Replies

SMCCDI: Violent clashes rock Tehran Bazar area

SMCCDI (Infoation Service)
June 20, 2003

Violent clashes happened, in the late hours of night, as the security forces intervened to avoid a group of angry youth to go toward the Tehran bazaar.

Armed clashes happened as some of the masked youth opened fire on the regime forces by injuring several of them before escaping from the area.

The Bazzar represent a strategic value of the regime as it hosts traditional waelthy businessmen who are strong supporters of the regime due to the immense privileges they do have.

Source: SMCCDI

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056092477

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BUMP.

SMCCDI: Italian public opinion starts its shift toward Iranians

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 20, 2003

The Italian public opinion, one of the most politicized of all Europe, is showing a net shift toward what's going in Iran and the struggle of its people to reach Secularity and Democracy.

This country, where its youth is one of the most committed toward Hummanism and principles, is actually place to big debates on Iran which can force the Berlusconni's government to approach more the US position on the Democracy movement than country's like France who are known for selling Iranians to the Ilamic regime.

Many Italian TV channels and radios have contributed to the public awarness as well by showing footages of the what's going on in Iran and the news spread by SMCCDI.

Such programs have created an unprecedented amount of support e.mails and public feedbacks on the Support Book of the Movement's site which let hope for a friendly future between the people and despite the till now policies of all Italian Governments to be oone of the main partners of the Islamic regime.

Source: SMCCDI

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056116454

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Can you take me off your ping list.

Eslamshahr and Akbar Abad in riot

SMCCDI (information Service)
June 20, 2003

Heavy clashes are rocking at this time, (18:15 9local time), the poor suburbs of Nassim Shahr of Eslam Shahr and Ahmad Abad where more of the governments food stocks are being kept.

Thousands of people are in the streets and the regime forces are trying to stop their progression.

These are those desherited that were a day the backbone of the regime.

Source: SMCCDI

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056118131

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Thanks for the ping!

I hope you feel rested today.

This just in….

I received this from Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi

She is asking that we email the individuals below on behalf of Nasrin Mohammadi.

Please read the following and write, call, fax, or email the leaders listed below as well as some of the media friendly pro student movement such as:

letters@nationalreview.com;
letters@nypost.com;
themail@newyorker.com;
webeditor@washingtontimes.com;
letters@washingtontimes.com;
general@washingtontimes.com;
Comments@foxnews.com;
Foxaroundtheworld@foxnews.com;
Foxreport@foxnews.com;
Colmes@foxnews.com;
Oreilly@foxnews.com;
Warstories@foxnews.com;
Cavuto@foxnews.com;

Dear Friends and Compatriots,

I am appealing to you today on behalf of my imprisoned and tortured brother Manouchehr Mohammadi, leader of the National Association of Students of Iran, who has disappeared from prison.

I urge you to spread my letter wide and far to the Leaders of the Free World and human rights organizations. I ask you to solicit their support to free my brother and thousands like him from the shackles of medieval treatment at the hands of the regime's thugs.

My brother, who suffers from kidney disease and the excruciating effects of persistent torture, was first arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison on July 18, 1999.

Few days ago upon presenting himself to section 3 of Evin political prison in Tehran following a temporary leave he was swiftly handed over to the Agents of the Intelligence Ministry. He was then forcefully questioned and severely beaten for talking to the international media and inviting Iranians to take part in recent protests.

In particular the Agents demanded the following from Manouchehr.

1. To disband the National Association of Students of Iran.
2. To take part in a television interview and announce the dissolution of the Association and his retirement from politics.

Since he refused to accept these demands, he was taken to the Solitary Confinement in the Section 209 of the Ministry of Information. He was planning to start a hunger strike in the next few days. However since yesterday we have received no news about his whereabouts. He has simply disappeared.

My Friends and Compatriots, there are no weapons at our disposal but the power of our spirit and the strength of our determination to awaken the moral force of world public opinion. It is vital that we mobilize support to free not only Manouchehr and my younger brother Akbar, but also thousands of their fellow prisoners of conscience. I urge you to write (sample letter at the end) to the following dignitaries and authorities.

President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Tel: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
president@whitehouse.gov

The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Fax: +442079250918.

