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Discover all the news since the protests began on June 10th, go to:

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1 posted on 09/28/2003 12:01:02 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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2 posted on 09/28/2003 12:04:08 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Motives in the U.N.

Amir Taheri (archive)
September 28, 2003
Townhall.com

General De Gaulle called it “the gadget”. The late Pakistani leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto branded it “a club of queer trades.” And, more recently, President George W Bush warned that it had become “irrelevant”. And, yet, the United Nations has just opened its annual general assembly in New York with as much stiff upper lip as it could master.

The war in Iraq shook the UN to its foundations by highlighting its contradictions.

The issue was not whether or not the United States and Britain should go to war without express authorisation from the Security Council. Similar interventions had taken place before, most recently in the Balkans where NATO, led by the US, took military action to save the Muslim peoples of Bosnia and Kosovo from extermination by the Serbs.

Nor was “regime change” the issue.

The Tanzanian army that ended Idi Amin’s reign in Uganda had no Security Council mandate. Nor was Vietnam mandated by the UN to march into Cambodia and overthrow the Khmer Rouge. France has engineered several regime changes in former African colonies without asking anyone’s permission.

The Iraq issue was special for several reasons.

This was the first time that the Security Council, was used in attempts to prevent the enforcement of its resolutions. Since 1990 the council had passed 18 mandatory resolutions, often unanimously, concerning Iraq, but had done little to enforce their essential provisions.

Some members, notably France and Russia, pretended that taking action against Saddam Hussein was illegal. But they did not have the courage to test that view by tabling a draft resolution to that effect.

At the same time the US and the UK, which asserted their duty to enforce the council’s resolutions, also shied away from testing their view in an open vote.

Even when the war had began, those opposed to it lacked the courage to seek an emergency session of the Security Council, as in so many other cases before, to call for a ceasefire. Nor has any council member presented a draft resolution seeking an end to “ the occupation ”of Iraq.

The council has ended up with two opposite positions, which, in moral terms at least, means none at all.

Worse still, those who opposed the war did so for reasons that had little to do with Iraq’s dispute with the UN.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose country happens to be a Security Council member by rotation, initially supported action against Saddam. But he was in the middle of a difficult general election. At one point pollsters told him that only an anti-war position might get him enough votes among German women to ensure a narrow victory.

Overnight he changed his position to re-emerge as a vocal opponent of action against Saddam. With his re-election assured, Schroeder moved away from his opposition to the war, welcomed Saddam’s demise, and tried to repair the damage done to US-German relations by sending German troops to Afghanistan to release the GIs for service in Iraq.

Russian opposition, too, had little to do with Iraq as such.

The Russians tried to butter their bread on both sides.

They cultivated ambiguity on the issue to secure concessions from the US-UK coalition, including a free hand in Chechnya and the promise of a share in the future, and as yet problematic, Iraqi oil.

The French position was still more interesting.

For them the question was not whether or not Saddam should be forced to comply with the UN resolutions. The question was how to fight the “ the American hyper-power.”

This is how French scholar Gillaume Parmentier puts it: ” The reason why France articulates its concern {about American hegemony} more strongly than others is that France’s history has been one of resisting to monopolies of power in Europe.”

He recalls how France became a nation-state despite attempts by the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope to dominate Europe.

“Resistance to foreign empires is deeply ingrained in French political culture,” Parmentier asserts.

Was the US seeking a “monopoly of power in Europe” by toppling Saddam? Is the US comparable to the Holy Roman Empire and the Popes of the Middle Ages or the Nazis in the 20th century?

Parmentier forgets France’s own bid for a monopoly of power in Europe under Napoleon. And need one mention that France signed the Munich pact with Hitler?

Echoing Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, Parmentier shows that France’s opposition to military action against Iraq was prompted not by the merits of the issue but as part of a broader strategy of “ resisting American hegemony”.

In other words France would not have been aggrieved if Iraq were liberated by Luxembourg and Lichtenstein, rather than by the US and the UK.

The case of Iraq shows that various powers could use the Security Council, which is supposed to be an instrument of international will, to serve domestic political agendas that have nothing to do with the issue at hand.

