Iranian Alert -- January 29, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 1.29.2004 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

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.

DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

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

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”

[DoctorZIn]

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

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail DoctorZin”

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian officials: Ron Arad is not in Iran

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jan. 29, 2004

The missing Israeli airman Ron Arad is not in Iran, the deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Akbar Mohtashami, reiterated Wednesday.

Heading a parliamentary delegation, Mohtashami came to Beirut to participate in an official reception of Lebanese and other Arab prisoners that Israel has undertaken to release as part of an exchange due to take place Thursday.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has declared officially, and more than once, that the Israeli pilot Ron Arad is not in Iran, and that Iran has no information about his fate," Mohtashami said when he arrived at Beirut airport.

There have been persistent rumors that Arad, whose plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986, was transferred to Iran.

Speaking on Hizbullah's al-Manar television on Wednesday deputy Hizbullah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem denied that Ron Arad is being held in Syria or Iran.

"It is natural that he is in Lebanon where he disappeared" said Sheikh Kassem.

Under the terms of the exchange, Israel is expected to release more prisoners at an unspecified later date in return for information on the fate of Arad.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1075263110549&p=1008596981749

[DoctorZIn]

Headline: Sharing black market contacts with Iran, Libya no crime: Beg -- Detail Story

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s programme to develop a nuclear bomb relied on black market suppliers, and Pakistani scientists who might have shared their contacts with Iran and Libya committed "no crime," former chief of the Army staff Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Beg, who remained army chief from 1988 to 1991, said the current investigation into top figures at the Khan Research Laboratories was treating them like criminals, and they should be respected for having provided the country’s nuclear deterrent against India. "These scientists who are being questioned today, the only crime you can say they committed was to tell the Iranian friends or the Libyan friends ‘Go to such and such a place and the item is on sale. Buy it from them,’" Beg said in an interview.

Asked what should happen to scientists who were found to have shared "underworld" contacts, Beg said: "Nothing. They have committed no crime." Beg denied allegations that he had authorised transfers of nuclear know-how between Pakistan and Iran during the late 1980s, and said Iran had never made such a request, although the two countries did cooperate in transfer of conventional weapons. "There’s no truth in it. It’s an absolute lie," said Beg.

Beg said Pakistan had been justified in using clandestine means to create a nuclear bomb after India tested a nuclear device in 1974. "Any country which is threatened by the nuclear capability of their neighbour, they have a right to acquire it," he said, adding: "When you want to get this kind of technology and know-how, you have to go to the market where these items are under sale ... all the way from the United States, Europe, Russia. That’s how we acquired our capability. It was a known fact throughout the world. The Americans knew it."

He added that other countries, including Israel and India, had done the same. "It’s a vicious circle and Pakistan is being singled out," Beg said. He condemned the current investigation of the nuclear scientists, saying it was treating them like "criminals." However, he added the scientists may have accrued personal wealth, but they had not misused state funds.

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en52316&F_catID=&f_type=source

[DoctorZIn]

Counter Point: Iran: Economy held hostage by hardliners

Anwer Sher,
Special to Gulf News
29-01-2004

The emerging confrontation between the reformists and the hardliners has huge political stakes for the likes for Iranian President Mohammed Katami and, indeed, the hardliners, who by virtue of the Iranian political structure command a near veto position on all matters.

The emerging popularity of the reformists and the student unrest last year, does make the hardliners ever more nervous to test their own standing at the polls. The disqualification of virtually every prominent reformist on the electoral list by the Guardian Council, which is controlled by the hardliners, had brought about a confrontation in Iran of a magnitude that could have serious implications.

It is difficult to imagine what the outcome will be and between now and the middle of next month, when the elections are to be held, anything can happen. However the bigger issue is how the economy will cope with the political crisis.

The reformist government has managed to privatise some sectors, increase the reserves of the government and, more importantly, create an investment climate that is gradually improving.

Slow pace

While the Khatami government's failure from the perspective of liberals has been the slow pace of economic reform and his inability to bring life into a slow and inefficient government apparatus, his supporters point to the change in perception and the economic performance even though the hardliners have tried to block President Khatami's path of economic reforms.

