Iranian Alert -- May 21, 2004 [EST]-- 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.” 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. I began these daily threads June 10th 2003. On that date Iranians once again began taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Today in Iran, most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy.

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.

The Growing Gap

May 21, 2004
National Review Online
Michael Rubin

Bremer has alienated Iraqis.

On May 20, U.S. forces raided the home and office of Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi. At a press conference following the operation, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) spokesman Dan Senor told assembled journalists that U.S. forces did not participate. To be kind, Senor appeared to misspeak. There was a non-Iraqi American citizen in Chalabi's house at the time of the raid. As armed men pointed guns at Chalabi's head, the U.S. citizen demanded to know who was in charge. A number of heavily armed Americans (judging by language and accent) in civilian clothes, upon learning of the presence of a non-Iraqi witness, scurried outside and waited in U.S. military humvees while Iraqis searched Chalabi's house. Those conducting the raid stole a Chalabi family Koran, smashed a portrait of Chalabi's father, and destroyed computers and family heirlooms. Chalabi's name did not appear on the warrant they presented. Iraqi police conducting the raid under American supervision sheepishly apologized in Arabic; they did not know they were to target Chalabi.

Iraqis — fans and foes of Chalabi alike — saw the raid as another sign of the contempt the CPA shows for ordinary Iraqis. By sending forces to break into Chalabi's house and then by holding a Governing Council member at gunpoint, Bremer sought to humiliate Chalabi. Bremer has not learned from the Abu Ghraib scandal. Humiliation backfires.

Simultaneously, the inside-the-beltway rumor mongering made clear both the irrational contempt and ignorance that many professional pundits feel for any proponent of Arab democracy. Those academics, pundits, and commentators who have never met Chalabi reserve for him the greatest vitriol.

One expert claimed that U.S. forces raided Chalabi's house because of evidence that he was planning a coup. Unclear is with what. Chalabi did gather a force of 700 men shortly before Iraq's liberation. They were largely successful. While U.S. commanders allowed looting across Iraq; Chalabi's militia kept order in Nasiriyah.

The allegations against Chalabi grow more bizarre. Yesterday afternoon, a journalist asked me to confirm an intelligence source's allegation that Chalabi's (nonexistent) militia was behind the Abu Ghraib interrogations. The confidence of journalists and academics in anonymous intelligence sources is bizarre. In its official biography of Chalabi, the CIA even gets wrong the languages he speaks. If "anonymous intelligence sources" allege that Chalabi invented chicken pox, Newsweek would probably make it their cover story.

The raid on Chalabi's house, personally approved by CPA administrator L. Paul Bremer, encapsulates what has gone wrong with the American administration in Iraq. Bremer came to Baghdad and planned to rule by dictate. He scuttled Jay Garner's desire for early sovereignty. In late July, Bremer vetoed a Governing Council proposal to create a prime minister, saying that this might undercut his power. Fearing any challenge to his authority, Bremer gave a series of condescending radio addresses mocked by Iraqis. Rather than promote the new generation of Iraqi politicians, Bremer put himself at the center of press attention. For example, Bremer decided that he, rather than an Iraqi official, would announce the new Iraqi currency. Iraqification became second stage to Bremer's desire to replace Secretary of State Colin Powell should Bush win reelection. There was no room for assertive Iraqis who refused to grovel.

Chalabi is not a populist politician nor does he claim to be. Rather, his strength is as a mediator and coalition-builder. The relationship between Bremer and Chalabi has been strained from the start. Bremer's Achilles' heel is his tendency to treat mediators as adversaries. Chalabi would visit Bremer to advocate the sense of the Governing Council. Chalabi's statements would sometimes contradict official CPA reporting. Bremer would accuse Chalabi of lying; junior diplomats nod in assent. But, many Governing Council members told U.S. diplomats hanging out in the Governing Council lobby what they thought Bremer wanted to hear; they would say very different things at meetings in private homes late at night, when Americans were playing poker, drinking, or dancing in the Rashid Hotel disco.

Bremer personalized challenges and held deep grudges. In August, Chalabi told Bremer that he risked losing Iraqis' goodwill if he continued to oppose sovereignty. Bremer was furious. When George Stephanopoulos confronted Bremer during a television interview with a Chalabi quote on sovereignty, Bremer lost his temper. He telephoned his deputy, Clay McManaway, in Baghdad. McManaway summoned Chalabi and, in front of junior American staff, proceeded to dress him down, concluding, "You are over."