Schroeder probably did not wish the Iraqis to suffer under Saddam’s tyranny for decades. What Schroeder was concerned about was getting the extra women’s vote he wanted. Vladimir Putin was equally uninterested in the Iraqi issue as such. He wanted carte blanche in Chechnya and a future share in Iraqi oil. Jacques Chirac, too, was not really concerned about Iraq. Unable to develop a meaningful foreign policy, he exploited the issue as an opportunity to thumb his nose at the American “hyper-power.”

(Opponents of the war could, of course, use a similar argument against the US and the UK. They could argue that Washington and London , too, didn’t care about the sufferings of Iraq under Saddam and acted to topple him to serve their own interests.

Such an argument, whether sustainable or not, would only reinforce the contention that the Security Council has creased to exist as an instrument of international decision-making. )

Until the row over Iraq broke out, the Security Council, thanks to the veto given to its permanent members, could say either yes or no to action on urgent issues of international life.

The Iraq issue introduced a new answer that is neither yes nor no. It exists in Japanese as “ mu” , which means : “unask your question”, and in Persian as “bari” which means “ referred to God”.

Kofi Annan is trying hard to “mu” and “bari” things. But there is something rotten in the organisation symbolised by its glass tower in New York.

Amir Taheri is an Iranian author of 10 books on the Middle East and Islam. He's reachable through www.benadorassociates.com.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Taheri20030928.shtml
3 posted on 09/28/2003 12:06:07 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Putin almost defied Bush

Washington Times - By Bill Sammon
Sep 28, 2003

Russia might have opposed the U.S.-led war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan if Russian President Vladimir Putin had not developed a strong personal relationship with President Bush, Mr. Putin said yesterday.

Mr. Putin made the revelation in a news conference at which the Russian leader also withheld Russian support for postwar Iraq until the United Nations passes a resolution on the matter.

"I have never said this in public; I'm going to do it today," Mr. Putin announced as he stood next to Mr. Bush at Camp David. "When counterterrorist operations began in Afghanistan, we were approached by people through several channels ... who intended to fight against Americans in Afghanistan.

"And if, by that time, President Bush and I had not formed [an] appropriate relationship, as we have, ... no one knows what turn would the developments in Afghanistan [have] taken," said the Russian leader, speaking through a translator.

A former colonel in the KGB, the former Soviet secret police and intelligence agency, Mr. Putin did not identify the people who intended to fight the U.S. forces, nor did he explain exactly what they wanted from Russia or whether Moscow took action to stop them.

However, of his friendship with Mr. Bush, he said: "It helped, to a great extent, to achieve further results that we have achieved in Afghanistan, and was for a very good purpose."

Mr. Bush did not respond to this cryptic disclosure at the news conference, although he again lauded the Russian leader's trustworthiness.

"I like him," Mr. Bush said. "He's a good fellow to spend quality time with."

Mr. Putin's revelation about his level of closeness to Mr. Bush sheds new light on the bond that developed between the two leaders before the September 11, 2001, attacks. After their first meeting in June of that year, Mr. Bush was widely derided as naive for gushing about the former Soviet spy.

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy," Mr. Bush said during a joint news conference with Mr. Putin at the time. "I was able to get a sense of his soul."

The two men's friendship has not prevented them from having significant policy disagreements on such issues as Iraq and Iran, both of which they discussed during their two-day summit, which ended yesterday. On Iran, Mr. Putin denied U.S. accusations that Moscow is helping Tehran develop nuclear weapons.

"Russia has no desire and no plans to contribute in any way to the creation of weapons of mass destruction, either in Iran or any other spot, region in the world," he said. "We comply firmly with the provisions of the [nuclear] Nonproliferation Treaty, because this course is in our national interest."

Russia insists that its $800 million deal to build a nuclear power plant in Iran will result only in the generation of electricity, not nuclear weapons. Still, Mr. Bush appears to have convinced his Russian counterpart at least to call on Iran to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"It is our conviction that we shall now give a clear but respectful signal to Iran about the necessity to continue and expand its cooperation with IAEA," Mr. Putin said.

"We firmly agree," Mr. Bush said. "We need to work together to convince Iran to abandon any ambitions she may have, ambitions toward the development of a nuclear weapon."

The two leaders issued similar statements on North Korea, which is openly flouting international nonproliferation agreements in order to develop nuclear weapons. However, Mr. Putin also said Pyongyang should be rewarded if it halts its nuclear programs.

