Iranian Alert -- August 15, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 8.15.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movment in Iran from being reported.

From jamming satellite broadcasts, to prohibiting news reporters from covering any demonstrations to shutting down all cell phones and even hiring foreign security to control the population, the regime is doing everything in its power to keep the popular movement from expressing its demand for an end of the regime.

These efforts by the regime, while successful in the short term, do not resolve the fundamental reasons why this regime is crumbling from within.

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. 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.

Please continue to join us here, post your news stories and comments to this thread.

Thanks for all the help.

DoctorZin

[F14 Pilot]

Iran's reform road blocked
13/08/2003 12:57 - (SA)

Tehran - Iranian conservatives have rejected three reform bills put forward by President Mohammad Khatami, slamming reformist hopes of bringing "Islamic democracy" to Iran, said press reports on Wednesday.

The Guardians Council, a small conservative-run body that vets all legislation in line with the constitution and Islamic law, said on Tuesday night it had rejected two bills authorising the government to sign international agreements against torture and women's rights, and a third on electoral reform.

The electoral reform bill would have abolished the right of the council to weed out candidates for elections.

Reformists accuse the council of disqualifying reformists for flimsy reasons, and wanted to end its screening of candidates before crucial legislative elections early next year and presidential polls in 2005.

Many saw the bills as a last-ditch attempt to assert Khatami's embattled position in the face of entrenched religious conservatives.

The council first rejected the bill on April 1, insisting it was "the only authority to supervise the elections" and that there were 39 violations of the constitution and seven against Islamic teachings.

'Violate constitution and Islamic law'

The bill was returned to the reformist-dominated parliament, which amended it and re-approved it on July 20.

The 12 guardians, including six senior clerics appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and six lawyers appointed by the judiciary, decided the three bills violated the constitution and Islamic law, spokesperson Ebrahim Azizi was quoted as saying.

Although parliament had revised the electoral reform bill, Azizi said: "A certain number of the Guardian Council's objections have not been taken into account."

He added that certain additional clauses to the bill were less acceptable than those in the previous draft.

Theoretically, the bill must return to parliament until the two sides can agree.

But, in the event of a protracted dispute between the two bodies, the conservative Expediency Council, Iran's supreme political arbitration body, will decide on the matter. That is a recourse to which Khatami is strongly opposed.

Bid for democracy being blocked

Some reformers have proposed, instead, to call a referendum, which would require Khamenei's approval, or else stage a mass walk-out from their posts and plunge the regime into a crisis of legitimacy.

Khatami, elected president in 1997 and again in 2001, has consistently seen his bid to bring "Islamic democracy" to Iran blocked.

The ones responsible are the powerful hardliners, who dominate the judiciary, security forces and legislative oversight bodies.

Reformists fear that unless they can restore confidence among voters, next February's parliamentary elections could see a catastrophically low turnout of the kind seen during this year's municipal polls - which were won by conservatives.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1401506,00.html

[DoctorZIn]

The black turbans' 'counterrevolution'

By Mustafa El-Labbad
Aug 15, 2003

The Iranian regime faces a challenge from new quarters. In an unexpected outburst, Hussein Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, lashed out against the ruling theocracy

Hussein Khomeini has added fuel to an already fiery domestic situation in Iran, with his vehement attack on the "rule of the clerics", the underlying principle of government in Iran since shortly after that country's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Moreover, Hussein's words should be assessed with regard of the added weight of the lineage factor in a society and polity in which 90 per cent of the populace are Shi'ite Muslims. Lineage is of fundamental importance to the Shi'ite creed which holds that the nephew of the Prophet Mohamed, Ali, and his descendants had been usurped of their right to inherit the command of the faithful. The Shi'ites have elevated the family and descendants of the Prophet to a position of sacred authority, and, today, among the Shi'ite communities in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, the Ashraf (descendants of the family of the Prophet) are still distinguishable by their black turbans, as opposed to the white turbans worn by other members of the Shi'ite clergy. The charismatic leader of the Iranian Revolution Ayatollah Rohallah Khomeini, the Spiritual Guide of the Revolution Ali Khameini and the current President of Iran Mohamed Khatemi all wore black turbans.

Hussein Khomeini is the son of Mustafa Khomeini, eldest son of Ayatollah Rohallah Khomeini. In an open letter to Mohamed Khatemi, the Ayatollah's grandson demanded a public referendum allowing the Iranian people to determine the nature of their government. Advocating a secular form of government, he proclaimed that religion must be liberated from the tyranny of the state and warned that the regime had better take heed of the lessons to be learned from the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Topping this off with another bombshell to the media, he declared that the struggle with Israel was a "fabricated conflict" and of little concern to the Iranian people.

