Iranian Alert -- March 2, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

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.

Shi'i-Sunni Clashes Reported in Northeast Iran

March 02, 2004
BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring Newsfile

Tehran -- The spokesman of the Interior Ministry, referring to the incidents and unrest last night and this morning in Khaf, has stressed that the situation is calm in Khaf.

Jahanbakhsh Khanjani, speaking to Mehr's political affairs reporter, said that, thanks to the sagacity of Khorasan Governorate-General's Security Council, the street clashes in Khaf have currently ended and the situation is calm in the town.

He said: Yesterday evening, an accident between a small van belonging to groups of mourners for Aba-Abdallah-al-Husayn [Imam Husayn, the third Shi'i Imam] and two motorcyclists who were Sunnis led to clashes between the two sides. Then, a group of Sunnis congregated on the route of the [Shi'i] mourners [marking the anniversary of Imam Husayn's martyrdom] and clashed with them. The situation was calmed thanks to the sagacity of the province's Security Council and the concentration of Husayn's mourners in the town's prayer centre.

He added: This morning, with the provocation of rogue, adventurers, who mainly seek their own objectives in incidents of this kind, fan the flames of disputes and engage in hooliganism, the situation became disturbed in the town again and one or two public places were damaged.

According to him, these people belonged to both the Shi'i and Sunni sects.

The Interior Ministry spokesman also declared: One or two people were slightly injured in the clashes.

According to Mehr's reporter, special law enforcement units in various parts of Khaf now have the situation under control and, in some streets, bits of rocks and burnt tyres have been left behind from the past hours' clashes.

In the course of the clashes, several government buildings and vehicles were also attacked by the rioters.

Text of report by Iranian Mehr news agency

Source: Mehr news agency, Tehran, in Persian 1130 gmt 2 Mar 04

http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/

Qaeda Blamed as Attacks on Shi'ites Kill 170 in Iraq

March 02, 2004
Reuters
The new York Times

BAGHDAD/KERBALA -- A wave of suicide bombings and mortar attacks on vast crowds of Shi'ite worshippers killed at least 170 people in Baghdad and Kerbala on Tuesday, Iraq's bloodiest day since Saddam Hussein's fall.

Leaders of the country's 60 percent Shi'ite majority said the bloodbaths were intended to ignite civil war. The Iraqi Governing Council blamed a Jordanian who Washington says is working for al Qaeda and trying to fuel chaos in Iraq.

The U.S. military said three suicide bombers killed 58 people in Baghdad around the Kadhimiya mosque, and a suicide bomber, mortars and concealed bombs combined to kill scores in Kerbala, a Shi'ite holy city 110 km (68 miles) to the south.

Ahmed al-Safi, a leading cleric in Kerbala, said at least 112 people had been killed there.

More than 400 people were wounded in the two cities.

The near-simultaneous attacks ripped through an annual ritual -- banned under the Sunni Saddam -- during which Shi'ites beat their heads and chests and cut their heads with swords to honor a revered figure killed in battle 1,324 years ago.

In Kerbala, where at least two million worshippers had gathered, rescuers raced through the streets with bodies stacked two or three deep on wooden carts, desperately searching for a doctor or an ambulance.

Shi'ites who earlier had ritually gashed open their heads with swords queued up to give blood to the wounded. Many of the victims were blown to pieces. A man's scalp and ear lay alongside rotting fruit.

In Baghdad, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, a Governing Council member and head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a leading Shi'ite party, said his group's militia had thwarted a similar attack in the holy city of Najaf.

They also confiscated rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from cars in Kerbala, he said.

IRAQI LEADERS BLAME AL QAEDA

Several Governing Council members blamed the blasts on Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian whom Washington suspects of being behind a series of major attacks in Iraq.

U.S. forces have placed a million bounty on his head. They said last month they had intercepted a computer disc with a letter from Zarqawi urging suicide bomb attacks on Shi'ites to inflame sectarian tension in Iraq.

``This was a clear and tragically well organized act of terrorism,'' Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of operations for the U.S. Army in Iraq, told a news conference.

He said a man strapped with explosives had been apprehended near the Baghdad mosque -- the capital's holiest Shi'ite shrine -- and several people had been arrested in Kerbala. Kimmitt said they would be interrogated to see who was behind the attacks.

In a separate attack in Baghdad, guerrillas threw a bomb at a U.S. military vehicle, killing one American soldier and seriously wounding another, the army said. The death took to 379 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq nearly a year ago.