"Russia believes that ensuring a nuclear nonproliferation regime should be accompanied by extending to North Korea guarantees in the sphere of security," he said.

Mr. Bush did not call for such guarantees.

"We strongly urge North Korea to completely, verifiably and irreversibly end its nuclear programs," he said. "We're seeking to intensify our missile defense cooperation because both of our countries are threatened by outlaw regimes to be armed with deadly weapons."

Moscow initially opposed Mr. Bush's unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which allowed the United States to proceed with deployment of a missile defense shield. Although Democrats warned the withdrawal would spark a new arms race, both sides ended up signing a treaty to slash their nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.

"Its implementation, in our assessment, is going successfully," Mr. Putin said yesterday of the Moscow Treaty on arms cuts.

One of the most pressing topics of the summit was Iraq, for which Mr. Bush is seeking international troops and money to supplement tightly stretched U.S. resources.

Mr. Putin, who opposed the Iraq war, stopped short of making any specific promises on what he called "our possible participation" in postwar Iraq.

"In the normalization of life in Iraq, Russia is interested in seeing it occurring as soon as possible," he said. "The degree and the extent and the level of Russia's participation in the restoration of Iraq will be determined after we know the parameters of the resolution, of the new resolution on Iraq."

Mr. Bush is trying to get such a resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council, which would clear the way for nations such as India, Turkey and Bangladesh to deploy troops to Iraq.

"I recognize that some countries are inhibited from participation because of the lack of a U.N. resolution," Mr. Bush said. "We are working to get a satisfactory resolution out of the U.N. We spent some time discussing that today."

Although Mr. Bush used to chide Russia for cracking down on separatists in Chechnya, he has been more sympathetic to Mr. Putin since the Russian leader joined the U.S.-led war against terrorism.
Yesterday, Mr. Bush straddled the issue by simultaneously speaking out against human rights abuses by Moscow and terrorism by separatists.

"No cause justifies terror," he said. "Terrorists must be opposed wherever they spread chaos and destruction, including Chechnya. A lasting solution to that conflict will require an end to terror, respect for human rights and a political settlement that leads to free and fair elections."

Mr. Putin sought to discourage perceptions that his support of the U.S. war on terrorism might be linked to Mr. Bush's taking a softer line on Chechnya.

"Our partnership is not subject to political deal-making," the Russian leader said. "We wish to be guided by these strategic interests of our two countries, without excessive emotions or ambitions."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030928-123428-5292r.htm
4 posted on 09/28/2003 12:15:14 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Bush and Putin warn Iranians

Independent
By Jennifer Loven in Camp David, Maryland
28 September 2003

US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Iran and North Korea yesterday to abandon suspected nuclear-weapons programmes, but disagreed over how to deal with both countries.

Mr Putin gave no indication he was willing to pull back from an $800m (£480m) deal to build a power plant in southern Iran. Mr Bush has pressed Mr Putin for two years to abandon the project, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said last week it had found new evidence that Iran is enriching uranium.

Bush said the US and Russia jointly urged North Korea to "completely, verifiably and irreversibly end its nuclear programs". But, again, there was disagreement. Mr Putin said that in exchange for North Korea's dismantling of its nuclear program, the US should give the communist country a guarantee of its security. Mr Bush has been unwilling to do so.

Mr Putin also declined to pledge postwar help for Iraq.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=447791
6 posted on 09/28/2003 12:20:31 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Iran brush off EU preconditions

2003/09/28
IRIB
Berlin

Deputy Foreign Minister for training and research Alireza Moayeri said here Saturday that transparency as well as continuation of political dialogue on various issues between Iran and EU, specially Germany, is a real necessity.

Moayeri is in Berlin to attend a research conference.

He said the four conditions put forth by EU for continuation of dialogue with Iran are not acceptable to Tehran.

"Any precondition for continuation of dialogue will not be accepted by Iran," the Foreign Ministry official underlined.

Iran is keen to continue the ongoing dialogue with EU and has informed Italy, which is currently the rotating president of the EU, to that effect."

"We will continue our dialogue with the EU, east Asian and Arab countries, because we think that their intentions towards Iran are different from that of Washington's," said Moayeri.

"In some issues, we also oppose positions taken by some EU members such as Germany," he said.
"We have told Germany that it should have friendly behavior towards Iran different from that of the US, when it comes to relations with Iran," he said.