Drewery Dyke
Amnesty International
1 Easton Street
London
WC1X 0DW, UK
Tel: +44-20-74135500
Fax: +44-20-79561 157

Hanny Megally, Executive Director and Elahé Sharifpour-Hicks, Researcher

2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Road
London N1 9HF, UK
Tel: 44 20 7713 1995, Fax: 44 20 7713 1800
hrwuk@hrw.org

350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor
New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700, Fax: 1-(212) 736-1300
hrwnyc@hrw.org

Yours respectfully,

Nasrin Mohammadi

Dear ……………………………

I am appealing to you today on behalf of Manouchehr Mohammadi, leader of the National Association of Students of Iran, who has disappeared from prison.

Mohammadi, who suffers from kidney disease and the excruciating effects of persistent torture, was first arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison on July 18, 1999.

Few days ago upon presenting himself to section 3 of Evin political prison in Tehran following a temporary leave he was swiftly handed over to the Agents of the Intelligence Ministry. He was then forcefully questioned and severely beaten for talking to the international media and inviting Iranians to take part in recent protests.

In particular the Agents demanded the following from him.

3. To disband the National Association of Students of Iran.
4. To take part in a television interview and announce the dissolution of the Association and his retirement from politics.

Since he refused to accept these demands, he was taken to the Solitary Confinement in the Section 209 of the Ministry of Information. He was planning to start a hunger strike in the next few days. However since yesterday we have received no news about his whereabouts. He has simply disappeared.

I urge you to use your good offices to establish Mohammadi's whereabouts and demand his immediate release along with all the Iranian political prisoners.

Yours sincerely,

Name:

Nationality:

Country of Residence:

E-mail:

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This just in...

Thousands rush toward southern Tehran to help demonstrators

SMCCDI (Information Service)
June 20, 2003

Thousands and thousands have rushed toward the southern and pou suburbs of Tehran in order to help or support, by their presences, those desherited who defied the regime, this afternoon, in order to make a massive protest in the localities of Nassim Shahr of Eslam Shahr.

Heavy tarffic jams are blocking mort arteries which is unprcedented for this area and shows this cement of Unity getting solidified between the different layers of the population.

Violent clashes rock the area, earlier in the afternnon, as groups of demonstrators tried to approach the warehouses of the GTC where foods and different items are stocked by the government.

The situation on the terrain is very tense and thousands of unusual and non residents are in the area waiting for the dark night in order to start the 11th consecutive night of unrests.

Unfortunatly and for a "specific" purpose the foreign reporters and news agencies located in the Iranian capital stated, today, that action decreased, yesterday evening, which is totally false or due "possibly" but astonishingly to their earlier presence than 23:00 (local time) in the areas of sothern and especially easten Tehran with the locality of Tehran pars at its epicenter.

Neverless, thousands and thousands of residents inflicted another hot night to the regime and its leaders.

The demonstrators and protesters

In the early hours of June 20 clashes between anti-government demonstrators and members of Islamic militant groups rocked eastern and western areas of the Iranian capital and other cities of the country. Protesters call for a nationwide referendum on the political future of the country. In the city of Shadegan, Khoozestan province, security forces opened fire on demonstrators. In other cities police sided with demonstrators, not letting Islamic militants attack them.

According to the Student Movement Coordinating Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI), violent clashes took place in Tehran when government forces stopped a column of demonstrators heading toward a residential neighborhood where the Iranian trade elite live.

In Tehran's suburbs, Karadj and Tehran Pars, police did not allow militants to come nearer students, chanting slogans "Referendum" and "Resign!" in support of a nationwide vote on the political future of the country and in favor of the replacement of the political leadership in Iran.

The SMCCDI reported that demonstrators have changed their tactics, simultaneously organizing small protest actions in various places and thus forcing Islamic militant groups, aligned with the regimeâ€™s leader Ali Khamenei, to disperse. People in major cities help demonstrators escape police, giving them shelter in their houses .

Several people are said to have been wounded in Tehran overnight, and several more arrested. Islamic militants smashed front windows of passing-by cars that horned in support of demonstrators or marked them red by paint spray.

In the city of Rafsandjan, dozens of demonstrators were beaten and arrested by fundamentalists. The SMCCDI reported that a local office of Bassijis, a pro-government paramilitary volunteer force, was subjected to an armed attack in Esfahan province.

It is reported that today a conservative ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi required in his Friday sermon death sentences for those arrested during clashes. In the evening there was a report of heavy clashes beginning in the poor suburbs of Eslam Shahr city.

Source: SMCCDI

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056131504

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And in another new developement...

