Iranian Alert -- January 8, 2004 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD --Americans for Regime Change in Iran

Kharrazi Says Tehran Ready to Negotiate with U.S. if Pre-conditions Met

January 08, 2004
Reuters
Reuters.com

TEHRAN -- Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Tehran was willing to resume dialogue with the United States provided the talks were based on mutual respect, state television reported Thursday.

Kharrazi added that Iran's recent negotiations with European countries over its nuclear program, which culminated in Iran agreeing to snap inspections of nuclear facilities, was an example to Washington of how outstanding problems can be solved.

Speculation has heightened in recent days that the two arch foes may be edging toward some kind of rapprochement after U.S. officials spoke of a willingness to resume a limited dialogue on specific issues and Washington sent humanitarian aid to victims of Iran's devastating December 26 Bam earthquake.

"Iran is ready to negotiate with all countries and America is no exception," Kharrazi told state television.

"If it (Washington) adopts a new approach to Iran and is ready to interact with us based on mutual respect and the principle of equality, the atmosphere will change remarkably."

Washington cut ties with Iran shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution and has labeled it an "axis of evil" member.

Unlike the European Union, which has held a policy of "critical engagement" with Iran for the last few years, Washington has largely shunned Iranian officials.

But Kharrazi said Iran's negotiations with Britain, France and Germany, which led to Tehran's agreement last October to cooperate fully with U.N. inspectors, was a better approach.

"Our recent experience with Europe on the nuclear issue proved that problems can be solved by negotiation," he said.

While adopting a softer tone in recent days both Tehran and Washington have set pre-conditions for improving relations.

Washington wants Tehran to hand over detained al Qaeda suspects, abandon its nuclear program and stop backing Palestinian militant groups that attack Israel.

Iran has called on Washington to lift economic sanctions imposed in 1995, which among other things prevent U.S. companies from investing in OPEC's second largest oil producer or trading in Iranian oil.

Iran also wants Washington to hand over members of the armed Iranian opposition group the People's Mujahideen being held by U.S. forces in Iraq and to abandon efforts to weaken Iran's clerical leadership.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4092022

21 posted on 01/08/2004 8:10:02 AM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

Leader: US Policy on Iran Unchanged

January 08, 2004
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
IRIB News

Tehran -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said here on Thursday that there has been no sign that American officials have softened enmity with Iran's Islamic establishment and nation.

"There has been no sign of reduction in enmity of the US officials against Iran's Islamic establishment and nation because they (Americans) impudently threaten people and the Islamic establishment, while sending (relief) aid to the quake-stricken regions," said Ayatollah Khamenei in an address to a group of people and officials.

Addressing the audience on the anniversary of the historical uprising of a group of clerics in holy city of Qom against former monarchical regime, the Supreme Leader insisted that humanitarian relief aid has nothing to do with relations between the two countries.

Ayatollah Khamenei said with through such measures the Iranian people would never forget the constant and strong hostility of the arrogant regime of the US towards them and their national interests.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the US should know that it must stop hatching plots and exerting different sorts of pressures on the Islamic system, stop opposing the interests of the Iranian people, cease supporting the usurper and criminal regime of Israel, halt doing injustice against the Iraqi and Afghan nations and discontinue blocking the financial and vital assets of Iran.

The Iranian nation, said Ayatollah Khamenei, is a distinguished nation that would not bow to any bullying. The Iranian nation will instead welcome those who deal with it peacefully and friendly, added the Supreme Leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei praised the Iranian nation for rushing assistance to their quake-stricken compatriots in southeastern city of Bam, saying the "great political move" carried a message to the ill-wishers of the Iranian nation. The Iranian nation is highly interested in its national and Islamic identity, while strongly hating any bullying, threat, humiliation and false gestures, added the Supreme Leader.

The great show of solidarity and trust would definitely make international analysts and enemies of the Iranian nation come to the point that it will not be so easy to harm Iran and its nation and system, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei advised the survivors of the quake disaster to lay their trust in God Almighty and be patient.

The Supreme Leader also instructed officials in charge to adopt measures to make buildings resistant to quake, considering the fact that Iran is situated in a quake-prone region.

He said no mistake and blunder in that regard would be forgiven.

Switching to 7th Majlis elections, slated for February 20, Ayatollah Khamenei called on the Iranian people at large to have a high turnout in the decisive event.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=196079

22 posted on 01/08/2004 8:11:22 AM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

There are much more pro-Israel people in Iran than here in Europe!

Surprisingly, there are much more pro-Israel people in Iran than here in Europe!

you guess why?

because 25-years long of anti-Semite propaganda alongside with torture, harassment and killings have provoked a strong pro-Israel sentiment while at the same time rejecting to embrace the Palestinian cause. As far as I know, the Iranians have a long history of friendship with the Jews..

Unlike the ancient Romans, which were those who killed Jesus ( and not the Jews) and then persecuted the Jews, the ancient Persians never harmed the Jews and the people of the Middle East as well.

But, in return of this, today's Arabs are doing to the Iranians the same as they did when they invaded Persia. Too much harm. The Jews, instead, never harmed the Persians / Iranians.