Although the opinions aired by Hussein Khomeini have been frequently voiced by various factions of the Iranian opposition, his genealogy lends them a unique substance and, consequently, makes him a force that may ultimately be more dangerous and demoralising for the regime than any military operations carried out by the Mujahidin Khalq. That it was the Ayatollah's grandson that launched this powerful salvo suggests that the legitimacy of the Iranian regime has begun to crumble as political tensions slowly rise.

Born in Tehran in 1958, Hussein Khomeini fled Iran, then under the rule of Shah Mohamed Riza Pahlevi, in 1965, accompanying his father and grandfather in their exile, first to Turkey and then to Iraq. In the mid-1970s, SAVAK, the Shah's notorious secret service, assassinated Hussein's father in Najaf, Iraq, after which the dissident voice of his grandfather began to have a growing impact on events in Iran. Hussein, during this time, had followed the government educational curriculum in public primary and preparatory schools, after which he was enrolled in a Shi'ite seminary. Before completing his education, he was forced to leave Iraq with his grandfather who had fled to France. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Hussein returned to Iran with his grandfather. At the age of 22 he served in the Iranian armed forces for eight months during the Iran-Iraq war.




The mid-1980s saw the emergence of a new political movement in Iran. The Republican Party, as it was called, acquired increasing sway in Iranian politics and eventually succeeded in moving into key positions in government. The most prominent figures in this movement were Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei, who continue to dominate the power spectrum in Iran today. One effect of the rise of this movement was to curb Khomeini's influence and curtail the prospects of his descendants in sharing or inheriting power. In addition to Ahmed Khomeini, the Ayatollah's second son who was still alive at the time, the contenders also included Hussein and Ahmed's son Hassan. While Hassan Khomeini would appear in official functions, Hussein had chosen to remain a recluse in the Shi'ite holy city of Qum. Upon the succession of Khamenei, following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the exclusion of Khomeini's descendants was finalised. Indeed, Ahmed was accorded no honours apart from permission to be buried by his father in the huge mausoleum whose gilded dome can be seen from the rooftops of Tehran, glittering under powerful spotlights at night. Perhaps inspired by the Shi'ites' historically ingrained sense of injustice and by the perceived wrong to the memory of his grandfather, Hassan Khomeini began to harbour a growing opposition to the regime. Although for several years he had been under compulsory detention in his residence in Qum, he has recently fled to Najaf, in Iraq, from where he broke his silence so dramatically this week.

Hussein's rebelliousness is not unique in contemporary Shi'ite societies. To his name, we can add those of such figures as Moqtada Al-Sadr in Iraq and Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. In spite of the vast differences in the outlooks of these three figures, they share, in addition to the black turban, a spirit of defiance against traditional Shi'ite leaderships, a relative youthfulness when compared to most Shi'ite spiritual leaders and generally radical politics and attitudes. They also all lack the necessary theological credentials for Shi'ite religious leadership, qualifications which must be acquired through a stringent centuries-old system of education and training.

Moqtada Al-Sadr, heir to the spiritual influence among Iraqi Shi'ites of the Sadr family which traces itself to the Prophet, came into the spotlight following the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein. Al- Sadr has capitalised on the frailty of the traditional Shi'ite leadership in Iraq, on the shaken legitimacy of the Iranian Ayatollah Muhsen Al-Hakim who had arrived in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, on Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's call to keep Shi'ite religious institutions out of politics, and on the fact that his father, Mohamed Baqer Al-Sadr, and uncle, Mohamed Sadeq Al-Sadr, both Shi'ite religious leaders, were assassinated by the former Iraqi regime. Drawing on this political capital, Moqtada Al- Sadr has also appealed to the Iraqi Shi'ites' sense of historical oppression and political exclusion, succeeding in mobilising millions of his coreligionists into taking to the streets to demand their long overdue share in power in Iraq, where Shi'ites constitute the majority of the population.

The Lebanese Hassan Nasrallah led the Lebanese armed resistance against the Israeli occupation. At a time when many Lebanese political leaders were content with small gains and prepared to negotiate with the occupation forces, Nasrallah and his supporters mounted armed operations of great inventiveness and impact. Unable to sustain increasing losses, Israeli forces pulled out of Lebanon, marking their first forced, unconditional retreat in the Arab-Israeli conflict. On the basis of this victory, which gave him his credentials as a freedom fighter, Nasrallah won the support of the most of the Shi'ite community, which makes up a plurality of the diverse Lebanese population. Nasrallah's power is in spite of the presence of Al-Sayyid Fadlallah, the most highly esteemed Lebanese Shi'ite theologian, respected not only in Lebanon but among scholars and intellectuals throughout the Arab world.