In November, the White House forced Bremer to reverse himself on sovereignty. Bremer outlined an elaborate caucus scheme. Chalabi visits often with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani (as well as Sunni clerics); he refused to endorse the caucus scheme, and instead called for direct elections. Bremer was furious. But, Bremer and his top advisers do not speak Arabic; many State Department Arabists are unfamiliar with the Iraqi dialect and do not venture out of the Green Zone. State Department and British Foreign Office reporting is often inaccurate. An April 7, 2004, report from Kut written in the wake of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's uprising, concluded "The GC [Governance Coordinator] intentionally 'toned down' reports of insurgent activity to his superiors in Baghdad." Bremer was furious with Chalabi, and said as much. He bad-mouthed Chalabi to Americans and to other Iraqi politicians. But, in the end, he found that Chalabi was right. In February, Bremer officially scrapped the caucus plan and proposed direct elections.

In March, Bremer blamed Chalabi for a delay in the signing of the Transitional Administrative Law. Bremer and Senor had carefully stage-managed a signing ceremony only to be left standing holding the pens in front of the media. Bremer seethed. He should not have. While the news media blamed the delays on Shia-Kurdish disputes, many Baghdadis had a different interpretation: Chalabi involved Sistani in a dispute, but then resolved it without any changes. In Iraqi eyes, Sistani lost prestige. Bremer could have seized the opportunity, but could not overcome his grudge.

More recently, Bremer and Chalabi have come to loggerheads with regard to United Nations' participation in the transition. Foggy Bottom has long proposed a predominant U.N. role in Iraq. But, Iraqis do not want internationalization; they want Iraqification. Chalabi pointed out what Bremer and the White House did not want to hear: U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is unpopular among the Shia and the Kurds. While Americans tend to overlook family relations, Iraqis do not. Brahimi's daughter is engaged to Prince Ali of Jordan, the brother of King Abdullah. Fairly or not, Iraqis see Brahimi as partial to Jordan.

Iraqis have a jaundiced view of the United Nations because of its perceived theft of Iraqi resources. Documents seized in the wake of Iraq's liberation show that Benon Sevan, the head of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program, accepted kickbacks from Saddam Hussein. So did a number of other U.N. officials. As chairman of the Iraqi Governing Council's finance committee, Chalabi helped oversee efforts to audit the program. Bremer initially did not interfere. After all, the political goal of occupation was to transfer responsibility for Iraqi affairs to Iraqis. After putting out tenders, the Finance Committee hired auditing firm KPMG which has proceeded to discover damning information with regard to the financial ties of several senior U.N. officials to siphoned-off Oil-for-Food cash.

When Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Blackwell pushed through the decision to transfer responsibility to the United Nations, Bremer changed tact. He ordered the Governing Council to delay its investigation by re-tendering the audit. The Finance Committee did but then Bremer, by fiat, announced the creation of a new Supreme Board of Audit. For the purposes of U.S. policy, the delay caused by the start-up of the Supreme Board of Audit would diminish the risk of any disclosure regarding the culpability of senior U.N. officials in connection with the missing interest on Oil-for-Food accounts. Bremer had extra insurance because he could appoint the Supreme Board of Audit members; he need not risk independent Iraqis. The flaw in Bremer's approach, though, is that many Iraqis support the Finance Committee audit. The interim government will likely continue with the Finance Committee audit as soon as CPA ceases to exist on June 30, in all likelihood de-funding the Supreme Board of Audit. Eyewitnesses to the raid on Chalabi's house said that, while Iraqi police came armed with a warrant targeting someone not resident at Chalabi's house, they proceeded to search for U.N. documents. They found no documents, but took a computer off-duty guards used to play videogames.

