Iranian Alert -- August 18, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

EIGHT KILLED IN CENTRAL IRAN RIOTS.

Weekend riots in central Iran left a number of dead and wounded. Usually such provincial displays of anger are connected with unhappiness over an absence of public services (such as water shortages) or redistricting plans and their associated economic costs. In this case it appears that local grievances are more deep-rooted and the central government already had military forces on the scene. Mehdi Taheri, the Isfahan governor-general office's director-general for political-security affairs, said that eight people, including two policemen, were killed and 150 were injured during the 16 August riots, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported the next day. The original protest was against the amalgamation of Semirom's Vardasht village with the neighboring town of Shahreza into the newly created administrative region of Dehaqan. "But the demonstration turned into a riot when a number of agents provocateurs entered the scene," Taheri said. "A number of the town's youngsters and adolescents also joined in the riots for the sake of entertainment," he added. Tehran radio reported earlier in the day that houses and vehicles were damaged by fire, and shop windows were broken. Another official in the governorate, Mr. Shafii, told state radio that the amalgamation plan has been reversed. An anonymous provincial official claimed that tribal enmities were inflamed by the proposed redistricting, Reuters reported. AP, on the other hand, reported that people took to the streets out of concern about the economic impact of redistricting. Local grievances are more chronic than that, however. Last autumn, a letter from the people of Vardasht to President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami questioned the presence of the military's counterinsurgency forces, "Siyasat-i Ruz" reported on 3 October. The letter said that security forces have arrested locals and municipal council members, searched people's houses, and created an "atmosphere of terror and persecution." "Some people are leaving the area because of fear," it added. Other grievances noted in that letter were plans to pump water from Vardasht and transfer it to Shahreza, which would make even less water available for agriculture. As it is, the letter noted, 20 villages in the region do not have drinking water and 7,000 locals are unemployed. (Bill Samii)

source RFE/RL Iran Report Vol. 6, No. 34, 18 August 2003

CONTROVERSIAL CLERIC RELEASED FROM JAIL.

Mohammad Madah, who heads the office of former Isfahan Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Jalal Taheri, was released from jail on 9 August, ILNA and the Iranian Student's News Agency (ISNA) and reported the next day. Madah was arrested on 19 July on the basis of a warrant issued by the Special Court for the Clergy (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 4 August 2003). He told ISNA that he is charged with acting against the country's internal security. Madah said he was released after paying 250 million rials in bail (about $31,250), and that a trial date will be announced later. (Bill Samii)

IRAN COMMEMORATES JOURNALISTS' DAY.

Iran marked Journalists' Day on 8 August this year, and on that day members of Iran's Journalists Association held a sit-in to protest their plight, IRNA reported on 9 August. Rajab-Ali Mazrui, who heads the journalists' guild, announced the same day that his organization has sent a letter to Iran's judiciary asking to meet with imprisoned reporters. Azam Taleqani, secretary of the Islamic Revolution Women's Society, announced on 9 August that she would hold a sit-in near Tehran's Evin prison on 12 August to protest government officials' failure to provide answers in the case of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, ISNA reported on 9 August. Kazemi died under mysterious circumstances after being held at Evin prison (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 14 July 2003). ILNA reported on 12 August that Taleqani protested the absence of protection for prisoners during the sit-in. State-imposed media harassment continued uninterrupted, however, during the commemorations of Journalists' Day. The case of "Iran," the daily produced by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), exemplifies the situation. IRNA reported on 3 August that the newspaper's managing director, Abdulrasul Vasal, was charged after a complaint was filed about an article relating to the jailed director of a tourist service agency.

One week later, on 10 August, Vasal was charged with propagandizing against the establishment and publishing false news, but he was released on 500 million rials bail, "Iran Daily" reported the next day. These charges related to the newspaper's reporting on the death of Canadian journalist Kazemi. Vasal was interrogated again on 11 August and was instructed to provide proof of statements made by the reporter and statements made by some members of the parliament. IRNA director Abdullah Nasseri was summoned on 12 August in connection with the case, according to IRNA.

Other publications also ran into trouble during this time. Fereidun Parvinian, head of the Qazvin Press Court, told IRNA on 9 August that he had closed down "Nameh-yi Qazvin" weekly for the second time, on charges of "promoting depravity and publishing lies." The weekly was previously charged with discrediting clerics as well. The managing directors of the Iranian dailies "Kayhan," "Siyasat-i Ruz," and Etemad" -- Hussein Shariatmadari, Ali Yusefpur, and Elias Hazrati, respectively -- appeared in court on 13 August to face complaints against their publications, IRNA reported. Shariatmadari had to answer questions relating to a complaint filed by the Blood Refining and Research Company. Yusefpur had to explain a report in his newspaper about the resignation of Science, Research, and Technology Minister Mustafa Moin-Najafabadi. Hazrati faced questions stemming from a complaint about an insulting photo and article that was filed by the Armed Forces General Headquarters.

