Iranian Alert -- July 31, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 7.31.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

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

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

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

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary.

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

Thanks for all the help.

DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

yes.

[nuconvert]

I believe the Cubans are still "investigating" where the problem could possibly be coming from.

[nuconvert]

I wonder why this is the first time I'm reading about these people?

"New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists"

I wonder if they've been writing letters about all the Iranian journalists in prison?

(I'll have to look them up....)

[DoctorZIn]

Iranian student leader "We no longer want dialogue with Hard-liners OR the reformers"

Iranian ^ | 7/31/03 | Kaveh Eshani
Posted on 07/31/2003 7:10 PM PDT by freedom44

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/956126/posts

[nuconvert]

Very good.

Thank you

I checked out Committee for Protection of Journalists.
They are woefully behind in their news on Iranian journalists. I gave them an update.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I believe they are the same group that put out a large ad in one of the NY papers. However, I might be mistaken.

[nuconvert]

What was the ad?
The only metion of Iran on their site is Ms Kazemi's unfortunate death, and news from 2002.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=6688

I don't know if anyone has linked this, yet.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

You're right, I couldn't find in in searching the NY papers. I'll have to keep looking. I was mistaken, sorry.

[DoctorZIn]

...Committee for Protection of Journalists...

What is their website?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

http://www.cpj.org/
I found this... the Committee to Protect Journalists

[DoctorZIn]

Iran and Saudi Arabia: Toward Cooperation on al Qaeda

July 28, 2003
Stratfor
Stratfor.com

Saudi Arabia and Iran took an important step toward cooperation against al Qaeda on July 27, a move that will reassure the United States.

Analysis

Cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iran took an important turn July 27 with an announcement that Riyadh will establish a consulate general in Mashhad, the capital city of Iran's northeastern Khorassan province -- reportedly to facilitate Arab investment in the region.

Though economic development may be on the nations' agenda, a more pressing issue -- dismantling al Qaeda networks in the region -- is the key factor driving cooperation between Riyadh and Tehran. The establishment of a consulate in Khorassan, which borders Afghanistan, will make handovers of suspected militants easier and increase Saudi Arabian intelligence concerning al Qaeda activities in both western Afghanistan and eastern Iran.

The area stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan eastward across the Persian/Arabian Gulf to Saudi Arabia and Yemen is thick with suspected al Qaeda militants and their allies. Riyadh has been fighting a low-level war against al Qaeda within Saudi territory -- busting cells and moving to shut down the porous southern border with Yemen, a key al Qaeda transit route. The government also is working to hammer out a deal with Tehran, in which Iran would hand over al Qaeda suspects fleeing from Afghanistan. In early July, the two inked a judiciary cooperation agreement after Iranian Chief Justice Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Sharudi paid a six-day visit to the kingdom.

The justice met with both King Fahd and de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah before signing the extradition treaty -- the first ever between the Sunni Saudi kingdom and the Shia Iranian government. According to reports, Iran is also working out deals to extradite suspected al Qaeda militants to their home countries of Kuwait and Egypt as well.

In light of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Riyadh and Tehran are both facing a dramatic shift in the region's geopolitical landscape. At the same time, both are also under increasingly intense pressure from internal opposition. Cooperation between the states might give both governments greater room to manuever in dealing with Washington and with domestic opponents. A unified position over the Muslim world --and especially jihadi and other Islamic militant groups -- also would give the two governments greater leverage in dealing with these groups and thus limit potential sources of state sponsorship for organizations like al Qaeda.

The Bush administration is also eager to gain intelligence about al Qaeda's presence in Iran. At the same time, Iran is happy to deliver militant suspects to their countries of origin rather than face a confrontation with Washington.

The establishment of a Saudi diplomatic consul in Khorrasan is a substantive step in advancing cooperation between all three governments. Riyadh will greatly augment its capacity for gathering intelligence about al Qaeda activity and about transit routes in and out of Afghanistan via Iran. Passing along this information to Washington will reassure the U.S. government about both Saudi loyalty and Iranian intentions. The consulate in Khorrasan will also compromise another avenue of escape for al Qaeda, further impeding its ability to maneuver.

http://www.stratfor.com/corporate/static_index.neo

[DoctorZIn]

Iran and Saudi Arabia: Toward Cooperation on al Qaeda

July 28, 2003
Stratfor
Stratfor.com

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/955614/posts?page=32#32

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

[DoctorZIn]

Part three of the BBC's four part series on the US stance on Iran. -- DoctorZin

Iran's sphere of influence

By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst

In the third piece in a special four-part series on the United States and Iran, Roger Hardy looks at the debate in the US over the issue of Iran and terrorism.