Before the Islamic Inquisition / the Second Islamic Invasion of Iran, the Jews lived in thousands in Iran and had good relationships with the other Iranians..

Everything has changed since 1979. But what is changed is the regime. The Iranian people did not change. Despite some far-leftist groups and some few Islamists, the Iranians always respected and appreciated the Jews.

This is something that cannot to be ignored.

Stefania L.
Member of the Association "Radicali Sardi" and Italian Activist and Supporter of the Iranian cause for
Democracy and Secularism.

http://sarbaz.org/Articles/English/pro-Israel.htm

23 posted on 01/08/2004 8:17:41 AM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

Iran Once More - Bridge of Victory

January 07, 2004
Nicole Sadighi
Iran va Jahan

One should understand that if there is no regime change in Iran and if the country does not give birth to a democracy then there is no hope for stability and spread of democracy throughout region.

"Study the past if you would define the future"
Confucius

The Legacy of Saddam Hussein is no more and another historical chapter unfolds. While this is the advent of many challenges to come, the country has a bright future. However, in their commitment and efforts for concluding regime change in Iraq, the United States faces some obstructing elements; the most important being the hard-line groups, who have tremendous support from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Therefore if the pursuit for democracy is to have a chance for liberation there needs to be some contemplation on the effects of such radical religious groups and their links with terrorism.

Unfortunately, there are ill thinking people on this issue, making very dramatic commentaries and greatly criticising the neo-conservatives of the Bush administration, in their effort to bring about democracy in the Middle East. One wrote recently: "…. they want to use the September 11 attacks as an excuse for colonising the world of Islam under the euphemism "regime change"…"the Bush administration is egging on the Iranian youth to overthrow the rule of the ayatollahs in Iran"

Firstly the tragic saga of the September 11 attacks are not an excuse for colonising the world of Islam, they are one of the many reasons why the international community should begin to put an end to this breed of character that has been ruling the Middle East for too long. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has ultimately reached passed its sell by date and it is time that they stepped down from their rule whilst they can still save face.

The Bush administration was not the one to "egg on the Iranian youth" as he so eloquently put it, in fact quite to the contrary. If one pays a little bit of attention to the voices of the youth of Iran, one can openly see that it has been the youth of Iran who have been crying out for freedom. It has been they who have begun the protests against the ruling islamo-fanatics dictatorship and put in place the wheels in motion to enforce their desires for the international community to support them. The seeds of democracy are being spread throughout the lands where they have never had the opportunity to have the sweet taste of freedom.

One should understand that if there is no regime change in Iran and if the country does not give birth to a democracy then there is no hope for stability and spread of democracy throughout region.

One should analyse the last hundred years of the country. Iran underwent a complete transformation from a backward and poverty-stricken country, where there was no social and economic infrastructure into a peaceful, modern and very influential nation; commanding the greatest of respect from its Middle Eastern neighbours and have played a stabilising role in the region prior to the Islamic Revolution.

It began with the constitutional revolution in 1906, when King Mozafarr Edin of the Qajar Dynasty signed the very first Iranian Constitution. Iran had established the parliamentary system for the very first time in the history of the country and the region.

This was immensely important, in particular for other countries in the region. Predominantly because during this time countries recognised to us today such as Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates did not exist, as they were either part of Iran or the Ottoman Empire or under the British Empire. Iran had taken the leadership towards a democratic movement in the region and served as a beacon and inspiration for the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East.

Moreover a positive contribution to Middle East stability took place in 1975, when a UN General Assembly resolution was co-sponsored by Iran calling for the denuclearization of the Middle East. The resolution was passed successfully by a unanimous majority vote, including positive votes by all members of the Security Council.

Finally the next major impact of the country was the black revolution of 1979. Although this period was not as positive as previous intervals, nonetheless it transpired to be a profound force on the region. Since this time Islamic Republic of Iran has dominated the world politics by supporting terrorists, encouraging islamo-fanatics ideologies, dictating only totalitarianism and by being a major producer of weapons of mass destruction

President George W. Bush was right to include this evil regime an "Axis of Evil". By reviewing the Mullahs past and present records one can determine that their method of politicising their religion has always created and will continue to create a breeding ground for radicalism and thus widening the chasm between the U.S and the Middle Eastern nations.

Hence, we are debating the cause and effects of Iranian movements and its impact on the region. It is visible that Iran has always had a dominating influence on the Middle East and therefore if we have democracy in Iran, it will undeniably follow throughout the surrounding countries. Iran once more can be the bridge of victory(1) and, this time victory for democracy and liberty.

http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=01&d=08&a=2

24 posted on 01/08/2004 9:26:26 AM PST by freedom44

Man Pulled Alive from Iran Quake Rubble, Now in Coma

By REUTERS
Published: January 8, 2004
Filed at 6:12 a.m. ET

BAM, Iran (Reuters) - A 56-year-old man was rescued alive after spending 13 days beneath the rubble of the earthquake-razed Iranian city of Bam, but he then slipped into a coma and doctors said Thursday they feared for his life.

