Iranian Alert -- July 23, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

The US media still largley 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.

Iran, Saudi Arabia laud 9/11 report [Excerpt]

Countries find exoneration in conclusions drawn by U.S. probe

The Associated Press
Updated: 9:29 a.m. ET July 23, 2004

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's powerful former president told Friday worshippers chanting "Death to America" that there was nothing in the Sept. 11 commission report to incriminate Iran, while Saudi Arabia also found exoneration in conclusions drawn by the U.S. investigation into the deadliest assault on American soil.

The commission report, which followed a 20-month independent investigation, said intelligence points to contacts between Iranian security officials and senior al-Qaida figures. It also found Iran allowed eight to 10 of the Sept. 11 hijackers to pass through its territory on their way from Afghanistan and other countries without stamping their passports. While the commissioners said no evidence had been found that conservative, Shiite Muslim Iran was aware extremist, Sunni Muslim al-Qaida was planning the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, "we believe this topic requires further investigation by the U.S. government." ....

During his sermon at weekly prayers in Tehran, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani sounded a similar theme.

"First of all, we don't know whether they (al-Qaida hijackers) passed through Iran ... every day thousands of people come and go ... such people usually carry false passports. Moreover, many can illegally cross the border. It has been always like this," Rafsanjani said.

"Even if it's true that they have passed through Iran, can you really incriminate Iran with this bit of information?" he said in a sermon that drew chants of "Death to America" from the thousands of worshippers.

Rafsanjani, still a key figure in Iran, also accused Washington of creating extremist Sunni Muslim al-Qaida to fight mainly Shiite Iran and weaken both Islamic factions. America's critics often point to U.S. support of a war on Afghanistan's Soviet invaders as proof it helped create al-Qaida. Bin Laden was among the thousands of Arab fighters inspired by Islamic fervor to fight in Afghanistan.

Rafsanjani said Americans should blame their government for failing to uncover the plot and protect Americans instead of pointing fingers at others.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5496217/

7/22/04 - IRANIAN PROFESSOR SENTENCED

The following is an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government:

Iranian professor Hashem Aghajari has been sentenced to five years in prison for publicly expressing his views.
Mr. Aghajari was a history professor at Tehran’s Modarres University. In June 2002, he was arrested after he gave a speech in which he called for a “religious renaissance” among Shiite Muslims. In November 2002, in a closed trial without a jury, Mr. Aghajari was convicted of “insulting” Islam and sentenced to death. But an international outcry and protests by Iranian students forced the radical Iranian judiciary to revisit his case earlier this month.

When he appeared in court for his retrial, Mr. Aghajari said he had merely been questioning clerics and not insulting Islam. “All I said,” he declared, “is that modern Islam is at risk from the fundamentalism we see in the Taleban and Osama bin Laden.”

In countries where human rights are respected, such comments would be a perfectly normal exercise of freedom of speech. But in Iran, says U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, human rights are not respected:

“This fits the pattern of harassment and difficulties created for people who try to speak out, the lack of public expression in Iran, the lack of the ability for people to speak out on topics that are of concern to them.”

Across the Middle East, says President George W. Bush, people are demanding that authoritarian rule give way to democracy and respect for human rights. Iranian human rights activist Ladan Boroumand says speaking out can bring change to Iran:

“The more you bring shame to the totalitarian regime, the more you fight against the machinery to create illusion, the illusion of popularity, the illusion of reform, the more you will restrain them in the use of violence.”

If Iran’s radical unelected clerics do not “heed the democratic demands of the Iranian people,” says President Bush, the regime will “lose its claim to legitimacy.”

http://www.voanews.com/Editorials/article.cfm?objectID=822EA8CC-5AF6-4B51-B3501D71F20D54A3

Iran's Growing Threat

By Rachel Ehrenfeld
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 23, 2004

Recent events have made it clear that the threat posed by Iran should be dealt with sooner rather than later. Today's 9/11 Commission report documents extensive ties between Iran and terrorism, and the mullahs' drive to create a nuclear weapon is well known. In recent days, Iranian officials and clerics have increased the incitement for violence against American and Coalition forces in Iraq. However, ending the real threat this fundamentalist Islamic theocracy poses to the United States and the West may be impossible, thanks to the Left’s and the pro-Islamists non-stop assault on the president's credibility.

The case against Iran should be air-tight. The Bush administration is now armed with:

[1] The 9/11 Commission’s report, documenting the logistical, operational and material support from Iran and Hezbollah (Iran’s international terrorist arm) to al-Qaeda;

[2] Iran’s own admission of its intention to develop nuclear weapons;

[3] Iran’s increasing anti-American rhetoric; and

[4] Iran’s growing support of terrorism in Iraq.

According to the just-released 9/11 Commission Report, Iran’s support of al-Qaeda dates back to 1991, when operatives from both sides met in Sudan and agreed “to cooperate in providing support—even if only training—for actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States.”

By 1993, “al-Qaeda received advice and training from Hezbollah” in intelligence, security and explosives, especially in “how to use truck bombs.” The training took place in the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Lebanon.

The commission further reports that “at least 8 to 10 of the 14 Saudi ‘muscle’ operatives traveled into and out of Iran between October 2000 and February 2001,” and that Iran facilitated “the travel of al-Qaeda members through Iran on their way to and from Afghanistan.” Yet in an ostrich-like move, the commission refrained from accusing Iran of supporting al-Qaeda.