In times of severe crisis, radical ideology is prone to gain ascendancy over logic and reason. An ideology operates on three interrelated philosophical levels: a perception of the order of the world, the nature of life and the role of man, or the metaphysical; an evaluation of specific states of affairs, grounding the ideology in the concrete; and an approach or programme for changing that which is imperfect or unacceptable.

The Khomeini ideology, since the success of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, appeared capable of realising the hopes not only of the Iranian people but also of the Shi'ites in Lebanon and Iraq, as well as smaller minorities in the Gulf States. With Khomeini, a perception of the world blended with the politics of the marginalised and discontent which in turn converged with religion as both the source of authority and the solution to create the revolutionary ideology par excellence. Marx has said, "Philosophers understand the world differently, but changing this world is what is important," his implication being that veneration for revolutionary goals had to be given primacy over philosophical and moral hairsplitting if the revolutionary movement is have the impetus and dynamism to effect change. It would seem that this applies to the new black-turbaned revolutionaries in the predominantly Shi'ite areas in the Middle East. However, the transformation which this new generation of radicals is steamrolling by the traditional Shi'ite leadership does not appear to be controlled or well-defined. Indeed, it appears totally unchecked by any social constraints and fuelled purely by the ideology of change, regardless of the form and means.

Recent developments suggest that Shi'ite communities in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon are headed for a new period of revolutionary ideological ferment, not from the radical left, which elsewhere in the world has generally been associated with the term "revolutionary", but from the centre of Shi'ite society, and targeting the traditional religious institutions and leaderships that once held that society together. The problem the Iranian regime has with Hussein Khomeini is that the ideology the Islamic Revolution had formerly used against its intellectual adversaries has, in the hands of Ayatollah Rohallah's grandson, been turned into a weapon against the "revolutionary state". Suddenly the winds of change have shifted direction; they are not coming from pro-royalists or left-wing Marxists who could always be branded as foreign proxies. Rather, they are coming from the core of one of the major pillars of revolutionary legitimacy: the Khomeini line. The black turban revolution is imbuing the Shi'ite masses in Iran with a new radicalism and mustering this energy against, not the civil, but the religious establishment.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1765.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

The black turbans' 'counterrevolution'

By Mustafa El-Labbad
Aug 15, 2003

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/964465/posts?page=22#22

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[nuconvert]

Adding fuel to the fire?

Thank you.

"Mortazavi allegedly accused Khoshvagt (who is in charge of issuing press visas to foreigners) of issuing one to a spy."

And she was supposedly spying on what? Military secrets?
Their nuclear weapons plant? NO. A crowded prison. Well, I don't think a SPY is going to go taking pictures of a prison to learn the latest technological advances that the Iranian military has to offer. So much for the "SPY" label.

[DoctorZIn]

They have to try to justify their murder of her.

[nuconvert]

They needed to try to come up with something more original than that.

[dixiechick2000]

"Iran is to get a second nuclear reactor..."

They are just beggin' for it!

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks, Dr.Z, for all of the articles!

[F14 Pilot]

Al-Qaeda 'hates Iran as much as it hates the US'

August 14, 2003

The al-Qaeda terrorist network hates Iran as much as it hates the United States, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said yesterday.

"Whenever we find al-Qaeda members, we arrest them and the group has as much hatred and enmity to Iran as it does to the US," Mr Khatami was quoted by the news agency IRNA as saying.

He reiterated that all al-Qaeda members whose nationality could be verified would be extradited. The others were to be tried inside Iran.

He said there was no deal with the US over the prisoners, rejecting press reports that Washington and Tehran were in contact about swapping the al-Qaeda suspects for members of the Iranian rebel group People's Mujaheddin, which used to be based in Iraq before the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Mr Khatami did not disclose the identity of the al-Qaeda members detained in Iran, citing security reasons.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/13/1060588457819.html

[F14 Pilot]

Majlis' approval of bill allowing Iran to join convention banning discrimination against women a mistake of MPs

Tehran, Aug 15, IRNA -- Interim Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran
Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani said here that the approval by Majlis
of a law that would pave the way for Iran to join the Convention
Banning Discrimination Against Women was due to the MPs' lack of
familiarity with the subject.
Speaking to thousands of pious worshipers at the central campus of
Tehran University, the prominent alim added: "I heard President
(Khatami's) cabinet was opposed to the idea of presenting the bill to
parliament from the very beginning."
"But all the same," added Kashani, "had the people's
representatives been careful enough in tackling the various dimensions
of that bill, the resulting decision would not have been made."
He added: "The articles in that convention include phrases that
would render the attachment of any condition to its acceptance quite
meaningless."
Judging the convention to be unIslamic and against the rules of
humanity, the Friday prayer leader said: "Yielding to the articles of
that convention would be tantamount to ignoring the rules of justice
and humanity as far as relations between the two sexes are concerned.
Ths would not only endanger Islam but mankind as a whole, particularly
the "foundation of families."

http://www.irna.ir/en/hphoto/0308140000-0.ehp.shtml

[AdmSmith]

Hassan and Hussein Khomeini: Family Feud.