The man was found by rescue workers Wednesday afternoon trapped beneath a wardrobe which had apparently saved his life.

``It seems he had some water because around him was wet,'' said medic Mehdi Shadnoush, part of a Ukrainian-Iranian team treating the man at a field hospital in Bam.

``When he arrived at the hospital his signs of life were very weak. He was frozen and now he is in a coma,'' Shadnoush told Reuters.

The man lay on a hospital bed covered by a white blanket and had an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. He looked very thin and had a white-and-black beard.

``We are following his status minute by minute but we don't hold out too much hope,'' Shadnoush said.

State radio had originally reported the man's age as 57. But doctors said that when he was first brought to the hospital he had been able to give his first name, Jalil, and his age, 56. He slipped into a coma overnight.

He was the first survivor to emerge alive from the ruins of the ancient Silk Road City 1000 km (625 miles) southeast of Tehran since a woman in her 90s was rescued on January 3.

The December 26 earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck just before dawn, destroying 90 percent of the city's buildings and killing more than 30,000 people.

Experts say it is very rare for people to survive for more than 72 hours in such conditions. Temperatures have fallen to around freezing most nights since the earthquake struck.

Aid workers said the rescued man had traveled from a nearby village to Bam for medical treatment and was staying with his sister when the earthquake struck.

``We have sent people to his village to bring his wife to the hospital,'' said Iranian aid worker Mohammad Reza Tahmasbi.

Rescue workers were prompted to look for the man after a woman from the neighborhood noticed his body had not yet been recovered.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-quake-iran-survivor.html

25 posted on 01/08/2004 10:34:42 AM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

Iran's al-Qaeda Confusion

January 08, 2004
DEBKAfile
DEBKAfile's Intelligence Sources

Iran announced prematurely this week that it had renewed full diplomatic relations with Egypt. It added, as a sweetener, that a street in Tehran had been renamed Intifada street from Khaled Islambuli street, after the Egyptian who assassinated Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Egypt denied that ties had yet been resumed, but agreed that contacts between the two countries were continuing. DEBKAfile reports on these contacts, which hinge on the extradition of the Egyptian terrorists that Iran says it is holding.

In May 2003, a month after the fall of Baghdad, Iran requested that an Egyptian delegation should come to Tehran to discuss renewing relations. The delegation went, and since then three or four senior Egyptian diplomats and intelligence people have been stationed in Tehran.

The Iranians, as a gesture of goodwill, told the Egyptians that Sayef al-Adal, a senior operative of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda, who was responsible for organizing the May 12 2003 attack on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, was in Iran. They later said that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of Islamic Jihad and Osama’s bin Laden’s deputy, was also in Iran. They also named Showqi Islambuli , the brother of President Sadat’s assassin, and gave Egypt a list of some 60 Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda operatives.

The Egyptians want some of these men extradited, and Iran appeared to be carrying out similar negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and the US. Jordan wants the extradition of Abu Mus’ab Lal-Zarqawi, an al-Qaeda operative whom the Turks accuse of being responsible for attacks on Jewish and British buildings in Istanbul in November 2003. Iran apparently agreed that the named men should be extradited to their country of citizenship.

But what is totally unclear is whether all or any of these men are actually detained by the Iranian authorities or are just known to have passed through Iranian territory. Their presence is said to be known to the Iranian authorities and they appear to have been, or are being, kept under surveillance. But does it go beyond this? In fact, the muddle goes even deeper.

The Iranians eventually told the Egyptians that Sayef al-Adal , who had presented an Egyptian passport, was now presenting a Kuwaiti one. Even more confusingly, they said that al-Zawahiri’s name was on the list by mistake. It appeared that forged passports, perhaps originating in Bahrain, were around the place. Kuwait and Bahrain then told Iran that they had no such citizens and were not interested in extradition.

On July 22 2003 Egypt made its position clear. General Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s intelligence minister, arrived on a secret visit to Tehran with a message from President Hosni Mubarak to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei : “ Either you extradite the Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda operatives that you have said you have or diplomatic ties will not be resumed.” DEBKAfile sources report that Suleiman waited all August in Tehran without getting a clear answer from Iran, and eventually returned empty-handed. This remains Egypt’s position.

The latest twist in the story was reported by DEBKA-Net-Weekly on January 2 2004.

On December 29 Iran surprised Egypt and the US by saying it had arrested Ahmad Khasan al-Nadush Khayer (nom de guerre Siyasiya), the operation chief of Islamic Jihad’s and al-Qaeda’s special forces. Khayer, an Egyptian whose real name is Abdullah Muhammad Ragab, is a close associate of al-Zawahiri.

A senior official told DEBKAfile that US counter-terrorist authorities would like nothing better than to speak with Khayer: “If anyone in al-Qaeda knows when and where the fundamentalist terrorists mean to strike in the coming days or hours, Siyasiya is that man. But we have to be realistic. After all, we are dealing with the Iranians and aside from their claim to have arrested him. We may not hear a word of him ever again.”