Islamic Culture and Guidance Minister Ahmad Masjid-Jamei said on 9 August that his ministry is drawing up a draft document on the professional security of journalists, IRNA reported. Events have shown that something more concrete is needed. (Bill Samii)

source RFE/RL Iran Report Vol. 6, No. 34, 18 August 2003

I thought the ayatollahs in Iran were now saying they DIDN'T have any AQ terrorists, specifically OBL's son etc. and in fact were possibly helping OBL's son escape. Heard this or read this recently.

Prairie

You can bet that the Saudis are angry as they did not get the al Qaeda members that earlier was promised by Tehran. It seems that the son of ObL made a phone call to Saudi prior to the attack. The relations between Saudi and Iran are cooling.

Right......

They've got 500 al Qaeda members, but none of them are important, but they aren't sure who several of them are, but none of the really big named people are there, but if they were there, they'd be trying them in court, but they don't know who they are, so they must not be there........

Are we dizzy yet?

The regime want to waste time.

Iran Aids, Abets al-Qaida Leaders

August 18, 2003
WorldNetDaily.com
World Net Daily

Intelligence sources in Israel, India and Turkey all agree that Iran's claim that al-Qaida fugitives "escaped" from Tehran to an unknown destination is false.

The two main figures harbored by Iran have been Hezbollah's top terror planner, Imad Mughniyah, and Osama bin Laden's right-hand-man, Ayman Zawahiri.

The sources believe both are still in Iranian territory, probably in the border area with Pakistan, where they are being assisted by the Pakistani Secret Service ISI, which previously had assisted many ex-Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives to find safe harbor. The ISI is known to be the center of anti-American elements in Pakistan, where many of its agents have long-term personal connections to both al-Qaida and the Taliban. These relationships were not only intelligence motivated but of a business-like liaison. Among others, the ISI is still involved with a lucrative drug-smuggling business.

Some al-Qaida members who were seen in the southern Iranian city of Zahadan were involved as recently as last week with arming and financing neo-Taliban insurgents attacking international and Afghani troops.

The 370-mile-long border with Pakistan is known to be under complete control of both the Pakistani and the Iranian intelligence and secret services. It is believed the al-Qaida operators, who left Tehran in the wake of growing U.S. demands to extradite them, are now being shipped by the ISI to destinations in the Middle East and Asia. Some were already reported in Malaysia and Thailand where this week Riduan Isamuddin, also known as "Hambali," and a terrorist identified only as "Dulmatin," were detained.

Thai sources say the arrival of al-Qaida operatives in Thailand and Malaysia is in preparation for the coming summit of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation in October to be attended also by President Bush.

On the other hand, Iran had no reason to encourage Imad Mughniyah to get out of the country. Mughniyah, a former member of Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17, is the mastermind behind the 1983 attacks on the American Embassy and on the Marines in Beirut, where a total of 308 people were killed. Mughniyah is the most important worldwide terror planner of the Iranian intelligence, with close ties to the Revolutionary Guards.

It is believed he met al-Zawahiri in Tehran to coordinate future activities. Among others, the top al-Qaida official tried to arrange for rank-and-file members of the organization to find refuge in Shiite regions in Lebanon. The deal to achieve this goal was brokered as the U.S. started to pressure Iran to extradite the two. It is believed contacts between Hezbollah and al-Qaida go on under the auspices of rogue ISI officers acting as the "travel agents" and passport office for al-Qaida, the neo-Taliban and some elements of the all-Asian Jamaa Islamiah.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34146

Iran Aids, Abets al-Qaida Leaders

August 18, 2003
WorldNetDaily.com
World Net Daily

To read the rest of the post, go to:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/965824/posts?page=27#27

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Iranian Officials Ignore Ecstacy Abuse

August 18, 2003
Radio Free Europe
Bill Samii

It is difficult for some people to imagine the extent of drug abuse in Iran, an Islamic theocracy. Yet on 21 July an official in Iran's Drug Control Headquarters, Mohammad Hussein Khademi, said almost 3 million people out of a total population of about 67 million have addiction problems, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on 27 July.

