Iranian Alert -- May 28, 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.

Ebadi mysteriously renounces from participating in IAPAC's gathering

SMCCDI (Information Service)
May 28, 2004

Shirin Ebadi renounced, yesterday evening, from participating in the IAPAC's gathering where she was to be present and to receive an official award. It seems that the existing controversies along with an increased public criticism about the self proclaimed "Iranian American Political Action Committee" (IAPAC) have brought the controversial Nobel Peace Prize, who's also subject to sharp public criticism, to adopt such unexpected tactic.

The astonishing last minute renunciation is reported to have shocked many of those few who had accepted IAPAC's invitation and can be considered as another major blow to this entity. It's to note that Ebadi's new tactic follows the genuine desistment made by the integer and maverick Simin Behbahani who has some very sharp moral and political differences with the one qualified by many Iranians as "the new mouthpiece of the Islamic regime".

It has been reported that IAPAC's organizers have not given any valid reason for Ebadi's sudden absence to the disappointed audience and have invoked several reasons, such as, sickness or "her fear from angry radical protesters". It's to note that those so called angry radical protesters were in reality six respectable and middle age Iranians, such as Behbahani and Kheyltash, who had organized a peaceful candle light protest in front of the Washington DC's Ritz Carlton Hotel where the ceremony was held under tight security measures.

It's believed that Ebadi has made her tactical retreat in order to avoid boosting her increasing unpopularity by preferring to discredit IAPAC which is also rejected by an increasing number of Iranians. Her tactic which follows Behbahani's genuine desistment will surely increase the damage, already, done to the credibilities of Azar Naficy, Mahnaz Afkhami and Goli Ameri who had rushed to the new hall of fame without analyzing its long run consequences. The latters were considered, till now, as some very respectable members of the Iranian Diaspora and trustable individuals. While Naficy and Afkhami were believed to be strong intellectual opponents to the Islamic regime, Goli Ameri who has won the Republicans primary for a post of US representative from Oregon was seen during her campaign's advertisement the War Against Terror.

Questionable individual, such as, Sohrab Akhavan of the money oriented IPN Network were part of the audience and seen in altercation with the protesters outside the Hotel. Akhavan is known by many as the valet of Akbar Ghahary who's one of the initial trio founders of IAPAC along with Hassan Nemazee and Faraj Alai-e. Akhvan is the man who's "arranging" Ghahary's interviews with "other" Los Angeles based Iranian TV Channels and was seen trying to promote IAPAC among the Iranian community. Most likely the choice of other TVs than the IPN, for Public relations purposes, is due to the revealment of a very friendly picture showing the owner of this network beside the Islamic FM during a gathering in Los Angeles which turned into massive protest demo by hundreds of Iranians. The latter, Mehran, who was a third class singer, was able to open his International Satellite TV network in the months following this meeting with sudden helps provided by some controversial advertisers located in Dubai (UAE) who some of them are suspected to have big interests in Iran's closed business circuit.

The Human Rights Nobel Peace Prize who was, on Monday, the Lunch guest of Mohamad Javad Zarif, the Islamic regime's envoy beside the UN, will participate, this evening, as the official guest of the "N. American Shi-a Religious Association" which is suspected by many as an entity affiliated to the governmental Bonyad Alavi based in New York. It's to note that Ebadi's brother was in his younger age and before the Islamic revolution of 1979, an active member of the "Islamic Student Association of America" and he's currently an advisor of Aref, the Islamic regime's Vice President.

The World Bank announced, on Wednesday, its approval for lending 300 Millions of Dollars to the Islamic regime. This announcement follows the official reception made, earlier this month, by this International organization for Shirin Ebadi.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/smccdinews/article/publish/article_4227.shtml

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Official Threatens Suicide Operations

May 28, 2004
The Middle East Media Research Institute
MEMRI

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Official Threatens Suicide Operations: 'Our Missiles Are Ready to Strike at Anglo-Saxon Culture... There Are 29 Sensitive Sites in the U.S. and the West...'