The very fact that Iran reported that it was holding Khayer shows that it is renewing its efforts to achieve ties with Egypt. But the history of evasions and contradictions makes Egypt ultra-cautious. Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, said on January 7th that the two countries are discussing the possibility of renewing their relations. This, in effect, is a repetition of Omar Suleiman’s message last summer: ”Extradite wanted Egyptian terrorists and we will resume diplomatic relations. Otherwise not.”

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=762

26 posted on 01/08/2004 12:23:35 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

Pakistan's Nuclear Metastasis: How Widespread is the Cancer?

The time has come to find out how much damage Pakistan's nuclear program has done--and how many rogue countries are closing in on the bomb.

WeeklyStandard.com
by Mansoor Ijaz
01/08/2004 12:00:00 AM

INDIA'S PRIME MINISTER, Atal Behari Vajpayee, met Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in Islamabad on Monday on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit. The two erstwhile enemies shook hands and then agreed to hold formal talks starting next month. The bilateral effort will be aimed at finally settling a dispute that has long ranked as one of the world's most dangerous nuclear flashpoints--Kashmir.

But the much-anticipated meeting took place at an awkward moment for Pakistan, one that could define its future as a nation in moral, diplomatic, and economic terms more starkly than any other issue. The conduct of the Pakistani state, ruled for over half its existence by military governments, is under a microscope as nuclear watchdogs try to unravel the extent of damage done by Pakistani nuclear scientists assisting rogue regimes from Tripoli to Tehran to Pyongyang in building sophisticated uranium enrichment facilities.

Questions raised by Pakistan's nuclear conduct relegate the future of Kashmir to the sidelines. The burning question is whether Pakistan has morphed into a rogue nuclear state, or is the unwitting victim of a handful of deranged army generals, intelligence officers, and mad nuclear scientists run amok.

RECENT REVELATIONS about the extent to which Islamabad proliferated its nuclear technology during the past two decades paint a deeply troubling picture of not just what was happening without detection of international nuclear monitors, but what may still be going on--and what must now be stopped if the civilized world is to prevent tyrannical regimes from
developing the capacity to build and deliver nuclear weapons into the hands of terrorists.

The Bush and Blair successes in coercing Libya and Iran, and perhaps soon North Korea, into nuclear compliance may signal near-term progress in counter-proliferation efforts. But these victories have come at the price of negligently looking the other way while Islamabad continued an aggressive program to spread its nuclear expertise to Muslim countries.

With Pakistan's nuclear genie out of the bottle, Bush administration officials need to focus on getting Musharraf to quickly identify the extent of the metastasis, to fully disclose it, and to prosecute those officials involved no matter who they are or how high they are in the system. Musharraf must then agree to put verifiable measures in place to insure there is no possibility Pakistani nuclear technology will show up next in Jakarta, Riyadh, Cairo, or Beirut.

Chronicling the Evidence

The evidence of Pakistan's complicity in spreading its nuclear know-how is increasingly undeniable. Saif al-Islam Ghaddafi, son of Libyan strongman Muammar Ghaddafi, almost gleefully admitted to London's Sunday Times this weekend that Tripoli had paid $40 million (western intelligence believes the number could be as high as $100 million) to middlemen for a "full bomb dossier" from Pakistan detailing how to build an atomic weapon. Libya's candor comes as part of its deal with the United States and Britain to abandon its quest for nuclear weapons in return for readmission to the community of nations, and western promises to help rebuild its decrepit oil industry. Intercepting a German-registered ship in October with thousands of parts for uranium centrifuges also helped bring the Libyan leader to his senses about his ongoing nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.

To add to Islamabad's woes, the New York Times this Sunday posted on its website a sales brochure for nuclear components available to qualified buyers from Pakistan's top-secret A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories (named for the so-called father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program). The technologies offered were critical for building high quality uranium enrichment facilities, and the glossy brochure presented Pakistan's best nuclear wares with Madison Avenue pizzazz.

The same lab stands accused of providing gas centrifuges to Iranian scientists through a vast network of secret procurement channels, largely run through the Middle East port of Dubai. Those centrifuges, when tested by International Atomic Energy Agency scientists visiting Iran's key nuclear installations last summer, were found to have traces of bomb-grade enriched uranium identical to that known to have originated from Pakistani centrifuges. The findings made it all but impossible for the parts to have come from anywhere else.

Unfortunately, the plethora of revelations about Pakistan's activities is only the tip of the iceberg of a decade-long clandestine effort by unregulated elements within the country's nuclear, intelligence and military establishments to sell the "Islamic bomb" to other Muslim nations. At the heart of the effort was a dangerously motivated clique of former Pakistani intelligence chiefs, corrupt politicians, and Islamized Pakistani scientists, including Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who believed it was their moral duty to offer weapons of mass destruction to embattled Muslim states in the global Ummah (community of Islamic nations).

