Posted on 11/18/2006 7:46:45 PM PST by blam
Ayatollah who backs suicide bombs aims to be Iran's next spiritual leader
By Colin Freeman and Kay Biouki in Teheran, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:28am GMT 19/11/2006
An ultra-conservative Iranian cleric who opposes all dialogue with the West is a frontrunner to become the country's next supreme spiritual leader.
Mohammad Mesbah-Yazdi
In a move that would push Iran even further into the diplomatic wilderness, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, 71, who publicly backs the use of suicide bombers against Israel, is campaigning to succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini, 67, as the head of the Islamic state.
Considered an extremist even by fellow mullahs, he was a fringe figure in Iran's theocracy until last year's election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fellow fundamentalist who views him as his ideological mentor. He is known to many Iranians as "Professor Crocodile" because of a notorious cartoon that depicted him weeping false tears over the jailing of a reformist journalist.
Mr Mesbah-Yazdi and his supporters will attempt to tighten the fundamentalists' political stranglehold next month, by standing in elections for the Assembly of Experts, an 86-strong group of theologians that would be responsible for nominating a replacement for Ayatollah Khamenei, whose health is rumoured to be ailing.
Opposing them will be a coalition of moderate conservatives led by Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, and members of the increasingly marginalised reformist movement, who have formed an alliance to prevent what both groups fear is a drift towards political extremism.
Appointing Mr Mesbah-Yazdi as supreme leader would be a massive blow to Western efforts to get Iran to cease its nuclear programme and backing of militants in Lebanon, Iraq and among the Palestinians. Although he has never spoken publicly on the issue, Mr Mesbah-Yazdi is thought to support the idea of an Iranian nuclear bomb.
Ali Ansari, an Iran specialist at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said: "Mesbah-Yazdi is on the hard Right and very authoritarian. He doesn't even believe in democracy. Having him in power would lead to a much more hard-line puritanical rule in Iran. It would not be good news for the West."
The assembly of experts is elected every eight years and has the power to appoint, supervise and impeach the supreme leader, who, in practice, wields ultimate power. Although Ayatollah Khameini, who has been in office since 1989, is expected to remain for the time being, the assembly elected next month is almost certain eventually to decide his successor.
The run-up to the vote has been marred by complaints of rigging in favour of hardliners. The guardian council, a hardline conservative body that vets candidates, is accused of vetoing reform-minded clerics from taking part. Around half of nearly 500 applicants have been banned from standing.
In a letter to the council last week, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric, accused the council of "injustice" and misjudgement, saying that it would lead to "people's distrust in the authorities and the clergy". The reformists' despair has been deepened by fears that few of their disillusioned supporters will vote, despite the possible consequences of a hardline victory. Constant political interference in the electoral process has persuaded many Iranians that it is not worth voting, an attitude that many reformists concede helped Mr Ahmadinejad's victory at the polls last year.
"Many reformists have lost faith, although the hardliners will hope to organise a mass turn-out among their own supporters," Mr Ansari said.
Mr Mesbah-Yazdi, who will be standing for election to the assembly of experts, regularly meets Mr Ahmadinejad, whose presidential bid he endorsed in a fatwa, or holy order.
The cartoonist whose drawing earned "Professor Crocodile" his nickname suffered the same fate as the journalists whose frequent imprisonment was depicted. He, too, was sent to jail.
Thanks for this very informative ping FARS!
"...Are you expecting the SCO to take Iran out???..."
I think the SCO will cooperate with the West and the Russias to allow The USA et al, to take out the threats from Iran and North Korea. For Iran, it's the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and maybe some others. We've got the firepower and the in-Theatre experience.
The Russias' job is to take out the threat from North Korea, with the SCO cooperation. We could also help with refueling and ordnance. Kyrgyzstan is where the aircraft accident involving a KC-135 happenned a while back.
Israel is freed to attack the Hizbollah and Hamas threats, and hopefully attrit and disarm them enough to render them ineffective for a long time. That one will be the ugliest fight of all, based on the wogs use of human shields, but it has to be done.
The immediate nuclear threat gets resolved for several years. Stopping Saudi money from going to the next bunch of fanatics has to be solved, but at least there'd be some breathing room. This one surprised me! Canada hasn't trained-for, or done that since WW-II, and I know that for a fact! I was trained there! Stay well armed and safe, Thunder90. It's gonna get interesting..................FRegards
I believe that's what they were saying about them right before the gates of hell opened in Afghanistan.
Remember "at a time and place of our choosing"?