The London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that "an Iranian intelligence unit has established a center called The Brigades of the Shahids of the Global Islamic Awakening to replace the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Department of Liberation and Revolutionary Movements, which had been in charge of helping and training revolutionary forces across the world."(1) The article went on to report a speech given by an official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, threatening the U.S. with suicide and missile attacks at already-selected sensitive targets, and threatening to "take over" Britain. The following is the report:(2)

Iran Stands Ready to Attack the West

"A source close to [Revolutionary Guards] intelligence confirmed that P.R. has been appointed secretary-general of a new office that has begun registering the names of suicide volunteers to be sent to Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon.

"[The newspaper reported that it had obtained] a tape with a speech by H.A., a [Revolutionary] Guards intelligence theoretician, who teaches at the Revolutionary Guards' Al-Hussein University. [In the tape, H.A.] spoke of Tehran's secret strategy aimed at taking over the Arab and Muslim countries by means of helping revolutionary forces and organizations. H.A. is regarded as one of the advisors of a branch in the organization, and has published a number of works on exporting the [Islamic] revolution and the method of the struggle against the world arrogance [i.e., the U.S.].

"In his speech at a secret conference attended by students who are members of the Ansar Hizbullah movement at Al-Hussein University, [H.A. said]: 'Iraqi oil constitutes 11% of the world oil reserves, and it has fallen into the hands of the U.S. and Britain. The value of the intelligence documents that the U.S. obtained because of its takeover of Iraqi intelligence is greater than $1000 billion. Whereas our [Iran's] Foreign Ministry was expressing willingness to reconstruct the statue of the Buddha [destroyed by the Taliban in 2001] in Afghanistan - that is, to build an idol, which is an act that is against the principles of Islam - the U.S. managed to force its rule on Afghanistan.

"'(President Muhammad) Khatami speaks of the dialogue between civilizations, and I have grave doubts about this. It is a dubious idea. We do not want to take over the British Embassy, since they (the British) have already cleared the embassy of documents; we must take over Britain [itself].'

"After [H.A.] harshly attacked Khatami and the reformists, he said in his speech: 'The West sees us as terrorists, and depicts our strategy as terrorism and repression. Had our youth agreed to Khatami's teachings and interpretations, it would never have fought the arrogance, and would never have defended the holy places - because Khatami speaks always of being conciliatory, of patience, and of rejecting terrorism, while we defend [the line of] toughness and war against the enemies of revolutionary Islam. I take pride in my actions that cause anxiety and fear to the Americans.

"'Haven't the Jews and the Christians achieved their progress by means of toughness and repression? We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization and for the uprooting of the Americans and the English.

"'Our missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from Leader ['Ali Khamenei] , we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations. Our motto during the war (in Iraq) was: Karbala, we are coming, Jerusalem, we are coming. And because of Khatami's policies and dialogue between the civilizations, we have been compelled to freeze our plan to liberate the Islamic cities. And now we are [again] about to carry out the program.'

"In his speech, he added: 'The global infidel front is a front against Allah and the Muslims, and we must make use of everything we have at hand to strike at this front, by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles. There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them.'

"In another part of his speech, he emphasized, 'If Israel dares attack the [nuclear] installations at Bushehr, our losses will be very low, because [only] one structure will be destroyed - while we [i.e., Iran] have means of attacking Israel's nuclear facilities and arsenals such that no trace of Israel will remain.'"

Other Reports: 'Many Young Muslims are Willing to Carry Out Martyrdom Operations Against the American Crusaders'

The previous day, Iranian sources had statements on the same issue. At a ceremony marking the four-year anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, reformist MP and Secretary-General of the International Committee for the Support of the Palestinian Intifada Ali Akbar Makhatashemi-Pour called on Muslim countries to open their borders with Iraq to troops of Muslim martyrdom bombers. "We, the Muslim countries, must create a storm front against the U.S. and Israel. The half-million member organization that was created in Beirut [i.e., Hizbullah] is not sufficient. Many young Muslims are willing to carry out martyrdom operations against the American Crusaders."(3)

The Iranian reformist paper Sharq reported that the Persian-language Ruydad website stated that Hizbullah-Iran activist Forouz Rajaii-Far said that "martyrdom operations are the only option to expel the Americans and British from Iraq," and that a Basij activist from Elm Vasonaat University in Iran acknowledged that a group calling itself the "To Karbala Battalion" was sent on May 27, 2004 to Karbala to fight the coalition forces.(4)

