Iranian Alert -- January 4, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 1.4.2004 | DoctorZin

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[DoctorZIn]

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!

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[DoctorZIn]

U.S. Should Forgo Animosity Toward Iran: Intelligence Minister

January 03, 2004
Mehr News Agency
mehrnews.com

TEHRAN -- In response to the recent remarks of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Washington's temporary lifting of certain sanctions on Iran, Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said that Iran's problem with the United States is a security matter rather than a political or economic matter.

Yunesi added that the U.S. government has still not accepted the reality of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He stressed that the current U.S. administration has been making relentless efforts to weaken and destroy the Islamic Republic, adding that the U.S. has established a fund for counterrevolutionary groups, started a radio service to destabilize the Islamic Republic, and formally announced that Iran is part of an "axis of evil".

"Therefore it has become obvious that U.S. officials have security problems with Iran, and so long as this viewpoint exists, no problem will be solved," Yunesi said.

He stated that Washington's recent measures are politicized, adding that the U.S. is attempting to appease Iranian nationals residing in the United States.

He added that an influential group of people in the U.S. who are allies of Iran began calling for the U.S. to provide assistance to the country after the disastrous earthquake struck the southeastern city of Bam.

Yunesi said that the Iranian government recognizes these people as its citizens.

"However, the government of President George W. Bush needs their votes and has taken the recent measures in order to obtain them," he added.

Yunesi said that Iran has accepted humanitarian aid for the quake-stricken city of Bam from all countries except Israel, adding that Iran-U.S. relations can only be improved if Washington forgoes its animosity toward Iran.

He went on to say that if the U.S. proves in practice that it is not the enemy of Iran, that would pave the way for Iran to accept its other claims.

Yunesi stated that Washington's animosity toward Iran is clearly illustrated by its efforts to continue its support of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) as well as the fact that it has arrested and kidnapped Iranian citizens in Iraq.

"The U.S. takes an antagonistic stance wherever Iran's interests are at stake. This shows that the country, or at least its current officials, is against the Islamic Republic of Iran," Yunesi said.

The minister referred to the decision made by the Iraqi Governing Council to expel members of the MKO, adding that Washington is attempting to find them somewhere to relocate to.

Yunesi stressed that any country that receives members of the MKO has openly announced its blatant animosity toward the Iranian nation and government.

Yunesi also spoke to reporters about the latest discussions between the Intelligence Ministry and the executive and supervisory electoral boards on the primary and secondary tasks of the Intelligence Ministry and said that the ministry is preparing for close cooperation with electoral institutions.

Yunesi stated that one of the most important responsibilities of the Intelligence Ministry in the upcoming elections is responding to various institutions' inquiries about the candidates.

He said that the Intelligence Ministry is tasked with responding to inquiries about candidates because it possesses documents from the pre-revolution era and that clarification of some issues is within the legal mandate of the ministry.

He said that in response to inquiries about candidates, the Intelligence Ministry has provided some information on their background, but has not attempted to disqualify them, adding that the electoral boards are the bodies authorized to either confirm or reject candidates' qualifications.

http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx?NewsID=49297&t=Political

[freedom44]

[DoctorZIn]

Groups Raise $1M for Iran Quake Victims

January 03, 2004
The Associated Press
Laura Wides

LOS ANGELES - Iranian-American groups have raised more than $1 million to help victims of last week's deadly earthquake in Iran, money that some hope will improve relations between the countries.

"I am hoping out of this to have a new relationship going on between the United States and the Iranian government," said Reza Dehbozorgi, head of the Iranian Professionals Association of South Florida.

The 6.6-magnitude earthquake, which killed at least 30,000 people, prompted a nationwide effort by both Iranians and Muslims in general to send relief.

President Bush, who has said Iran is part of an international "axis of evil," lifted sanctions for 90 days to allow aid to reach victims. Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic relations since militants seized the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital in 1979.

The Southfield, Mich.-based Muslim charity Life for Relief and Redevelopment sent seven tons of food and children's clothing immediately after the quake and plans to send medical supplies.

In Los Angeles, home to a third of the nation's 277,000 Iranian immigrants, the Iranian Muslim Association of North America raised more than $800,000 in pledges during a telethon. The association said it expected about 1,000 people to attend a memorial service Sunday.

"When you see those pictures, it doesn't matter if it's your relatives or your family. Everyone wants to help," said the association's president, Sadegh Namazikhah.

Still, an indication that U.S.-Iran relations remain strained came Friday when Iran rejected a U.S. proposal to send a humanitarian aid delegation led by Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the former head of the Red Cross.

Iran said it prefers that the delegation be "held in abeyance" because of the current situation on the ground; the U.S. government said it didn't consider the rejection political.

But some in the U.S. Iranian community don't believe there should be rapprochement until Iran's Muslim fundamentalist government is replaced by a different leadership.

"There's a mixed reaction to the Bush proposal to lift the embargo because people who are political opponents think this will help Bush and the regime get together, and this will stabilize the regime more," said Los Angeles-based journalist Homa Sarshar.

She also said some Iranian immigrants are concerned that money sent by smaller groups may end up with the government.

"They don't know if it will reach the people," Sarshar said. "Everybody is waiting to see what is going to happen."

Namazikhah, the president of the Iranian Muslim Association, said his group's first objective is to build a hospital in Iran to replace the ones that were destroyed. But he acknowledged it would be difficult to complete a hospital in the three months the federal government has allowed.