It may be time for Ambassador John Negroponte to accelerate his stewardship in Iraq. By signing an order for the raid on Chalabi, Bremer undermined his own authority among a wide-array of Iraqis. He put Americans in the position of Koran-stealing vandals, responsible for the gratuitous and malicious destruction of property. He also set a dangerous precedent from a U.S. military context. U.S. forces are in Iraq for three reasons: to eradicate the terrorist threat in Iraq; to seek out and destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and to provide security. The raid on Chalabi's house was political in motivation and a serious abuse of power. Bremer is playing the politics of personal vendetta. Iraqi Sunni, Shia, and Kurds — including many Governing Council members — often joke that living in Saddam's palace has rubbed off a little too much on Bremer.

Chalabi may be a controversial figure and a lightening rod for criticism, but unlike figures like Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz Hakim, Chalabi has always voiced his dissent peacefully. Unlike Dawa, he has never resorted to a car bomb. Unlike Jalal Talabani and Masud Barzani, he has never kissed the hand of Saddam Hussein nor entered into business partnerships with Saddam's sons. Unlike Adnan Pachachi, he has never called for the elimination of a neighboring Arab state or condemned the United States.

The situation in Iraq today is dire. Bremer has embarked on a policy which is as damaging in the region as the Abu Ghraib scandal. Across the region, Arabs and Iranians point to the raid on Chalabi's house to show that friendship with America is futile; the United States cannot be an ally and should never be trusted. Democracy is not about crushing peaceful dissent. Across the region, Iraqis and Arabs juxtapose Bush rhetoric and implementation. The gap grows wide.

— Michael Rubin, a former Coalition Provisional Authority political adviser, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

http://www.nationalreview.com/rubin/rubin200405210849.asp

Rafsanjani: US Opposition to Iran's Islamic Revolution Was Also a Blunder

May 21, 2004
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
IRIB News

Tehran -- Substitute leader of the Tehran Friday prayers Hashemi Rafsanjani condemned the United States' policies in Iraq and said the US measures and policies are detrimental to the international community.

Addressing the worshipers gathered for the weekly congregational prayers at the Tehran University campus, Rafsanjani said the United States has committed so many mistakes in Iraq and it is doing an about-face.

He said the United States is not honest when it supports mottos on the human rights in other countries, Iraq included.

Rafsanjani said the United States erroneously thinks it can achieve its aims and objectives by following up false policies in Iraq.

He said supporting the Israeli regime is another mistake committed by the United States adding that the global arrogance considers Islam as a great enemy for itself.

He touched on the September 11, 2001 hijacking mid-air suicidal attacks on the us major cities New York and Washington and said US President George W. Bush spoke of a new crusade soon after the events while the crusade resulted in the past to the defeat of the westerners.

Opposition to Iran's Islamic revolution was also a blunder committed by the United States, he said adding that Washington has gained nothing in opposing the Iranian revolution.

He commented on the achievements of the 1979 Islamic revolution and said the Islamic revolution proved that even in the contemporary era, the community may still be run in accordance with religious principles.

He went on to say that Al-Qaeda and Taliban which have created so many problems for the modern world have been created by the United States.

Rafsanjani said the United States has paid a heavy cost for his mistakes in creating Taliban and Al-Qaeda while noting that it created them to encounter with the Iranian system.

Rafsanjani said the world public opinion is opposed to terrorism and rejects it but the problem is that the us is not able to control the tense situation in Iraq and the situation in that country has grown increasingly worse.

He referred to various plots hatched by the US against Iraq and said the Americans cannot acquit themselves of the crimes they have committed there and in particular in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf which have been the scene of deadly blasts previously.

Stressing that Iran is the most oppressed victim of terrorism in the world, he noted the United States, as a promoter of terrorism and founder of the Taliban, cannot claim it is fighting against terrorism and violation.

He condemned the move by the US military to enter the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf despite the fact that the senior Islamic jurisprudents have warned against the US military personnel in this regard.

He blamed the Americans for the deadly incidents in Iraq's holy sites and said they are responsible for what had occurred in the day of Ashura.

He called on the Muslim world to give their genuine backing to the innocent Palestinian people.

Rafsanjani said the Americans are mainly responsible for the tragic situation in the region, including Palestine.

http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=204557

Nobel Peace Prize to Chin Chin with Ambassador of Death and Regime's Apologists ?

SMCCDI (Information Service)
May 21, 2004

Shirin Ebadi, the illegitimate Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, is reported to participate, on Monday May 24th (from 06:00 PM till 08:00 PM) as the official guest in a "Cocktail Party" organized by the Islamic regime at the United Nations in New York. She might also participate in another gathering on Thursday May 27th at the Washington DC's Ritz Carlton Hotel organized by the self proclaimed "Iranian American Political Action Committee" (IAPAC).