Endnotes:
(1) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), May 28, 2004.
(2)Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), May 28, 2004.
(3)Sharq (Iran), May 27, 2004. http://www.sharghnewspaper.com/830307/gover.htm
(4)Sharq (Iran), May 27, 2004. http://www.sharghnewspaper.com/830307/gover.htm. The Basij is an Iranian paramilitary youth volunteer organization involved in anti-reformist operations.

http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD72304

The Chalabi Story

May 28, 2004
National Review Online
Michael Ledeen

In my view, the worst of the dupes are those who refuse to see what is in front of our collective nose. Somehow, despite a torrent of evidence, this administration refuses to recognize that Iran was, and is, the greatest menace to us, the greatest sponsor of the terror network, and either in possession of atomic bombs or soon to have them.

Intelligence failure in CYA mode.

We're going to hear a lot about Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi National Congress (which he heads), and his supporters (soon to be labeled "dupes" and "fools" if not something far worse) in Washington. The FBI is said (by, among others, the notorious liar Sidney Blumenthal, who is now sliming away for Salon and the Guardian) to have opened an investigation into the source(s) of the "leak" of "highly classified information" from somebody to Chalabi. From there it is said to have arrived in the hands of the Iranians' spymaster in Baghdad, and said spymaster is purported to have sent it on to Tehran. Several, maybe even most, leading journalists in town have been told — after promising not to reveal it — that the "highly classified information" was the fact that we had broken the Iranian code and could therefore read messages between Baghdad and Tehran. And many leading journalists have also been told that the "leaker" was some "drunk" from the Coalition Provisional Authority (which makes one wonder why the FBI is snooping around Washington — if it actually is — instead of examining bar bills in Baghdad). Notice, too, that the tacit assumption here is that the Iranian spymaster used the same insecure code to tell Tehran he knew the code was insecure. Which makes him an idiot. But we know that Iranians are highly professional. Ergo he's not an idiot. Ergo the story is idiotic, if you get my drift.

Before getting any deeper in this story, I want to repeat that Chalabi is a friend, and that I don't believe he's an Iranian agent. I do believe that the INC, along with every other significant organization in Iraq, has been penetrated by the extremely skilled Iranian intelligence services, and therefore I would not be at all surprised to find one or another of his associates working with Tehran.

But there is a lot of cognitive dissonance in the air. The intelligence community's story doesn't make sense, starting with the notion that the Iranians' man in Baghdad would instantly send a message to Tehran saying "thanks to our buddy Ahmad we have learned that the Americans can read our mail."

If such a message exists, it is most likely Iranian disinformation, designed to discredit Chalabi.

Next: What do we think about Iran, and its actions in Iraq? We've heard a lot of talk from the State Department, and some whispers from CIA, that Iran has been "helpful," and even "restrained" in Iraq. But the import of the accusations against Chalabi — and his supporters and friends in America — is that he has betrayed us to an enemy. If we're going to get tough with people who are too close to the mullahs, can Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage feel safe these days? Let's go back a bit: the INC had an office in Tehran for some years. The State Department paid for it. Later on, State did a lot to prevent the INC from receiving American money, in defiance of legislation requiring it, thereby making Chalabi more dependent on Iran. So his presumed intimacy with the mullahs is the direct result of our policies.

Next: If we're going to worry about Iraqi political groups' associations with Iran, let's look at the really dramatic cases. There's Abdul Aziz al Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). SCIRI is funded directly by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (RG) to the tune of $1.2 million a month, and significant numbers of SCIRI members are paid personally by the RG. Hakim reports regularly to an Iranian intelligence official named Sulemani, surely one of the most dangerous men in the country. And SCIRI has its own militia, the Badr Brigades, which at least until very recently conducted military maneuvers with units of the Revolutionary Guards on Iraqi territory adjoining the Iranian border.

But Hakim is a member of the Governing Council and is in our good graces.

Then there's the Dawa party, represented on the Governing Council by Ibrahim Jaffari. The Dawa is a fundamentalist Islamic party that was part of the Iranian-supported campaign against Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s. Its leaders lived in Iran for years — Jaffari was there from 1982-89 recruiting Iraqis to spy in their homeland, and reportedly informed on Iraqis in Iran who might be problems for the regime — and the party is funded directly by the Iranians. Dawa was believed involved in terrorist attacks against United States targets in the Persian Gulf in the early and mid-1980s. On his frequent trips to Iran, Jaffari meets the top leaders of the Islamic Republic, including Supreme Leader Khamenei.