Aid organizations say some groups could run into problems because they are not accustomed to working with governments.

"This typically happens with overseas communities that come from countries that are not in favor with Washington," said Richard Walden, head of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based international relief agency. "They are used to sending money to their families, but they don't realize they have less leeway with the Iranian government or the U.S. government in terms of aid for things like schools or hospitals."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=7&u=/ap/20040103/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_earthquake_donations

[DoctorZIn]

In Iran's Disaster, an Opening for the Opposition

December 31, 2003
The Washington Post
Nora Boustany

Azar Nafisi, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University who left Iran in 1997, says it took a natural disaster such as the devastating earthquake at Bam to cast the harshest light yet on the failings of the Iranian government.

Nafisi, who has been a consistent critic of the Iranian government, is the author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran," a memoir about repression and limits on freedom of expression in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution.

She said that the depth of the Bam tragedy was whipping up anger about the lack of preventive measures by the government, laxity in issuing construction permits and the leaders' general hypocrisy. The quake struck Bam, a city of 80,000 in southeastern Iran, last Friday; as many as 50,000 people may be dead.

Nafisi has been monitoring Iranian Web sites and other reaction following the quake. She says that opposition to the government is becoming more evident. "People, even officials, are talking about accountability," she said in an interview yesterday.

As an example, she said, a member of parliament from Sanandaj province complained publicly that officials had ignored a bill that focused on measures to limit damage and loss of life from earthquakes. The measure was proposed after a quake in his region in 1990 killed an estimated 40,000 people.

One Web site, www.iftribune.com(Iran Feminist Tribune), Nafisi said, reported that the Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross in Islamic countries, banned female doctors and volunteers who tried to go to Bam. Only 30 to 40 women were allowed to go to the stricken area, according to a female doctor who spoke with a Red Crescent official. Those women were performing "mainly counseling services or psychological reinforcement work, and the group includes two reporters, one photographer and 16 from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance," wrote the doctor, identifying herself as Sahar, and quoting the official.

On Sunday, after being turned away the first time, Sahar said, she went to the University of Tehran to meet with a physician who was organizing volunteers. She was rejected again, Nafisi said, and then confronted the man, saying that 70 percent of all students enrolling in medical school were women. The organizer replied: "We are powerless. This order is coming from above."

In a later posting on the Web site, Sahar said that she finally headed to the airport in Tehran after hearing that volunteers were getting onto flights headed for Bam. She said she was not allowed to make the trip.

Marmar, a female photographer, reported on the Web site that a bearded man had approached her as she was taking a picture of a corpse pinned under debris in Bam. The man cautioned her that her bangs were showing from beneath her veil. He admonished her that she was "committing a sin," Nafisi said. "They don't realize how absurd this all is, the extent to which they consider the visibility of women a threat, when thousands of people have died."

Nafisi's book describes the secret weekly meetings she held with seven female university students at her house in Tehran to discuss literary works by Vladimir Nabokov, Henry James, Joseph Conrad and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The meetings, avoiding the scrutiny of religious zealots, offered a glimpse of Iranian resistance in the 1980s. "When we had this secret class in Tehran, we felt utterly helpless," she said. "Spaces are not given to you. You have to play a role in creating them."

In response to the earthquake, Nafisi said, "new alternative spaces are emerging instinctively." Participation by men and women in non-governmental organizations is increasing, she said. There are also new, though unofficial, avenues for economic aid. Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, has established a bank account to collect relief funds from non-governmental organizations and from Iranians outside the country. Charity and welfare programs, long monopolized by the government, are now also being handled by nonprofit organizations, and are coming to the rescue of the grief-stricken, the homeless and destitute.

"Like everything in Iran, this tragedy and its consequences will become symbolic," Nafisi said. "People in Iran are constantly trying to create alternative spaces which the regime is trying to take away from them. We are not talking about a minority here, but something much more elemental, more central to people's lives," she said.

Ebadi, noting that two hospitals and other buildings constructed recently in the quake zone were destroyed by Friday's earthquake, has charged that corruption led to inadequate building standards. "Ebadi has a very important role to play, despite tremendous government pressure on her," Nafisi said.

One representative of an independent relief organization said in her latest missive posted on the Web site: "We have finally been able to get permission to go."

"They are persistent," Nafisi said. "This is bigger than politics. These women just refuse to give up. They are aware they have to be part of this, they have to participate and they need to let everybody know that they won't go home." She added: "It is at times like this that natural leaders are born. This is a wake-up call and people feel compelled to take matters into their own hands."

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=01&d=03&a=10

[ChiMark]

The "Big Mo" is on! Will Jimmy Carter be pissed...

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian immigrants concerned money sent by smaller groups may end up with government

AP - World News
Jan 3, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Iranian-American groups have raised more than $1 million to help victims of last week's deadly earthquake in Iran, money that some hope will improve relations between the countries.

"I am hoping out of this to have a new relationship going on between the United States and the Iranian government," said Reza Dehbozorgi, head of the Iranian Professionals Association of South Florida.

The 6.6-magnitude earthquake, which killed at least 30,000 people, prompted a nationwide effort by both Iranians and Muslims in general to send relief.

President Bush, who has said Iran is part of an international "axis of evil," lifted sanctions for 90 days to allow aid to reach victims. Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic relations since militants seized the U.S. embassy in the Iranian capital in 1979.