Their activities, in various stages of planning and implementation since the late 1980s, reached a
zenith in the months leading up to the September 11 attacks. Key military and intelligence officials in Islamabad, later fired or laterally moved to less sensitive posts by Musharraf at Washington's urging, had come to the conclusion that the West, led by the United States, was hell-bent on the economic destruction of Pakistan for its robust nuclear weapons program, lack of democracy, military support for militants in Kashmir, and supply lines to the extremist Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

These ambitious Islamists (wrongly) perceived that spreading Pakistan's nuclear wealth throughout the Ummah would secure both its economic future and place in history as the hub of the Muslim world's intellectual and scientific power. Their vision had multiple dimensions, including the sharing of knowledge, materials, and technologies to build ultra-sophisticated research facilities in other countries, and that is precisely what they repeatedly and aggressively did for over 15 years.

Spreading the Cancer to other Muslim Countries

The evidence is now compelling that they succeeded in Iran and North Korea, and were far enough along in Libya to show their fingerprints. But where else was Pakistan's nuclear brain trust plying its trade and for what purpose?

Nuclear cooperation with Iran was initially intended during the Cold War to provide strategic depth in military planning against arch-nemesis and former Soviet ally, India (now a key ally of both Iran and Afghanistan). But the strategy evolved early on into a derivative assistance plan that would enable Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas based in Lebanon to eventually obtain tactical nuclear weapons from Tehran--weapons that could be deployed in the Bekaa Valley once Iran's nuclear fuel cycles had been established. Israel's reaction time to launch strikes or counterstrikes would drop to zero.

Pakistan would maintain plausible deniability of any involvement in Middle East affairs (no one would believe Shia Iran was depending on Sunni Pakistan for nuclear assistance), but its proxy play to clandestinely help equalize the playing field with nuclear Israel would give it deep respect, and lots of free oil, from the Arab world.

Saudi Arabia toyed with the idea of obtaining Pakistani nuclear weapons as well. But Islamabad's intelligence mavens vetoed the effort because of the heavy American military presence at that time, fearing their larger designs to spread Pakistani expertise and technology might get exposed. The alternative put up for consideration was building a secret facility in one of the sheikdoms bordering Saudi Arabia--as long as the money, or enough free oil, was there for Pakistan's benefit, and the sheikdom agreed to provide regional cover in the event of any Israeli, or even Iranian, malfeasance.

To this day, the March 1999 visit by Saudi Arabia's Defense Minister, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, to Pakistan's nuclear facilities at Kahuta remains unexplained. It is the only non-Pakistani entry ever allowed inside the top-secret installation. Similarly unexplained are the "retirement" activities of Dr. A. Q. Khan, now living in Dubai where the Iranian and Libyan technology transfers allegedly changed hands. He's ostensibly building schools for disaffected Muslim youth there, but one wonders what else is being built underneath those desert sands. The magnitude of Khan's hypocrisy in using the Muslim world's forlorn as props to camouflage his unholy war to spread nuclear weapons into the hands of the very regimes that suppressed their people into oblivion is incomprehensible.

Even Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamed was considered a hero of sorts in extremist Pakistani circles, having built a modern society with a vibrant open-market economy while never compromising the Islam phobias (anti-Semitism, etc.) that made him anathema to Western leaders in his waning years. It appears Mahathir never accepted the open invitation to join the Muslim nuclear club, but Malaysia played the game at the fringes. Components of Libya's nascent uranium enrichment facilities, for example, were manufactured in Malaysia as recently as 2001.

Leading the Drive for Transparency in Pakistan's Nuclear Affairs

What to do? Simply interrogating a handful of senior nuclear scientists resident at Kahuta Labs cannot stop the quest by ungovernable elements in Pakistan's military-intelligence establishment from spreading the country's nuclear know-how. Even questioning Dr. A. Q. Khan himself, as Musharraf recently allowed under intense international pressure, will not be enough. Disinformation that insured the success of Khan's clandestine effort to build Pakistan's bomb, after all, was the hallmark of his entire tenure as Islamabad's nuclear chief.

Nor will it be sufficient that another Muslim country "outs" Pakistan's nuclear complicity when faced with irrefutable evidence, as Iran and Libya have apparently done. Waiting for admissions of guilt in matters of nuclear commerce after the fact is a dangerous policy for preventing proliferation in unstable, autocratic regimes that dominate the Muslim world's political landscape.

The conscientious objectors in Pakistan's scientific, military, and intelligence establishments have a moral responsibility to come clean about what has been done, wittingly or not, to assist other nations in developing to whatever extent they could meaningful nuclear weapons research programs. Sooner or later, the evidence will emerge. But the world cannot wait until that evidence is a rogue state's North Korean-made missile armed with a Chinese-made nuclear device assembled in Islamabad's nuclear labs whose fuel came from gas centrifuges sold by Pakistan's rogue Islamists.

Musharraf has to publicly and verifiably put an end to the speculation that Pakistan's nuclear assets are for sale to nations rich enough to buy from or barter with his scientists. This means, among other things, taking steps to offer more transparency in independently monitoring Pakistan's nuclear sites, and keeping track of the movements of Pakistan's scientists in ways that neither humiliate the country nor compromise its sovereignty.

As a first step, President George W. Bush needs to ascertain that Musharraf had no knowledge of the transactions in question. Bush White House officials have indicated that at least in the Libyan case, where the transfers of technology took place largely after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Musharraf appears to have had no knowledge of the transfers. If he genuinely did not, President Bush needs to help distance the Pakistani president in the minds of the American public from the crazies who want to destroy Pakistan by sharing its nuclear secrets with rogue states.

