Replies

Iran Fails to Stem Leaks of Nuke Secrets

April 23, 2004
Middle East Newsline
MENL

NICOSIA -- For the first time, Iran has acknowledged that government experts disclosed classified information on the nation's nuclear program.

Iranian sources have reported high-level concern in Teheran over a series of defections by Iranian nuclear scientists and the transfer of information on Iran's nuclear weapons program to the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency. So far, the sources said, authorities have arrested at least two employees of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization.

The Iranian regime-aligned newspaper, Ya Lesarat, reported that two nuclear experts were arrested for relaying secret material to foreigners. The weekly, published on Wednesday, did not elaborate.

"The two nuclear experts, who were transferring classified information abroad, were arrested by security agents after an extensive investigation," Ya Lesarat, published by supporters of the Iranian regime, said.

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/april/04_23_1.html

Nuke Iran threat to Israel: Bush

Washington, April 22 (Reuters): A nuclear-armed Iran would pose an intolerable threat to peace in West Asia and a mortal danger to Israel, President George W. Bush said yesterday, adding that any such threat would be “dealt with” by the US and its allies.

In strongly worded remarks before an audience of newspaper editors and publishers, the Republican President pressed the secretive leadership of the Islamic republic to heed US and European demands not to pursue a nuclear weapons programme.

“It would be intolerable to peace and stability in West Asia if they get a nuclear weapon, particularly since their stated objective is the destruction of Israel,” Bush said in answer to a question about international cooperation against militant attacks.

“The development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable. And a programme is intolerable. Otherwise they will be dealt with, starting through the UN.” The US accuses Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, but Tehran says its nuclear ambitions are confined to generating electricity. Washington hardliners have been pressing for UN sanctions against the Islamic state.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040423/asp/foreign/story_3162643.asp

US Senator accuses firms working with Iran and Syria of collecting "blood money"

AP - World News
Apr 22, 2004

WASHINGTON - Sen. Frank Lautenberg accused American companies on Thursday of collecting "blood money" by doing business with terror sponsors and said he would push for legislation to stop it. Lautenberg, D-N.J., made his comments alongside New York City comptroller William Thompson, who as manager of employee pension funds is fighting several companies' over their business dealings with Iran and Syria.

Under current law, U.S. firms are not allowed to do business with nations deemed by the United States to sponsor terrorism. But the law does not specifically bar foreign subsidiaries from such business.

Lautenberg said he would offer a measure that would bar any firm controlled over 50 percent by an American parent company from doing business with terror states.

Lautenberg and Thompson singled out three companies — Halliburton Co., ConocoPhillips, and General Electric Co. — for exploiting what they said was a loophole in the law.

ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest oil company, has already promised to pull out of Syria once a contract expires next year.

Representatives for the other two companies say they are carefully following the present law, and would comply with any changes made by Congress.

Thompson, a Democrat, invests $80 billion of New York pension money, including funds for firefighters and police officers. He said that if Congress does move to end companies' business with terror sponsors, other pension managers around the country are considering joining his effort.

The government has identified Iran, Syria, Libya, Cuba, Sudan and North Korea (news - web sites) as sponsors of terrorism. Libya is working to have its sanctions dropped.

Through a foreign subsidiary, GE has provided hydroelectric equipment, medical equipment, and oil and gas equipment in Iran, where a Halliburton subsidiary is involved in oil refining and transportation.

Congress ordered the Security and Exchange Commission in January to identify all U.S. public companies operating in terrorism-sponsoring states and ensure that information is disclosed to stockholders.

"We have careful compliance processes to ensure adherence to U.S. law," said GE spokesman Gary Sheffer. "If Congress decides to change these provisions we will certainly comply."

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said, "All of Halliburton's business is clearly permissible under applicable U.S. laws and regulations. ... If Congress decides to change the laws and provisions, Halliburton will, of course, comply."

Sam Falcona, a spokesman for ConocoPhillips, declined to comment.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_5856.shtml

Keep out of Najaf, Iran warns US

Dan De Luce in Tehran
Friday April 23, 2004
The Guardian

Iranian clerics have warned the US that a military assault on two holy cities in Iraq would unleash the wrath of Shia Muslims.
Their warning was echoed by President Mohammed Khatami, who said it would be "suicide" for the coalition to attack Najaf and Kerbala, still encircled by US forces.

It would "mobilise emotions among the world's Shia against the Americans", he added in a statement reported by Tehran newspapers. "I do not think they will make such a mistake, because if they did they would be caught up in a storm."

Three senior clerics used stronger language, saying they would issue fatwas (religious rulings) if the pilgrimage sites remained encircled.

