In April, Mr. Brownback proposed legislation to set up a $50 million annual fund for Iranian democracy, with much of the money set aside for satellite stations, according to a former Brownback staff member who worked closely on the legislation.

Mr. Armitage's announcement yesterday "seems to be a new position" for the State Department, the official said. "Previously, they had opposed any of our efforts to reach out to these independent groups."

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20031028-083513-7057r.htm

Memo From Iraq: We Will Be Free

October 29, 2003
Capitol Hill Blue
Ken Joseph Jr.

On a quiet afternoon in Baghdad I waited with some trepidation for a meeting with a member of the Preparatory Committee for the Constitution of the Iraqi Governing Council. This is the group charged with putting together the recommendations for the new Iraqi constitution.

I say with trepidation because after conversations with Ambassador Paul Bremer and sitting in on his testimony before Congressional Committees it seemed clear that the Iraqi constitution would be an Islamic one.

Critic after critic I spoke to was clear that the battle for a secular constitution for Iraq was over. Words such as "they are just going to have to live with it," referred to the minority Assyrian Christians, of whom I am one. As can be imagined, many Christians in Iraq are alarmed at the prospect of a post-Saddam Iraq being even worse than when he was in power, and that a secular dictator will be replaced by an Islamic fundamentalist regime.

The most important issue facing Iraq is in fact the constitution. If a secular constitution is put in place establishing the rule of law with a clear separation of church and state, then there is truly a future for Iraq. Having been born and raised in Japan I have lived the miracle of what an American-imposed constitution did for a nation in a similar state as Iraq now finds itself in. The constitution is critical.

Ambassador Bremer when asked the question "will the future Iraqi constitution contain the words 'Islam is the religion of the State' replied 'that is for the Iraqis to decide -- after all the British constitution is 'Christian.'"

His clear testimony, much to the consternation of the committee members was that they were doing the best to get a good, secular constitution for the Iraqi people but that as a Muslim country they really had no choice and could not insist.

Imagine my surprise when I began to speak with the representative from the very committee charged with making the recommendations for the constitution of Iraq.

"The committee will be recommending that there be no inclusion of any ideology or religion in the constitution."

I was expecting to get into an argument as to how Iraq must not have an Islamic constitution if there was any hope for the country to succeed. I was completely taken aback as the representative continued.

"If there is any mention of religion or ideology or a phrase such as 'Islam is the religion of the state,' it will be the death of democracy in Iraq."

Any such mention would disenfranchise half of the Iraqi population -- namely the women.

I could not believe my ears. I thought the Iraqi committee as had been clearly presented in Washington were going to put together a constitution that was Islamic. The Coalition was doing all it could to persuade them otherwise but it was a losing battle.

The representative continued: "The Iraqi people are secular and will never accept any mention of this in the constitution. We do not want to become like Iran.

"We just want to become like a normal country. We want a constitution that is secular and gives local autonomy. It is against the teaching of the Koran to allow religion's involvement in government.

"We have suffered for many, many long years under dictatorship and we will never, never lose this chance for democracy and freedom that has finally come to us."

I was stunned! Why was the message so different?

I then proceeded to explain the testimony of Ambassador Bremer before various congressional committees which I had attended as well as my personal conversation with him.

The response was immediate anger! "That is none of Mr. Bremer's business!"

Then the anger turned to surprise. "We thought the Americans wanted democracy to grow in Iraq? Why would they even think of an Islamic constitution?"

What could I say? I had no words! Why in the world would the Americans fight a war to liberate Iraq only to let the country fall into an Islamic government worse than the one it had before?

Well, there is hope. The Iraqis are more intelligent than we give them credit for and their message is simple. Do not speak for us. We will speak for ourselves. We will never allow victory to be snatched from us. We will be free.