Iran has revenues of over $23 billion from oil alone, and as the 15 odd phases of the South Pars gas development come on stream, Iran's revenues will cross $30 billion from the energy sector.

Tacking high inflation and high unemployment has meant that trimming the government machinery of excess workers has been an impossible task and the reformist bet has been a better investment climate will mean more jobs, allowing the government then to reform further.

The investment climate is a function of many factors, the most important of which remains political stability. In that sense the hardliners have been holding the reins on how Iran is ultimately viewed from the outside. The hardliners have also lacked the public leader role that they had soon after the revolution and now they lack a face in front of the public.

This creates further uncertainty in the minds of investors as to who ultimately will call the shots on important issues such as investment laws and their possible repudiation.

Iran today has to accept that it cannot send signals of political confusion. Its economic performance has been excellent and it is at a stage where the regional and world financial community has started to take it seriously, and allowing political events to cloud the economic picture would spell havoc for the country.

The redeeming factor has been that even the hardliners realise that a reformist economic performance that keeps people happy is something they can also claim was a result of their 'guidance'.

For the economic watchers who know Iran well there is an acceptance that even if the reformists give up some ground it will not mean a loss and eventually Iran will have to face the reality of trying to continue its good economic performance and see it filter down to the masses.

The writer is the UAE-based president of Sher Consulting

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=109373

[DoctorZIn]

From A Great Civilization...

                                                IRAN

                                                   ...To the Axis of Evil?

Come learn more about Iran; It's history, heritage and it's contemporary Issues.   

       

Why Iran?

Why Now?

•  Sponsorship of terrorism, and the immediate threat of nuclear capabilities, sabotages and destabilizes peace worldwide.
• AlQaeda has found refuge with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
• The Islamic Republic of Iran funds Hamas and Hezbollah.
• The concept of suicide bombing started with the Islamic Republic of Iran .

        

      

 Inside Iran...The quest for democracy and freedom has begun...

Speaker’s Biography:

 Larry Elder

Larry Elder has been on KABC Talk Radio in Los Angeles since March, 1994, hosting "The Larry Elder Show," a top-rated daily program from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. (PT) on KABC 790, and began a nationally syndicated daily talk show for ABC Radio Networks on August 12, 2002.

Known to his listeners as the "Sage From South Central," Larry sizzles on the airwaves with his thoughtful insight on the day’s most provocative issues, to the delight, consternation, and entertainment of his listeners. The "Sage" engages political and cultural leaders in meaningful debates over race, government, personal responsibility and education that have elevated the talk radio genre. A blend of fiscal conservative and social liberal—with attitude—Elder’s libertarian views have fueled controversy and made him one of the most in-demand radio personalities in the country.

 In May, 2003, Elder shifted his political party registration from "Decline to State" (which, in California, means independent) to the Republican Party. He continues to support the libertarian principles of limited government and maximum personal and financial responsibility.

Kenneth R. Timmerman
The Middle East Data Project

When Investigative reporter and author Kenneth R. Timmerman profiled Osama Bin Ladin for Reader's Digest in July 1998, few people had ever heard of him. Just weeks later, Bin Ladin's terrorists blew up two U.S. embassies in Africa, prompting the U.S. government to launch an international manhunt.

In 1982, Timmerman was taken hostage by terrorists in Lebanon, and spent 24 days in an underground cell under constant aerial and artillery bombardment.

Timmerman has published three books and a dozen monographs on terrorism, weapons proliferation, and Islamic fundamentalism. In the late 1980s, he was the first Western reporter to interview the heads of Iraq's missile and chemical weapons programs; his first-hand account, The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1991 and translated into five languages. Over his career he has worked for TIME magazine, Newsweek, the New York Times and major television networks, and appeared regularly on the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal.