The Southfield, Mich.-based Muslim charity Life for Relief and Redevelopment sent seven tons of food and children's clothing immediately after the quake and plans to send medical supplies.

In Los Angeles, home to a third of the nation's 277,000 Iranian immigrants, the Iranian Muslim Association of North America raised more than $800,000 in pledges during a telethon. The association said it expected about 1,000 people to attend a memorial service Sunday.

"When you see those pictures, it doesn't matter if it's your relatives or your family. Everyone wants to help," said the association's president, Sadegh Namazikhah.

Still, an indication that U.S.-Iran relations remain strained came Friday when Iran rejected a U.S. proposal to send a humanitarian aid delegation led by Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the former head of the Red Cross.

Iran said it prefers that the delegation be "held in abeyance" because of the current situation on the ground; the U.S. government said it didn't consider the rejection political.

But some in the U.S. Iranian community don't believe there should be rapprochement until Iran's Muslim fundamentalist government is replaced by a different leadership.

"There's a mixed reaction to the Bush proposal to lift the embargo because people who are political opponents think this will help Bush and the regime get together, and this will stabilize the regime more," said Los Angeles-based journalist Homa Sarshar.

She also said some Iranian immigrants are concerned that money sent by smaller groups may end up with the government.

"They don't know if it will reach the people," Sarshar said. "Everybody is waiting to see what is going to happen."

Namazikhah, the president of the Iranian Muslim Association, said his group's first objective is to build a hospital in Iran to replace the ones that were destroyed. But he acknowledged it would be difficult to complete a hospital in the three months the federal government has allowed.

Aid organizations say some groups could run into problems because they are not accustomed to working with governments.

"This typically happens with overseas communities that come from countries that are not in favor with Washington," said Richard Walden, head of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based international relief agency. "They are used to sending money to their families, but they don't realize they have less leeway with the Iranian government or the U.S. government in terms of aid for things like schools or hospitals."

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4395.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

Official Death Toll From Iran Quake Rises To 35,000

AP - World News
Jan 3, 2004

BAM -The death toll from the Dec. 26 earthquake near Bam, Iran, has risen to about 35,000, Brig. Gen. Hoseyn Fat'ahi of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps told Iran's official news agency Saturday. He said the injured numbered 17,000.

Figures for the overall dead have varied according to differing estimates of the number of bodies still under the rubble and thousands of unregistered burials.

A situation report by the U.N. Disaster Assessment Coordination Team warned that many survivors were suffering from psychological disorders after the deaths of their loved ones and the destruction of their homes.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder is highly prevalent," the U.N. report said. On Friday the U.S. field hospital operated on a young Iranian soldier who tried to commit suicide by shooting himself after discovering the quake had wiped out his family.

"If we don't pay the best attention to this, it will lead to more cases of depression, suicide and other mental health problems," said Dr. Mohammad Farojpour, the head of Kerman province's mental health department.

But amid the wreckage and chaos, there was a reason to celebrate Saturday.

For nearly nine days after the earthquake, 97-year-old Sharbanou Mazandarani lay trapped under furniture and crumbled masonry, passing fear-filled days and cold nights with death all around.

On Saturday, amazed rescuers pulled her out of the rubble alive - and amazingly, unhurt.

"God kept me alive," the petite, wrinkled Mazandarani said as she lay on a bed in a makeshift hospital in Bam, covered to her chin with a blue blanket and a brown print scarf tied around her head.

Rescuers said she asked for a cup of tea soon after her rescue - and then complained it was too hot to drink.

Normally people can survive up to three days in the rubble of an earthquake. It was unclear whether Mazandarani had food or water while she lay trapped under the ruins.

Search dogs located Mazandarani under a collapsed building and it took three hours of digging to recover her.

"No one expected her to be alive. It's a miracle," provincial government spokesman Asadollah Iranmanesh said.

Her rescue wasn't the only bright spot in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 quake: On Saturday U.S. doctors said they had delivered four babies at a makeshift hospital.

The 6.6-magnitue quake damaged beyond repair as much as 85 percent of Bam's houses and buildings, the report said. Camps of tents with heating are being erected around the city, U.N. officials said. Up to now, the homeless have been living in unheated tents set up amid the ruins.

Farojpour said that among the many things disrupted by the quake was the supply of opium to the city's addicts. Before the trembler, an estimated 20 percent of people over the age of 15 in a population of 80,000 were believed to be addicted.

Methadone, codeine and sterile syringes were being given to drug addicts, Farojpour said.

The U.N. plans to complete within four days an assessment of the city's needs for water, sanitation, food and shelter. The facts are to be presented in an appeal to international donors.

At least five or six countries, including the U.S., are working on the review with the U.N.

Bill Garvelink, head of the U.S. relief team in Bam, has said the destruction was worse than any quake-zone he had ever seen.

"It's incredible," Garvelink said. "Bam is literally a rubble pile. I haven't seen any business functioning and you don't see anybody living in their homes."

On Friday, Iran's state radio, which is controlled by conservatives, accused President Bush of interference in Iran. Bush had said he was glad Iran accepted U.S. assistance, but said its government must embrace democratic reforms and turn over its detainees from the al-Qaida terror group. Iran says its handling of the al-Qaida detainees is an internal matter.