(Rev. Ken Joseph Jr., an Assyrian has been in Iraq since before the war and is currently writing a book based on his experiences in Iraq entitled "I Was Wrong.")

http://205.177.120.143/artman/publish/article_3369.shtml

New Iran Information Revealed in Rafsanjani - Statoil Scandal

October 29, 2003
Nettavisen
Carin Pettersson

A letter sent by the former director of International affairs, Richard Hubbard, revealed that the acting executive director Inge K. Hansen is connected to the scandal in Iran. Furthermore, it is becoming evident that it was ex president’s son Rafsanjani who provided Statoil with information about the current situations in the country.

The plot thickens as the letter from Hubbard, which was revealed Tuesday, states that the acting executive director Inge K. Hansen was one of the five directors who agreed to enter into the controversial Iran agreement.

Hansen allegedly said that “1.5 million dollars annually is cheap for consultancy.”

However, the Statoil board still has confidence in Hansen, stated Kaci Kullman Five, acting chairperson, the Norwegian television channel Tuesday evening.

According to Hubbard’s letter, it is Medhi Hashemi Rafsanjani, the son of the powerful ex president in Iran, who is the actual advisor for Statoil in Iran. Horton Investments, the company which is listed as the official partner, is less important.

According to Hubbard, it was Rafsanjani who suggested that the consultant agreement should be directed through Abbas Yazdi and his company Horton Investments.

Medhi Hashemi Rafsanjani is referred to as “Junior” in Hubbard’s letter due to his status as son of the president.

The letter allegedly stated; “Junior” gave us good advice about the business conditions and current political relations. It was a great help.

According to the Norwegian financial paper Dagens Næringsliv, Richard Hubbard had a strained relation to Inge K. Hansen.

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article149737.ece

Iran's Parliament pegs Kazemi's death on 'butcher of the press'

Statement broadcast live: Prosecutor-general deliberately hid cause of death, reformists say

Graeme Hamilton and Norma Greenaway
National Post of Canada
29th of October, 03

Iran's Parliament yesterday blamed the death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi on Tehran's notorious prosecutor-general, Saeed Mortazavi, a man who earned the nickname "the butcher of the press" by closing more than 100 newspapers.

In a dramatic statement broadcast live on state-run Tehran radio, a parliamentary commission said Mr. Mortazavi was responsible for Ms. Kazemi's illegal detention and the subsequent attempt to cover up the fatal beating she received.

"The detention of Kazemi ... was not justified ... and against legal procedures," the Parliament said in its report on the killing, read in an open session against the objections of conservatives concerned about harming the country's image.

Bill Graham, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, welcomed the parliamentary report as "a very positive development."

He said the Canadian government has always maintained there is "an internal political dimension" to Ms. Kazemi's death. "Her death gives the reformers in Iran an opportunity to step up to the conservatives who run the judiciary and say to them, "Look, you mishandled this,' " Mr. Graham said.

He said the report clearly indicates reformers have "no faith" in the prosecutor, and it confirms the need to maintain a strong Canadian diplomatic presence in the country.

The Parliament said Mr. Mortazavi, who initially claimed Ms. Kazemi had died of a stroke, deliberately hid the circumstances of her death.

Citing police and intelligence reports, the report said Ms. Kazemi was first severely beaten by judiciary officials in Evin prison, north of Tehran. Guards who witnessed the beating were forced to change their reports.

The Parliament accused Mr. Mortazavi of levelling false accusations that Ms. Kazemi was a spy and had no permission to work as a journalist. Its report said Ms. Kazemi carried an official media card authorized by Culture Ministry officials.

The accusations are evidence of a power struggle between the reformist-dominated Parliament and the conservative judiciary, which is aligned with the country's unelected but all-powerful religious leaders.

Stockwell Day, the Canadian Alliance foreign affairs critic, called on the Liberal government to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran.

"It was the hope of the guilty murderers to drag the investigation process out so long that the glare of international scrutiny would fade away. We cannot allow that to happen," Mr. Day said in a written statement. "Now more than ever, Canada must be relentless in publicly pressuring Mortazavi to resign from this case. He is a known state enforcer who may have played a first-hand role in the killing."