Moayeri said Germany should not repeat what the Americans say and want, adding "While we welcome our contacts with EU, they should also understand our positions."

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=189056&n=32
7 posted on 09/28/2003 12:39:36 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Tehran Putting its Spies in Iraq

September 28, 2003
London Sunday Telegraph
Philip Sherwell

NAJAF, Iraq — Iran has dispatched hundreds of agents posing as pilgrims and traders to Iraq to foment unrest in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and the lawless frontier areas.

Tehran's hard-line regime has also allowed extremist fighters from Ansar al-Islam, a terror faction with close links to al Qaeda, to cross back into Iraq from its territory to join the anti-American resistance.

The Pentagon believes that Iran is building a bridgehead of activists inside Iraq, ready to destabilize the country if that serves its future interests.

"They are provoking sectarian divisions, inciting people against the Americans and trying to foment conflict and anarchy," said Abdulaziz al-Kubaisi, a former Iraqi major who was jailed by Saddam Hussein and is now a senior official in the Iraqi National Congress.

"The last thing that certain elements in the regime want is to see a stable democratic and pluralistic Iraq next door, so they are trying to export trouble here," said a leading official in another Iraqi party.

Although Iran's president is a political moderate, true power remains in the hands of the fundamentalist clergy. At a time when Iran is facing domestic discontent over the slow progress of democratic reform and mounting international pressure over its nuclear program, hard-line elements believe that instability in Iraq will distract attention from the regime's problems.

The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), an opposition group, claims that some translators working for the U.S. forces are reporting back to Tehran.

It also says that its informants within the regime have supplied details of senior Iranian intelligence commanders who are operating inside Iraq.

"The Iranian agents have melted into the population and are just waiting until the moment is right," said one NCRI official.

L. Paul Bremer, the American head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has already accused Iran of "meddling" in Iraq's internal affairs and backing some attacks on American forces.

On Friday, he confirmed that several hundred members of Ansar, which set up a Taliban-style ministate in Kurdish-controlled territory in 2001, had re-entered Iraq.

"They are a very dangerous group," he said in Washington. "The flow of terrorists into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the reconstruction of the country."

Mr. Bremer said that U.S. forces are holding 248 non-Iraqi fighters captured in Iraq. Most came from Syria, but the second-largest group was Iranians.

At the start of the war to topple Saddam, Kurdish militia and U.S. Special Forces had crushed Ansar's 750-strong force of Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and Kurds.

About 250 Ansar fighters were killed and another 100 captured, but Iran's military turned a blind eye as the rest escaped across the mountainous border.

Most have returned to the violent flash points west and north of Baghdad, according to U.S. military officials, Kurdish political leaders and former mukhabarat officers.

Ansar adheres to the same extremist Sunni Muslim interpretation of Islam as al Qaeda.

Although Iran follows the alternative Shi'ite version of Islam, its hard-line military rulers have allowed Ansar to regroup and return to Iraq because they share its anti-American cause.

Iran has also taken advantage of its largely unpoliced border with Iraq — a 210-mile stretch of which was turned over Friday to an American-trained police force by the U.S. Army — to deploy agents who are building networks of spies and sympathizers.

One Iraqi of ethnic Iranian origin, who returned to Najaf after 23 years in Iran and who has contacts with Tehran's intelligence services, told the Sunday Telegraph that he has seen many Iranian agents mingling with visitors to the city of golden-domed mosques and shrines.

Najaf, an ancient seat of Shi'ite learning, is fertile ground for the Iranian agents. Last week, many of the visiting pilgrims were speaking Farsi (Persian).

Long-banned pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, are once again on sale in the markets of the town where he spent part of his early exile before moving to Paris.

The returning Iraqi exile said that several agents from the political wing of the Revolutionary Guards had been deployed to Najaf, some operating within the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the five political parties represented in the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

"They are gathering information on the Americans and establishing their contacts with anti-U.S. groups," he said. Iran denies interference or sending agents to Iraq, saying that it has already recognized the Governing Council.

The Iranian opposition, however, says that the Quds force of the regime's Revolutionary Guards, which specializes in foreign operations, commands the loyalty of key commanders within the Badr Brigade, the Iranian-trained militia army of the SCIRI.

