Iranian Alert -- April 7, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” Most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. I began these daily threads June 10th 2003. On that date Iranians once again began taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Today in Iran, most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

A Battle Plan Against Radical Islam

By Daniel Pipes
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 7, 2004

The global war on terror cannot be won through counterterrorism alone; it also requires convincing the terrorists and their sympathizers that their goals and methods are faulty and failing. But how is this to be done?

By focusing on the ideological and religious sources of the violence, say I: “the immediate war goal must be to destroy militant Islam and the ultimate war goal the modernization of Islam.” I have not worked out the detailed implications of this policy, however.

Which explains my delight on finding that the RAND Corporation’s Cheryl Benard has done just this, publishing her results in a small book titled Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies (available in full on the Internet at the RAND website, www.rand.org).

Benard recognizes the awesome ambition of the effort to modernize Islam: If nation-building is a daunting task, she notes, religion-building “is immeasurably more perilous and complex.” This is something never tried before; we enter uncharted territory here.

Civil Democratic Islam covers three topics: rival Muslim approaches to Islam; which approach contributes most to a moderate version of Islam; and policy recommendations for Western governments.

Like other analysts, Benard finds that in relation to their religion, Muslims divide into four groups:

• Fundamentalists, who in turn split into two. Radicals (like the Taliban) are ready to resort to violence in an attempt to create a totalitarian order. Scripturalists (like the Saudi monarchy) are more rooted in a religious establishment and less prone to rely on violence.

• Traditionalists, who also split into two. Conservatives (like Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq) seek to preserve orthodox norms and old-fashioned behavior as best they can. Reformists (like the Kuwaiti rulers) have the same traditional goals but are more flexible in details and more innovative in achieving them.

• Modernists (like Muammar Qaddafi of Libya) assume that Islam is compatible with modernity and then work backwards to prove this point.

• Secularists again split into two. The mainstream (like Atatürkists in Turkey) respects religion as a private affair but permits it no role in the public arena. Radicals (like communists) see religion as bogus and reject it entirely.

The author brings these viewpoints to life in a smart, convincing presentation, showing their differences on everything from establishing the pure Islamic state to husbands having rights to beat their wives. She rightly dwells on values and lifestyles, finding dissimulation about polygamy far less commonplace than about the use of violence.

Which of these groups is most suitable to ally with? Modernists, says Benard, are “most congenial to the values and the spirit of modern democratic society.” Fundamentalists are the enemy, for they “oppose us and we oppose them.” Traditionalists have potentially useful democratic elements but generally share too much with the fundamentalists to be relied upon. Secularists are too often hostile to the West to fix Islam.

Benard then proposes a strategy for religion-building with several prongs:

• Delegitimize the immorality and hypocrisy of fundamentalists. Encourage investigative reporting into the corruption of their leaders. Criticize the flaws of traditionalism, especially its promoting backwardness.

• Support the modernists first. Support secularists on a case-by-case basis. Back the traditionalists tactically against the fundamentalists. Consistently oppose the fundamentalists.

• Assertively promote the values of Western democratic modernity. Encourage secular civic and cultural institutions. Focus on the next generation. Provide aid to states, groups, and individuals with the right attitudes.

I agree with Benard’s general approach, doubting only her enthusiasm for Muslim modernists, a group that through two centuries of effort has failed to help reconcile Islam with current realities. H.A.R. Gibb, the great orientalist, condemned modernist thinking in 1947 as mired in “intellectual confusions and paralyzing romanticism.” Writing in 1983, I dismissed modernism as “a tired movement, locked in place by the unsoundness of its premises and arguments.” Nothing has changed for the better since then.

Instead of modernists, I propose mainstream secularists as the forward-looking Muslims who uniquely can wrench their co-religionists out of their current slough of despair and radicalism. Secularists start with the proven premise of disentangling religion from politics; not only has this served the Western world well, but it has also worked in Turkey, the Muslim success story of our time.

Only when Muslims turn to secularism will this terrible era of their history come to an end.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12903

Iran Already a Member of World’s Nuclear Club

TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -– Secretary of Iran's Supreme Council for National Security, Hassan Rowhani, announced on Sunday that the international community should soon accept Iran as a member of the world’s nuclear club and call on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to close its file.

"The international community should accept Iran in the world nuclear club," Rowhani, who has headed Iran's nuclear negotiations, told an annual session of the Assembly of Experts.