This is not the first time Mr. Mortazavi's name has surfaced in connection with Ms. Kazemi's death.

She was arrested on June 23 while taking pictures of demonstrators outside Evin prison. She fell into a coma while in custody and died on July 10.

In July, the French newspaper Libération, quoting unnamed sources, reported Mr. Mortazavi struck Ms. Kazemi on the head with a shoe during her interrogation.

Maurice Copithorne, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, who, until last year was a United Nations special representative on the human rights situation in Iran, said Mr. Mortazavi was an enemy of the free press.

"One name always popped up with regard to cases where there was an egregious denial of the rights of the newspapers concerned, and that name was Saeed Mortazavi," he said.

Mr. Mortazavi is a prominent figure in the regime, and singling him out for blame is much different than trying to blame some rogue element.

"It would cost someone quite a lot of face to have him put on trial," Mr. Copithorne said.

Karim Lahidji, a legal advisor to Ms. Kazemi's son and president of the Paris-based Iranian League for Human Rights, said the Parliament's report was an unprecedented challenge to Mr. Mortazavi. He noted the report effectively clears the intelligence agent currently on trial for the killing.

"The real guards were under the authority of Mortazavi, and they are still at work to find other Zahra Kazemis and torture them," Mr. Lahidji said.

Mr. Copithorne said the report is evidence that the reformers in Parliament are willing to assert themselves. "It's far from certain whether anyone will ever be charged and convicted, but the longer the issue is kept alive, the more political pressure is maintained on the governing elite," he said.

http://www.nationalpost.com/national/story.html?id=1B9970EA-7C9B-4858-84D5-ECAB38644715

NO ONE SPEAKS FOR ALL MUSLIMS
Amir Taheri
October 29, 2003 -- A FEW months ago, during a meeting with Mahathir Mohamed in London, I asked the 77-year-old politician what he intended to do after retiring as prime minister of Malaysia this October. He said he had not decided, and asked whether I had any ideas. I thought he might make a good roving ambassador for Islam. "Oh, no," he responded. "I won't be any good. I cannot control my tongue."

This month, Mahathir proved that his self-assessment was right. In a speech at the 10th Islamic summit in Kuala Lumpur, he began by urging Muslims to abandon violence and to embrace the modern world. But then he went on to claim that the modern world, which he had lavishly praised, had been created by the Jews who also continue to rule it. This was typical Mahathir.

The reaction to it was also typical. The Bush administration instantly came out with outright condemnation. The British expressed dismay and regret. The European Union, persuaded by French President Jacques Chirac (who did not wish to sound like the Americans), decided not to react.

That is understandable. What is not understandable is that many commentators in the West, especially in the United States, have presented Mahathir as a spokesman for the Muslim world as a whole. Mahathir has no such position.

One difficulty in the so-called "dialog of civilizations" is that many in the West try to understand Islam in Christian terms. This is partly a problem of semantics. The term Christendom defines the existential reality of Christian states, while the term Christianity defines the religion of Christ. There are no equivalent terms to distinguish Islam as a religion from the existential reality of 57 Muslim states.

Another difficulty is that many Westerners cannot conceive of a religion without a formal structure resembling a church, and no clergy resembling the Christian priesthood. In Islam, however, there is neither church nor clergy in the Christian sense.

There are, to be sure, large numbers of mullahs, muftis, moulawis and other individuals who earn a living by offering religious opinions. But they have no sacerdotal mandate. There is no mechanism through which any particular opinion could be presented as that of all, or even a substantial number, of Muslims.

The problem is compounded by the fact that we have a large number of organizations using the "Islamic" label.

Mahathir was addressing a summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). His speech was broadcast by the Islamic News Agency. There are a dozen more "Islamic" outfits. These are all political organizations that operate in a perfectly secular manner and must be regarded as parts of the paraphernalia of international diplomatic, cultural and economic relations. What they say and do may reflect the views of Islamdom, to coin a phrase, but not necessarily of Islam as a faith.