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030928-123420-6964r.htm
16 posted on 09/28/2003 8:15:17 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Iran Won't Halt Nuclear Programme

September 28, 2003
Reuters
Reuters.co.uk

TEHRAN -- Iran says it will not give up its nuclear programme, including uranium enrichment, despite international pressure to prove it is not developing atomic weapons.

"Abandoning peaceful nuclear activities or enrichment is not something that Iran is ready to compromise on," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference on Sunday.

He had been asked whether Iran would halt uranium enrichment activities as demanded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a resolution this month.

Inspectors are due to arrive in Tehran on Thursday for a round of further inspections and talks with Iranian officials.

The IAEA has given Iran until October 31 to prove it has no secret nuclear weapons programme, as the United States alleges.

If doubts remain about Iran's nuclear ambitions in November it could be reported to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely geared to producing enough electricity from atomic power to meet growing demand and insists it has cooperated with the IAEA.

"We have been transparent. We have said we're not seeking to produce weapons of mass destruction," Asefi said.

"But we haven't received a reciprocal answer from the international community. The (IAEA) resolution that was passed was political."

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=379287&section=news
17 posted on 09/28/2003 8:16:57 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Khomeini's Grandson Urges Bush to Intervene in Iran

September 28, 2003
AFP
Khaleej Times

WASHINGTON - A grandson of Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Hossein Khomeini, called on US President George W. Bush on Friday to intervene by force against Iran's ruling religious leaders who were installed by his grandfather.

"Mr Bush should act like Churchill when he gathered around him the British population to fight against Hitler," Hossein said in reference to Britain's World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The grandson of the founding father of the modern-day Islamic republic spoke at the American Enterprise Institute here, a conservative Washington think-tank.

Asked if he thought the exiled son of Iran's late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi should return to Iran, he replied: "Anyone who has the power to lead Iranians into freedom should be there, no matter who."

Iran's royal family was forced into exile in 1979 following an Islamic revolution which overthrew the Shah. The Ayatollah's grandson was in Washington after spending several months in Baghdad. He congratulated the United States for its intervention in Iraq which he described as "a free country."

He said young Iranians are now, more than ever, seeking liberty and called on the international community to mobilize and put an end to Tehran's clerical rule.

"Under the Shah, at least, religious practice was free. Today, after the revolution, Iran is one of the worst dictatorships," Khomeini said.

Khomeini has lived in Iran's central city of Qom since the death of his grandfather.

Iran's current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had urged Khomeini not to discuss political matters.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2003/September/middleeast_September516.xml&section=middleeast&col=
18 posted on 09/28/2003 8:18:55 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Flyer Alive After 17 Years

September 28, 2003
Herald Sun Sunday
Jay Bushinsky

An Israel Air Force navigator missing for 17 years is alive in an isolated Iranian jail, according to a secret report. The family of Lt-Col Ron Arad believed he had died after ejecting from his stricken Phantom fighter-bomber over Lebanon in 1986.

Now they have taken court action to force the Israeli Government to reveal findings of the report that Arad is alive.

They hope he will be released from Iran next month as part of a prisoner exchange being worked out between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah militia.

The report, by a special committee set up last year, contradicts previous statements by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the only missing Israeli still alive was businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum.

Mr Sharon hinted this week he would be able to pluck several "cards" from Europe's deck of suspected Muslim terrorists to exchange for information about Arad.

"We have good bargaining chips, in which the Iranians are interested, and in which Hizbollah is very, very, very interested," said Mr Sharon.

The pending prisoner exchange deal being formulated with a German intermediary would see 400 Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian and Palestinian captives released in return for Tannenbaum and the corpses of three Israeli soldiers. Arad's release is not yet part of the deal.

The Israeli High Court yesterday ordered the Government to release a censored copy of the report on Arad.

The report is said to conclude Arad was captured by the Shiite Amal militia and sold two years later to Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The navigator's brother, Dudu Arad, told the Jerusalem Post yesterday: "The report states Ron is alive, and we must do everything to ensure his return. I'm sorry to say the report is currently on the prime minister's desk, and is being ignored. Israel is sacrificing Ron. The report must be implemented, and if the Government chooses to bury it, it is also burying Ron.

"We will turn this country upside down to get the Government to do all in its power for Ron's return."