In southwest Pakistan, Shi'ites in a procession to mark the same festival as their Iraqi brethren were attacked by suspected Sunni radicals with guns and bombs. At least 44 were killed and more than 150 wounded, hospital sources said.

GOVERNING COUNCIL CALLS FOR CALM

Unsure who to blame, survivors in Baghdad hurled stones at U.S. troops who arrived on the scene. In Kerbala, enraged Shi'ites turned on Iranian pilgrims after the blasts -- even though Iran said at least 22 Iranians were among the dead.

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, issued a statement from his office in Najaf calling for national unity but criticizing U.S.-led occupation forces for not doing enough to secure Iraq's borders against infiltrators.

Shi'ites on the Governing Council urged calm and unity among all of Iraq's myriad religious and ethnic groups.

``The civil war and sectarian strife that Zarqawi wants to inflict on the people of Iraq will not succeed. Zarqawi failed, his gang and their evil plans have failed,'' Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, a Shi'ite Governing Council member, told a news conference.

Iraq's U.S. governor Paul Bremer said in a statement: ``The terrorists want sectarian violence because they believe that is the only way they can stop Iraq's march toward the democracy that the terrorists fear.''

Monday, the competing religious and ethnic groups in the Governing Council agreed on an interim constitution, putting aside differences over the role of Islam, representation for women and Kurdish demands for autonomy.

The agreement was due to have been signed Wednesday but officials said this would almost certainly be postponed out of respect for a three-day mourning period for Tuesday's victims.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq.html

Constitutional Deals

March 02, 2004
New York Post
Amir Taheri

After months of heated debates, Iraq's interim leaders have approved a constitutional draft designed to close decades of tyranny. It will be put to nationwide debate ahead of elections for a constituent assembly that will write the final text of the nation's new constitution.

Until even a week ago, some believed that the Governing Council would be unable to agree on a text. The more pessimistic observers even predicted the council's disintegration. In the West, many Saddam nostalgics hoped the council would fail, thus "proving" that Iraqis can only live under a bloodthirsty despot.

The document is remarkable for a number of reasons. To start with, it is a patchwork of compromises in a region where give-and-take is regarded as a sign of political weakness if not outright dishonor.

In the macho world of Middle Eastern politics, the "strongman" imposes his will by force, giving even the mildest critic no quarter. In a game in which the winner takes all, the most that the losers can hope for is not to be put to the sword, thrown into prison or forced into exile. This is why, with the exception of Turkey, there has never been a genuine coalition government in any Muslim country.

The Iraqi success in agreeing to a draft is all the more meritorious because the compromises that had to be made concerned fundamental issues.

The most hotly debated was the place of Islam in a future Iraqi state. Some members, arguing that the new state should belong to all citizens, opposed any mention of Islam as the state religion. Others campaigned for an Islamic state in which non-Muslim Iraqis would, in effect, become second-class citizens in a system of apartheid based on faith.

The compromise: Islam is mentioned as the religion of the state but will not be used as a means of barring non-Muslim citizens from public office. Nor will the state interfere in personal religious matters, as is the case in many other Muslim countries, notably neighboring Iran.

Some radical secularists have already expressed disappointment at this compromise. In fact, giving the state a right of oversight on matters Islamic will prove good for Iraqi democracy. Under a totally secular system, Islam would be monopolized by the most radical elements that could use it as a political base from which to build a state within the state.

Consider two examples:

First, the shrines at Najaf, Karbala, Kazemiah and Samarra are bound to emerge as magnets for mass pilgrimage for the world's estimated 200 million Shi'ites. Linked with these shrines are thousands of endowments in the form of real estate, farms, industrial units and commercial businesses. Allowed to escape some form of state control, these could develop into a string of mini-empires controlled by the mullahs who could then be tempted into creating a parallel authority, thus weakening the democratic state. Under the compromise, the shrines and the businesses linked with them, worth billions of dollars, could be managed by a ministry in an atmosphere of transparency.

The second example concerns the way Islam is taught in the new democratic Iraq. If the state excludes itself from the process in the name of secularism, it will leave an important space open to groups with extremist ideologies. This has happened in Turkey and Pakistan in recent years, with private madrassas (Islamic schools) monopolizing the teaching of religion under the auspices of radical groups.

At a time when the European Union is leaning towards honoring its "Christian culture" in its proposed new constitution, no one should take the Iraqis to task for acknowledging the religious heritage of 95 percent of their people.