After 18 years overseas he returned to the United States in 1993 to work on the professional staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and conducted several Committee investigations into weapons proliferation. Since leaving government service, he has written for The American Spectator, Reader's Digest, and Insight Magazine on foreign policy and proliferation. Because of his special expertise in Middle East defense issues, he has been asked to give seminars at the U.S. Army War College and other U.S. government agencies, and to testify before Congressional committees and special commissions, including the Commission To Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States chaired by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

From 1994-2000, Mr. Timmerman published a confidential newsletter on strategic policy and trade, The Iran Brief. His Middle East Data Project, Inc. consults for government and business clients and maintains extensive data bases on terrorism and strategic technology transfers to rogue states. He is also active on the human rights front, and serves as Executive Director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a non-profit advocacy group based in Maryland.

                                                             ********

Wednesday Feb 11th at the                              Beverly Hills Hotel
                                                                                                Sunset

Tickets are on sale           $50.00 General admission

                                                  $100.00 VIP   Reserved seating

VIP Reception with Guest Speakers   at 6:30 p.m

General Reception                                      at 7:00 p.m

Program begins w/ a video presentation and an insightful forum at 8:00 p.m sharp

                                                                

                       Advance ticket sales only

[windchime]

Bump!

[F14 Pilot]

Civilization Bump from here!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Iran State Governors Call for Election Postponement
Thu January 29, 2004
(Page 1 of 2)

By Paul Hughes
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - Iranian state governors called for a postponement of next month's parliamentary election, state media said Thursday, as Iran's worst political crisis in years neared a tense climax.

State governors are appointed by the interior minister and help organize elections at a provincial level. Their unprecedented opposition to staging an election could make it difficult for Iran to execute the vote smoothly.

Iranian politics has been in an uproar since the hard-line Guardian Council disqualified nearly half of the 8,200 candidates running for parliament, almost all of them reformers.

"Bearing in mind the current conditions, it will not be possible to hold the ... elections on Feb. 20 as previously scheduled," the governors said in a letter to Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Even though about a quarter of barred candidates were reinstated after appeals, "organizing a free and fair election is still impossible since a large number ... have been deprived of their right to run quite illegally," the letter said.

Other senior officials have insisted the election will go ahead as planned, but their optimism that most of the bans would be overturned by the weekend appeared to be unfounded.

The powerful council -- an unelected group of 12 conservative clerics and jurists -- is due to complete its review of the bans by the end of Friday.

A second round of appeals can take place before the vote but scores of reformist members of parliament have said they will resign or boycott the vote unless most of the bans are overturned by this weekend.

POLITICAL CRISIS

The election dispute has become the worst political crisis in years for Iran, which next month marks the 25th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution, and has prompted growing international concern about the legitimacy of the vote.

Reformists say the bans are a blatant conservative attempt to regain control of parliament, which was lost to reformists in 2000 elections. They say that unless the bans are overturned, conservatives would contest 190 of parliament's 290 seats virtually unopposed.

Analysts were divided on whether the political crisis was likely to worsen or would be resolved.
"This is not the end, it's still too early," said Hossein Rassam, who predicted the council would re-admit 1,500 to 2,000 barred candidates after the second round of appeals.

"In the end, both the reformists and conservatives want the system to survive so they will be happy if a deal is reached."

But analyst Mahmoud Alinejad said the reformist movement was beginning to split into two camps, with moderates such as Khatami in favor of a compromise, and radicals such as some MPs and state governors determined to force a showdown.

"It's getting very serious now. I can see some of the reformists splitting off to form a more radicalized opposition outside of the government and parliament," he said.

Khatami has pledged to hold the vote as planned and voiced optimism that negotiations between government officials and the Guardian Council will ensure a competitive election.

Parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, also a reformist, insisted Thursday that talks between the Guardian Council and a four-strong ministerial negotiating team were going well.

"There is no crisis, it is (just) electoral tension," he said.

But reformist officials say candidates reinstated so far do not include any high-profile reformist figures, including around 80 sitting MPs.