The Arad family last week took action in a bid to stall the prisoner exchange.

Among prisoners to be released is Hizbollah official Mustafa Dirani, snatched by Israel in 1994. Arad's family has filed suit against Dirani, who is said to have sold Arad to the Iranians.

"We will fight to the end to ensure that Dirani isn't released," Arad's other brother, Chen, told the Post.

"This lawsuit is the only means of holding Dirani here. I feel as if I am at war.

"Ron is a soldier. Israel does not abandon it's soldiers."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7391083%255E663,00.html
19 posted on 09/28/2003 8:19:26 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
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

Shutting down all cell phones must have Iranians boiling mad, but hiring foreign thugs to beat up Iranians is the pits. Is it because they can't recruit/trust enough Iranian police anymore?

23 posted on 09/28/2003 9:14:02 AM PDT by xJones
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To: DoctorZIn
Iran Says Israel Engineered Arrest of Ex-envoy

September 28, 2003
Reuters
MSNBC News

TEHRAN -- Iran on Sunday accused Israel of being behind Britain's arrest of a former Iranian diplomat, following a press report that the ex-envoy could be used as a bargaining chip to get information on a missing Israeli airman.

Hadi Soleimanpour, Iran's ex-ambassador to Argentina, was arrested in Britain in August in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

Asked about an Israeli newspaper article that said Soleimanpour could be traded for information on an airman whose disappearance in 1986 Israel blames on Iran-backed Hizbollah, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said:

''The Zionist regime's behaviour, saying they are ready to swap him for some Israelis, completely proves Israel was behind it (Soleimanpour's arrest).''

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking in a TV interview on Thursday, said Israel had some bargaining chips for prisoner swaps that the Iranians would be very keen to get.

When asked to elaborate, Sharon said: ''All I can say is that it is not here in Israel, it is in a European state.''

Although this may refer to Britain, Germany also holds in jail an Iranian convicted of murdering four Kurdish dissidents in Berlin's Mykonos restaurant in 1992, an attack a German court said was ordered from Tehran.

Soleimanpour's arrest has strained relations between London and Tehran which denies any involvement in the Buenos Aires bombing. Britain has allowed several of its diplomats to leave Tehran temporarily after a series of shooting incidents at its diplomatic mission apparently related to the Soleimanpour case.

Israel holds Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group and its Iranian backers responsible for the fate of navigator Ron Arad whose warplane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. Hizbollah has repeatedly denied having any information on him.

Asefi said the Islamic Republic was not involved.

''The issue of Israeli hostages has nothing to do with Iran,'' he told reporters at a weekly press conference.

Hizbollah said on Saturday it had met in Beirut with Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to discuss an exchange of prisoners with Israel.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters09-28-073629.asp?reg=MIDEAST
24 posted on 09/28/2003 9:14:11 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
"Every militiaman is an atomic bomb"

AFP - World News (via Iranmania)
Sep 28, 2003

TEHRAN -- Iran has no need to develop an atomic bomb as every member of its Islamist Basij militia is a nuclear weapon, a top general was quoted as saying Sunday.

"Every Basiji is an atomic bomb, which is why we don't need to make an atomic bomb," General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards land forces, told the Hambestegi newspaper.

He also warned the United States and Israel against comsidering attacking Iranian nuclear installations, notably the power plant at Bushehr which is being developed with Russian assistance.

"Such an action by the United States, which is allied to Israel, would be considered a declaration of war and we would respond," said Jafari, whose country the United States accuses of working to develop nuclear arms.

According to official figures, Iran's Basij force comprises about 10 million men. The force, created in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution, is under the command of the Revolutionary Guards.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2598.shtml
29 posted on 09/28/2003 10:26:42 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn; All
DEMONSTRATION

Main Cities, Iran (On 10/06/2003)

Iranian teachers, qualified as Iranian's "Spiritual Mothers and Fathers" by SMCCDI, and their supporters will gather in order to protest against the empty promises made to them and the expell of several of their colleagues following last year's protests.