And on 12 August Mohsen Vazirian, an official with the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, described the distribution of free syringes to Tehran drug addicts in order to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS and other contagious diseases, the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported.

Sharing a border with Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, means that narcotics will always be available in Iran. Iranian officials, after a period of denial, have faced up to the problem posed by narcotics and are addressing the issue to the best of their ability through a combination of supply intervention and demand reduction. But now they face a new problem, synthetic drugs, and the official practice of denial has resumed.

Synthetic drugs such as Ecstasy (MDMA), GHB, Ketamine, LSD, methamphetamine (crank), and Rohypnol are just some of the "club drugs" that young people in the West use at all-night dance parties (raves), dance clubs, and bars. When asked about reports of such substances being seized in Iran, both "Resalat" and "Iran" reported on 29 August 2002 that the officer in charge of Iran's police counter-narcotics effort, Brigadier General Mehdi Aboui, denied the actual discovery of any synthetic or manufactured drugs. Aboui acknowledged reports of the presence of such substances, suggested that Iranians who travel to the West purchase synthetic drugs for personal use, and said that the insignificant amount such imports represent does not warrant official concern. Aboui then warned against discussing the topic, because it would create curiosity among young people.

Less than a year later, an official with the drug-abuse department of the State Welfare Organization, Atekeh Tehrani, said that Ecstasy and LSD use is on the rise (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 5 May 2003).

A reliable source in Iran told "RFE/RL Iran Report" that Ecstasy began to find a niche in the Tehran market in early to mid-2002. By November 2002, around 40 brands of Ecstasy were available, with "Mercedes Benz" and "BMW" considered among the most popular. Prices at the time ranged from $3.75 to $4.00 per pill. These prices began to drop by January 2003, and among the cheaper brands of Ecstasy were "James Bond," "007," and "Channel." More brands entered the market in the following months.

"Ecstasy Spray" appeared in Tehran in May 2003. Each can of the aerosol costs about $200. The host of a party empties the spray into a room of 50 or 60 people, reportedly duplicating the effect of consuming Ecstasy pills for all those present.

Ecstasy is not the only synthetic drug being abused in Iran. A new amphetamine called "Shaba" hit the scene in January 2003, at prices between $7.50 and .75 a pill. A pill known as "Power Powder" turned up in February. Each pill, which is usually divided into two or three pieces by consumers, measures 5 centimeters by 8 centimeters and costs about $35.00.

In April, 10-milliliter ampoules of Ketamine turned up on the Tehran market, at a cost of about $25 per ampoule. Also known as K, Special K, Vitamin K, and Kit Kat, Ketamine is a central-nervous-system depressant and has some hallucinogenic qualities.

The official Iranian response to synthetic drugs is noticeably different from the government's approach to the narcotics trade, which is highly public. For example, Drug Control Headquarters chief Ali Hashemi announced on 29 July that Tehran has signed relevant agreements with 30 countries, IRNA reported, and discussions are under way with 26 other countries. Hashemi discussed counternarcotics efforts with Turkmen officials in Tehran on 21 July, while he met with Georgian security officials in Tehran on 16 July for the same reason, according to IRNA.

Brigadier General Aboui said on 16 July that the amount of narcotics crossing the eastern border has increased significantly, according to IRNA, with 29,700 traffickers and distributors arrested and almost 75,000 addicts detained in the first quarter of the year, he said. After making much of Iranian efforts to interdict the smugglers, Aboui chided Western powers for their lack of cooperation with Iran.

Why, then, is Tehran silent in comparison about Ecstasy, Ketamine, and amphetamines?

Tehran's role in the war on drugs originating in Afghanistan has been greeted with international praise, and in some cases, Western countries have provided Iran with assistance. Counternarcotics efforts serve as an entree into the international community for Iran. And Tehran can blame Iranians' drug abuse on proximity and say that supply has created demand.

Synthetic drugs, on the other hand, can be made in Iran or are imported from the West. Abuse of these substances cannot be blamed on proximity, therefore, and it also poses a greater law-enforcement challenge. Iranian officials frequently cite unemployment as the reason people turn to opiates. Nobody has explained the newfound interest in club drugs, but it could be that young Iranians turn to Ecstasy and amphetamines and participate in rave parties because they want to escape from the realities of daily life. They want to feel good and have fun, even if it is only for a short time and is likely to have serious adverse health consequences.

OPIATES REMAIN THE BIGGEST DANGER TO IRANIANS

The Ecstasy problem in Iran is an indication of problems to come. For now, opiates remain the biggest narcotics-related danger facing the country, and recent reports indicate that the situation will get worse.