The U.S. team in Bam has been generally well received by local doctors and citizens. Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic relations since militants seized the U.S. Embassy in the Iranian capital in 1979.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4400.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

From Iran to California to 'House of Sand and Fog'

New York Times - By Nicole LaPorte
Jan 4, 2004

IN "House of Sand and Fog," the new film based on Andre Dubus III's novel about an Iranian family struggling to re-establish itself in northern California, Shohreh Aghdashloo plays Nadi, the wife of a former colonel in the Shah's military (Ben Kingsley). Like Nadi, Ms. Aghdashloo, 51, fled Iran during the revolution and ended up in California. Yet while Nadi is more seen than heard in the movie — bowing her head in deference to her husband, scuttling out of the room — Ms. Aghdashloo is an outspoken feminist and political commentator, who for 10 years was host of an opinion show on the Los Angeles-based Iranian television station, Jaam-e-Jam. Although she has a long history in Iranian theater and film, "House of Sand and Fog" is her first major American feature. Last month she spoke with Nicole LaPorte, a film reporter for Variety, over coffee in Los Angeles, where Ms. Aghdashloo has lived since 1987.

Bruce Birmelin/DreamWorks: Shohreh Aghdashloo, at right, with Jennifer Connelly in "House of Sand and Fog."

NICOLE LaPORTE What was it like during the 1970's in the Tehran Drama Workshop, where you got your start?

SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO We were a pretty provocative crew. We did Jean Genêt's "The Maids" with the women wearing bodysuits. The audience could not believe we were wearing leotards with short skirts — you can imagine the atmosphere we were working in. It took the West 400 years to get from Shakespeare to Pinter. We didn't have Shakespeare. We jumped into Pinter.

LaPORTE What happened to the workshop during the Islamic revolution?

AGHDASHLOO Something you see in "House of Sand and Fog" is a trait of all Middle Easterners: saving face. So we tried to save our face. We tried not to listen to the people shouting in the streets, burning the shah's picture, and kept going to the drama workshop every morning. We had a routine: dancing first, working on our bodies and then rehearsing the play of the day. One morning I went to the workshop, and I saw the door was blocked with cement. That was in 1978. They had put bricks into the cement. Right at that moment I decided to leave Iran. I knew that if they had closed this door on me with cement it meant forever.

LaPORTE Where did you go?

AGHDASHLOO There were rumors that the Ayatollah was going to come to Iran, so the prime minister had closed the airport. We drove from Iran to Turkey, Turkey to Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia to Venice, Venice to Calais, Calais to London. I knew London. My mother used to take me to London and leave me with these old ladies who taught me how to say pleasantries in English. "How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you."

LaPORTE What did you take with you?

AGHDASHLOO We couldn't take too much, otherwise they would have thought, "Hey, you have a suitcase, where are you going?" I brought a few pictures, the first dress I wore on stage as Strindberg's Madame X, some jumpers — it was cold, February — and my jewelry. The jewelry was my bride's savings. It had been given to me by the members of my family on my birthdays and at the time of my first marriage. The minute I arrived in London I went to a pawn shop and traded it for a good price — £13,000. About $20,000.

LaPORTE That must have been painful.

AGHDASHLOO Honest to God, no. It saved my life. It made me a different person.

LaPORTE In England you got your degree in international relations and gave up theater. What brought you back to the stage?

AGHDASHLOO I wanted to become a journalist in order to become more educated and find out what was really going on. But after three years what I learned was that I knew nothing. When I graduated we had a big party and a friend of mine from Iran, a playwright, said he'd written a new play with a lead in it for me. It was about an Iranian man who is accused of being a member of the shah's elite circle and therefore his life is in danger. I found it really moving and thought that maybe through acting I could be more useful and make the media pay more attention to what was going on in Iran.

LaPORTE What brought you from London to Los Angeles?

AGHDASHLOO We took the play on tour, and one night in L.A. we went to see another play by someone else who had worked at the drama workshop. I fell in love with the play and the playwright, my husband Houshang Touzie. I was a bit afraid to get myself involved in marriage, family. I wanted to fight, for women's rights, human rights. But I realized he was like me. When I arrived back in London, his postcard was waiting for me by the door. It said "bia" ("come") about 500 times. I still have it. I immediately returned to L.A. That was in 1987.

LaPORTE Before leaving Iran you played the lead in Abbas Kiarostami's film "The Report," and you've appeared in a number of Iranian plays and films since. But until "House of Sand and Fog" your American work has been limited to roles like playing the foreigner working at a dry cleaner on "Matlock" or in little-seen indie movies. Has that been frustrating?

AGHDASHLOO No, I'll tell you why. In Iran we have a spiritual path. The Sufi path is a journey you need to travel through, but at the same time you know that you are always going through phases and that those phases are not forever. You have to focus on doing the right thing and realize that you're just going through a phase. Therefore I never felt offended.

LaPORTE Are there roles you refuse to play?

AGHDASHLOO A terrorist. I think all these TV series and movies which are being made by people in the United States who are sophisticated and educated, they're teaching terrorists how to make a bomb. My agent says, "Well, Shohreh, usually cinema imitates life." I'm still against it. I still say better not made.

LaPORTE Had you read the book "House of Sand and Fog" before you got involved with the movie?

AGHDASHLOO I used to watch Oprah at 2 p.m. On her book club, two, three years ago, she mentioned this book and said: "Buy two copies. One for yourself and one for your friend." I bought one for myself and one for my friend Zha Zha. We've been friends for 30 years. When I read it, I was in awe of this non-Iranian author and how well he had absorbed the culture. I told my husband that it would be really unfair if one day they made a movie out of the book and did not give me the role of Nadi. My husband said, "Stop dreaming, Shohreh, they're not going to make a movie."