Ebadi's reported participations in these two illegitimate gatherings seem to be based on the official invitation made by Mohamad Javad Zarif, the Ambassador of the Terrorist and Tyrannical Islamic regime at the UN, and by the controversial Akbar Ghahary, a reported friend of the Islamic regime's Foreign Minister, and John Kerry's main Iranian contributor, Hassan Nemazee, who is subject to many controversies. Most likely, the one labeled correctly as the Islamic regime's "new mouthpiece" will reiterate the Mullahcracy's positions on the US-Iraq and on Israeli-Palestinian issues while trying to bring her support for the Kerry Presidential campaign.

If true, Ebadi's presence in such gatherings will only confirm, for more Iranians and foreign observers, her true agenda known by millions of lucid Iranians. No more doubt should persist then, even for the most naive or idealistic of individuals, that firstly, Ebadi is in reality the continuation of the same policy of "sham reforms from within the frame of the Islamic republic regime", started with Khatami in 1997; And that secondly the Islamic regime's leaders are hoping to be able to boost the Kerry campaign in order to save their shaky regime from falling down if the latter become the next US President. Those advocating the possibility of reforming the Islamic regime can of course content themselves by claiming some superficial progress coming to the regime's organization of "Cocktail Parties", with Alcoholic drinks outside the country and for PR purposes, while keeping their usual silence on the extent of the repression inside Iran.

It's to note that contrary to millions of Iranians living inside and many of members of the Diaspora, there are some naive or young Iranians excited by Ebadi's Iranian adjective who along with few nostalgics of the 50-80s or those intending to profit from the situation in order to legitimize the regime are fueling this new type of propaganda.

Most of them, such as, Ahmad Karimi Hakak, Mohammad Ala, Mehranguiz Kar and Mohammad Sahimi are among those who advocated for Khatami's sham reforms for more than 7 years by keeping the silence on the plight of the Iranian nation or worst sometimes on the fate of their closest relatives held by the regime. Some of them, such as, Kazem Alamdari, Nayereh Tohidi, Abdol Karim Lahiji and Mohammad Arrassi were part of leftist terrorist groups, involved in several assassinations before 1979, and who are trying, now, to make forget their dark past by claiming to have become open minded and by promoting the "virtues of gradual reforms" for a people exasperated by a quarter of century of repressive rule. The ambitious and fame oriented Alamdari and Ala are making frequent trips to Iran in order to participate in official gatherings or for publishing their books. It's to note that these individuals, who promoted or supported just as like as Ebadi herself the 1979 Islamic revolution, are rejected, in ourdays, by many of their former comrades.

Others, such as, Nemazee, who has sued SMCCDI and its coordinator for exposing him, Ghahary or Hooshang Amir-Ahmadi, a well known and discredited lobbyist, are targeting illegitimate fame and financial opportunities by hoping to establish a bridge between the Islamic regime and John Kerry. ( It's to note that "Nemazee Vs. SMCCDI and Aryo B. Pirouznia" cases are pending and the Dallas based "Payma & Associates" have accepted to defend the Movement and its coordinator. An Urgent Call to Action shall be issued in the next days and a Telethon organized in order to request for financial aid for this case. The description of the affair can be checked by visiting: http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_3162.shtml )

Of course the success of such new adapted demagogy and propaganda campaign has its limits. More and more foreigners are aware of the degree of the unpopularity of the regime and the Iranians true aspirations looking for a genuine secular and democratic regime and Ebadi's increasing discredit. Already many of Ebadi's former friends and former prominent clients are joining the active opponents and are expressing openly their anger by witnessing her rethorics. As an example, the well known Iranian writer and political dissident Faraj Sarkoohi, qualified as the Iranian Soljenistin, made, on Monday, a very sharp criticism against Ebadi during a radio interview with Ali-Reza Meybodi of the Los Angeles based Radio Yaran. Sarkoohi is one of the former main opponents to the former Iranian regime and one of the heads of the Marxist Fedayin of People Organization. A former client of Ebadi, he was abducted, in 1997, by the Islamic regime and was saved due to an unprecedented International pressure.