Around 100 MPs have held a sit-in at parliament since Jan. 11 to protest against the disqualifications.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=OZSI530LJCWMUCRBAELCFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=4240457

[DoctorZIn]

Iran's Meaningless Elections

January 29, 2004
FrontPageMagazine.com
Reza Bayegan

The parliamentary elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran are a sham every thoughtful person should boycott. Iran is a country whose laws are enacted with a view to protect the strong and powerful against the democratic rights of its citizens. This fact was re-emphasized when 3,600 out of 8,200 candidates registered to stand in elections for the 290-member parliament were rejected by the Guardian Council. The decision by the 12-member body clearly demonstrates the irresolvable contradictions within the constitution of the Islamic Republic. The Guardian Council is another tentacle put forth by the dictatorship in Tehran to suffocate political freedom. As a body overseeing the work of the parliament, it is directly and indirectly appointed by the Vali-e-Faqih or the Supreme Leader, and acts as his instrument for controlling the membership and decisions of the parliament. Through the Guardian Council he makes sure that only those candidates who tow the fundamentalist line and are especially loyal to Article Five of the constitution are approved for elections. This article states "that Vali-e-Faqih, or the Supreme Leader exercises combined supreme political and religious power and, indeed, is a manifestation of the integration of politics with religion."

Mohsen Mirdamadi, the head of the parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, who was also disqualified, was quoted as saying that some of the well-known candidates such as Khatami's younger brother and Behzad Nabavi were rejected because "the Council had concluded that they did not support the rule of the supreme religious leader." In spite of being a tool of the fundamentalists and regardless of its motive, the Council, contrary to what the reformists are charging has not done anything illegal in rejecting the candidates and has acted according to the existing laws of the country.

Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, refusing to interfere in the election crisis, knows very well that his totalitarian rule is enshrined in the constitution. When reacting to the row over the massive disqualification of the candidates he complacently declared on January 20, "We have legal channels and everyone should act based on the law."

Mohsen Kadivar, a dissident clergyman, accused Khamenei of manipulating the Council in a speech delivered after the disqualification of candidates. In his statement, Mohsen Kadivar poignantly illustrates the political chaos created by an irrational and undemocratic constitution. Calling Khamenei's claim of impartiality in the conflict between hardliners and the reformists a political manoeuver, he pointed out "in this football match the referee is also the coach of one of the teams and has handed the red card to the other team's players even before the match has begun.” What is underlined here is the impractical arrangement within the political system of the Islamic Republic. As long as the Supreme Leader is provided with sweeping political powers he cannot be expected to stay above politics and act as an impartial sage. The cock-eyed sentimentalism of the Revolution that was bent on ignoring reality could only lead to a system inimical to liberty and subversive of democratic laws and principles. The absurdity of the constitution of the Islamic Republic has been proven time and again during the past 25 years. It has played havoc with Iran's domestic as well as international politics. Ayatollah Khomeini as the religious and political leader of the country would pass edicts, such as the ones condemning Salman Rushdie to death or refusing to end an internecine war with Iraq. As Ayatollah Khomeini was unable to sit quietly, playing the role of a symbolic figurehead only intervening in matters of extreme emergency as a last resort, the current Ayatollah Khamenei also believes that his political existence is tied to the exercise of his power and authority. His fingerprints are everywhere bending the country to his will and choking every voice that is not in consonance with his backward understanding of Islamic Shiaism.

After the election of Mohammad Khatami whose promising style enthralled many Iranians as well as foreign observers, the prospect of political transformation and a bloodless transfer of power to the people seemed imminent. It soon became evident however that Mr. Khatami's style lacks the necessary substance and his ultimate loyalty is to consolidating his fellow-mullahs' power rather than his fellow-countrymen's political rights.

Mohammad Khatami's huge concessions to the fundamentalists have not deterred them from barring his supporters from from parliamentary election. Many of these supporters rode to office on the wave of public enthusiasm for change and on the basis of the promise they made to put an end to political repression. The hope they once inspired and the public enthusiasm over the transformation they could bring about was dashed before long. The establishment of the rule of law as pledged by Khatami during his presidential campaign wherever it met with success, it highlighted the defectiveness of the law itself.