A report in the 10 July "The Washington Post" warned that "Afghanistan appears poised to produce another bumper crop" of opium-based narcotics. The article noted that morphine- and heroin-processing laboratories are "sprouting at an unprecedented rate." The article also cited "analysts and observers" as saying that "politicians, police officers, and military officials" profit from the narcotics business.

Afghanistan produces most of the world's opium, and much of that opium makes its way to the rest of world after being smuggled through Iran. Iran has reported the world's largest opiate (opium, heroin, and morphine) seizures since 1988. Iran confiscated more than 81,000 kilograms of opium in 2001 (76 percent of the world's seizures), and it confiscated 12,669 kilograms of heroin and morphine (19 percent of world seizures), according to the UN Office on Drug and Crime's (UNODC) "Global Illicit Drug Trends Report -- 2003" (http://www.unodc.org/unodc/global_illicit_drug_trends.html).

Most of the opiates are intended for Western markets. They get there via the "Balkan Route" or the "Northern Black Sea Route," both of which pass through Iran, or via Pakistani ports. The former starts in Afghanistan, goes through Iran and Turkey, and separates into different branches in the Balkan Peninsula. One branch of the latter route begins in Afghanistan, goes through Iran to the Caucasus, Russia, and then Western Europe; the other branch goes through Central Asia to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Western Europe.

Speaking in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan va Baluchistan Province, Colonel Abdullahi of the police said that the police and the border patrols had strengthened their presence on the eastern frontier, Mashhad radio reported on 13 August. For that reason, he said, smugglers were bypassing Iran and shipping their goods through the Gulf of Oman.

A statement by Brigadier General Mehdi Aboui, the officer in charge of Iran's police counternarcotics effort, shows that the Afghan opium crop is already having an impact. He said on 16 July that police had seized 45 tons of narcotics in the first three months of the year, an amount that is 32 percent higher than during the same period the previous year.

Hamedan Province Governor-General Ali Asqar Zebardast said on 16 July that the main reason drug abuse is spreading in Iran is that most of the world's opium is produced in Afghanistan, IRNA reported. He also said that the prevalence of drugs is a "well-orchestrated ploy" by Iran's enemies.

As noted above, it is estimated that up to 3 million Iranians now abuse drugs. Ms. Mariam Kazemi-Nejad, an official in the Luristan Province Drug Rehabilitation Organization, said on 27 July that the rate of drug addition is increasing 8 percent a year, IRNA reported. Hamedan Governor-General Zebardast said on 16 July that the decreasing age of drug abusers is becoming a "serious menace to the nation," IRNA reported.

Senior counternarcotics officers from Pakistan and Iran met in Tehran on 12 August to discuss ways to confront armed trafficking gangs that operate on their respective sides of the border with Afghanistan, state television reported. Brigadier General Aboui said that the traffickers' activities have been disrupted thanks to the cooperation of the Iranian and Pakistani police forces. He added that part of the Iranian government's counternarcotics plan is the reorganization and training of the Afghan police forces and the creation of an Afghan counternarcotics force. Iskandar Ali, deputy head of Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force, said that the fall of the Taliban did not eliminate the drug-trafficking problem and he complained that Western promises to destroy the trafficking networks have not materialized.

http://www.rferl.org/iran-report/

TEHRAN DENIES AL-QAEDA MEMBERS HAVE FLED.

An unidentified "source close to" the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in the 13 August issue of "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" that Al-Qaeda commander Ayman al-Zawahiri has left Iran but Saad bin Laden and Saif al-Adel remain there. According to this source, Intelligence Minister Hojatoleslam Ali Yunesi assigned personnel to track down the Al-Qaeda personnel and arrest them after al-Adel's role in the May bombings in Riyadh became known. He told the weekly that this alarmed the IRGC's special-operations unit, the Qods Force, because it had provided safe houses for the Al-Qaeda members in Tehran and in Gilan, Markazi, and Sistan va Baluchistan provinces. The source said Al-Zawahiri got out of Iran with help from IRGC deputy commander General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr. They apparently knew each other from the IRGC's days in Sudan. An anonymous Foreign Ministry official on 14 August rejected the report, according to ISNA. He said the people identified in the "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" article were never in Iran, there are no links between the IRGC and Al-Qaeda, and all the arrested members of Al-Qaeda remain in detention. BS

Comment: Who will trust them?