"The US should know that the holy city of Najaf is the capital for all the world's Shias and that if the occupiers do not end the encirclement they will be confronted by all Shias," Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani said, according to the newspaper Hamshahri.

Najaf is the site of the tomb of Ali, the most important Shia saint. US commanders said talks aimed at resolving the standoff with Moqtada al-Sadr, the young cleric leading the insurgency in southern Iraq, had begun.

President Khatami and the clergy made no mention of Mr Sadr, in keeping with Iran's attempts to distance itself from him and his Mahdi army.

But Mr Khatami offered the most explicit endorsement yet of the more moderate and more senior cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has called for prompt elections and an end to the US occupation: "What we are in agreement with in Iraq is the policy and methods of Ayatollah Sistani."

With the US renewing its pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme, Tehran could choose to retaliate by stirring unrest in Iraq, analysts say.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1201294,00.html

FYI

PBS [FRONTLINE] will be airing OnLine, a documentary called "SON OF Al QAEDA" tomorrow, April 24th. Here's a brief description and link to much more about it :

"Frontline: Son of al Qaeda
Terence McKenna
Producer
Friday, April 23, 2004; 11:00 a.m. ET

Growing up in the 1990s, Abdurahman Khadr's playmates were the children of his father's longtime friend, Osama bin Laden. How Khadr was raised to be an al Qaeda terrorist -- and how he ultimately decided to become a U.S. informant in the war on terror -- is the focus of the Frontline report "Son of al Qaeda." Through interviews with Khadr as well as his mother and siblings, the one-hour documentary recounts his journey from terrorist trainee to informant, offering a revealing glimpse inside the world-and mindset-of al Qaeda followers.

Producer Terence McKenna will be online Friday, April 23 at 11 a.m. ET, to discuss the documentary."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/khadr//

U.S. Firms' Work With Iran, Syria Targeted

April 22, 2004
The Associated Press
Devlin Barrett

WASHINGTON - Sen. Frank Lautenberg accused American companies on Thursday of collecting "blood money" by doing business with terror sponsors and said he would push for legislation to stop it.

Lautenberg, D-N.J., made his comments alongside New York City comptroller William Thompson, who as manager of employee pension funds is fighting several companies' over their business dealings with Iran and Syria.

Under current law, U.S. firms are not allowed to do business with nations deemed by the United States to sponsor terrorism. But the law does not specifically bar foreign subsidiaries from such business.

Lautenberg said he would offer a measure that would bar any firm controlled over 50 percent by an American parent company from doing business with terror states.

Lautenberg and Thompson singled out three companies — Halliburton Co., ConocoPhillips, and General Electric Co. — for exploiting what they said was a loophole in the law.

ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest oil company, has already promised to pull out of Syria once a contract expires next year.

Representatives for the other two companies say they are carefully following the present law, and would comply with any changes made by Congress.

Thompson, a Democrat, invests $80 billion of New York pension money, including funds for firefighters and police officers. He said that if Congress does move to end companies' business with terror sponsors, other pension managers around the country are considering joining his effort.

The government has identified Iran, Syria, Libya, Cuba, Sudan and North Korea as sponsors of terrorism. Libya is working to have its sanctions dropped.

Through a foreign subsidiary, GE has provided hydroelectric equipment, medical equipment, and oil and gas equipment in Iran, where a Halliburton subsidiary is involved in oil refining and transportation.

Congress ordered the Security and Exchange Commission in January to identify all U.S. public companies operating in terrorism-sponsoring states and ensure that information is disclosed to stockholders.

"We have careful compliance processes to ensure adherence to U.S. law," said GE spokesman Gary Sheffer. "If Congress decides to change these provisions we will certainly comply."

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said, "All of Halliburton's business is clearly permissible under applicable U.S. laws and regulations. ... If Congress decides to change the laws and provisions, Halliburton will, of course, comply."

Sam Falcona, a spokesman for ConocoPhillips, declined to comment.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=10&u=/ap/20040422/ap_on_re_us/terror_investing

Hunger-strike Asylum Seekers to Be Evicted

April 23, 2004
The Herald
Alison Chiesa

Three Kurdish Iranian asylum seekers who stitched up their mouths and went on a month-long hunger strike are to be evicted from their homes.

Campaigners are appealing to Glasgow City Council to halt the evictions over concerns that Fariborz Gravindi, 30, Faroq Haidari, 32, and Mokhtar Haydary, 31, will be forced to sleep on the streets.

The local authority is required to follow orders from the Home Office, which has ruled the men must leave their council-funded accommodation after their final applications for asylum were rejected.

Rosie Kane, the Scottish Socialist MSP, called on the council to defy such rulings.