On Monday October 6, 2003
From 11:00 (Local Time)
In front of the offices of Teachers Funds and Ministry of Education

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/cat_index_10.shtml
34 posted on 09/28/2003 7:57:26 PM PDT by nuconvert ( Stop thinking about it, just do it.)
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To: DoctorZIn
Iran Wants Envoy in Hizbullah Swap

September 28, 2003
The Jerusalen Post
Matthew Gutman

Iran on Sunday accused Israel of engineering Britain's arrest of a former Iranian diplomat, believed to be connected to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina, in order to gain bargaining chips for a possible prisoner swap.

The swap, in which Israel would trade senior Lebanese detainees, Palestinians, and other Arabs in exchange for the release of Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three kidnapped soldiers, Benny Avraham, Omar Sawayid, and Adi Avitan, among others, is currently being negotiated with Hizbullah representatives.

On Friday Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the general secretary of Hizbullah met with Islamic Jihad leaders in Beirut. On Saturday he met head of the Hamas politburo Khaled Mashal. Apparently Nasrallah and his Islamic Jihad and Hamas counterparts discussed the list of prisoners which could be attached to the deal.

Iran's former ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Soleimanpour, was arrested in Britain last August in connection with the bombing of the AMIA building in Buenos Aires which left 85 people dead.

Referring to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statement Thursday night that Israel might posses certain bargaining chips in Europe, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said that the "Zionist regime's behavior, saying they are ready to swap him for some Israelis, completely proves Israel was behind [the arrest]," Reuters reported.

While conspiracy theories continue to swirl round the unsolved AMIA blast, Israel holds Hizbullah, in collusion with Iran, responsible. In his TV interview Sharon also hinted that Israel seeks to cash in on the bargaining chips located in a "European state," for information regarding missing IAF navigator Lt.-Col. Ron Arad.

Sharon's reference to assets "in Europe" likely refers to Soleimanpour, but could also include Iranians serving life sentences in Germany for killing four Kurdish dissidents in 1992. Germany, whose chief security man Ernst Urlau is mediating negotiations between Israel and Hizbullah, stated that the order for hits on the Kurds came from Teheran.

This weekend saw more personalities involved in talks related to what Hizbullah sources have been saying is the imminent hostage swap. Hizbullah has sent aid to the Islamic Jihad and the Aksa Martyrs Brigades as well as liaisons to promote terrorist operations, both Israeli and Palestinian sources say.

In an effort to glean support among Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon Hizbullah has been reporting for weeks that as many as 400 Palestinian prisoners, though likely around 200, could be included in the deal. Israel has refused to corroborate the figures, though it has denied that Tanzim boss Marwan Barghouti will be included.

According to other Palestinians sources, the Palestinians, not only Hizbullah, but Fatah members, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are in close contact with Hizbullah in drawing up the prisoner lists. The contacts have been ongoing for several months.
Israel has been pressured to widen the negotiations to include Arad, captured by Lebanese detainee and Amal leader Mustafa Dirani in Lebanon in 1986. According to Dirani, he "sold" Arad to Iran in the late 1980s, but Israel has had little concrete information regarding the missing navigator since 1987.

Adding to the turbulence in Israel over the prisoner swap are moral and ethical questions tied to the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom, Hizbullah says, have been involved in terrorist activity. Furthermore, intense debates have swirled in the security establishment regarding the swap for Tannenbaum, who a senior security source called, "no saint," Ma'ariv reported.

Tannenbaum was abducted by Hizbullah in unknown circumstances while doing business in Dubai in October 2000, a source close to the case told The Jerusalem Post. Much of the information regarding Tannenbaum's location and business deals before the kidnapping is censored.

However the Arad family, which last week filed a NIS 100 million claim against Dirani, is to receive a boon by the end of this week. On Friday the government told the High Court of Justice that it will present a copy of the Winograd Report to the family of MIA Ron Arad. The state's declaration came in response to a petition by the family demanding to see the report a comprehensive study of the possible fate of Arad before any prisoner exchange takes place with Hizbullah.

The Arad family has demanded that Dirani's released be linked directly to the fate of the missing navigator. Their position was strengthened by leaks from the report indicating that there is a possibility that Arad may be alive.
Sensitive security information will, however, be censored from the report.

The report was handed to the army several weeks ago. Ron Arad's wife, daughter and brothers petitioned the High Court last week, demanding to read the document and asking for an interim injunction prohibiting the government from going through with the prisoner exchange before they are given a copy.