By building such a political argument at home, Bush can take important legislative steps that will free up technology to assist Musharraf in holding his scientists and military-intelligence complex accountable for future actions. The previous U.S. policy of economic and military sanctions is outdated and irrelevant in the context of Pakistan's cooperation on post 9/11 terrorism issues.

Since 1990, U.S. sanctions have blocked technologies from being sent to Pakistan that could improve nuclear security there. These sanctions, along with U.S. export license controls and, where needed, global non-proliferation regime compliance rules, should be waived to insure Islamabad gets the needed technology to protect its nuclear labs, weapons and materials from unauthorized use.

Pakistan: Model Nuclear Citizen or Loose Atomic Cannon?

There is another reason for pursuing this course. Having come dangerously close to falling under the U.S. definition of a "rogue" state, Pakistan could now become a beacon for how to responsibly deal with rogue elements inside the state without compromising its sovereignty or dealing a blow to an important cornerstone of the national psyche. Other states (Georgia, for example) with nuclear weapons programs that may also be in the market for selling their secrets might take notice and change course.

To emphasize U.S. concerns, the president (and Congress) should condition all U.S. aid to Pakistan on Islamabad's acceptance of nuclear safekeeping vaults, sensors, alarms, closed-circuit cameras, and other technologies that give Musharraf and his like-minded aides the ability to internally monitor and track Pakistan's nuclear technologies. Simply excusing leakage as the work of "greedy" individuals with their own agendas, as Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman did when the Iranian revelations were made, is neither believable nor an acceptable risk to the safety and security of civilized nations.

Furthermore, a new formula for giving U.S. aid should be devised that is inversely proportional to Pakistan's spending on military and nuclear budgets. The less Islamabad spends of its national wealth on building nuclear bombs that protect no one, the more America should spend on helping Pakistan build schools and hospitals that educate and protect the masses.

Pakistan has the right to maintain its nuclear arsenal for deterrence against regional threats, and perhaps as importantly, for its national dignity. It does not have the right, whether sanctioned officially or not, to assist in the creation of nuclear monsters that seek Armageddon itself. Nor does it have the right to misappropriate American taxpayer dollars in support of actions by the very elements that seek our death and destruction on their misguided path to eternity.

Mansoor Ijaz, a New York financier and chairman of Crescent Investment Management, jointly authored the blueprint for the cease-fire of hostilities between Muslim militants and Indian security forces in Kashmir in July 2000. He also negotiated Sudan's offer of counter-terrorism assistance on al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden to the Clinton administration in 1996 and 1997. His personal views, expressed here, are based on firsthand accounts from meetings, private discussions and correspondences with Pakistani nuclear scientists as well as senior military and intelligence officials over the past decade. His father, Dr. Mujaddid Ijaz (deceased), a nuclear physicist who retired Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech, brought over 100 students from Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world to the United States during his 26 year tenure for training and degree programs at U.S. colleges and universities. Some of those students now run sensitive parts of Pakistan's top-secret nuclear facilities.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/575nerhn.asp

27 posted on 01/08/2004 12:38:17 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

Anti-Americanism has proven to be such a strong talking point with the population. Keep it up.

28 posted on 01/08/2004 1:05:05 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife (Freedom is a package deal - with it comes responsibilities and consequences.)

Getting Nicer?

January 08, 2004
The Economist
The Economist Print Edition

Folowing the quake that levelled Iran's south-eastern town of Bam two weeks ago, it would have taken another seismic shift for Iran to accept the high-level delegation that President George Bush proposed to send to his stricken foe.

On January 3rd came Iran's response: not now, maybe later. Too warm a welcome from normal Iranians would have belied the official Iranian fallacy: that the people loathe the “Great Satan”.

The Americans are keeping open their offer to dispatch a senator and an unidentified member of the Bush family. And Iran has until April to enjoy less hazardous fruits of American compassion: a three-month lifting of various economic sanctions, including the ban on sending American funds to Iran. This “90-day opportunity” has stirred up much excitement.

An opportunity for what? The Americans say their measures are solely humanitarian. But Iran has long portrayed the lifting of sanctions as a precursor to the reopening of relations that were cut in 1979, when the late Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. On New Year's Day, Mr Bush listed three tasks that Iran must fulfil to win more favours: abandon its nuclear programme; extradite the (roughly 350) suspected al-Qaeda members in its custody; and “listen to the voices of those who long for freedom”.

On the nuclear issue, Iran has already climbed down. Prevented by international pressure from getting the technology to build a bomb, Iran seems to have put its programme into cold storage. That impression will need endorsing by UN monitors before America stops menacing Iran with the prospect of referral to the UN's Security Council. But the Americans sound cautiously optimistic that the Iranians' nuclear disavowal is genuine.

Whether or not they entered the country with the connivance of Iran's militant Revolutionary Guards, the al-Qaeda detainees have become an embarrassment to their hosts. Some big fish, including the organisation's number three, may be among them. If they are deported to their home countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran fears it will face reprisals by al-Qaeda.