But Jaffari is in our good graces.

Then there are the Kurds, most of whom are actively engaged in commerce with Iran, including arms, explosives, and alcohol. Jalal Talabani is closely linked to the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Intelligence Service, and reported to Tehran on U.S. activities in 1996 during the failed uprising against Saddam. His deputy reports directly to Iranian intelligence. Massoud Barzani, the other prime Kurdish leader, uses his cousin as a conduit to Iran, and the cousin is the head of Kurdish Hezbollah, an Iranian creation. Barzani meets regularly in Baghdad with the Iranians' top man, who was a guest in Barzani's house just two weeks ago. Barzani and Talabani both get funding from Iran.

Both Barzani and Talabani are in our good graces.

I could go on, but these cases illustrate the situation adequately. Many of these are excellent people. Their standing and their experience fully qualify them for positions of leadership in Iraq. I would be the last to argue that we should exclude any Iraqi simply because he has good relations with the Iranian regime — he really has no choice. Open opposition to Tehran is an invitation to your own assassination. My questions are simply: If it is bad for Chalabi to do it, why isn't it equally bad for all the rest of them? And if Iran is an enemy, why aren't we treating the mullahs and their henchmen as such?

The answer is, because this "story" isn't about any of that. It's about the failure of the intelligence community to do its job properly, and the fear that they may be held to account. By now everybody knows that the IC failed to appreciate the significance of al Qaeda, failed to see 9/11 coming, failed to develop reliable information about Iraq, whether it be about internal political realities (those failed coups, remember?), or the WMD facts, from their existence to their location, and so forth. The spooks must be wondering if some political or budgetary axe is hovering over them, and so they need a scapegoat. They picked Chalabi, a man they have always disliked, ever since he exposed one of their coup plots as amateur night. So now they say that they really knew better all along, but they were "duped" by the diabolical genius Chalabi.

Oh really? If Chalabi's handful of defectors hornswoggled the entire U.S. intelligence community, then why are we spending tens of billions of dollars on it each and every fiscal year? What happened, the polygraphs had some moisture? They are now even trying to blame him for the "mobile labs" story. Good luck with that one. Among their sources were foreign intelligence services and their own human recruits.

Finally, if Chalabi is so unreliable why is it that General Myers praised INC intelligence for saving American lives? Is he a dupe, too? Doesn't he know what's happening on the battlefield?

In my view, the worst of the dupes are those who refuse to see what is in front of our collective nose. Somehow, despite a torrent of evidence, this administration refuses to recognize that Iran was, and is, the greatest menace to us, the greatest sponsor of the terror network, and either in possession of atomic bombs or soon to have them. Even if Chalabi turns out to be a master spy, he cannot be blamed for this enormous intelligence and policy failure. Yet we still have no Iran policy. And the nuclear clock continues to tick in Tehran.

Faster, please.

http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200405280920.asp

Suicide U.: Iran registers volunteers for martyrdom

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, May 28, 2004

LONDON — Iran has established what could be the first training center for Islamic suicide attackers.

Iranian sources and media asserted that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has established a center to train suicide attackers throughout the world. The sources identified the center as the World Islamic Martyrs and Fighters Staff Headquarters.

The facility was said to have been established by the IRGC's intelligence service, responsible for the sponsorship and support of Islamic insurgency groups linked to Teheran. The groups have included Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

The existence of the center was first reported on May 26 by the state-operated Iranian Student News Agency, Middle East Newsline reported. On Friday, a similar version was published by the London-based daily A-Sharq Al Awsat in an article by Iranian analyst Ali Nouri Zadeh.

"This information is credible and its publication was approved by leading elements of the regime who want to send a message to the United States and its allies in the Middle East that Teheran would be ready to respond to any attack," an Iranian source said.

The head of the center was identified only by his initials "F.R." The sources said the center has already begun registering volunteers for Islamic suicide missions in such locations as Iraq, Israel and Lebanon.

The training center has already produced a promotional video in which an IRGC intelligence officer detailed Iranian strategy to dominate Arab and Islamic countries through the support of insurgency groups. A-Sharq Al Awsat, which said it has received the video, reported that the officer also discussed the importance of Iranian control over Iraq, which he said contains 11 percent of world oil reserves.