Sorry, the source was RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 156, Part III, 18 August 2003

US risks miscalculation on Iran
By Safa Haeri

Part of a calculated policy or a game, the decision by the US State Department to outlaw the National Council of the Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political front of the outlawed Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), has been cold-shouldered by many Iranian political analysts, as well as by opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran, both inside and outside the country.

"For the first time in their tortuous relationship with Iran, the Americans have a real capital of sympathy with the Iranian people, mostly with the young generation, the only one in the whole of the Arab and the Muslim worlds to really like and appreciate the Americans. They should not deceive the Iranian people by comforting a regime that has no future," Ali Keshtgar, a seasoned political analyst and editor of the Paris-based monthly Mihan (Homeland) told Asia Times Online.

In his view, Washington would make a "terrible mistake" if it really was looking to appease the Iranian mullahs by banning the NCRI. The State Department said on Friday that it had placed the NCRI on its list of terrorist organizations.

The closure, under terms of a 2001 anti-terrorism executive order by President George W Bush, came after an inter-agency debate within the administration and strongly supported by Secretary of State Colin Powell, "determining" that the NCRI is an alias for the MKO and therefore all its banking accounts would be closed and its members in the US would be informed that their activities would be regarded as harmful to the interests of the US.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation immediately proceeded to close down the council's offices in Washington DC and other major American cities, including New York and Los Angeles. The MKO had already been declared a terrorist organization by both the US and the European Union, but the NCRI was allowed to operate, arousing bitter criticism from Tehran, accusing the Bush administration of "duplicity".

However, and as expected, Iran, proclaimed by Bush as an "evil" state, has now welcomed the move. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Saturday that the US action in closing down the office of the "terrorist" NCRI "is a positive step that conforms to its international responsibilities. To root out terrorism, all countries, including the US, should confront the menace in all its forms decisively, and uniformly," he stated, adding that the US should have acted sooner in shutting down the NCRI's activities, according to the Iranian official news agency IRNA.

Also, one should not forget that the head of the terrorist group is in Iraq, under US control, Kharrazi said, referring to Mas'oud Rajavi, the leader of both the MKO and the NCRI and whose whereabouts have not been known since the occupation of Baghdad by the Americans.

A semi-military organization, the MKO obeys a strict Marxist-Islamist ideology and is the only armed group fighting Iran. When the allies occupied Iraq some 100 days ago, they also attacked and occupied the military bases the deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had placed at the disposal of the MKO for their operations against Iran.

But American officers on the field, faced with the menace from the thousands of Iranian agents and Iraqi soldiers of the Badr Corps, the military wing of the Tehran-backed Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI) who had been infiltrated into Iraq in the early days of the allied occupation of Iraq, decided to use the MKO's potential for the identification of the infiltrators and allowed its members to keep their light weapons.

But the idea, though blessed by the Pentagon, was abandoned after the State Department opposed it, arguing that due to Iran's huge influence over the Iraqi Shi'ites Muslims who make the majority of the Iraqi population, it would create more trouble for the allied forces in a country ravaged by chaos.

On June 17, more than 1,000 French crack policemen and gendarmerie forces raided the MKO's international headquarters in the small town of Auvers Sur Oise near Paris, arrested 13 leaders of the group, including Maryam Rajavi, wife of Rajavi and co-leader of the NCRI, and seized "very sophisticated" communications and computer equipment, as well as more than US$9 million and 200,000 euros, all in cash.

Though it is difficult to find any Iranians sympathetic to the cause defended by the MKO outside of the organization, yet, for the first time, few political observers welcomed the American decision to ban the NCRI, fearing that not only would it encourage the ruling Iranian ayatollahs to increase their crackdown on dissidents in the country, but further isolate the powerless President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies in the Iranian leadership.

"I hope the decision to ban the Council of Mujahideen [NCRI] does not mean that Washington wants normalize relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that is the mother of all terrorists, but that it wants to enter into a bargain over the suspected al-Qaeda people believed to be in the custody of the Iranians," Keshtgar added.

Though the State Department offered no reason for its somehow surprise decision, some Iranian and Western sources said that it might be part of the ongoing Tehran-Washington secret negotiations aimed at encouraging Tehran to hand over to the US some of the high-ranking al-Qaeda officials believed to be in Iranian custody.

According to the Americans, one of Osama Bin Laden's sons, Sa'd, his second man in command, the Egyptian Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri , al-Qaeda's spokesman, Soleyman Abou Qaith, the network's present coordinator, Seyf al-Adl, as well as Imad Muqniyeh, the head of the Iran-backed and supported Lebanese Hezbollah intelligence, are also hiding in Iran.