LaPORTE As an educated, outspoken Iranian expatriate, how do you relate to the role of a subservient, traditional wife in "House of Sand and Fog"?

AGHDASHLOO Although I have not lived the same way, unfortunately, I have witnessed, I still am witnessing, women like Nadi — not only in Iran, but in England and the United States — traditional wives who have been brought up to marry as soon as possible, to obey their husbands, dedicate themselves to family life. In other words, to have no life of their own. I am pretty familiar with the portrait.

LaPORTE Censorship laws have loosened somewhat since President Mohammad Khatami's election in 1997, which has affected how women are portrayed in movies there. Negin Nabavi, who teaches Iranian film at Princeton, recently said that Iranian cinema has become one of the most important outlets for challenging the status of Iranian women. Do you agree?

AGHDASHLOO I praise Iranian filmmakers for what they do today. Making movies under heavy censorship is not an easy task. But I'm afraid I'm not satisfied with these shallow changes on the surface. I am seeing more and more women in the film industry in Iran, but the truth of the matter is that a woman who is bound to wear the veil and wear gloves — let me put it this way: when you wear a scarf, your hearing is worse than when you are not wearing a scarf. And when you are worried about your scarf, and it not showing your body, how can you possibly concentrate 100 percent on what you're doing?

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4398.shtml

[freedom44]

AP never ceases to amaze me... They managed to interview the only group in LA besides AIC calling for engagement with the Mullahs 'reformists'.

Who the hell is the Florida Group? There are 15 opposition satellite tv channels, 4 worked together to raise over a million the other day, why did they have to interview some small unknown group in Florida?

What's funny is that even the most pro-Regime group doesn't support the current ruling mafia in Iran.

[DoctorZIn]

I couldn't agree more...

[freedom44]

TEHRAN, Jan 4, (AFP) -- In the aftermath of the earthquake which devastated the southeastern Iranian city of Bam, residents of the capital Tehran are now only too aware of the massive disaster that could befall them were their city to be hit by a quake.

The Bam temblor, which registered at least 6.3 on the Richter scale, killed some 30,000 of the town's 100,000 population, according to latest projections. Some experts estimate that a quake measuring 6.0 on the scale could leave as many as a million of Tehran's 12 million inhabitants dead.

That explains why the city's mayor, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, has launched the slogan: "Pray there is no earthquake in Tehran."

Maziar Hosseini, the town hall crisis centre manager, explained: "Tehran and the surrounding region is situated over four major fault lines, running from east to west in the north, the two Ray faults to the south and the north-south fault which cuts from the eastern suburbs of Tehran to the Caspian Sea."

In the face of the fears of the population, the authorities are reluctant to discuss which areas might be most at risk.

But with the exception of the northern fault, which runs under the wealthier and less-populated areas of Tehran, the faults all run beneath densely populated poorer quarters, packed with rundown old houses, the bustling city market and even out to the satellite town of Shahr-e Ray.

"About 40% of all Tehran's housing is in a dilapidated state. The buildings have no metal structure and do not conform to any anti-earthquake regulations. They should all be razed to the ground and rebuilt," Hosseini said.

"It would require two billion dollars to modernise all the old rundown houses in the capital."

As well as the 40% of old housing, many new buildings have been put up without any regard to the threat of an earthquake. In many cases, buildings of more than 10 storeys have been erected directly over the faults.

"We have a 10-year plan, worked out with the help of Japanese specialists, which aims to reduce the number of old rundown buildings and those which do not comply with earthquake regulations to about 10% of the total," he added.

Ahmadi-Nejad also announced a plan to be put into action in case of emergency.

"We need to reinforce the hospitals, the fire stations, bridges, reservoirs, bakeries and electric pylons in order to deal with an emergency situation," he said.

In a city which is a motorist's nightmare and becomes worse by the day, the authorities also want to build a network of roads for use by the emergency services.

The Bam earthquake has reawakened the fears of the population.

"You really need a house in the country well outside the city to take refuge in in case of an earthquake," said Leyla, a housewife in her 50s.

A town hall official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "With the four fault lines and many smaller onces, we believe that in case of a powerful earthquake nowhere is entirely safe and even the town of Karaj, with a population of more than one million, more than 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the west of Tehran, could be hit."


http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=21265&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

[freedom44]

Earthquake reveals seismic shift in Iranian view of US

From Dan de Luce in Tehran

The American doctors and aid workers were welcomed with bouquets of roses, boxes of chocolates and pistachios. They had not expected such warmth from a country labelled by President Bush as a member of the “axis of evil”.
But the tragic earthquake in Bam has shown that the official rhetoric coming out of Iran and the US bears little resemblance to reality.

The first US delegation to set foot on Iranian soil in 25 years has learned that ordinary Iranians are actually some of the most pro-Western, pro-American Muslims in the world. And as physicians from Boston wiped away tears while treating quake victims in a makeshift hospital, the theocratic regime’s paranoid portrayal of the Great Satan seemed particularly ridiculous.

http://www.sundayherald.com/39085

[Pan_Yans Wife]

the theocratic regime’s paranoid portrayal of the Great Satan seemed particularly ridiculous.

It is ridiculous. :)

[DoctorZIn]

The regime's reason for being is to stand against "the great satan." If the regime gives up its stand against the USA it will lose its ability to motivate its followers to sacrifice for the regime.