Linked to the issue of Islam as state religion was that of the role that sharia (Islamic law) might play in Iraq's legal system. Some on the Governing Council wanted it declared the sole source of legislation in the new Iraq. This was never a serious proposal but the opening gambit by several parties who used Islam as a weapon against the Ba'athist regime and its supposed socialist ideology.

Under the compromise, the sharia is mentioned as one source of Iraqi law. This is reasonable: There is much in the sharia that reflects centuries of customs, traditions and practices that do not contravene the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Iraq was one of the first signatories.

The draft constitution offers yet another important compromise. It allows the two Kurdish enclaves of the north to retain the autonomy that they have enjoyed since 1991. The compromise was designed to avoid a battle between those who want a federal system, patterned on Germany, and those who believe that federalism is inapplicable to Iraq.

This writer supports the latter view. A federation comes into being when two or more existing states come together to form a single one. This is not applicable to Iraq which was put on the map as a unitary state from the start. There is also the need for a strong central authority to distribute the oil revenue and manage the nation's water resources.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to re-impose a highly centralized state. Those Kurds who have enjoyed autonomy for the past 13 years are unlikely to accept any system in which all key decisions are made in Baghdad.

There are aspects of the proposed draft with which it is hard to agree:

* Having both an executive president and a prime minister is a recipe for perpetual fights at the summit of the state. Things could become even more complicated: The draft envisages the appointment of two vice presidents, presumably to represent ethnic and religious minorities, thus encouraging communalism at the highest level.

* The new constitution cannot emphasize both the concept of "Iraqiness" (Uruqa) and encourage ethnic and/or religious sectarianism.

* The decision to impose quotas for women - 25 percent in the parliament and 40 percent in government departments - is not helpful. Added to the quotas for religious and ethnic minorities, these "reserved places for women" could complicate the task of forming an efficient administration with the help of the most qualified Iraqis.

Helping women secure a bigger role in the decision-making process could better be assured by political parties and, later, cabinet ministers, on an informal basis. The parties, for example, could include more women in their electoral lists. More women could also be appointed to key positions such as governorships of provinces, ambassadorships and the management of major state-owned corporations. There is no need for constitutional "charity," so to speak.

The Governing Council has already taken a much more important step towards removing discrimination against women by canceling the law on "identity and personal matters." That infamous law made women subservient to men, in many cases treating them as second-class citizens.

Overall, the Governing Council has come up with a credible draft. That success must be seen as further encouragement to those who believe that, given a chance, most Iraqis can learn the rules of democratic politics. And that, in turn, is a strong argument for holding free and fair elections as soon as possible.

E-mail: amirtaheri@benadorassociates.com - www.benadorassociates.com

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/19452.htm

Mass protests rock Iranian cities instead of religious mourning

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Mar 2, 2004

Thousands of Iranians sized, this evening and for the 2nd consecutive night, the religious ritual of Ashura in order to come into the streets and to show their rejection of the theocratic regime.

Slogans qualifying the regime as tyrannical and despotic were mixed to the noise of fire crackers and gave again a total different aspect than a religious mourning which the regime has based on it one of its ideological bases. Many slogans accused the regime to be the real mastermind behind the today's deadly explosions of Karbala and Baghdad as many Iranians still remember the scandal over the bombing of the 8th Imam of the Shi-a, in Mashad, which was in reality carried by agents of the Islamic regime instead of opponents who were executed few years ago for such charge.

Sporadic clashes leading to injuries and arrests, among the demonstrators and also the regime forces, rocked several areas of the Capital and also several provincial cities, such as Esfahan and Shiraz. Hand Made grenades and incendiary devices responded to the regime's men clubs, chains and tear gas which were used against young Iranians striving for freedom and an end to the promotion of the culture of mourning.

Several security patrol were damaged by the incendiary devices thrown by the crowd angered by the persistent repression and back warded ideology.

Most perimeters to Madar, Mirdamad, Zarab Khaneh Shahrak Gharb, Tehran Pars, Narmak, Vanak, Eslam Shahr, Dolat, Tajrish and Vali- e-Asr (former Vali-Ahd) were closed in the Capital due to the wide scale demos and sporadic clashes. The same security measure were instated by the regime's local forces in the cities of Esfahan, Abadan and Shiraz.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_5167.shtml

Tyranny wins in Iran

(Filed: 21/02/2004)

When you read the rather intersting view set forth below, you begin to wonder if the THREE STOOGES of the European Union have finally "got it" or not. It's really quite unlikely, as thieves are rather impossible to rehabilitate...however, the people of Iran have won a brilliant hand at showing colonialists bearing feckless royalty that certain poker players cannot be bluffed! I recommend all Brits stay out of Vegas OR Casino Royale at this juncture! - Banafsheh ZB

The conduct of the campaign leading up to yesterday's Iranian elections tells us more about the political balance of power in that country than any interpretation of the results of the discredited poll.