The undeniable political reality in today's Iran is that the disillusioned population rejects the whole Islamic Republic lock, stock and barrel. Indeed the Council of Guardians is watching over values detested by the majority of the country's citizens. The entire political establishment -- reformist as well as the hardliners -- have lost their political credibility and can no longer inspire any hope. President Khatami and his so-called reformist movement are even in a weaker moral position. They have earned people's contempt by their political impotence and intellectual bankruptcy.

The mood of the students in the country's university campuses -- which in Iran is customarily a good signal of the political pulse of the whole nation -- indicates disillusionment with the present political arrangement. The majority of students have decided to show their opposition through non-participation in the elections. Many see no prospect of any political alternative emerging from within the existing system. A recent survey carried out in the Amirkabir University campus shows that around 40 percent of the students are unlikely to vote. Of the rest, around 15 percent said they would, but only with a view to helping their chances of employment after graduation.

Although Mr. Khatami and his supporters might hope that the present controversy over the large scale disqualifications will help to stir the population and prompt them to go to the polls, it has become evident to the Iranians that the electoral process does not offer any real choice. Various factions of the totalitarian establishment can provide no real relief from the political quagmire that has engulfed the country from the beginning of the revolution. The political system of the country needs a far more comprehensive alteration than temporary and limited concession asked by reformist members of the parliament like Mr. Jalal Jalali from Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdish province in the western part of Iran. Objecting to the massive disqualifications of the candidates he has argued, "One political group cannot decide for the whole population.” He has also threatened that if the decision of the Council is not altered, the Kurds will boycott the upcoming parliamentary election. Mr. Jalali is right to object to the political domination of the whole country by a minority. He is wrong however in thinking that the lifting of the ban by the Guardian Council will solve the problem. For even if all the rejected candidates are allowed to run for election, the major obstacle he is addressing in the political system of the Islamic Republic will remain unsolved.

In a state that tops every other dictatorship in media control, the will of one political group inevitably is dictated and imposed on the rest. In a country in which political parties are banned and peaceful dissent is not tolerated, every responsible Iranian citizen who values freedom and human dignity should stay away from the polls in the parliamentary elections.

The political scene in Iran for a long time has looked like an old story in Persian literature about elephant training. The trainer donning a mask enters the stage and starts beating up and lashing the cornered elephant. Moving off the stage he removes his mask and reenters with a bucket full of edibles, feeding and caressing the abused animal. Through this method of pretending to be two persons, one tender and the other cruel, the maskless trainer gradually gains the trust and cooperation of the elephant. After many painful years, Iranians have realized the face of the same persecutor behind the reformist and conservative masks. The curtain seems to be fast coming down on the mullahs' political circus.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11962

[DoctorZIn]

Iran's Meaningless Elections

January 29, 2004
FrontPageMagazine.com
Reza Bayegan

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1067376/posts?page=10#10

[DoctorZIn]

A question about Hizballah and Mexico

January 28, 2004
TownHall
Terence Jeffrey

Politicians serious about preventing another Sept. 11 should listen to the leader of Hizballah, and then read an indictment unsealed this month in Detroit. "Let the entire world hear me," said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27, 2002. "Our hostility to the Great Satan is absolute."

There's good reason to take this sheik seriously. In 1983, his Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group attacked the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Americans. According to the opinion of U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in the case of Peterson v. the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nasrallah attended the meeting in Baalbek, Lebanon, where the 1983 attack was planned. Until Sept. 11, it remained the deadliest terrorist strike ever against the United States.

The sheik's Sept. 27, 2002, rally in Beirut celebrated the Palestinian intifadah. It was broadcast live on Lebanese TV and monitored by the BBC.

"Regardless of how the world has changed after 11 September," Nasrallah said that day, "Death to America will remain our reverberating and powerful slogan: Death to America!"

Six months later, according to the BBC, Nasrallah warned Americans that if the U.S. invaded Iraq, "The region's people will receive you with rifles, blood, arms, martyrdom and martyrdom operations."

Now, turn to May 3, 2003. That's when FBI agents searched the Dearborn, Mich., residence of Mahmoud Kourani, a 32-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon.