Thanks for linking from Mad Ivan's thread today. Interesting links. Thanks.
I wonder how the world would repond to this? I also wonder if they'd still have a hard time with a preemptive attack on their facilities if he's elected knowing full well that he supports the nuclear bomb.
I worry that Mark Steyn is correct....we lack the will.
The PLA and Russian armies would also love to test out their ground forces, and North Korea would be an ideal place for them to do it
"..."We've got the firepower and the in-Theatre experience."..."
"...The PLA and Russian armies would also love to test out their ground forces, and North Korea would be an ideal place for them to do it..."
1) - All the 'Friendlies' will choose the 'when-it-starts' date, and agree on it. I think that's already been done, and our President Bush is on a trip now for some face-to-face reassurance, both ways.
2) - The first strike should happen at the same time, on all three fronts. Air assets upon Iran and NK nuclear facilities, and an Air&Ground attack upon Hizbollah in Lebanon.
It'll get crowded in the Arabian Sea - I think Iran has 3 operational subs (Help me out here-I don't know what class they are, or what they carry, but they have to be killed quick!). An Amphibious landing in Southern Iran should follow to secure a beach-head.
3) - The PLA and Russian Armys. Don't know. No intel on any troop or materials movements towards the Northern Border of NK.
Li'l Kimmy has a million-man Army, and may decide to send it South. The PLA and Russian Air Forces can help if that happens, but that's up in the air as far as Intel goes.
The World has had 60 years to learn about Nuclear Warfare, and managed to avoid it. Even India and Pakistan realize that they can't use them without killing themselves off, and the Pakis are mostly Muslim!
The resultant of the coming operation should be to destroy Islamania, finally put Communism on the trash-heap of history, and change the Regimes in Iran and NK, leaving a lasting lesson for the World. Maybe it's Biblical - I don't know. I know it has to be done. Stay well armed and safe, friends............FRegards
In a move that would push Iran even further into the diplomatic wilderness, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, 71, who publicly backs the use of suicide bombers against Israel, is campaigning to succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini, 67, as the head of the Islamic state. Considered an extremist even by fellow mullahs, he was a fringe figure in Iran's theocracy until last year's election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fellow fundamentalist who views him as his ideological mentor... Mr Mesbah-Yazdi and his supporters will attempt to tighten the fundamentalists' political stranglehold next month, by standing in elections for the Assembly of Experts, an 86-strong group of theologians that would be responsible for nominating a replacement for Ayatollah Khamenei... Opposing them will be a coalition of moderate conservatives led by Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president, and members of the increasingly marginalised reformist movement, who have formed an alliance to prevent what both groups fear is a drift towards political extremism."Moderate conservatives" my butt. As the Iranian students chanted a few years ago, "Death to the Mullahs! The Mullahs Must Be Killed!"
"I wonder just how much of a fringe figure he (Mesbah Yazdi)was, given his protege was "elected" president."
***
So fringe that Khomeini the founder of the Iranian version of Islam rejected him and he had to take his Hojatieh "Islamic cult" which believes it must cause death and destruction for the return of the 12th Imam, - into hiding. Only to restart the underground movement after Khomeini died.
Read the latest post called Iran in a Nutshell on http://www.antimullah.com - one of the articles, Think Iran Think Hojatieh explains this.
Does not matter. I'd bet that the Israelis are going to do some serious landscaping job on iran- they have the fewest inhibitions and the strongest incentive.
I was speaking of today, not yesterday.
Thanks for the link
The Chinese parriot that line. It is dangerous out there.
The reference in the past was for focus. Today, this nutcase of an ayatollah, a.k.a. the Crocodile - is the power behind the throne and challenging the Supreme Ruler, Ali Khamenei (similar looking name to Khomeini) for the post of Supreme Ruler.
Elections for the Council of Experts or is it the Council of Guardians, the fairly small body which elects or reinvests the Supreme Ruler are in December, so we should see where that goes.
The lunatics are running the looney-bin in Iran, so "today" is a purely relative concept. No formula or basis for analysis that held true before August 15th, 2005 when Ahmadi-Nejad was "selected" President (with the now much regretted blessings of Khamenei) holds water today.
It is an unbelievable "C" change from generally elderly "nsties" to younger "crazies" with a death wish to set the stage and invite the return of the 12th Imam Redeemer by the amount of death and destruction they can impose on the world at large.
With Israel's destruction a notorius history making first step in the Armageddon and apocalypse they want to unleash.
OUCH!
:)
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