The West's perplexity is understandable. And the confusion will continue for as long as we use the label Islamic where it is not warranted.

It is also a fact that anyone who tries to understand the policies of any Muslim country in strictly religious terms would reap nothing but confusion. The Kuala Lumpur summit made that amply clear.

Russia, which has massacred more Muslims in Chechnya than all the victims of all the Arab-Israeli wars, was admitted as an associate member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Russian President Vladimir Putin received a hero's welcome in Malaysia.

India, which has the world's second-largest population of Muslims, was refused even as an observer because Pakistan was against it. The Turkish Cypriot government was also shut out because Greece, which backs the Greek Cypriot government, has always supported the Arab position on Palestine.

Muslim states behave like any other state - that is to say, in accordance with real or imagined geopolitical and other secular interests, and not on the basis of any religious agenda.

No, Mahathir was not talking on behalf of Islam. He was talking as a political leader who happens to be a Muslim, in a country where non-Muslims account for nearly half the population. Some Muslims liked what he said, and some did not.

But this could be true of a statement made by any politician anywhere in the world.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/9335.htm

THE IRAN-AL-QAEDA CONNECTION

With its leadership scattered and traditional safe haven destroyed, a new crop of operatives have begun to reconstitute al-Qaeda from a new base of operations in the Middle East. High-level members of the terrorist network -- including Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's oldest sons, al-Qaeda operations chief Saif al-Adel, and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, the organization's chief financial officer -- are now operating out of Iran, from where they have begun to coordinate the organization's global activities. These al-Qaeda elements are said to be protected by Qods Force, a branch of Islamic Republic's feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Pasdaran. Highly-trained and politically powerful, the unit has long been a liaison between Iran's hard-line clergy and an array of prominent international terrorist groups, and is suspected of having provided safe haven and tactical assistance to al-Qaeda elements in the aftermath of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. (Washington Post, October 14, 2003) from:

Eurasia Security Watch No. 3, October 29, 2003
American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
http://www.afpc.org

Editor: Ilan Berman
Associate Editor: Artem Agoulnik

Enough with the diplospeak--Iran is a terrorist state.

Nobel Winner Says She Owes Award To Jailed Intellectuals

October 29, 2003
Dow Jones Newswires
The Associated Press

TEHRAN -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi praised modern and ancient enemies of the Islamic hard-liners who rule Iran, saying Wednesday she owes her award to those jailed here for their beliefs and to the example set by a sixth century B.C. pioneer of human rights in Persia.

Earlier this month, Ebadi, a lawyer and rights campaigner, became the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, Iranian reformers have looked to her to rally opposition to hard-liners who say the country's cleric-controlled system of government can't be changed.

After a speech Wednesday that drew wild applause from over 1,000 students at Amir Kabir University, Ebadi made a small but telling gesture: shaking hands with two men, Habibollah Peyman and Mohammad Maleki, both prominent dissidents. Under Iran's Islamic-inspired laws, it's a crime for men and women who aren't related to shake hands in public. Possible punishments range from jail to flogging.

In her speech, Ebadi named some of Iran's prominent jailed reformers and intellectuals.

"Let's remember those who are not with us because of their beliefs, including Hashem Aghajari, Abbas Abdi and Naser Zarafshan," she said.

Aghajari, a history professor at Tehran's Teachers Training University, was sentenced to death last year for questioning clerical rule in a speech. His sentence was reduced following nationwide protests and he now is serving a four-year jail term.

Abdi, a top member of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, is serving an eight-year sentence after being convicted in February of selling classified information to foreign intelligence agencies, a charge stemming from a poll he conducted showed strong public support for dialogue with the U.S.

Lawyer Zarafshan was found guilty last year on charges of divulging state secrets and illegal possession of a firearm after speaking out about the murders of Iranian dissidents. He is serving a five-year sentence.