Last month, America ruled out an obvious quid pro quo by vetoing a decision by Iraq's American-appointed Governing Council to hand over 3,800 members of the People's Mujahideen, an Iranian opposition group that had been based in Iraq, to the Iranian authorities. Many may now get asylum in third countries.

Iran is making diplomatic waves elsewhere. It is on the verge of restoring full relations with Egypt. This week the Tehran municipality changed the name of a street called after the assassin of Egypt's Anwar Sadat, the first Arab leader to make a formal peace with Israel. Some dissident Egyptians in Iran may also be extradited.

Ali Tajerniya, a member of the Iranian parliament's foreign-affairs committee, senses a coming “strategic realignment”. By steadily improving relations with Turkey and hobnobbing with Jordan's King Abdullah, Iran's rulers seem to be quietly ending its castigation of Muslim countries that do business with Israel. On that score, says Mr Tajerniya, Syria stands to lose. Iran's indispensable ally when both countries were threatened by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Syria is now squirming under American scrutiny.

Iran's new pragmatism has been forced upon it by the pressure that has built up since Mr Bush included it in his “axis of evil”. Progress would be quicker were it not for the poisonous rivalry between President Muhammad Khatami's reform-minded government and the conservative clerics gathered around the “supreme leader”, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After his election in 1997, Mr Khatami tried to bring Iran closer to the Americans. Invoking revolutionary ideology, powerful conservatives stymied his effort. The conservatives' rhetoric remains unpleasant, with one of their newspapers calling Mr Bush's partial lifting of sanctions a “deceitful” gesture. But conservatives may well make further concessions simply to keep themselves off Mr Bush's hit-list.

It was the clerical establishment, after all, that guided Iran's nuclear climb-down, despite vetoing Mr Khatami's earlier efforts to make concessions. The same is true of the rapprochement with Egypt. “The reformists are upset”, says one conservative, “that we can do things that they cannot.”

Only on Mr Bush's third demand, that Iran become more pluralistic, are the conservatives likely to demur. They plan to use their unaccountable powers to ensure that when Mr Khatami, a genuine democrat, steps down next year, his place is taken by a pragmatic conservative. Their model is another semi-dictatorship, Pakistan, where an alliance with the United States has been based not on shared ideals but on old-fashioned realpolitik.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=01&d=08&a=8

29 posted on 01/08/2004 3:28:36 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

U.N., Red Cross Set $73 Million Appeal for Iran Quake

January 08, 2004
Reuters
Yahoo News

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations and the Red Cross on Thursday launched a $73 million appeal for victims of the earthquake that razed the Iranian city of Bam, killing some 30,000 people.

U.N. agencies are trying to raise .3 million and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is hoping for $42 million.

The money will be used over the next three months to provide medical care, revive agricultural production, restore water and sanitation services, and educate children, among other efforts, U.N. humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland said.

The Dec. 26 earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, destroyed 90 percent of the city's buildings, including hospitals and schools. Egeland went to Bam for the appeal and issued a statement in his New York office.

The United Nations said earlier this week it had raised nearly $74 million in aid for the earthquake victims but needs more funds or goods in kind.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040108/pl_nm/quake_iran_un_dc_1

30 posted on 01/08/2004 3:29:06 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

Iran Sent Arms to Hizbullah on Aid Planes

January 08, 2004
The Jerusalem Post
Arieh O'Sullivan

Taking advantage of the massive airlift of humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Iran, Syria has reportedly allowed Teheran to resume their supplies of weapons to Hizbullah through Damascus.

According to Channel 1, cargo planes filled with weapons began landing in the Syrian capital last week brimming with weapons for the Iranian-backed Hizbullah organization. It was the first time since the Syrians halted the weapons flow under American pressure prior to the invasion of Iraq a year ago.

Sources in the Defense Ministry confirmed the reports, calling it a "cynical manipulation of humanitarian aid". They said that there has always been a trickling of weapons and propaganda to the Hizbullah but that the weapons transferred recently were larger quantities than in the past.

Until then the Iranians had delivered weapons to Hizbullah through weekly flights into Damascus.

Following the deadly earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam and the subsequent worldwide airlift, the Syrians reportedly dispatched a number of cargo planes to Iran under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The planes were filled with weapons and returned to Syria, Channel 1 reported. The weapons were then loaded on to trucks and ferried to the Hizbullah. The information was relayed to the Americans, the TV reported.

Two weeks ago, a senior IDF officer revealed that Hizbullah was slowly stepping up actions on the northern border, including laying bombs near the border fence. On Thursday, army sappers detonated a string of powerful bombs near the village of Zarit.

The senior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they had evidence that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were training Hizbullah guerrillas and were also delivering supplies via Syria.

In early December, an Iranian minister visited the Hizbullah position immediately opposite the IDF outpost at Tziporen near Kibbutz Manara.

IDF film crews photographed the minister as he was shown the border and looked into Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1073535533476&p=1008596981749

31 posted on 01/08/2004 3:29:51 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

PRO-REPUBLICAN IRANIANS MEET IN BERLIN

By an IPS Correspondent

BERLIN, 8 Jan. (IPS)

More than five hundreds political activists took part at the first session of the largest ever meeting of Iranian republicans that started Thursday in the German capital of Berlin.