Iran has long been accused of supporting anti-Israeli groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But a more recent charge is that it is harbouring members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Patrick Clawson, an Iran-watcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an influential think-tank, says the Iranian Government has a contradictory policy towards certain groups.

"Eastern Iran, especially south-eastern Iran, has got a very serious crime problem and large-scale smuggling gangs operate from there," says Mr Clawson.

"The relationships between the central government and the largely Sunni and tribal communities there are terrible. And so Iran has got a problem of controlling that area. It would appear that the Iranian Government is not particularly concerned about the presence of a number of al-Qaeda elements and ex-Taleban elements in that area. That's not a wise move, on their part."

Raising the temperature

Mr Clawson says the Iranian authorities, characteristically, in his view, are partly cracking down, partly turning a blind eye, and partly collaborating with these groups.

Senior Iranian officials have recently admitted holding both senior and junior al-Qaeda members, and say they have deported others.

What has raised the temperature, however, is that US officials have privately alleged that the suicide bombings in May, in the Saudi capital Riyadh, were planned by al-Qaeda officials who are in Iran. If true, that would be a serious accusation.

George Perkovich, of the think-tank, the Carnegie Endowment, is not convinced.

"Iran has spent much of the last eight years building relations with Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda is the sworn enemy of Iran," he says.

"Furthermore, the Taleban killed Iranian diplomats [during a crisis in Afghan-Iranian relations a few years ago]. The idea that the Iranian Government is somehow going to get in cahoots with its sworn enemy, al-Qaeda, and target a country that it has been improving relations with, Saudi Arabia, doesn't make any sense. I haven't seen evidence marshalled to that effect."

Another recent charge is of Iranian interference in post-war Iraq. Iran has traditional ties to Iraq's majority Shia community, and is suspicious of American intentions there.

Iran and Iraq

"Iran has got a very active and professional propaganda apparatus that's putting in high-quality television and radio programmes into Iraq - and they are malign," says Mr Clawson.

"They spread malicious and inaccurate rumours designed to make US forces look like they're insensitive to Islam, and that's not helpful.

"The actions of the Iranian Government vis-a-vis the (Shia) movements in southern Iraq have been more helpful. But the Iranians are, as is often the case, playing a double game. So in certain areas they're being modestly helpful, and in other areas being profoundly unhelpful."

This, too, is an issue on which there are differing views. Some Washington experts are keeping an open mind about Iran's role in Iraq. The Iranians and the US-led administration in Iraq, they argue, view one another with ambivalence, so that it is too soon to say whether Iran will play a positive or a negative role there.

A third area of debate is over Iran's support for groups which launch attacks against Israel. Here the Iranian Government's track record is much more clear-cut. It has consistently opposed the Middle East peace process, and consistently supported Lebanese and Palestinian groups it regards as freedom fighters rather than terrorists.

But Robert Oakley, a former US ambassador to Pakistan and Somalia, and a veteran expert on counter-terrorism detects a change of behaviour as a result of the US-led war in Iraq.

"I think it has been an intimidating factor. And regimes such as Syria, Iran and others have been much more careful than they might have been otherwise. A small tell-tale sign is to look at the actions of Hezbollah in Lebanon. They have been absolutely quiet as a mouse.

"They haven't lifted a finger to do anything. They have not fired a single Katyusha rocket [at Israel].They have been just as careful as they could be. I assume that's because, first, Hezbollah is a prudent organisation, and it has matured over the years. Second, the Syrians and the Iranians are leaning on them saying, 'Don't do anything because we could be held responsible'."

There's a lively debate in Washington about these and other issues. But there is, nevertheless, a degree of consensus that something needs to be done about Iran.

On Saturday, our correspondent looks at what options are open to the Bush administration regarding Iran.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3112631.stm

[DoctorZIn]

Part three of the BBC's four part series on the US stance on Iran. -- DoctorZin

Iran's sphere of influence

By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/955614/posts?page=34#34

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

[Pan_Yans Wife]

(Hezbollah) "Second, the Syrians and the Iranians are leaning on them saying, 'Don't do anything because we could be held responsible'."

Interesting, considering that the quieter they remain, the less reason the US has to listen to Israeli complaints about bargaining with terrorists. This makes it harder for the US to go after Hezbollah, and then can give the US a little leadway on the Roadmap. I wonder always what the breaking point will be, when the US will agree that it is time for Israel to unleash their wrath on all of the terrorists that have plagued them.

[dixiechick2000]

Late night bump to thank you for all of your posts.

I really appreciate it.

Get some rest! ;o)

[DoctorZIn]

This thread is now closed.

Join Us at the Iranian Alert -- August 1, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

Live Thread Ping List | 8.1.2003 | DoctorZin

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

[dandelion]

Thank you for the ping! BUMP!

[nuconvert]

Thank You