Yazdi orders judiciary to show no mercy to "rioters"

Friday, June 20, 2003 - ©2003 IranMania.com

TEHRAN, June 20 (AFP) - A top Iranian cleric Friday called on the Islamic republic's hardline judiciary to treat "rioters" arrested during nearly 10 nights of anti-regime protests as "enemies of Allah" -- a charge that carries the death penalty.

"I ask the head of judiciary and public prosecutors across Iran not to treat these people with compassion as they endangered the country's security. Islamic Sharia and our laws are explicit on what we should do with them," Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said in a Friday prayers sermon.

"The judiciary should deal with these people as Moharebs (those who fight Allah) and not as Mokhalef (those who oppose Allah)," he added, urging the courts to handle the detainees "quickly, meticulously, seriously and ruthlessly".

The charge of being a Mohareb carries the death penalty in Iran. After student riots in 1999, one protestor was convicted of that charge and condemned to die, but that punishment was later reduced to 15 years imprisonment.

Ayatollah Yazdi is an ultra-conservative former head of Iran's judiciary -- a bastion of the religious right -- and currently is a prominent jurist sitting on both the Guardians Council and Expediency Council, Iran's two top political oversight bodies.

His comments follow more than a week of anti-regime protests in the capital and other Iranian cities, which have been marked by fierce clashes between demonstrators and hardline vigilantes loyal to the nearly 25-year-old clerical regime.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?
NewsCode=16378&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

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Mullahs' Foolishness

June 20, 2003
The Oklahoman
NewsOK

A BY-PRODUCT of the U.S.- led campaign to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq is that the world -- especially the bad guys -- is learning that President Bush appears to be a determined leader who doesn't fool around with false rhetoric.

Memo to the clerics running things in Iran: Find a graceful way to abandon that secret nuclear weapons program you've been building, because we think Bush means it when he says the world "will not tolerate" its continuation.

That's not to say Bush is about to send the American troops next door in Iraq to Tehran, nor would we urge such action. But the president should be believed when he says a nuclear weapons program in Iran is unacceptable.

According to news accounts, the Iranians have been developing nuclear weapons for some time. A recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency cites Iran for failing to meet its obligations to the agency to report the importing of nearly two tons of uranium or the construction of facilities to process and store nuclear materials.

Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, accuses Washington of meddling in his country's internal affairs. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

Sorry, but that line's been used already, by communist North Korea. The rest of world can't sit back and let the globe's rogue nations develop dangerous weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear energy program. Not in North Korea, not in Iran.

"The international community must come together to make it very clear to Iran that we will not tolerate the construction of nuclear weapons in Iran," Bush said.

Unsettling as it might be to the international diplomatic fraternity, such bluntness has its effect when supported by determination to take action when negotiation falls short.

Bush demonstrated such resolve in Iraq, which should pay dividends in new rounds of diplomacy with Iran -- the opening stages of which are now unfolding.

Is that Ted Koppel closing his eyes and ears?