Aimed at giving the dispersed and often antagonistic Iranians supporting parliamentary democracy for Iran, the three days meeting brought together several veteran Iranian political dinosaurs like Mehdi Khanbaba Tehrani, one of the leaders of a former Maoist group, Babak Amirkhosravi, the leader of the banned Iranian Tudeh (Communist Party), Manoochehr Sabetian, a founder of now defunct Confederation of Iranian Students and Rahmat Khosravi, having one point in common: Their staunch opposition to Monarchy, particularly the deposed Pahlavi dynasty.

In a manifesto to be approved by the Berlin meeting, the participants calls for a secular, parliamentary republic for Iran open to all nations without distinction.

According to one of the organizers, it took them more than one year to prepare this meeting, bringing to Berlin pro-republic Iranian dispersed all over the United States and Europe, as well as some representatives from Iran itself.

Observers said while some points of the manifesto, like the clause that calls for secularism can not be endorsed openly by the delegates who came from Tehran, the staunch anti-monarchist point not only alienates many Iranians who support a constitutional monarchy, but shows the republicans undemocratic attitude.

"Rejecting out hand the monarchists do not augur well for the Berlin meeting", observed Mr. Dariush Homayoon, the leader of the largest pro-monarchy movement based in Switzerland.

However, he wished success to the conference and stressed that it is necessary that the Iranian pro-republic movement speak with one single voice and put an end to its endless bickering, as the monarchists did, by rejecting the ultras from their rank.

"Though most of the participants belong to leftist and secular groups, but it is interesting that for the first time representatives of the Iranian National Front and Nationalist-religious movements are also present", noted Mr. Dariush Homa’i, a correspondent for the Persian service of the BBC covering the meeting.

ENDS REPUBLICANS MEETING 8104

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/iranian_republicans_meet_8104.htm

32 posted on 01/08/2004 3:39:43 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

"This regime is not the representative of its people. The United states government should talk with the Iranian people. Don't you agree?"

Yes, I completely agree with you.

33 posted on 01/08/2004 5:00:05 PM PST by mjaneangels@aolcom

Following the deadly earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam and the subsequent worldwide airlift, the Syrians reportedly dispatched a number of cargo planes to Iran under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The planes were filled with weapons and returned to Syria, Channel 1 reported. The weapons were then loaded on to trucks and ferried to the Hizbullah.

This Can't be allowed to continue. Mr.Bush Has to Do Something Soon.

34 posted on 01/08/2004 5:02:56 PM PST by nuconvert ("This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it.")

To: DoctorZIn; F14 Pilot; Eala

Thank you both very much for showing your love. We Iranians really love you and your country. I wish you could post this great sentences to the Iran's thread that all people can read that there. Thanks again! Per request above, as posted in Iran Quakes: Devestation, despair ? and a touch of hope. , to a picture of an Iranian man giving roses to an American rescue worker:

"{LibreOuMort here:] I have been following this thread and reading posts not knowing what to write until I saw this picture! My memories of our short stay in Iran came flooding back. How I miss the beautiful Persian people! I remember being invited to visit private rose gardens, gardens never seen by the public - what indescribable beauty and peace! The mixture of fragrances and colours, the birds singing, the water flowing - it was like another world. I guess you could call it a piece of Heaven. For those of you who may not be aware, the Persians have a unique relationship with roses - they collect them, they breed them, they care for them like a treasure. The gift of a rose is more than a mere expression of gratitude. This is the most precious gift they can give. For some it may be the only gift they can give to show their love. I am NOT exaggerating - they love us. This is no surprise to me. I was the recipient of their love and I have never forgotten them."

35 posted on 01/08/2004 6:22:21 PM PST by LibreOuMort ("...But as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry)

To: DoctorZIn; F14 Pilot; Grampa Dave; Ragtime Cowgirl; MeeknMing; autoresponder; BOBTHENAILER; ...

Frontline bump: "Forbidden Iran"--tonight.

36 posted on 01/08/2004 6:26:46 PM PST by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)

37 posted on 01/08/2004 6:28:51 PM PST by SAMWolf (Ted Kennedy's Bumper Sticker: My other car is underwater.)

FREEPERS! WATCH TONIGHT!! PBS FRONTLINE JAN 8th

38 posted on 01/08/2004 6:33:10 PM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

To: DoctorZIn; F14 Pilot; Grampa Dave; BOBTHENAILER; autoresponder; MeeknMing; SAMWolf; ...

As concise a condemnation of Islamofascism 'R' Us as exists today.

Teherannosaurus delenda est.

39 posted on 01/08/2004 6:37:02 PM PST by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)

Until then the Iranians had delivered weapons to Hizbullah through weekly flights into Damascus.

Iran's exporting of terrorism really needs more emphasis. This reads like an understatement.

40 posted on 01/08/2004 7:46:41 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife (Freedom is a package deal - with it comes responsibilities and consequences.)

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