Rowhani, who was speaking on the eve of a meeting by the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors on Monday, said Iran has legitimate right to use nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

Iran insists its network of nuclear facilities is geared to produce atomic power, not bombs.

Rowhani also called on IAEA board of governors to finish a 13-month probe of Iran’s nuclear program.

"We must arrive at a stage where the board of governors would totally close the file on Iran's peaceful nuclear activities and take the issue out of its agenda," he told the assembly, a body of senior clerics who elect the Supreme Leader.

Rowhani said it was highly unlikely for the UN Security Council to impose possible sanctions on Iran.

"So far we have succeeded in thwarting the U.S. plots, and do not think the U.S. is in a position to send our dossier to the Security Council," he said.

Rowhani said Tehran's agreement late last year to sign the NPT Additional Protocol allowing inspectors to carry out more intrusive and snap checks of its nuclear facilities had foiled the U.S. plots.

He said Iran foiled the plot by signing up to tougher inspections, which came because of a "national consensus".

The United States has already signaled it will not seek to have Iran condemned in the Security Council. Speaking in Lisbon Thursday, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton nevertheless said, "We are absolutely determined not to reduce the pressure on Iran."

Britain, France and Germany in October struck a deal with Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, and are still stressing the path of "constructive engagement".

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/8/2004&Cat=4&Num=004

New York's Persian Pride

By Neda Nabavi
April 7, 2004
iranian.com

As Norooz approached the buzz of New York's first Persian Parade made its way to Chicago via email. My curiosity was sparked. Things like this happen in California, but NY? So, I planned a visit to the Big Apple from Chicago. I went through the motions, emailed my friends and cousins to see what's up and coordinate, and made sure to leave Saturday morning free to go witness this event.

After a night of partying with my crew, I painfully got out of bed, got ready, and made my way towards Madison Ave. On the way, my friend Ramin called and said he was already there. Video camera in hand I met up with him. We were waiting and looking around for a while cracking jokes about whether people standing around us were really Persian or some other ethnicity that could resemble us (Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc.) hired to fill the streets. We were initially a bit disappointed with the turnout; we blamed it on inclement weather, then on the foreign concept of a parade, and finally Persians' tendency to be lazy.

Slowly but surely the parade came our way. I stood there watching through the camera's view finder thinking to myself, "Should I have stayed in bed?" I figured I came all the way to NY and I am standing here in the rain, I may as well get it all on tape since most of my friends (lazy Persians) were still sleeping anyway; I had to make sure to document what they were missing, not to mention I had to share it with my friends and family in Chicago.

Amazingly the sun started to shine, and I looked up from my video camera and noticed the transformation in the street, the DJ Float and the dancing groups were in front of us and we were surrounded.... surrounded by Iroonis!

One float and group after another they were all Persian. The spectators were Persian and others passing by wanted to know who these people are. It was beautiful! Tourists, cops, shop owners, and us, everyone wanted to know, who's who? We are Kurds, we are Turks, we are Afghans, we are Zoroastrians, we are Muslims, we are Jews, we are Christians, we are Bahai, we are Doctors, we are Lawyers, we are Business People, we are Politicians, we are Artists, we are Musicians, we are Young, we are Old, and we are MANY Other Things, yet we are ALL PERSIANS!

For the first time, I saw Persians together in once place, civilized organized, happy, proud and working together! I was delightfully impressed, and still am. Of course being the Persians that we are, nothing could be perfect: a few typos in the program, the name of the Parade as "Persian Parade Day," and some naughty boys not wanting to listen to the cops (what's life without a few shaytoons amongst us), and of course the final loitering in the streets to say our salams, ask our ahvaals, figure out where the mehmooni is and of course say our notorious hour long goodbyes.

I hope that this is a sign of the changing times and the new generation-organization, teamwork, and PRIDE within our OWN community! May our centuries of rich history help us keep our culture alive in this foreign land that we live in called the United States of America. Cheers to the Persians!

http://www.iranian.com/Diaspora/2004/April/Parade/index.html

Summary of Iran News - BBC Monitoring, April 3rd

April 03, 2004
BBC Monitoring Middle East
BBC Monitoring

Ex-intelligence officer says Tehran deploying agents in Iraq (text)

Text of report by Ali Nurizadah in London, entitled "Former Iranian intelligence officer: Tehran is deploying its agents in Iraq from north to south", published by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat on 3 April

The former official in charge of the Iraqi file in Iranian intelligence has disclosed in a statement to Al-Sharq al-Awsat information about the extensive Iranian security presence in Iraq, which he said is not confined to the Shi'i cities alone but extends from Zakho in the north to Umm al-Khasib in the south.