Dozens of political activists, journalists and others have been jailed on vague charges of working against the Islamic establishment. Ebadi herself was convicted in a closed trial three years ago of slandering government officials. She spent three weeks in jail before being given a suspended sentence.

"The road to the peace prize was also paved through the pains and sufferings of people who have spent many years in jail because of their beliefs...long live all those who paved this road," Ebadi said Wednesday.

In her first press conference in Iran as a Nobel laureate, Ebadi earlier this month demanded Iranian leaders free all "political prisoners," including journalists and activists jailed for alleged crimes against the Islamic establishment. Wednesday, she said there has been no response from the leadership.

Ebadi, though, told the students not to lose hope that democratic reforms in Iran can be achieved peacefully.

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2003102919180010&Take=1

Photos Prompt Iran Attack Fears

October 29, 2003
Hendon and Finchley Times
Lawrence Marzouk

Reports that suspected Iranian terrorists have been photographing synagogues in the borough have fuelled fears that an attack is being prepared on a Jewish target.

Last week's Sunday Telegraph claimed that 20 Iranians, many of them students, were involved in surveillance operations on numerous buildings used by the Jewish community in London, and two have subsequently been deported. The article quoted unnamed intelligence sources speculating on a possible link to an al-Qaeda terror attack within the next few months.

Since then, the Sternberg Centre in East End Road, Finchley, which houses the New North London Synagogue (NNLS), has confirmed it was photographed in suspicious circumstances.

Brian Berelowitz, chairman of NNLS, said: "There was a photograph incident some time ago, about three months. The person was stopped. [When I heard of the Sunday Telegraph report] it worried me with the past incident."

He refused to be drawn further on details of the incident, including on whether there was a link to Iran or al-Qaeda.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides security measures for most of the UK's Jewish public sites, confirmed that at least one Jewish community building had been targeted, but refused to say which one or if other similar incidents had taken place.

A spokeswoman said: "We have been warned of a Jewish community building being photographed. We have a high level of security at the moment. We are asking members of the community to be very vigilant."

Mr Berelowitz said: "We will have to discuss what level of alert the synagogue takes. But we do not take the decision, the CST takes it."

Iran has a history of terrorist activity abroad as the sponsor of the militant Islamic group Hizbullah.

Hadi Soleimanpour, the former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, was arrested in Britain this August in connection with the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 which killed 85 people.

Two Palestinian students, Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami, were convicted of a car-bomb attack on a Jewish charity in Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, in 1994, which injured four people.

Al-Qaeda leaders have urged terrorist cells to attack synagogues and Jewish sites, and two al-Qaeda-linked attacks last year were directed at Jewish targets in Mombasa, Kenya, and Casablanca, Morocco.

Barnet is home to the UK's largest Jewish community — around 46,000 — as well as an estimated 5,000 Iranians, many of them opposed to the current regime in Tehran.

Massoud Zabeti, from Golders Green, is a prominent member of the Iranian community with links to the Iranian opposition party and believes that these are clear signs of preparation for an attack. He said: "There have been surveillance operation against Iranian dissidents and foreigners for years — this is typical of how the Iranian regime operates. This is the type of thing which the Iranian people have been warning about for years.

"We should be more vigilant with what they are doing. If we are not more vigilant, there might be an attack."

But the Metropolitan Police do not believe an attack is imminent. A spokesman said: "We have no knowledge of that incident. Since 9/11, the level of threat is, and remains, very high. We do not discuss security matters."

If you see anything suspicious, call New Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789321.

http://www.hendontimes.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.427533.0.photos_prompt_iran_attack_fears.php

Iraqi Council Blames Foreign Terrorists for Deadly Bombings

October 29, 2003
The New York Times
Susan Sachs

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi political leaders lined up behind President Bush today, blaming foreign terrorists for the latest wave of suicide bombings and calling on Syria and Iran to help control the violence by closing their borders.