[F14 Pilot]

GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
Al-Qaida affiliates
pouring into Iraq
Ansar al-Islam fighters entering country through Iran

Posted: August 16, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Members of terror group Ansar al-Islam have been returning to Iraq from Iran, joining the hundreds of fighters based in the northern part of the country and near Baghdad, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. military suspects that Ansar carried out the bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad on Aug. 7. Eleven people were killed in the truck bombing.

Before the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Ansar insurgents were aided by Iran, which facilitated the flow of combatants into northern Iraq.

The United States has warned Iran several times to end its aid to Ansar and other insurgents in Iraq.

The U.S. military has observed an increase in the flow of al-Qaida-aligned insurgents into Iraq. These insurgents have come from Saudi Arabia and Syria, officials said.

"The one organization that we have confidence, that we know is in Iraq and in the Baghdad area, is Ansar al-Islam," said Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, operations director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "It is unknown whether this particular organization was associated with the events . . . But that is an al-Qaida related organization, and one we are focusing attention on."

"Ansar al-Islam, which was in Iraq before the war, is in Iraq now, [and] is a potential threat," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Some of those individuals have been captured in Baghdad and other parts of the country [and] are being interrogated. So, for at least in the near term, they are going to be a potential threat that we're going to have to deal with."

Last month, officials said, the military detected an enclave of foreign insurgents located near Baghdad. The military killed many of the foreign combatants.

"There was an enclave of foreign fighters that were somewhere west of Baghdad, about two-thirds of the way to the border in tents in a camp – encampment that fought very fiercely," Myers said. "But all 75 to 80 of them were killed in that engagement. They were all foreign fighters. So, no one, I don't think, believes that there is not continued infiltration, potentially, of foreign fighters into that country."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Iran continues to serve as a haven for senior al-Qaida members. He dismissed the prospect that Tehran would extradite al-Qaida fugitives to the United States.

"With respect to Iran, it is correct that there have been and are today senior al-Qaida in Iran," Rumsfeld said. "To the extent they would be handed over to us, it would be excellent. The chances of that happening, apparently, are about zero."

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34118

[F14 Pilot]

Osama's son in Iran: Report

http://www.rediff.com/us/2003/aug/13attack.htm

[McGavin999]

That's what I've been saying since this thing started. The Iraqis came up to speed on terror tactic too fast for it to be a normal learning curve.

We're losing an opportunity by not making the Iraqis aware that they are being invaded by foreigners and they aren't Americans.

[F14 Pilot]

Yes, I think Iranians are afraid of a stabilized Iraq.
Once Iraq become silent, Iranians wont be silent.
That is why Iranian Mullahs are scared and sending troops into Iraq to make the situation hard for us.

[AdmSmith]

Perhaps they are more afraid that Najaf will take over Qum as the center of Shi'ite interpretation.

[F14 Pilot]

Not really of that, but because Iranian People will see the freedom Americans brought to Iraqis and they wont stay silent.

[AdmSmith]

BREAD PRICES IN IRAN APPEAR STABLE.
State bakeries are paying 40 rials (1/2 cents, or $0.005) for 1 kilogram of flour, "Entekhab" reported on 14 August. "Entekhab" reported that the government decided that bakeshops will keep their prices at the same level as in the previous year (1381). State radio reported on 13 August that the bakeries will get electricity, water, and gas at the previous year's prices, too. According to "Iran" newspaper on 9 August, several meetings were held recently at the Commerce Ministry to discuss this issue and even a minimal increase in the bread price was rejected. Some of the possible price increase would have offset a rise in employees' wages, but even this was rejected. Bread is a major staple for Iranians, and the government subsidizes bread prices. BS

COST OF A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT FALLS IN IRAN. Mohammad Fayaz, director of the Tehran municipal organization of fresh fruit and vegetable merchants (Sazeman-i Miyadin Miveh va Tarehbar-i Shahrdari-i Tehran), said the price of chicken will be reduced from 18,000 rials ($2.25) to 12,750 rials ($1.60) per kilogram, "Entekhab" reported on 14 August. BS

Comment: Subsidized bread is the path to economic disaster.

[AdmSmith]

Sorry, the source was RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 155, Part III, 15 August 2003

[F14 Pilot]

Thanks for the info, but as far as I know, they have been doing like that since fall of the late Shah.