Russia, China aid Iran's missile program (9/10/97)
China aided Iran chemical arms (10/30/97)
Iran paid $25m. for nuclear weapons, documents show (5/10/98)
Russia says nuclear technology sales to Iran pose no threat (5/11/98)
China helps Iran to make nerve gas (5/24/98)
Iran and China help Pakistan with nuclear weapons; Saudi Arabia helps fund the project (7/1/98)
Iran has missile which can hit Isreal (9/26/98)
Iran Says Iraq Attack Missile Hit Southern Iran (12/17/98)
Iran Says Missile Is for Satellites (2/7/99)
Iran, Iraq, and North Korea are pursuing missile capability to strike American cities (2/25/99)
Iran Pledges Continued Support to PLO Radical Groups and Hizballah (5/15/99)
Russia May Build 3 Nuclear Plants In Iran (6/29/99)
Canada's nuclear deal with Iran alarms the US (7/9/99)
U.S. Nuclear Equipment Smuggled Into Iran (10/12/99)
Iran ships long-range rockets to Hizbullah in Lebanon (2/28/00)
Iran steps up arms supply to Hezbollah (5/20/00)
Iran Defector Says Tehran Behind Lockerbie-CBS TV (6/3/00)
Iran opens sea lanes to Iraq's oil shipments (6/6/00)
Iran president praises relations with China (6/22/00)
Iran wants end to Western edge (6/23/00)
Iran to focus on longer-range Shihab-4 (7/19/00)
Iran launches first Submarine (8/30/00)
Russia Drops Pledge Not To Arm Iran (11/22/00)
Iran 'building secret nuclear arms plants' (12/13/00)
Iran to build first satellite (12/25/00)
Iran, China to promote cooperation on oil (1/3/01)
China's oil giant Sinopec to explore oil in Iran (1/13/01)
Iran and Jordan move closer (1/21/01)
China Continues Aid to Pakistan, Iran Nuclear Development -- Tenet (2/9/01)
CIA: China continues nuke cooperation with Iran (2/24/01)
Iran, Russia Defy U.S. With Pact (3/12/01)
Iran, Russia Leaders Talk Arms, Oil (3/12/01)
Iran offered to buy Mir: Russian expert (3/19/01)
Iran favours strong regional ties "Iran, India, China and Russia needed to strengthen their ties" (4/12/01)
Castro Ends Visit to Iran (5/10/01)
Iran to buy cruise missiles from Russia (5/16/01)
Japan Ignores U.S. Warnings, Moves to Secure Oil Deal with Iran (7/9/01)
Japan, Iran to boost economic ties (7/22/01)
Iran to continue military buildup (8/23/01)
Pak provides nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, Iraq (9/3/01)
Russia, N.Korea, China give Iran missile aid -CIA (9/8/01)
China, Iran seek U.N. role in retaliation (9/18/01)
Iran Won't Let U.S. Use Airspace (9/20/01)
Iran Won't Help U.S. (9/26/01)
Iraq giving "priority" to trade with Russia and Syria (10/1/01)
Russia and Iran Sign Arms Deal; Nuclear Reactors on the Way (10/3/01)
Iran says U.S. attacks "unacceptable" (10/7/01)
China building Iranian S.A.M System (10/19/01)
Iran sees OPEC consensus on oil output cut (11/11/01)
Bin Laden traced to Iran (12/18/01)
Iran's Rafsanjani suggests nuclear attack on Israel (12/19/01)
US raps Iran over terror (12/21/01)
EU-Iran Rapprochement on Right Track (12/24/01) Israel Accuses Iran Plan to Destroy Jewish State with Nuclear Weapons (12/29/01)
Bin Laden Sought Iran as an Ally, U.S. Intelligence Documents Say (12/30/01)
U.S. spy satellites tracked weapons ship from Iran (1/7/02)
Iraq-Iran railway (1/8/02)
Iraq wants Iran to return its planes (1/8/02)
Palestinian - Iran ties denounced (1/9/02)
Bush Warns Iran Over Afghanistan (1/10/02)
Official (Iran) calls for setting up Islamic fund for Palestinians (1/10/02)
Iran courts Pakistan to counter US (1/11/02)
Iran Arming Lebanese Terrorists With Anti-Aircraft Missiles (1/12/02)
Iran using PA as proxy against Israel - senior official (1/12/02)
Israel: Palestinians forming alliance with Iran (1/14/02)
United States and Russia Take Harder Line Against Iranian Nukes (1/19/02)
Iraq, Iran Work to Improve Ties (1/28/02)
Official: Russia committed to completing nuclear reactor in Iran (2/14/02)
Germany warns Russia over missile sales to Iran (2/19/02)
Russian Duma to Issue Resolution in Support of Iran & Iraq (2/20/02)
Saudi Crown Prince Rejects Iran, Iraq 'Axis' Label (2/25/02)
Iran, China Pledge to Further Develop Friendship, Cooperation Ties (3/17/02)
Iran expands ties with many states despite 'axis' tag (3/17/02)
Iran Sends Money, Arms to Palestinian Groups -Times (3/23/02)
China and Iran threaten test ban treaty (3/26/02)
Russian Nuclear Minister Pledges To Complete Reactor Deal With Iran (3/27/02)
Islamic Oil Could Be Effective Weapon, Iran Says (4/1/02)
Iraq and Iran to 'forget past' (4/2/02)
Saddam Urges Iran to Cut Off Oil, Return Planes (4/15/02)
Arms from Iraq, Iran found near Arafat HQ (4/17/02)
Saudis and Iran Moving Together (4/24/02)
Putin Refuses to Stop Supplying Iran With Nuclear Reactor Components At Summit (5/26/02)
Cuba trading bio-chem tech with Iran, Iraq, Syria (6/12/02)
"Iran must strike at at the heart of the United States":Rafsanjani (7/21/02)
Iran Said to Deliver Qaeda Fighters to Saudis-Paper (8/11/02)
Iran's nuclear weapons program growing at secret sites, rebel group alleges (8/14/02)
China and Iran Test-Fire Missiles (9/6/02)
Russia forges ahead with Iran reactor (12/26/02)
US rejects Iran's claim that its nuclear facilities are for energy (3/10/03)
Iran's nuclear plant progress 'eye-opening' (3/10/03)
Moscow alarmed about Iranian nuclear program (4/23/03)
U.S. Official Says Iran Must Come Clean About Nuclear Program, Face More Inspections (4/28/03)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards warn against 'pro-Americanism' (4/30/03)
Most Iranians openly calling for American help in Iran. (4/30/03)
Iran denies nukes, refuses inspectors (5/7/03)
U.S. pushes for U.N. action against Iran (5/8/03)
Iran 'violating nuclear treaty' (5/8/03)
Iran Said to Be Producing Bioweapons (5/15/03)
Iran Warns U.S. It Better Not Attack (6/4/03)
UN Finds Fault with Iran on Nuclear Obligations (6/6/03)
U.S. Receives Damaging IAEA Report On Iran (6/8/03)
Britain Seeks Ultimatum to Iran [US Wants Military Action] (6/18/03)