The hardline clerical leadership marked the eve of the election by shutting down the office of the main reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, many of whose members had been among the 2,500 candidates already disqualified from standing in the election. The offices of the last two pro-reform newspapers still publishing were simultaneously padlocked, raising concerns that conservative forces are tightening their grip in advance of declaring "victory" in the election.

The hardliners' current confidence in acting so brazenly against the reformists raises questions about the European Union's efforts to encourage Teheran to change its ways. The British Government authorised - perhaps encouraged - Prince Charles to visit Teheran this month as part of this strategy, but today that gesture looks decidedly ill-judged. If the royal trip, and other diplomatic overtures from Britain and EU governments, were designed to tilt the balance in favour of the reformist President Khatami and against the ayatollahs, they would appear to have failed.

The political clampdown inside Iran coincides this week with further revelations about Teheran's nuclear ambitions. United Nations inspectors have discovered previously undeclared components for uranium enrichment so sophisticated that civilian use can all but be ruled out. The White House will seize on these new discoveries to demand Teheran be referred to the Security Council for sanctions at next month's meeting of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

There may have been good reasons for the EU to play good cop to the Washington bad cop in its dealings with Iran. But given the alarming developments in Iran this week, it seems that policy towards Teheran should now be based.

http://activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1410

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM IRAN'S NEW CONSERVATIVE PARLIAMENT

By A. William Samii

"The next parliament is going to be moderate, without paying
any attention to right-wing or left-wing slogans," Expediency Council
Chairman Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said after casting
his vote in the 20 February parliamentary elections, "Farhang-i
Ashti" reported on 22 February. A specific date for the inauguration
of the new legislature has not been set yet, but in 2000 the
legislature was sworn-in in late May.

So far this message of moderation has been championed by what
is normally one of the country's most conservative newspapers,
"Resalat." Amir Mohebian wrote in a 21 February editorial that
"reform" is important to all of Iranian society, and he added that
"religious democracy" does not have a "specific backer." Mohebian
said the new legislature will cooperate with President Mohammad
Khatami's administration, and he also criticized the judiciary's
press closures. "We prefer the overall intelligent management of the
media," Mohebian wrote.

Mohammad Kazem Anbarlui, a "Resalat" editorial-board member,
predicted in a 21 February interview with ISNA that there will be
"less political commotion and sensationalism." He also predicted
greater cooperation between the legislative and executive branches.
These predictions of calm on the political front may very
well come true. The most likely reason for this is that disputes
between the legislature and the Guardians Council, which must approve
all legislation on Islamic and constitutional grounds, are unlikely
to occur. And if the president who wins in Iran's 2005 presidential
election is of a like mind, there will be almost no need for public
disagreements.

The new political setting will affect policymaking in
different ways in the domestic and international arenas. It can be
argued reasonably that legislators in the last parliament had limited
power, contending as they did with a Guardians Council that blocked
their efforts, but they did have the ability to voice concern about
important issues and bring them to public attention.
It was the outspoken outrage of parliamentarians over the
beating death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi that forced
the government to investigate the case, and similar outrage resulted
in the trial of security officials after the July 1999 attack on a
Tehran University dormitory. Admittedly, nothing really came of these
protests, but at least the legislators exercised their
responsibilities as the electorate's representatives by voicing
concern over these issues.

The reformist parliamentarians also spoke out against the
harsh press law and accompanying numerous press closures. It is
unlikely that the new parliamentarians will defend the media with the
same vigor.
The parliamentarians-elect were not very forthcoming with
policy statements on other domestic issues. When asked about a range
of subjects on 22 February, Haddad-Adel responded, "Let the seventh
parliament convene, we will speak about issues together," IRNA
reported.
Yet it seems that they agree on the importance of economic
issues. Ahmad Tavakoli told a questioner before the election that
Abadgaran's focus on entering the parliament would be "jobs, jobs,
jobs," "Resalat" reported on 9 February. Tavakoli said at a
subsequent press conference "we will pay serious attention to
investment" in order to resolve the unemployment problem, "Nasim-i
Saba" reported on 15 February. Another Abadgaran leader, Hussein
Fadai, said that the coalition had studied people's demands over the
last two years and found that resolution of "economic and political
problems" tops the list, "Nasim-i Saba" reported. Tehran
parliamentarian-elect Elham Aminzadeh described economic issues as
the main priority, Mehr News Agency reported on 28 February.
Their economic plans could be tested soon. The parliament
approved the outlines of the Khatami administration's 1.07 trillion
rials ($129 million) budget for the coming year on 24 February, IRNA
reported, and on 29 February approved a 1.15 trillion-rial budget. If
the Guardians Council does not approve the budget before the end of
May, the new parliament will have to complete work on it. On a
related issue, the new parliament is less likely to insist on its
oversight authority over controversial state agencies like Islamic
Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the foundations (bonyads), that
tend to be either controlled by or supportive of hard-line interests.