It would be roughly equivalent to the pope or leading Christian pastors saying that Christians need to stop opposing the devil.

[DoctorZIn]

Regime's Parliament Speaker Receives Cold and Angry Welcome

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jan 3, 2004

Mehdi Karoubi, the Islamic Parliament's Speaker, received a cold and hostile welcome as he advantured into to devastated City of Bam.

His "delayed" visit, following the passage of a week after the quake, was supposed to play in favor of the so-called reformists seeking to boost their position in prospect of the future elections; But the Bam's residents showed their anger and rejection of the regime's official's demagogy by offering a show of anger and cold reception of Karoubi.

Many residents preferred to stay affar from the official group which walked in some of the secured streets while few approached the Speaker and showed their anger by accusing openly the regime of having caused the deaths of many residents due to the lack of management and providing rescue in crucial moments.

Even the governmental TV showed footages during which some of the female residents were speaking angrily with the Speaker.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_4404.shtml

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I understand.

I think that is why it is so very important that ordinary people of Iran learn to cut through the regime's propaganda and see the true face of America.

I believe the people have been watching events in Iraq very closely.

[DoctorZIn]

Post Interview With Secretary of State Colin Powell

January 03, 2004
The Washington Post
Robin Wright

Following is an edited transcript of a Dec. 29 telephone interview with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. The interview was conducted by Washington Post staff writer Robin Wright and transcribed by the State Department.

On the "Road Map" Peace Plan

THE POST: In two days we mark the date specified by the "road map" for creating a temporary Palestinian state. That date is clearly going to pass without having achieved that goal. What is the United States going to do, tangibly, to get the roadmap back on the road again? And I'm talking about the United States, not what the Palestinians and the Israelis need to do, but what the U.S. is going to do to show the leadership you mentioned in earlier interviews.

POWELL: Well, we regret that we weren't able to get that state with interim provisions to it by the end of 2003. It still remains the president's vision and his goal to achieve a Palestinian state living side by side so, with Israel, with the state of Israel. So we remain totally committed to the vision that the president laid out on 24 June of 2002 and totally committed to the road map as the way to get to that vision.

Now, with respect to what we now have to do is after we lost the Abu Mazen government [the government of former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, who resigned in September], we have been waiting for the Abu Ala [Ahmed Qureia, the current prime minister] to take definitive steps with respect to condemnation of terror; with respect to what plans they have to go after terrorist organizations.

We will be reviewing the bidding in the early part of the year as to whether or not it would be appropriate for Ambassador [John S.] Wolf [the Bush administration's Middle East envoy] to go back in, but he has to have two people ready to talk to one another. We will be encouraging, and I will be talking -- I talked to [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon and [Foreign Minister Silvan] Shalom last week -- I will be talking to Palestinians later this week, encouraging the conversations to begin between the two sides.

Until there is a beginning conversation between the two sides, I think it's difficult to do much more right now and we're anxious to see that conversation begin, and we're in touch with both sides to encourage that conversation. . . .

THE POST: Are you confident that the United States can still meet the deadline set out by the road map of a solution by 2005, which would mean crunching a three-year process into two years, or is there likely, now, to be slippage?

POWELL: I think it's possible, but it's hard to say. I mean, a year and a half has gone by since those goals were set out, and so that's a year and a half where we didn't achieve the interim state we were looking for, or a state with interim provisions, as I like to say. But it is not unachievable if both sides will now come to the table, get serious, if we see the kind of crackdown against terrorism that we have to see or it'll all be a false start, and if you also take a look at the debate that's taking place in Israel now as to the way forward, I think that there are certain dynamics at work that still make it possible to achieve that vision by 2005.

But time is passing and we need to see the kind of aggressive action on the part of the Palestinian Authority that will allow us to once again engage as fully as the president wants us to. He stands ready to engage. We all do. The road map is there. We are staying in touch with our "quartet" partners [the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations] and they are ready to engage. And we're also staying in touch with our Arab colleagues, as well.

On Iraq

THE POST: On Iraq, the Russians have pledged to forgive 65 percent of the Iraqi debt. Is that the goal the United States is seeking from all countries, both in the Club of Paris [an informal group of 19 developed creditor nations], and otherwise?

POWELL: We would like to see maximum debt forgiveness, and I wouldn't put an arbitrary number on it at this point. I would hope to see a much higher number, but I don't want to assign any of the countries that [former secretary of state and treasury secretary] Jim Baker is working with now and [Treasury] Secretary [John W.] Snow is working with now a number, but we want to get maximum debt forgiveness, Paris Club and otherwise. And I think we're off to a good start. And I had good conversations with Jim Baker after he got back from the European leg and before he went on the Asian leg. And I also know that he's been in touch with John Snow.

These are commitments-in-principle. What we have to do now is nail them down in the course of 2004 as the Paris Club meetings unfold.

THE POST: Have the discussions between Ayatollah [Ali] Sistani [Iraq's leading Shiite cleric] and Jerry Bremer [the U.S. civil administrator of Iraq] led, or are they heading toward a compromise on the issue of elections?

POWELL: We are in touch with the Ayatollah. I don't know that Jerry has spoken to him directly, but we have a number of people who have spoken to him.

THE POST: But there are letters between them?

POWELL: There may well be letters between them.

All I can say is that the contacts are continuing and what I have been following, as you can well imagine, is from the 15th of November on, when we put down the latest plan, what has been the reaction of the various parties.