SMCCDI: Tens injured and arrested in southern Tehran, thousands protest in other areas

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Tens were injured and at east hundred arrested in the violent clashes that rocked , late afternoon and again in the evning, the southern suburb of Nasrin Shahr as the famous desherited and several thousands of supporters, rushed to their help protested against the Islamic regime.

The clerics who comitted the msitake to send their best of elite troops to this area, faced then, other huge protest gatherings, which rocked in the night, the esastern and northern parts of the Capital and especially the Tehran Pars district where young demonstrators imposed their presence and revolutionnary passion to the more docile forces of the regime.

The few plainclothes men who tried to intimidate the protesters were soon not in measure to continue their actions when they tasted the retaliation of young masked fredom fighters who injured several of them in the clashes.

Heavy traffic jams made for the regime impossible to move as quick as the precedent nights its repressive forces.

More actions will take place in the next evenings.

Source: Info Net

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1056167699

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Iran could be the model for Middle East

Economist | 6/20/03 | Economist
Posted on 06/20/2003 7:45 PM PDT by freedom44

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932913/posts

Great Post from Freedom44

Condoleezza Rice Discusses Iran, Iraq

June 20, 2003 Fox News

Fox News Channel

JIM ANGLE, HOST: The president said this week that the international community will not tolerate Iran developing nuclear weapons. What does he mean by that?

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER CONDOLEEZZA RICE: The president was simply sending a strong signal to the international community that the upcoming IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report should give everyone pause about the activities in which Iran has been engaged.

And the U.S. has long suspected that under the cover of the civilian nuclear program, that the Iranians were trying to develop a military useful nuclear program

And this was just an effort to mobilize the international community. We've got a very good statement out of the IAEA. The world is now going to have to decide what it can do to make certain that Iran takes the obligation that it has as a member of the NPT to allow inspections and to answer the very important and very troubling questions that came out of the IAEA report.

ANGLE: Now you say to mobilize the international community — there were some people, as there always are, who interpret this as the statement that the president of the U.S. would not tolerate Iran developing nuclear weapons and with the suggestion that there might be more to it than just a diplomatic effort.

RICE: Well, the course that we're on at this point is to work with the IAEA and to work with others to do what really needs to be done here, which is to get into Iran in a more intrusive way, for inspections to make sure that the Iranians are living up to their obligations and that's the course that we are pursuing

This is a difficult relationship with Iran and there is no doubt that we have a lot of differences with the Iranian government. The president has said that it is important to be associated with the aspirations of the Iranian people

They have had a chance, unlike many places, to express those aspirations a number of times through elections. They always expressed them in favor of democracy and liberty. And so the president also said that was important that the unelected few in Iran, not simply ignore those aspirations, trying to frustrate those aspirations. We have a lot of problems with the Iranian government.

ANGLE: Well in fact, the president said that America those people should know, those who are protesting, should know that America stands squarely by their side. Is the president trying to just recognize the rightness of their cause or to encourage them in those efforts?

RICE: It's very important to recognize the rightness of their cause and to let them know that there are those in the international community who care that they are expressing their rights.

