MP: Washington should pay remaining part of compensaton to Iranian victims' families
Member of Parliamentary Commission on National Security and Foreign Affairs Mrs Elaheh Koulaei said on Saturday that Washington should pay the remaining portion of compensation for Iranian passengers who were killed when an Iranian commercial aircraft was shot down by US warship Vincennes in 1988, IRNA reported from Tehran.
She said that families of American victims will receive 10 million dollars for every victim from Libya whereas US paid lower compensation for Iranian victims.
Under the deal, Libya will pay up to 10 million dollars per victim in three stages -- four million dollars would be paid for every victim once the UN sanctions are ended. This would be followed by four million dollars more if Washington lifts its sanctions and two million dollars when Libya is dropped from the US list of terrorist state.
If Washington doesn`t take these steps within eight months of Libya placing $2.7 billion into the escrow account, the Lockerbie victims families would receive only 1 million dollars more, bringing the total compensation to dlrs five million per victim.
http://www.payvand.com/news/03/aug/1135.htmlIranian cleric wants Islam promoted as a peaceful religion
By JOYCE M. DAVIS
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - An Iranian cleric is in Washington with the blessing of his government to drum up support for an unprecedented international Islamic conference to promote Islam as a religion of peace, and not one that encourages Muslims to kill people of other faiths.
Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad is among a growing number of moderate Islamic scholars who are concerned about the popularity of extremists such as Osama bin Laden, especially among disillusioned youths in the Islamic world. These extremists use some Islamic texts to recruit young men and women into terrorism.
Muslim extremists often point to Surah 2, verses 190-191, in the Quran, Islam's holy book, to justify their call for attacks on the United States and other Western targets: "And slay them where ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter."
Damad and other Islamic scholars contend that militants are misinterpreting such verses and distorting Islam.
Islam has no one central authority on its teachings, and Muslim scholars often differ on their interpretations of holy texts. Islam also unites more than 1 billion people of varied races, cultures and languages. Such differences will make it difficult for Muslims to agree on the religion's teachings, even if they accept Damad's call for an international conference.
"The first major problem concerns the relation of Muslims vis-a-vis followers of other religions," Damad said recently at a gathering of Islamic scholars at the United Association of Studies and Research, an Islamic center in Springfield, Va. There are "many ordinary Muslims and even scholars who believe there can be no permanent peace between Islam and kofr (unbelievers), and the two should be in perpetual war until the final victory of Islam."
But there is another interpretation of Islam, he said, that sees it as a "religion of peace and tolerance that can coexist with other faiths. … These two conceptions … are in hot competition for the minds and hearts of men in my own country, Iran."
Damad, the head of the Islamic studies department at the Academy of Scientists in Iran, is calling for Muslim scholars to unite to agree on a moderate, tolerant interpretation of Islamic texts, especially those that militants use to justify jihad - holy war - against the West.
A spokesman for the Iranian interest section in Washington said Damad's call for a more moderate interpretation of Islam had the full blessing of the Iranian government, including President Mohamed Khatami and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Damad supports Khatami's efforts to promote dialogue with the West. Iran and the United States haven't had diplomatic ties since 1979.
Damad, a Shiite Muslim, needs the backing of mainstream Sunni Muslim scholars, such as those associated with the United Association of Studies and Research in Virginia, to promote his call for Muslims to re-examine Islam's teachings for the modern world. Damad recently started to travel, beginning in the United States, to solicit support for a conference.
Militants are gaining ground throughout the Islamic world, since so many people are angry at U.S. support for Israel as well as the American-led occupation of Iraq, Damad said. While militants encourage Muslims to act on their own to fight nonbelievers whenever and wherever they can, most mainstream Muslim scholars don't support such teachings, Damad said.
Like Damad, many moderate Muslims are alarmed at the increasing anti-American hostility in the Islamic world. This hostility is even growing among Muslims who have supported the West in such countries as Qatar and Kuwait, warned a prominent Kuwaiti official who asked not to be identified. The only way this battle can be fought is with the help of moderate Muslim scholars, he said, who have the authority and the prestige to challenge the militants.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/6569276.htm She said that families of American victims will receive 10 million dollars for every victim from Libya whereas US paid lower compensation for Iranian victims.
Yes....and....what?
It appears they having hanging around the French too much.