This is how the commission phrased it: “There is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9-11 hijackers…however, we cannot rule out the possibility of a remarkable coincidence...[and] we found no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack.”

Indeed, the commission recommends that further investigations should be carried out, but looking at the body of evidence about Iran’s leadership role in worldwide terrorism and the war against the U.S., one can only hope that we can act in time to restrain it.

"Iran is closer to nuclear capability that it was two years ago," said Dr. Ephraim Kam, deputy director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, earlier this week. And U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, R-KS, also added that Iran is clearly developing nuclear weapons. Pakistan, as we found out earlier this year, provided Iran with information on how to build an atomic bomb.

Iran’s admission that they are working on developing nuclear capabilities was made in November 2003 by a member of the Iranian Parliament, Ahmad Shirzad. He made reference to the existence of a then-unknown essential nuclear facility, at a time when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iranian opposition had identified at least 8 different nuclear facilities in Iran. Despite all the evidence, it is unlikely that the international community will take steps to disarm Iran any time soon – indeed, the IAEA and EU overtures have been disastrous. And undoubtedly, China and Russia will block any real disarmament efforts.

Iran denies that it is developing nuclear weapons; however on July 6, 2004, the Iranian daily, Kayhan’s editorial warned that, "The entire Islamic Middle East is now a volatile and tangled trap, and will be set off by the smallest bit of silliness – and will reap many victims of the sinful adventurers…Indeed, the White House's 80 years of exclusive rule are likely to become 80 seconds of Hell that will burn to ashes everything that has been built.” Earlier, according to reports in the Kuwaiti, Al-Siyassah, Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Council stated, "The present situation in Iraq represents a threat as well as an opportunity... It is a threat because the wounded American beast can take enraged actions, but it is also an opportunity to teach this beast a lesson so it won't attack another country.” He ended his speech calling for "Death to America, Death to Israel.”

Iran’s support of the growing terrorist activities in Iraq and its attempts to destabilize the interim government resulted in warnings issued this week by the Defense and Interior Ministers of Iraq in an interview for the London based Arabic-daily, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The Defense Minister, Hazem Al-Sha’lan, after accusing Iran of supporting terrorism on Iraqi soil, warned, “We have the capability to move the assault into their country[ies].”

If you think that Iran has its hands full with terrorist activities already, think again. Last month, according to Reuters, the Islamic Republic of Iran – through the proxy known as the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign – launched a new campaign calling for volunteers to carry out suicide attacks against U.S and Coalition forces inside Iraq, as well as missions targeting Israel and author Salman Rushdie. Since the 10,000 volunteers already registered are not enough, they distributed a “Preliminary Registration for Martyrdom Operations” application for the position of “martyr.” Announcing this new campaign, the cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati urged the public that "It is the duty of every Muslim to threaten U.S. and British interests anywhere.”

So, what are we waiting for? The president's impaired credibility, a dividend of the perpetual partisan assaults of the political Left, most elements of the Democratic Party in general, and the pro-Islamists anti-American elements in Europe and elsewhere now poses a grave danger to our security at home and abroad. Since the Democratic Party has embraced its activist core, its politicians have denounced the war in Iraq as unjustified and immoral, each American and Iraq death the intended by-product of President Bush's wilful lies. Ted Kennedy claimed the war was "cooked up in Texas" months or years before it was launched; Al Gore screeches that President Bush "betrayed us!"; and the Left at large has claimed the president massaged intelligence to manipulate the public into attacking the benign despot of Iraq. The 9/11 Commission’s and Lord Butler’s report debunked the Left’s and the pro- Islamists’ allegations, but the damage was already done. Having tarnished the president's veracity specifically on the War on Terror for political advantage, the Democrats hope is to render us impotent to respond to the genuine threat posed by Tehran. If the damage they have caused cannot be reversed, their self-seeking rhetoric may prove to have mortal consequences.

*Rachel Ehrenfeld is the author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It and is the Director of the American Center for Democracy.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14353

Iran threatens an apocalypse

Bristol Press - Editorial
Jul 23, 2004

Iran may or may not be pursuing a nuclear weapons program. What is certain is that it has lied about its activities.

In response to concerns from the United States and Europe, Iranian leaders and newspapers have taken an apocalyptic tone.

Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, said in a July 5 speech, "If someone harms our people ..we will endanger his interests everywhere in the world."

A leader of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Yadollah Javani, wrote in an Iranian newspaper that "today we have in our possession long-range smart missiles which can reach many of the interests and vital resources of the Americans and of the Zionist regime in our region."

The translations are from MEMRI, which monitors Middle East media. It has also noted widespread reports in the Iranian press of the recruitment of suicide bombers for missions in Iraq, and Iran’s resumption of work on missiles that can strike Europe and the United States.

The Iranian words echo those of the Taliban before Sept. 11. They cannot be ignored, although there is hope that diplomacy and political moderation will prevail in Iran.

For the White House to judge which threats to act on and which to ignore is immensely difficult. Hindsight will always be too late.

From the New Haven Register, a Journal Register Company newspaper.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_7259.shtml

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