"Our investigations and inquiries have revealed that a number of those who have executed the terrorist acts in Iraq have entered the country across the borders from neighboring countries," the Iraqi Governing Council said in a statement.

The reproach to Iran and Syria, both opponents of the occupation, signified a sharper new tone in the Iraqis' foreign policy toward their powerful neighbors.

Mr. Bush, whose administration selected the members of the transitional Iraqi government council, also blamed the attacks on outside militants and ousted members of Saddam Hussein's security forces.

American military commanders on the ground, however, have said they have not seen significant infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq.

Even as insurgents widened their attacks this week to include clearly civilian neighborhoods, American military casualties also spiked with a new round of mortar attacks, roadside bombs and shootings.

The American death toll from the daily bombings now exceeds the number of American combat deaths in the war to overthrow Mr. Hussein's dictatorship.

Military officials said two soldiers with the Fourth Infantry Division soldiers were killed today and one was wounded when their tank hit an improvised bomb. They also said one soldier with the First Armored Division was killed and six others wounded in Baghdad in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

The differing assessments of the presence of foreign fighters suggest that despite their concerns for Iraq's borders, the American-led occupation forces do not yet have a clear picture of who has organized and carried out the increasingly devastating attacks on coalition troops and Iraqi civilians.

The attackers certainly include some Iraqis from the old security apparatus who may be fighting out of loyalty to the deposed Baath Party or out of a sense of humiliation after Iraq's defeat, according to Iraqis familiar with the capabilities of their country's once-powerful military.

The occupation authority has at least one person in custody who was involved in the five coordinated car bombings in Baghdad on Monday, when at least 34 people were killed and more than 230 injured. The suspect was caught running from a sixth vehicle rigged with explosives.

Iraq's health minister, Khudair Abbas, said the would-be suicide bomber was carrying a Syrian passport, according to a report on the Arabic satellite news station Al Jazeera.

The bombers in four other explosions that took place in Baghdad that day, when at least 34 people were killed and 230 wounded, were apparently incinerated after detonating their explosives.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, meanwhile, said it would scale back its staff in Iraq but would not pull out entirely. Its office in Baghdad was hit in the Monday suicide bombings. Other aid groups had drastically reduced their presence in south and central Iraq after the United Nations headquarters here was attacked in August, and the United Nations maintains only a small staff now.

The Iraqi Governing Council, which said it would deliver its message directly to Syria later in the week, called on its "brotherly neighboring countries" to take a clear stand to condemn the attacks by guerillas. Syrian and Iran have also been under pressure from Washington to better police their borders with Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/international/middleeast/29CND-IRAQ.html

US Lawmakers Warn World Bank Against Lending To Iran

October 29, 2003
Dow Jones Newswires
Joseph Rebello

WASHINGTON -- U.S. lawmakers are growing increasingly alarmed by the World Bank's plans to boost loans to Iran despite new evidence that the country has secretly been developing technology that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

For three years, ever since the bank ended a seven-year hiatus in lending to Iran, lawmakers have mostly been silent over the loans. Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, regularly grumbled about them but few of his colleagues joined him. That changed Wednesday, when several lawmakers denounced the loans and upbraided the Bush administration for failing to stop them.

"A country that's able to pursue a nuclear-weapons program hardly ought to be able to plead poverty when it comes to dealing with the needs of its people," said Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "Secondly we have a regime that's violative of human rights internally, and of the requirements of civility between nations externally."

Frank said the loans could undermine popular support for U.S. participation in the World Bank. "This is a very serious warning...to other countries that have votes on the board of the World Bank," he said at a hearing. "If they continue, they will make the job of American cooperation with the bank, which I regard as a very desirable thing, much harder than it is."

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency recently found traces of highly enriched uranium at an underground nuclear facility that the country had kept secret for years. The IAEA said Iran hasn't lived up to the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which it signed in 1970, and gave the government an Oct. 31 deadline to provide a full accounting of its nuclear activities.