The Governing Council has expressed its complete support for the 15 November plan. It has been presented to the UN. We're certainly fully behind it, and the Ayatollah has raised issues with respect to how you do the caucus elections and I think it's safe to say that we are in a dialogue with him and with others who have an interest in how one actually goes about selecting a transitional assembly and a transitional government. . . .

But the news, the news is that he has not dismissed the 15 November plan, which some people were afraid he might. So I think we're having a productive conversation, and it's an ongoing conversation.

THE POST: But do you see one further round of compromises being introduced in the November plan; in other words, accepting the November 15th, but introducing some kind of compromise that would address the issue of elections?

POWELL: At the moment, I'm not aware of the need for a compromise. Everybody is firmly behind the 15 November plan, but I think we're all also listening because what we want is a successful process next spring that gives us a transitional assembly and a transitional government, and puts us on the way to a full constitution as well as a fully representative government thereafter, probably in 2005.

So I think we are open to ideas, but there is no compromise that I'm aware of at the moment that is needed. It's a good plan. It's a solid plan. It enjoys the support of the Governing Council and certainly us.

THE POST: Well, maybe we're talking about semantics here. Maybe it's a refinement or something that, that adds to the plan.

POWELL: There -- and I think that's what I was saying, Robin. The plan is good. If people come up with refinements that make the plan better and it's agreeable to all parties, then that is a refinement to a good plan as opposed to changing or compromising on a plan that is good for a plan that is less good. And I think what Ambassador Bremer and all of us have been doing in our conversations is listening and hearing and [asking], "Are there better ideas that would make the plan more refined, better and more acceptable to a broader group of individuals and leaders within Iraq?"

THE POST: Do you expect that soon?

POWELL: Well, I didn't say that I was expecting there to be a compromise or that refinements would be made. I'm just saying that we're open to refinements and we're waiting to hear what people have suggested, or will suggest.

On Iran

THE POST: Let me shift to Iran. I gather there is an inter-agency debate or high-level, anyway, debate on whether to resume the dialogue with Iran. Iran has taken steps recently. There is this current effort to provide humanitarian aid. Do you foresee, you know, movement in a specific way toward resuming that debate with Iran soon?

POWELL: We are not really having a high-level debate in the sense of major disagreement. I think you have heard me say previously that we have always left open the option of engaging in dialogue with Iran. And a number of things have happened in recent months, which, I think, are encouraging.

Let's start from where we began this administration three years ago, when we made the case that Iran was undertaking activities with respect to nuclear weapons that were unacceptable and inconsistent with its obligations. We pressed the Russians. Everybody pushed back on us for a while and then the Russians finally came to the conclusion that there was something there. We started to create understandings with the Russians on the Bushehr power plant, as you're well familiar. And then more information became available that made it clear to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] that Iran wasn't fully complying. And I think we started to get the better of the argument.

And we were pressing the IAEA to take note of all of this and act, and then my European Union colleagues in the person of the EU 3 engaged directly. I stayed in very close touch with [French Foreign Minister Dominique] de Villepin, [German Foreign Minister Joschka] Fischer and [British Foreign Secretary Jack] Straw as they did their work. They never did anything I wasn't aware of and we hadn't discussed beforehand. And we've now reached the point where we've got a unanimous IAEA resolution, which said Iran has not been fully complying and also put in there that if there was further lack of compliance, it would be dealt with in accordance with current regulations and obligations that they have.

And at the same time, Iran has signed the additional protocol and we are waiting for them, now, to meet the commitments they made to the EU 3. All of those things taken together show, it seems to me, a new attitude in Iran in dealing with these issues -- not one of total, open generosity, but they realize that the world is watching and the world is prepared to take action.

And then, recently, when this terrible catastrophe hit Iran and -- and this just pushed politics aside. This was a humanitarian issue. And the president has always made it clear that when it comes to humanitarian issues, we'll do what is right for humankind. And in this case, to show them that we were serious and that we were seeing it as a humanitarian issue, had [Deputy Secretary of State] Rich Armitage call the Iranian Perm Rep directly, so he knew it was not just a routine, diplomatic exchange.

What was surprising here, Robin, is that within a half an hour to an hour, Rich got an answer back from the Permanent Representative, who was in Tehran at that time, and within hours, we had started to assemble relief supplies, planes and rescue workers.

Now all those things taken together show that there are things happening, and therefore we should keep open the possibility of dialogue at an appropriate point in the future. We still have concerns about terrorist activities, of course, and there are other issues with respect to al Qaeda and other matters that we'll have to keep in mind. . . .

On Pakistan

THE POST: How concerned are you about the stability of Pakistan in the aftermath of two assassination attempts on President [Pervez] Musharraf?

POWELL: I'm still confident that President Musharraf enjoys broad support within the country. These are extremists and we were deeply concerned at both of those attacks, and the president has spoken to President Musharraf and I have spoken to him a couple of times. I spoke to him over the weekend. And it just shows that there are those who will resort to terror to try to impose their ill will on their own people.

And so we still have confidence in President Musharraf and we're standing behind him.

On Libya and North Korea

THE POST: Does the Libya strategy apply to Iran, and potentially, to North Korea?

POWELL: Well, I would hope that the Iranians, and especially North Korea would lean back and take a look at what Libya did. And Libya essentially came to the conclusion that being isolated on the world stage, being held up to ridicule by the international community with the condemnation that came from the international community, all for the purpose of trying to develop an unconventional warfare capability, that at the end brought you no economic benefit, in fact, cost you economically, and frankly, brought you no political benefit, and frankly, put you in greater danger than the danger that it might have been keeping you out of.