She added: "I do not think Glasgow City Council is comfortable or happy about this and what we need to see them do is coming out and saying it. I would urge them and support them to do that."

Mr Gravindi, who has been told he must leave his bedsit in the south side of Glasgow tomorrow, said: "I feel extremely terrible. I have no idea how I'll manage with no roof over my head or permission to work. I will be living on the streets."

Mr Haydary, who has been sleeping on the floor of Mr Gravindi's bedsit, since being evicted from his own accommodation two years ago, said he only saw a future of terror and hopelessness.

He added: "It is almost impossible to put into words how I feel. Not only do we have the prospect of being sent back to a life of torture and death, but we will also have a life of destitution while we wait. Doesn't the government realise that we would go back to Iran if we could?"

Margaret Woods, of the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, said it was "obscene" that a Labour council would implement such an order.

The three men stitched their lips together on February 19, saying they would rather die in Scotland than travel back to Iran, but gave up their hunger strike after seeing the "overwhelming" support they had gained for their cause. The men were sent hundreds of letters and cards from supporters.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said yesterday that its position on the Home Office ruling remained unchanged.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/14603-print.shtml

Iran's Press Tells The Great Satan to Go to Hell

April 23, 2004
The Guardian
Dan De Luce

Photos of the carnage and debris from this week's violence in neighbouring Iraq dominated Iranian newspapers, which issued dire warnings of the consequences for the US if it attacked insurgents in the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala.

The ultra-conservative paper Jomhuri Islami said US actions in Iraq had surpassed Saddam Hussein's. Why, it asked, had "our" religious leaders not issued a fatwa calling for a holy war to oust the American forces. "Why are they silent? What are they waiting for?"

There was extensive coverage of the remarks of President Mohammad Khatami, who warned it would be "suicide" for the US-led coalition to launch an assault on Najaf and Kerbala. "I do not think they will make such a mistake, because if they did they would be caught up in a storm," he was quoted as saying in Hamshahri.

The US was also condemned for its failure to reprimand Israel over its assassination of the Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi. Entekhab ran a front-page photo of a Palestinian girl crying at the funeral procession and other newspapers reported that the government planned a ceremony in Tehran in his honour.

Under the headline "War between right and wrong", Jomhuri Islami said world public opinion favoured the Palestinians and that the US and Israel were looking increasingly isolated. "Muslims should now take advantage of the unity they can achieve and fight against the Zionist regime and its supporter," the paper said.

It also remembered that the late founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, described the US as the Great Satan. "Now one can easily understand what he meant," said the paper.

Khomeini has also been in the news because Tehran's new international airport has been named after him. Unfortunately, reported Resalaat, plans to open the airport to commercial flights have had to be postponed yet again. Still, the latest delay could hardly have come as surprise - the plans to build the airport date back as far as 1960.

A new film that depicts a thief who poses successfully as a cleric has taken Tehran by storm. Lizard opened in cinemas in the capital on Wednesday, with tickets selling out ten days in advance, reported the reformist daily Vaqaye Etefaqieh.

The paper ran a still from the film on page one, showing the actor Parviz Parastui holding forth in clerical robes. The paper quoted the film's producer refuting persistent rumours that the film had been banned.

The ministry of culture and Islamic guidance initially passed the film for screening, but officials then appointed a team, including judges, to review it. The producer said only a few lines from the original screenplay had to be cut, the paper reported.

The film's story may not be so far from reality, according to another reformist paper, Aftab. In the town of Mashad, prospective investors in a fake company were promised a 40% rate of return by a group of con men, including one who posed as a cleric. Authorities said that if the man had passed himself off as a cleric, he would be tried in a special court.

Aftab also reported plans for a women's demonstration in front of the state television building next week over the portrayal of women in entertainment programming.

Noushin Ahmadi, of the women's cultural centre, criticised the state broadcaster for showing "anti-women" programmes that promote polygamy and temporary marriages, or sigeh. She cited the recent production Another Lady, in which a husband seeks a second wife because his first wife cannot bear children, which was "insulting and humiliating for educated women".

Vaqaye Etefaqieh also carried a column by Marzieh Mortazi Langarudi accusing the state broadcaster of representing women as inferior and portraying female artists or writers as abnormal and mentally ill. The broadcaster seemed to have two or three stock characters, said Langarudi, who were either traditional and subservient or modern and unstable. And when women got the chance to present factual programmes they were focused on cooking, handicrafts or sewing.

"Is this the reality of Iranian families?" she asked. "If so, is it the same reality in which women are earning 65% of university places or has the television picked a minority to represent the majority?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/editor/story/0,12900,1201248,00.html