The World Bank, however, has shown no sign of suspending plans that call for disbursing nearly $1 billion in loans to Iran over the next few years. "We are trying to build relationships with Iran," World Bank President James Wolfensohn said in a speech Wednesday. "We are trying to support more moderate actions and we are doing some few projects there in relation to social projects."

Since 2000, the bank has approved $432 million in loans to Iran - over the objections of the U.S. government, which is required by Congress to vote against them. William Schuerch, a deputy assistant Treasury secretary, told lawmakers Wednesday that the government hasn't been able to persuade other leading shareholders of the bank to vote against the loans.

"The commercial opportunities in Iran, where U.S. companies could not compete due to U.S. sanctions, have been enticing to many of our G-7 partners," he said, referring to the Group of Seven industrial nations. Moreover, he said, European countries think the loans will bolster Iran's political reformers in their struggle with the hardline clerics that rule the nation.

But although Schuerch said the U.S. government hasn't been "fully successful" in stopping approval the loans, he suggested it has made significant progress in keeping the cash from flowing. So far the bank has released just $42 million of the $432 million in loans approved, Schuerch said.

"If I were going to be aggressive, I could try to assert the United States has been successful behind the scenes in order to stop the disbursement, or slow it down substantially," he said. But he said that assertion would have "particular problems with other shareholders."

The bank's managers, he said, would argue that the funds haven't been released because "Iran is a particularly difficult place to do business in, and they are having trouble getting started."

Schuerch nevertheless got an earful from lawmakers who said the Bush administration has either been too gentle or too inconsistent in its approach to Iran.

"There are moments in which we list them on the 'axis of evil,' say they're developing nuclear weapons (and) think it's a high priority to stop it," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat. "We know they're supporting terrorist groups, and yet we're giving them financial assistance. All I'm saying is for me it's a bit confusing."

Sherman, the California Democrat, asked Schuerch whether the government had threatened to retaliate against World Bank shareholders that voted for the loans. "Have we deprived them of a single hors d'oeuvre, or have we basically said you can vote the way you want to, you can subsidize the nuclear destruction of American cities if it ever comes to that, and you won't lose a single hors d'oeuvre?" he said.

Schuerch said the Bush administration hadn't threatened any country "with that kind of behavior." That triggered a heated exchange with Sherman. "This administration cares more about our banana exports - which we don't even grow here - than it does defending American security from this threat," Sherman said.

Schuerch replied: "I think you better count the number of troops that we have over in this part of the world, if that's what you think. This issue is much broader than Treasury or a few dollars out of an international institution...We have Americans next door to this country...dying day by day."

Some lawmakers have proposed legislation that would reduce U.S. contributions to the World Bank in the amount of the loans that it makes to Iran. But at the hearing Wednesday, Schuerch said the World Bank isn't an appropriate forum for resolving short-term political problems. Other experts who testified agreed.

"There are grave risks to U.S. interests if foreign-policy considerations dominate decisions about World Bank lending," said Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Many governments oppose aspects of U.S. foreign policy, and they could be tempted to block U.S. loans allies," including Iraq, he said. The World Bank has proposed lending up to $5 billion to Iraq by 2007.

Ray Takeyh, a professor of national security studies at the National Defense University, said the suspension of World Bank loans to Iran wouldn't change its government's attitude toward the sponsorship of terrorism and the development of nuclear weapons.

"The trajectory of Iran's foreign policy and its overall conduct reveals that the theocracy responds only when it is confronted with multilateral pressure spearheaded by important commercial partners, particularly the European Union and Japan," Takeyh said. "A U.S. policy that encompasses American pressure and European determination will have far-reaching effects on Iran and extract important concessions from the theocracy."

-By Joseph Rebello, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9279; joseph.rebello.com

(Elizabeth Price contributed to this report.)

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2003102921260031&Take=1

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