A Western intelligence source said Iran has sought to establish a training center for suicide attackers. But the source could not determine whether the center was already operating.

A-Sharq Al Awsat quoted the officer, identified as as H.A., as urging suicide or missile strikes against the West. The officer said the United States and its Western allies have 29 sensitive facilities that have been targeted.

"We are monitoring these locations and know how to strike them," the officer said on the video.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/breaking_3.html

Iranian official
threatens U.S.

Suicide, missile attacks are ready
'to strike at Anglo-Saxon culture'

Posted: May 28, 2004
5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

An official of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has threatened the United States and other Western nations with suicide and missile attacks aimed at 29 sensitive sites.

"Our missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from leader ['Ali Khamenei], we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations," the Revolutionary Guard adviser said in a speech reported by the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, according to Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

He also threatened to "take over" Britian.

The paper reported "an Iranian intelligence unit has established a center called The Brigades of the Shahids of the Global Islamic Awakening to replace the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Department of Liberation and Revolutionary Movements, which had been in charge of helping and training revolutionary forces across the world."

A source close to the Revolutionary Guards intelligence confirmed confirmed the establishment of a new office that has begun registering the names of suicide volunteers to be sent to Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, the London paper said.

In a tape of the speech obtained by the paper, the official spoke of Tehran's "secret strategy" aimed at taking over the Arab and Muslim countries by means of helping revolutionary forces and organizations."

The official, identified only with the initials H.A., has published a number of works on exporting the Islamic revolution and struggling against the U.S.

"In his speech at a secret conference attended by students who are members of the Ansar Hizbullah movement at Al-Hussein University, the official harshly criticized reformist President Muhammad Khatami and his "dubious idea" of dialogue between civilizations.

"We do not want to take over the British Embassy, since [the British] have already cleared the embassy of documents; we must take over Britain [itself]," he said.

"The West sees us as terrorists, and depicts our strategy as terrorism and repression," the officials continued. "Had our youth agreed to Khatami's teachings and interpretations, it would never have fought the arrogance [U.S.], and would never have defended the holy places -- because Khatami speaks always of being conciliatory, of patience, and of rejecting terrorism, while we defend [the line of] toughness and war against the enemies of revolutionary Islam. I take pride in my actions that cause anxiety and fear to the Americans."

He continued:

"'Haven't the Jews and the Christians achieved their progress by means of toughness and repression? We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization and for the uprooting of the Americans and the English.
"Our missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from leader ['Ali Khamenei], we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations.

"Our motto during the war [in Iraq] was: Karbala, we are coming, Jerusalem, we are coming. And because of Khatami's policies and dialogue between the civilizations, we have been compelled to freeze our plan to liberate the Islamic cities. And now we are [again] about to carry out the program.

Later in his speech, the official declared "the global infidel front is a front against Allah and the Muslims, and we must make use of everything we have at hand to strike at this front, by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles. There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them."

He emphasized, "If Israel dares attack the [nuclear] installations at Bushehr, our losses will be very low, because [only] one structure will be destroyed -- while we have means of attacking Israel's nuclear facilities and arsenals such that no trace of Israel will remain."

The previous day, according to MEMRI, Iranian sources had statements on the same issue.

At a ceremony marking the four-year anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Ali Akbar Makhatashemi-Pour, reformist MP and secretary-general of the International Committee for the Support of the Palestinian Intifada, called on Muslim countries to open their borders with Iraq to troops of Muslim martyrdom bombers.

"We, the Muslim countries, must create a storm front against the U.S. and Israel," he said. "The half-million member organization that was created in Beirut [Hezbollah] is not sufficient. Many young Muslims are willing to carry out martyrdom operations against the American Crusaders."

According to the Iranian reformist paper Sharq, the Persian-language Ruydad website cited Hezbollah-Iran activist Forouz Rajaii-Far saying "martyrdom operations are the only option to expel the Americans and British from Iraq."

Rajaii-Far said a Basij activist from Elm Vasonaat University in Iran acknowledged a group calling itself the "To Karbala Battalion" was sent Thursday to Karbala to fight the coalition forces.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38709

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