The state's representative Attorney Shai Nitzan wrote Friday that in a recent meeting with the Arad family, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had promised to show them the report as soon as army security had approved it. Nitzan added Sharon was prepared to meet the Arad family again before the government makes an official decision regarding the prisoner exchange.

Dan Izenberg contributed to this report.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1064735043752
35 posted on 09/28/2003 8:14:08 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Kazemi Case Hits Snag, Iran Says

September 28, 2003
myTELLUS
mytelus.com

Iran's intelligence ministry says an investigation into the death of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi has "veered off course."

In a statement issued Sunday morning, the ministry blamed a lack of evidence for a court decision to rule out premeditated murder in the case.

The judge has "no proof, no testimony…or no document to make such a decision," the statement read.

Last week, an Iranian judge charged an Iranian Intelligence Ministry agent with "semi-premeditated murder" in Kazemi's death. A second agent was acquitted earlier in the week.

The 54-year-old photojournalist died in July from head injuries sustained while in Iranian custody. She had been jailed while taking pictures of a jail in Tehran.

Her son had requested his mother's body be returned to Montreal, but she was buried in Iran.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham has called for a full and transparent investigation into her death

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=cbc/world_home&articleID=1420602
36 posted on 09/28/2003 8:15:26 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Iran's Hardliners Suspend Leading Reformist Daily

September 28, 2003
Reuters
MSNBC News

TEHRAN -- Iran's conservative judiciary has banned a leading reformist daily from publishing for 10 days after it failed to give top billing to a judiciary statement, one of the board of editors of Yas-e No said on Sunday.

The statement was a judicial riposte to Yas-e No's articles on the welfare of imprisoned pollster Abbas Abdi who published a survey that found three-quarters of Iranians in favour of resuming dialogue with arch-foe the United States.

Vahid Pour-Ostad said the paper had been told to hold its presses for 10 days from Monday after it refused to reprint the judiciary statement which it had originally tucked away in the middle pages.

The judiciary had demanded the paper reprint the statement, splashing it across the front page.

''We received an order from a deputy at the prosecutor's office to close our office from Monday,'' he told Reuters.

''We do not even see the first demand to print as lying within the boundaries of press law,'' he added.

Some 90 newspapers have been banned by Iran's judiciary in the last three years and scores of reformist journalists jailed.

One analyst, who declined to be named, commented that Yas-e No was closed because it was going to encourage a day of political fasting on Monday in protest at closed-door trials and the detention of political prisoners.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters09-28-092012.asp?reg=MIDEAST
37 posted on 09/28/2003 8:16:56 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
Bush Happy With Russian Assurances On Iran

September 28, 2003
The Associated Press
KSAT

President George W. Bush says he's "very satisfied" with Russian assurances on Iran's nuclear program.

However, there's no sign Russia's ready to halt its help in building an Iranian power reactor that Washington thinks could help Tehran get the bomb.

After two days of talks at Camp David, Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters they don't want the Iranians armed with nuclear weapons.

And Putin says he's sending a "clear but respectful" message to Iranian leaders to submit to U.N. oversight.

Iran denies any weapons program. However, recently, U.N. experts discovered traces of bomb-grade uranium at two sites.

During the two days of meetings at Camp David, the two leaders did not hide their differences over Iraq.

Putin refused to help rebuild the country until he first sees a new U.N. resolution.

Still, Bush is voicing fresh optimism about getting other countries to help out in post-war Iraq. He says he's pleased with the cooperation U.S. officials are receiving.

Putin told reporters Russia's ready to lend a hand in Iraq -- though he can't say exactly how until there's a new U.N resolution.

He did say Russia wants to see Iraq a "free, democratic and united state."

Administration officials have been huddling with their counterparts on a resolution that would give U.N. and Iraqi authorities more control in Baghdad. However, Bush has insisted there be no "hurried" handover to Iraqi self-rule.

The Bush-Putin talks in the Maryland mountains also covered North Korea's nuclear efforts, the Mideast and Russian complaints about U.S. visas.

Bush told reporters Putin's "a good fellow to spend quality time with."

http://www.ksat.com/news/2516324/detail.html
38 posted on 09/28/2003 8:27:20 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
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To: DoctorZIn
This thread is now closed.

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread

Live Thread Ping List | DoctorZin

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

43 posted on 09/29/2003 12:05:07 AM PDT by DoctorZIn
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