We really do believe that the Iranian leadership needs to be responsive to its own people

ANGLE: But this a tricky business. As you know there is a tortured and sad history in this regard. Former Pres (George H.W.) Bush encouraged Shiites in the south of Iraq to rise up against Saddam (Hussein) in '91. When he came in and slaughtered them, the U.S. did nothing. Go back all the way to 1956 when the Eisenhower administration seemed to encourage Hungarian opposition to the Russians. Again Russian tanks came in to crush them, the U.S. did nothing. Isn't this a pretty tricky business in encouraging anti-government opposition in other countries?

RICE: Well clearly it's important to be responsible. It is important as part of that responsibility, nonetheless, to recognize these aspirations and to let people know that they're being noticed around the world

But the United States does not have to do this alone. Every freedom-loving country in the world should be saying to the Iranian government, "You have to recognize the aspirations of your people. You cannot be a responsible, integrated member of the international community if you don't recognize the aspirations of your people."

We have a number of friends and partners, allies, in the world who chose and have chosen to have an engagement strategy with Iran.

Part of that engagement, if there is going to be engagement, ought to be about the rights of the Iranian people, about the things the government of Iran is doing to frustrate those rights. And so it really is raising the visibility of that internationally.

The president also said that these young people needed to be treated with respect. The world is watching how Iran treats its own people.

ANGLE: Is the U.S. considering a greater engagement, contemplating a greater engagement with Iran?

RICE: I believe we know the Iranian government all too well right now. And the key here is not a matter of engagement. It's a matter of the Iranian government finding a way to deal with myriad problems we have in the relationship. Those include support for terrorism. The Iranians are an outlier on the Middle East peace process supporting the rejectionists who are trying to scuttle this very good opportunity for peace that we have.

That has to be spoken to, and by the way, it has to be spoken to not just by the United States, but by others as well.

We've talked already about the Iranian nuclear program. That has to be addressed. Iranian efforts to support subversion in Iraq, southern Iraq, where the Iranians sometimes seem to be interested in trying to import Iranian-style theocracy into Iraq.

Those issues have to be addressed and from time to time, when it's important, when we have something to say to the Iranians, we talk to them. But there isn't any chance this relationship is going to get better on a broad scale until the Iranians change their behavior.

ANGLE: Let me ask a you broader question about the president's foreign policy. I am often struck by the extent to which, when the president points his finger at someone or raises a problem with someone, the extent to which so many pundits immediately assume the president's next act would be to launch military action. Some conservative pundits encourage it, liberal pundits criticize it, but they all seem to assume that the administration is ready to go to war at a drop of a hat. You even hear people saying we've got troops in Iraq, they can just go over and take care of Iran, right after they finish with Syria and just before they go to North Korea. What do you make of all that?

RICE: It's a little hard to understand, because from the very beginning the president has said that different circumstances require different solutions. And we have a broad array of policy instruments that we use.

In the case of North Korea, for instance, even though he's taken no options off the table, the president's been very clear that he believes this is something that can be resolved through diplomatic means, particularly if the international community and the regional powers will send a strong consistent message to the North that their behavior is unacceptable. We've talked about an Iranian circumstance in which the international community needs to come together to deal with the Iranian nuclear program and the implications of that.

We have lots of different instruments. Iraq was a pretty unusual circumstance, a serial abuser of international obligations, U.N. resolutions that he signed on to after he lost a war of aggression, someone who had weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass destruction programs going back into history that every administration had worried about. Iraq was an unusual circumstance and people need to understand this. Even though the president maintains all his options in any given case, the president understands that different circumstances are going to require different solutions.

ANGLE: Let me ask you about the weapons of mass destruction. The intelligence communities, the intelligence committees, rather, are now investigating, or at least looking at the intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq. Does this come down ... as credibility ... who talked about this intelligence?

RICE: It's simply revisionist history for people to suggest there was no reason to believe the Iraqis had WMD ... the U.N. report in which they talk about large quantities of missing anthrax ... you only have to go back to 1998 when the Clinton administration used military action ... because they were worried about WMD there. The fact is there is a long intelligence record with many many data points that suggest that the Iraqis not only had WMD, intended to conceal them ... and were making efforts to improve their capabilities. That's a long history ... I'm often struck that people said we should have connected the dots to 9/11. But you have thousands and thousands of dots about the Iraqi program ... and you're not supposed to connect those dots ... I think its revisionist history.

We are closing down this thread to begin a new one.

To continue the thread go to:

Iranian Alert -- DAY 12 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST
LIVE THREAD PING LIST | 6.21.2003 | DoctorZin
Posted on 06/21/2003 12:39 AM PDT by DoctorZIn

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/933012/posts

See you there.

DoctorZin