Posted on 07/24/2009 6:19:46 PM PDT by nuconvert
Washington, 21 July (WashingtonTV)—The hardline principle-ist Kayhan daily, published in Tehran today, attacked former president, Mohammad Khatami, saying that when he spoke of “the need for a referendum”, he was “carrying out the instructions” of Michael Ledeen, prominent member of the American Enterprise Institute and special aide to former US defense secretary, Ronald Rumsfeld, and to former deputy president, Dick Cheney.
On Sunday 28 Tir [19 July], Khatami said at a meeting held in the office of the Combatant Clerics Society in Tehran with the families of a number of detainees, that the way to overcome the current crisis was to rely on the votes of the people by holding a referendum.
Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of the leader of the Islamic Republic [Khamenei] to the Kayhan Newspaper and the managing-editor of that paper, strongly criticized Khatami and his referendum suggestion today in his editorial, which was entitled: “Khatami’s proposal or the instructions of Michael Ledeen?!”
At the start of his editorial, Shariatmadari wrote that in the past few years and notably in the course of the past six months, some persons who “claim to be” reformists and who deny that they have any links with “foreign circles and follow the instructions of enemies abroad,” have taken almost all their actions and stances from “the pre-announced instructions and proposals of American media and officials.”
The managing-editor of Kayhan then referred to the referendum proposal of Khatami and the Combatant Clerics Society as a way of overcoming existing crisis and noted: “The latest move of this political current is to demand a referendum on the acceptability of the government – read [:] the [Islamic Republic’s] system – which was immediately and widely welcomed by the American, European and Israeli media and officials.”
Khatami proposed yesterday that a referendum be held on the legitimacy of “the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”.
Shariatmadari then referred to Ledeen’s remarks concerning a referendum and wrote that some time ago Michael Ledeen had mentioned “a referendum on the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic” as one of the effective ways to confront the power of Islamic Iran, and had said: “The proposal for a referendum on the one hand and the support of Western media on the other, could make the opponents of the Islamic Republic hopeful and keep them in the arena.’”
Saying that “Khatami in his statement – read[:] in Michael Ledeen’s statement – has proposed that the referendum he has in mind should be staged by an impartial body such as the Expediency Council instead of the Guardian Council,” Shariatmadari noted: “If what Khatami means by the [Expediency] Council, is its chair, that is, [Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-], well then Rafsanjani has explicitly shown that not only he is not impartial but that he strongly supports Khatami, [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and their followers.”
Shariatmadari concluded his article by writing that the “main strategy of this scenario is to fan the flames of tension.” He added that the supporters of Khatami will not succeed in their efforts and that the seeds of “discord” they are sowing “on the orders of the enemies will be nipped in the bud just as they were in the early years of the eighties,” – a reference to the period of tension when the Mojahedin-e Khalq and then Bani-Sadr fell out with Khomeyni.
pong
...Kayhan daily, published in Tehran today, attacked former president, Mohammad Khatami, saying that when he spoke of "the need for a referendum", he was "carrying out the instructions" of Michael Ledeen, prominent member of the American Enterprise Institute and special aide to former US defense secretary, Ronald Rumsfeld, and to former deputy president, Dick Cheney... Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of the leader of the Islamic Republic [Khamenei] to the Kayhan Newspaper and the managing-editor of that paper, strongly criticized Khatami and his referendum suggestion
Wow, that’s the Iranian equivalent of Hillary insulting Dick Morris.
He added that the supporters of Khatami will not succeed in their efforts and that the seeds of “discord” they are sowing “on the orders of the enemies will be nipped in the bud just as they were in the early years of the eighties,”
Looks like the hardliners are going to fire up the
leaf chippers. Time for a little pruning...
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