I think the Libyans took a look at a determined President Bush and a determined Bush administration that was going to deal with these kinds of weapons, but we were not going to be terrified by them. I think [Libyan leader Moammar] Gaddafi could see that we were prepared to take action in Iraq, we were prepared to press the case with Iran, even though people were waving us off for the first year of the administration, and we're also prepared to seek a diplomatic solution with North Korea and not be cowed or blackmailed or pushed into some deal with North Korea where we're paying them for their misbehavior. And I would hope that North Korea and Iran and for that matter, Syria, to the extent that they have such weapons, realize that these weapons serve no political, economic or security purpose. And to that extent I think, perhaps, Gaddafi is giving a good object lesson to these other countries.

We, however, understand the nature of Mr. Gaddafi and his regime, and we will approach this carefully with full verification, and my State Department team is putting together a rather thorough verification system; and also with political engagement to make sure that before we provide any kind of relief that we really do have a changed, a changed leader. But we're very pleased with this development.

On 2004 Priorities

THE POST: For 2004, what, as you see it, are the four on your "A-list," four on your "B-list" issues and what is the United States going to do in specific terms about each one, not just what the problems are . . . ?

POWELL: Well, first and foremost has to be the global war on terrorism. It's not going away. We've made a great deal of progress over the last couple of years. Cells are being rolled up. We have a better idea of whom we're fighting, but they're still out there and they're still coming after us. We have to protect the homeland and we have to go out and get them where they are. And we've got to continue to build our international coalition with law enforcement, intelligence exchange, drying up their sources of finance and support, and direct action when necessary. So that will remain number one. And of course, homeland security fits in that.

The next one on my hit parade, of course, is Iraq -- returning sovereignty to the people. I, as, you know, Secretary of State, increasingly will be working with [Defense Secretary] Don Rumsfeld to manage the transition to an embassy situation from the Coalition Provisional Authority when it has completed its mission some time next year. Hopefully at a time that's coincident with the returning of sovereignty, and so that's going to be a major effort on our part, and as I build up that large embassy, I've got to also generate more international support, U.N. presence -- get the U.N. back in there in force, both humanitarian and to play a political role; the contracting issue; the role of NATO, and I think NATO is more and more willing to play a role in Iraq; and debt relief -- continuing to work with Secretary Snow, who has the real lead within the administration, and with my good buddy Jim Baker.

And then once that is under way, the real challenge for the new embassy, so to speak, or the new presence will be helping the Iraqi people get ready for their full elections and full constitution the following year.

I'm going to keep a close eye on Afghanistan as an area where we've made a great deal of progress, but we've got to beware of the remaining dangers -- defeat the Taliban in the south and southeast and make sure that the elections go well next year and that we have put in place a central government that can control the whole country.

And then the Middle East will be a priority. We stand ready with the road map, stand ready to engage, and I hope that we will see the kind of movement that we need to see, particularly on the Palestinian side, that will give us a basis to engage more fully.

There are lots of second tier ones, Robin, and this year is not over. I'm still working the phones on the Sudan -- a comprehensive peace agreement I hope that we might get yet, before the end of the year or shortly thereafter. They've made good progress in the last couple of months since I visited with the negotiators in Kenya.

And so many other issues are like that. Liberia -- consolidate the success we had earlier in the year. I'm going to be pushing hard on the president's democracy initiative and all of its pieces in the Middle East -- the Free Trade Area of the Middle East as well as the Middle East Partnership Initiative.

And I'm going to work very hard, Robin, in making it clear to our friends in Europe and elsewhere in the world that America is a partner -- spend more time with them; spend more time listening to them and finding ways that we can cooperate together. And I think there are many such areas: Iraq, Afghanistan -- we had great success in Afghanistan pulling that coalition together.

On Afghanistan

THE POST: On Afghanistan, do you believe that the situation has reached the point that the two halves of the election -- for parliament and the . . . presidency -- may have to be separated so you do the presidency next year and maybe defer the parliament until . . . next year?

POWELL: That's certainly a possibility. I haven't been in conversation with President [Hamid] Karzai lately, but I know that when last I did speak to him about it, it's a question that's open. . . . I think that's still an open question and I think the presidential election is the one that is key and that has to come first, in any event, whether it's together or separated.

More on the Middle East

THE POST: And what will happen if, within the next period of time -- six months, whatever -- in the Middle East, you do not see the Palestinians take the action on, that you've outlined?

POWELL: Well, I hope they will. And if they do, then they'll see us fully engaged. If they don't, then I think the situation will just continue to -- drift and not improve. And as you know, Israel is considering steps it might take. I think it would be unfortunate if we started to see unilateral steps that are not the result of negotiations between the parties.

And so I'm hopeful that we will see the kind of progress that will get us closer to the president's vision.

On Osama bin Laden

THE POST: And one last question that only requires a yes or no. . . . Will we have Osama bin Laden by the end of next year?

POWELL: Robin, I don't know. I don't know if he is alive or dead and I can't answer that question. I just don't know. I do know that he will, if he is alive, he will continue to be on the run, he will continue to be pressed on all sides, and we will keep sweeping up whatever vestigial remains of the al Qaeda network are out there.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=01&d=04&a=1