In a statement submitted last week in federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Chadwell revealed words the FBI found on audiotapes there: "You alone are the sun of my lands, Nasrallah! Nasrallah!/. . . your voice is nothing less than my jihad."

"We offer to you Hizballah, a pledge of loyalty," said a tape. ". . . Rise for Jihad! . . . I offer you, Hizballah, my blood in my hand."

Kourani pleaded guilty to harboring an illegal alien. A judge sentenced him to six months. On Jan. 15, a second indictment was unsealed, charging Kourani with conspiracy to provide material support to Hizballah.

"Kourani was a member, fighter, recruiter and fundraiser for Hizballah," said the indictment. "Operating at first from Lebanon and later in the United States, Kourani was a dedicated member of Hizballah who received specialized training in radical Shiite fundamentalism, weaponry, spy craft, and counterintelligence in Lebanon and Iran."

"Kourani," Chadwell added in his statement, "is charged with conspiring with individuals at the highest levels of the terrorist organization, including one of his brothers who is the Hizballah chief of military security for southern Lebanon."

Kourani got to America, the prosecutors allege, with the help of a Mexican official.

"On approximately Feb. 4, 2001, Kourani surreptitiously entered the United States by sneaking across the U.S./Mexico border in the trunk of a car," wrote Chadwell. "He reached Mexico by paying ,000 used to bribe an official in the Mexican Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, to give him a Mexican visa."

Do prosecutors believe that official was Imelda Ortiz Abdala, the one-time Mexican consul in Beirut who was arrested by Mexico in November, according to the Associated Press, "on charges of helping a smuggling ring move Arab migrants into the United States from Mexico"? "They are not sure if that is the person that received the money," said Sandy Palazzolo, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins of Detroit. "They have information that she worked there during this time frame, but they don't know if that is in fact the person that he did bribe."

In a sentencing memorandum in Kourani's alien-harboring case, Chadwell told the court Kourani's "offense of conviction was part of a continuing scheme to bring illegal aliens to the United States from Lebanon through Mexico."

Kourani has pleaded not guilty to providing material support to Hizballah. I asked his attorney, Nabih Ayad, about the claim in the indictment that Kourani was a member, fighter, recruiter and fundraiser for Hizballah. "He denies all that," said Ayad. Kourani also contests the government's assertion that he bought a Mexican visa for ,000 in Beirut. "My client told me specifically," said Ayad, "that he got it legitimately through the Mexican consulate."

Why did Kourani come to America? "I think why millions of Americans, the immigrants, come to the United States," said Ayad. "Basically, to make some money. . . . According to his statements to the FBI agents, he was here to make some money to go back with ,000 for his wife and children."

Whatever the eventual outcome in this case, simple prudence demands that a question be asked of our political leaders: If they don't secure our borders against illegal immigration, how can they secure our country against Hizballah?

And Hizballah, as Sheik Nasrallah says, seeks "Death to America!"

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/terencejeffrey/tj20040128.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Replaces Iraq, Becomes Top Funding Source for Arafat's Fatah

January 29, 2004
World Tribune
Tribune.com

Iran has become the main financier of the largest Palestinian insurgency group in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli military sources said that over the last year Iran and its Hizbullah ally have supplied the ruling Fatah movement with as much as 90 percent of the organization's requirements to maintain the Palestinian war against the Jewish state.

The sources said Iran has replaced Iraq in financing Fatah operations against Israel. Until early 2003, Iraq was pumping about $2 million a month to Palestinian insurgents, mostly Fatah, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported.

The sources said Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has steadily reduced funding to Fatah and provides no more than 10 percent of Fatah's requirements to maintain the war.

"Arafat is hardly involved in the financing of the war. Iran is," a senior military source said. "But without Arafat, Iran would not have the Fatah infrastructure to finance."

"In every [Palestinian] town and village, you can find groups of Fatah people who have been financed and trained by Iran," [Res.] Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad, director of the Israeli Defense Ministry's political-military unit, said.

The Iraqi funds were halted in March 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq and ousted the regime of Saddam Hussein.