The official, who is known in Iraq by the name "Hajj Saeedi", said that elements from Iran's Revolutionary Guards intelligence and Quds Corps did not infiltrate into Iraqi territories during and after the war only but hundreds of intelligence agents, among them a number of Iraqi agents and returnees (Iraqis expelled by Saddam Husayn's regime in the 1970's and 1980's on the pretext of their Iranian origins) returned to Iraq before the war across the Kurdish areas that were not under the central government's control.

Iranian intelligence benefited after the war from the lack of any controls in the border areas to send a group of its best elements to Iraq, some of them disguised as students and clerics and others as part of the Shi'i organizations' militias.

"Hajj Saeedi", who fled from Iran recently, pointed out that the liquidation of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, chairman of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, last summer was "one of the most important achievements of the Quds Corps intelligence elements who succeeded in carrying out their mission and leaving Iraq without any difficulty", according to him.

He also revealed a failed attempt to assassinate Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the senior Shi'i religious leader, and said he sent a message through a friend who visited Al-Sistani in his house on the eve of Id al-Adha last year, warning Al-Sistani not to receive some students and clerics who came from Iran to meet him after the id.

As he told Al-Sharq al-Awsat, "Hajj Saeedi" then contacted one of Al-Sistani's aides from inside Iraq and gave him details of the plan to assassinate the Shi'i leader. He added that another plan was prepared to assassinate Ayatollah Ishaq al-Fayyadi too.

Asked where the Iranian intelligence elements are based in Iraq, "Hajj Saeedi" said there are some offices in Al-Sulaymaniyah and Darband-i Khan in the north that are known to everyone, but the Kurdish authorities do not allow these offices' elements to carry out any activities that are harmful to Iraq's security and national interests. The danger comes from the offices that have fronts other than security and intelligence. They include 18 offices of "charity" foundations in Al-Kazimiyah and Madinat al-Sadr (formerly Al-Thawrah) in Baghdad, Karbala, Al-Najaf, Al-Kufah, Al-Nasiriyah, Basra and other cities where the Shi'is are the majority. They operate under the cover of helping the poor and oppressed with money, medicines, and daily necessities from food to clothes. New agents are recruited daily in these offices.

"Hajj Saeedi" went on to say that the Iranian intelligence plan for turning Iraq into a second Iran is extensive and the focus is at present on recruiting thousands of Shi'i youths for the stage during the parliamentary elections would be held in Iraq. The recruits have to mobilize their relatives and acquaintances to vote for the candidates selected by Iranian intelligence. He pointed out that the Iranian radio and television networks, press agencies and some newspapers close to the security organs are also fronts through which Quds Corps and Revolutionary Guards intelligence elements enter Iraq.

It is recalled that these networks, agencies and newspapers have more than 300 correspondents and technicians operating in Iraq at present and the possibility cannot be ruled that the Quds Corps and Guards intelligence had planted some of their elements among them as correspondents who can move in all Iraq's areas with their press cards and deliver the intelligence offices' messages and instructions to their local agents in Iraq.

Regarding the reports that the Iranian leadership has allocated 1bn dollars to prevent the establishment of a modern secular democratic state in Iraq, the official said the monthly allocations for the public and secret security offices in Iraq are more 70m dollars. An amount of 5m dollars is distributed in some religious schools as monthly salaries for the students and assistance to some clerics who are cooperating. More than 2,700 houses, apartments, and rooms were leased in Karbala and Al-Najaf by local collaborators to house the intelligence and Quds Corps elements in 14 Iraqi cities. "Hajj Saeedi" added that the measures taken by the two Kurdish administrations during recent months prompted the Revolutionary Guards and Quds Corps intelligence to implement a plan aimed at inciting the Shi'i Turkomans against the Kurds. He added that some Shi'i Turkoman leaders went to Tehran where they received huge financial aid and guarantees that Iran would support them if confrontations broke out between them and the Kurds.

He concluded his statement by saying: "In the 1980's and on the orders of Imam Khomeyni, we took our battle with the United States to Lebanon where we hit the US marines base and the US Embassy in Beirut and kidnapped William Buckley, head of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Middle East, and several American citizens. The United States was forced to recognize our role in Lebanon. We are today moving our battle with the United States to Iraq on the orders of the revolution guide so that it will recognize our role there too."

Source: Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, in Arabic 3 Apr 04

http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/

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