Most talk shows on Iranian TV and radio networks, based in US and Europe, are on the Ebadi subject and everyday hundreds of callers are calling and expressing their anger. Her unpopular statements, such as on the "Lion & Sun flag" topic while she posed in front of the regime's flag during her speech at Harvard, and the opposition's actions were shown by most Iranian TV networks, based abroad, for millions of Iranians living inside who have, already, shown much more lucidity than some of their countrymen living abroad. ( See Ebadi posing in front of the regime's flag at Harvard: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/05.13/photos/4-ebadi2-225.jpg )

Ebadi has, since then, attenuated, a little bit, her position by witnessing the degree of most Iranians' awareness and their exasperation of "reformist" games. In her last speeches, she mentioned briefly the fate of some of the mild opponents to the regime but kept up with her anti-US rhetoric and even pushed the demagogy to the point of claiming that the "War in Afghanistan was boosted by US based lobby groups playing the fear of Americans from poisoned letters".

Trying to be more diplomat and with hope to fracture the solidarity on her case, of the Iranian media located abroad, Ebadi has agreed to accept four exile Iranian journalists in her San Francisco Press conference on next Saturday. Some of these same journalists, such as, Homa Sarshar were banned from asking her any question during her UCLA speech. The incident lead to a televised scandal exposing more Ebadi to millions of viewers.

Indeed she was better exposed after the start of her N. American tour and her constant denunciation by all Iranian secular groups, such as, Republicans, Monarchists, Rightists, leftists, centrists and even the MKO. Some of her speeches were tarnished by the concerted actions of these groups leading to demos in front and inside of her closed door meetings, such as in Vancouver and Los Angles where many Iranians are residing. Of course and as expected, some of Ebadi's ardent and demagogue supporters tried to portray these concerted efforts as the work of "Hard Core Royalists" by omitting to mention the presence and active participation of some of their former comrades, such as, the lucid and integre Ali Javadi or Mohammad Parvin known for their opposition to the former regime. In addition, Ebadi's dogmatic defenders converted in promoters of "Islamic democracy" forget that the right of protest from any individual or group is a vital element to any free society. Some of them were known, in their younger age, for attacking the pro-Monarchy demos held in Washington DC, Dallas, Los Angeles or in main European cities with clubs and even knives and injuring the activists, such as, Rafi Khachatoorian who lost his left eye during one of their attacks.

To better understand the situation, one must remember that many Iranians first welcomed Ebadi’s sudden nomination for the Nobel Peace Price by believing that she could be a catalyst for change. Tired of nearly a quarter of a century of a dictatorial and theocratic rule by Iranian mullahs and deceived by seven years of empty promises on even small possibilities of "reforms within the frame of their current regime," many Iranians preferred to see her as a light glowing at the end of a dark tunnel by not discussing the strange conditions of her rushed nomination coinciding with a short three-day trip to France. Her nomination was all the more tarnished by Poland’s 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa's critique and the Nobel Committee’s advanced excuses of not being able to reach her sooner, which were at first ignored by many Iranians.

SMCCDI had raised concerns following Ebadi's sudden nomination last year. A Statement entitled "The Nobel Peace Prize and an Historic Mission" warned, on October 13th, Ms. Ebadi on any kind of future deviation from the aspirations of the Iranian people striving for Freedom and Democracy. A Persian copy of the statement was emailed to Ms. Ebadi and a hard copy of it was remitted to her at the Paris Airport by the Movement's representative in France telling her that "She's carrying the hopes of many Iranians and may that she doesn't deceive them". The English translation of the Movement's prediction was posted on the SMCCDI's webiste and mas emailed. http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_3080.shtml

Back from her short trip, thousands of Iranians sized the occasion by gathering at Tehran Airport and shouting slogans in favor of freedom and against Iran's current leadership including its "reformist" President. But deception soon took place when Iranians witnessed that their "Angel of Freedom" started to shift from many of her initial positions by becoming more of a governmental speaker than a rights activist like the brave and courageous Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar. Many Iranians were shocked when Ms. Ebadi stated that "she kisses the hands of the Islamic Parliament members" and called for a "massive participation for their re-election of the very same MPs" that saw their mass rejection in the boycott of Iran's last elections by a majority of Iranians tired of such games. Ebadi's countrymen's deception reached its culmination when they heard her saying that "she would have voted for Mr. Khatami if he could have run again." In their minds, their first Nobel peace prize recipient became the advocate of the very same rejected and incompetent President asked to resign by thousands of Iranian demonstrators defying his brutal and evil regime.