The current parliament has blocked the accession to the
Guardians Council of a new jurist member several times. While it is
possible that the head of the judiciary will persist in his efforts
to get the new member approved by the incumbent legislators, he is
more likely to wait for the new -- and presumably more amenable --
parliamentarians to be sworn in.
The predominant Iranian foreign policy issues will continue
to be relations with the United States, nuclear developments, and
interference in other countries' affairs. Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei set the tone for relations with the United States in a
21 February speech about the elections that was broadcast by state
radio and television. "The nation is the winner of these
elections.... Those who lost the elections were America, Zionism, and
the enemies of the Iranian nation," he said.
And in the first Friday prayers sermon after the elections,
Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani
described the turnout as a major defeat for the United States, IRNA
reported on 27 February, and he went on to claim that the United
States is now backing the opposition in Iran. He said Iran is open to
cooperation with all countries, except the United States. Rafsanjani
claimed that Europe and the United States are seeking pretexts for
interfering in Iranian affairs.
Under these circumstances, it seems unrealistic to expect a
repeat of the August 2000 or January 2004 meetings between senior
Iranian officials and U.S. senators and representatives.
Nor should one expect members of parliament to openly
advocate an opening with the United States, as was the case in April
2002. At that time, parliamentarian Mohsen Mirdamadi organized
several sessions to discuss ways to deal with the United States and
said that there is nothing preventing discussions between Iranian
parliamentarians and the United States. Tehran's Mohammad Naimipur
said the taboo against relations with the United States must be
broken.

This is not to say that officials from Tehran will be banned
from meeting with their counterparts from Washington. Rather, they
will just do so in secret, or else these contacts will take place in
the context of "track-two diplomacy," in which unofficial actors
convey governmental messages. It is less likely, furthermore, that
legislators will conduct their own foreign-policy initiatives.

Some of the newly elected parliamentarians, on the other
hand, are giving mixed signals on the possibility of relations with
the United States. Ahmad Tavakoli, recipient of the second-highest
number of votes in Tehran, said, "We do not regard relations with
America ideologically as being absolutely necessary, like daily
prayer and fasting, or absolutely forbidden like wine," "Etemad"
reported on 22 February.
Tavakoli then launched into a familiar litany of alleged U.S.
misdeeds: "America's approach to the Iranian nation is one of
superiority and arrogance, and for years, it has been trampling on
the rights of the Iranian nation. Therefore, it is not at all in our
benefit to speak about relations vis-a-vis this hegemonic attitude.

It should amend its behavior so that the system can respond
accordingly to this change." He added that there is no need to make
"specific changes" to the country's foreign policy.
Reformists, on the other hand, predicted before the election
that the conservatives would begin discussions with the United
States, because they want to claim for themselves the credit for
doing so. A 5 February commentary in the reformist "Yas-i No" daily
asserted that the conservatives requested that "foreign parties" stay
quiet on the rejection of candidates before the election, and that
afterwards, "the outlook for the development of relations will be
good." Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization and Islamic
Iran Participation Front official Mustafa Tajzadeh told ILNA on 16
February that the conservatives are promising the United States that,
in exchange for its support, they will help solve the problems in
Afghanistan and Iraq.

The new legislature is likely to be very supportive of the
government's nuclear activities. In November 2003, Isfahan
parliamentarian Ahmad Shirzad spoke openly and critically about an
Iranian nuclear weapons program. It seems certain there will be no
repetitions of this incident.
Members of parliament also voiced concern about the Israeli
discovery on the "Karine-A" (a ship carrying a cargo of Iranian
supplied weapons), about the presence in their country of Al-Qaeda
and Taliban personnel, and about the Iraqi foreign minister's visit
to Tehran shortly before Operation Iraqi Freedom. A
conservative-dominated legislature is unlikely to speak critically
about these issues.

Source:RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 40, Part III, 2 March 2004

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