On Tuesday, Israeli security sources said Arafat has again resumed the harboring of Palestinian insurgents wanted by Israel. The sources said the insurgents included recruiters for suicide bombers or the bombers themselves. In all, the sources said, about 30 Palestinian fugitives wanted by Israel have found safe haven in Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

In another development, the Israeli government held its first meeting to draft a plan for unilateral separation from the Palestinian Authority. The meeting was led by National Security Council chairman Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland National and included officials from the Mossad intelligence agency.

http://216.26.163.62/2004/me_iran_01_27.html

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian Guards in Illegal Transactions with Saddam's Son

January 29, 2004
Middle East Research Institute
MEMRI Ticker Headlines

The Iranian intelligence ministry has received from Iraq’s governing council a list of illegal transactions between the Iranian revolutionary guards and a company previously owned by Uday Hussein.
(al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, 1/28/04)

January 27, 2004
al-Qa'ida threatened Iran with serious consequences if it revealed to the U.S. the identity of al-Qa'ida members under arrest in Iran or if it puts them on trial. Al-Qa'ida could use thousands of Balouchis on the Iran-Afghanistan border, who are Sunnis, to cause disturbances for Iran.
(al-Hayat, London,)

January 26, 2004
Security forces in samara (Sunni triangle) arrested an Iranian carrying a camera in the shape of a fountain pen to photograph American forces in the city.
(al-Zaman, Iraq, 1/24/04)

http://memri.org/ticker.html

[nuconvert]

Think Gen. Beg is in this up to his eyeballs?

[nuconvert]

"Arafat is hardly involved in the financing of the war. Iran is," a senior military source said. "But without Arafat, Iran would not have the Fatah infrastructure to finance."

Wish they would differentiate between the regime and the populace.

[freedom44]

Iranian visits Congressmen in Washington



WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Iran's ambassador to the United Nations has visited Washington to meet with a bipartisan congressional group, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

The visit by Mohammed Javad Zarif came a week after Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi met with Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Zarif would not take such a potentially controversial step unless he had general approval from Tehran, Iran experts said.

While Zarif's visit was not official, it had to be approved by the United States since Iranian envoys at the United Nations are restricted to 25 miles around New York City because the two nations have no formal relations.

"This is a process that has been very carefully considered by both sides," said William G. Miller, a former U.S. diplomat affiliated with the Woodrow Wilson Center and Search for Common Ground, who helped organize the visit.

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040129-091010-4289r.htm

Note: Hard-liners are suffocating the reformists while seeking engagement with the US at the same time.

Death Wish to Iranian democracy and push towards more radical terrorism.

My guess is that certain elements in our administration are playing the engagement game again...

[freedom44]

Bob Ney R- Ohio is a strong supporter of the Islamic Republic. He's hosted many events calling for engagement with the regime in Iran, he's also introduced a bill in congress calling for engagement and support for Khatami's camp.

Not surprisingly Trita Parisa of the NIAC (national iranian american council- which a large group of Iranian-americans believe is funded by the Islamic Republic) happens to have worked for a long time with Bob Ney as a representative.

And guess who wrote this article.. lookie here "Mrs. Robin Wright".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58093-2004Jan28.html

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 29, 2004; Page A17

"The two countries are dancing around the issue of direct talks. Both are being tentative and putting out feelers," said Shaul Bakhash, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. "But the fact Zarif is going to meet members of Congress indicates there is a change. Several members of Congress have been wanting to meet for a long time and make a trip to Iran. There are also signs of a change in Tehran," he added.

Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) hosted the private dinner, attended by about half a dozen members of the House and Senate. "We could have had 50 or 60. There's extreme interest on the Hill on both sides of the aisle," Ney said.

"Iran has signed an important accord that was a huge step that's a piece of progress" Ney added. "There are still a lot of issues both countries have, but it's time for Iran and the United States to sit down and say hello to each other."

[freedom44]

District Offices Contact:

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[faludeh_shirazi]

It's so funny... I wonder how much agents who pose as Journalists and Polticians get paid.. definitely in the millions.... a bit traitorious don't you think?