Worst, they saw her taking the defense of Taliban and Al-Qaeda members held at the afar Guantanamo Bay for mass murder and terror while she kept silent about the fate of hundreds of brave Iranians and students held at her nearby Evin and Qhasr prisons for the crime of aspiring for freedom and democracy. The only prisoners having benefited from Ms. Ebadi's public support were at a certain point part of the 1979 revolution or close to moderate religious circles. Held secularists or those calling, like many Iranians, for a Referendum were not able to benefit from her public support as they have put to question the existence of the regime in its totality. Maverick Iranian women also saw their hope in Ms. Ebadi dashed when she intervened on several occasions against the French law on the ban of the Islamic veil and any religious signs in France's traditional secular public schools. They were astonished at how she affirmed on several occasions her obeisance to her country’s repressive law of the mandatory wearing of the veil by women and her keeping her silence on the fate of thousands of her sisters killed, injured, arrested or fined for having chosen to defy the discriminatory and cruel law existing in Iran.

SMCCDI issues a second statement, on December 9th and at the occasion of the December 10th "International Human Rights Day", in which it criticizes sharply Ebadi for her stands and statements. http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_3102.shtml

Most likely, knowing the deception she has caused among a young population aspiring for secularism and tired of seeing its genuine aspirations to be somehow labeled by foreign diplomats as variances of Religious Protestantism or Reformist Islamism, and especially the big possibility of a popular hostile demonstration were the main reasons behind the organization of her second return to Iran in a very silent and strange manner. This time, despite having officially received the Nobel award, she returned by one of the Tehran airport's small doors. The official invoked the reason was the fear for her life due to a tract attributed to one of the several hard-line Islamist groups which Islamic regime's leaders and their strategists have shown so many times as their Savoir de faire in their sudden opportune creations.

Of course, it is of note that in any case Ms. Ebadi would not have risked her precious life if she would have only kept her initial word of staying afar from political issues instead of choosing to become an advocator of rejected factions of the current regime and Iran's minor soft opposition from within the Islamic republic.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6287.shtml

Iran: No Longer a No-Woman's Land

May 21, 2004
BusinessWeek
Stanley Reed in Tehran, with Babak Pirouz

It was Iran's biggest-ever stock market transaction. At the Tehran Stock Exchange in late January, a frenzied bidding war broke out as the government auctioned off a 35% stake in its state-owned SADRA shipping group. In the middle of the two-hour auction, the exchange's computer crashed, stopping the proceedings for 15 minutes. But the sale went on to fetch $500 million. And it wasn't just the size of the deal that drew attention: Female brokers Mahnaz Sadegh-Nobari and Simindokht Mirdamadi landed the lucrative business.

Women are playing increasingly prominent roles in Iran, and business and industry are no exceptions. A sizable female contingent populates the trading desks at the Tehran exchange. Women are big players in information-technology companies. Some are even penetrating the most traditional male bastions, such as heavy industry. "Women are a gold mine because of their honesty, their hard work, and the care they take in their work," says Shahin Khalili, chairman of Butane Industrial Group, a large family conglomerate.

The rise of women in Iranian business could have profound social implications. Women, who have faced harsh restrictions in the Islamic Republic, are key supporters of reform. As they gain power and money, they are bound to push for greater civil liberties and more accountability. They are also likely to bring new ideas and energy to the economy.

Businesswomen say that over the past few years attitudes toward their presence in factories and offices have changed dramatically as more women have taken jobs and proved their worth. Nazila Noebashari says that 20 years ago, when she was drafted at the age of 18 to take over the management of the family shipping firm, Traf Co., from her ailing father, she was a great curiosity. "Everyone knew where I went," she says, and she was barred from entering Iran's main port, Bandar Abbas. Now, she says, the industry is full of women.

Worklife has also improved for Simin Rezaeifar, who supervises paint quality at Saipa Corp., Iran's second-largest auto maker. In the early days on the job, she says, she used to hear snide comments. But recently her career got a boost when she was sent on two foreign training courses. ``These are good omens,'' she says.

Iranian women are a determined group, outperforming men on the entrance exams to Iran's universities. In 2002-03, some 53% of the students admitted to universities were women. The Islamic regime has inadvertently aided the feminist cause by requiring women to wear Islamic dress. The practice has helped convince traditionalist parents to permit their daughters to attend universities, which used to be perceived as centers of hedonism.

Successful women are trying to help their less fortunate sisters learn business skills. For instance, the Mehr Foundation, founded by Khalili's sister, Mansoureh, provides small loans and counseling to would-be entrepreneurs such as Motahreh Fathi, who prepares herbs and candied fruit for sale in Tehran shops. ``Nothing can stop the women's movement now,'' says Parto Vatamahadi, a foundation staffer. That's certainly how things look in today's Iran.

http://www.businessweek.com/

Iran Mullahs See Window Of Opportunity In Iraq

USADI Dispatch
05/21/04

Iran is hard at work to rip the most benefit from current state of affairs in Iraq and take advantage of the US-led coalition’s preoccupation with security and political issues there. The mullahs believe there is a window of opportunity after June 30 and until the US presidential elections in November, and they are determined to make the most of it in terms of both their nuclear weapons program and consolidation of their clandestine infrastructure in Iraq.

Agence France Presse reported earlier this week that "the Iranians are more confident [that their nuclear breach will not be reported to the UN Security Council] because they know they're needed in Iraq." Recent realignment of forces within the power structure of the regime point to Tehran’s preparations to carry out its sinister plans.

There are growing indications of the increasing role of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in government agencies and other centers of power in recent months. Iran’s rulers have been alarmed by rising anti-government sentiments across the country in the past several months and a downward spiral in the economic fortunes of Iranians.

The most recent sign of the IRGC’s prominence came earlier this week when the head of the state television and radio network (IRIB), Ali Larijani, was replaced by his deputy Ezatollah Zarghami, a former IRGC Brig. Gen. with a long record of involvement in crackdown at home and terrorism abroad, dating back to the early 1980s.

Zarghami’s appointment follows last February’s sham parliamentary election in which dozens of IRGC commanders won seats. In fact, the Guards Corps played a major role in getting the IRGC personnel and their families out to vote. It also helped bus in thousands of people from Tehran’s surrounding villages to the capital’s main voting poles to showcase a high turnout in an election millions of Iranians shunned.

With Zarghami at the helm, the IRIB will no doubt step up its disinformation campaign against Iran’s democracy movement and its fundamentalist propaganda beamed into Iraq. There are already a dozen radio and TV broadcasts jointly controlled by the IRIB and IRGC, broadcasting venomous propaganda into Iraq to wreak greater instability by spreading extremist views.

That’s not all. Late last month, Reuters reported, “Iran's Revolutionary Guards are overseeing some 400 nuclear experts in order to prevent further leaks of sensitive information about Tehran's atomic facilities.” And a US official expressed "explicit concerns" that the Iranian military was controlling the nuclear weapons programs.

On May 19, the Eurasia Insight wrote, “The Revolutionary Guards reportedly dominate Iran’s embassy in Iraq, and have garnered praise in Tehran for running effective intelligence and diplomatic operations” there.

The growing influence of the IRGC in Iran’s centers of power is sanctioned by the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Fearing the explosive potential of popular discontent as summer approaches, the ruling clique has to rely on the IRGC’s iron fist to clampdown further on Iran’s democracy movement and political dissidents.

Equally significant, the rise of the IRGC reflects Tehran’s determination to intensify its meddling in Iraq and vigorously pursue its nuclear weapons program.

Washington needs to be very vigilant about these developments and warn Iran’s rulers that suppressing Iranian dissidents, interfering in Iraq and pursuing nuclear weapons will not be tolerated. More importantly, the United States should embrace democratic opposition forces that are working to unseat the ruling mullahs. This is imperative because only a regime change in Tehran would ultimately rid Iran and the region of the ayatollahs’ menace.

USADI Dispatch is a commentary by the US Alliance for Democratic Iran (www.usadiran.org)

http://www.americandaily.com/item/5761

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