But the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat said last week that all of them had left Iran, probably for safer places along the Iranian-Afghanistan-Pakistan borders. As usual, Tehran immediately denied the information, reiterating that none of the men had ever been in Iran.

But since Iranian official spokesmen have insisted forcefully that Iran has not been able to identify all of the 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives it detains, the denial lacks credibility.

Confirming the al-Sharq al-Awsat story, some informed Iranian sources explained that the Iranian authorities, fearing that some of the men had been officially pinpointed by the Americans, had ordered them to leave their sanctuaries in Iran.

This has happened before. Months after the American intervention in Afghanistan, American media, tipped by the Central Intelligence Agency, reported the presence in Iran of several high-ranking al-Qaeda and Taliban members. At first, Tehran vehemently denied the reports, but two weeks later an unidentified intelligence source told the state-run, leader-controlled television that some 250 al-Qaeda operatives had been arrested while entering Iran from Pakistan.

"The Americans are well aware of the activities of the MKO. At the same time, they have also branded the Islamic Republic as an evil and terrorist state. It is therefore possible that Washington, by placing the NCRI on their list of terrorist organizations, wants to encourage Iran in handing over leading al-Qaeda members it detains," Keshtgar said.

Hooshang Amir Ahmadi, a professor at New Jersey's Rutgers University and chairman of the Iranian-American Council, agrees, but at the same time he says that the idea of exchanging top al-Qaeda officials against MKO leaders will not work.

In his view, on the one hand the ruling Iranian ayatollahs are no more interested in the exchange for the simple reason that they consider the group as already finished, while on the other, Washington has abandoned the idea of coalescing the MKO and the monarchists into a powerful pressure force against Tehran.

"However, the ruling conservatives, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , the leader of the Islamic Republic, have reached the conclusion that it is better and safer to calm the Americans by continuing the ongoing secret negotiations rather..............

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH19Ak05.html

DOW JONES: US Pressure Won't Stop Cos Investing In Oil Project - Iran
News Section

Aug 18, 2003

TEHRAN - Iran Monday shrugged off increased U.S. pressure on Japanese and European energy companies not to invest in the country's vast Azadegan oil field, saying companies remain interested in the project.

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid-Reza Asefi, said a number of international oil companies have expressed a willingness to step in and do the job since Washington began to put pressure on European and Japanese companies.

"That is why we are not very worried about the Azadegan project," he said at a press conference, without elaborating about the nationality of the companies that remain interested.

According to previous reports Russian and Indian companies have expressed an interest in the development of the oil field.

His comments came after U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on a trip to Europe last week warned Dutch and Italian companies not to invest in the Azadegan project if Japanese companies do not go ahead.

The U.S. move heralds a new campaign to increase pressure on Europe to isolate Iran over its nuclear program.

Washington has also put pressure on Tokyo in the past few weeks to withdraw from developing the field in southwestern Iran, which holds an estimated 26 billion barrels of crude oil.

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said earlier this month that Japanese consortia Japex - comprising the Tomen Corp. , Inpex Corp., and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. - and Indonesia Petroleum, another Japanese company, were continuing to negotiate for the contract.

Iran can now negotiate with other companies over development rights to the field after the Japanese consortium failed to seal a deal by the end-June deadline.

The U.S. imposed trade and economic sanctions against U.S. companies doing business in Iran in 1995.

The 1996 Iran-Libya Act, approved on grounds that the two countries backed terrorism, calls for punitive measures against foreign companies that invest more than $20 million in Iran's oil and gas sectors.

Reports say Iran is counting on foreign investment of up to $5 billion a year to increase its daily oil production.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1802.shtml

Unrest spread to Bandar Emam Khomeini

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Aug 18, 2003

Iran's new wave of unrests has spread to the southern cities and especially to the City-Port of Bandar Emam Khomeini (formerly known as Bandar Shahpoor).

Residents of Shahid Sabaghian area came into the streets and clashed with the regime's forces sent to repress their peaceful protest action.

Tires and barricades were set ablaze in order to slow the regime's forces move using Tear gas and clubs which have resulted in several injured and arrested among the residents.

The situation came back under the regime control by the begining of the evning but it has reported as being very tense in town.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1803.shtml

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Japan Quits Iran's oil project ?

Nikolai Terekhov
Aug 18, 2003

Japan intends to quit a development project for the Azadegan, Iran's largest oilfield, say non-confirmed reports, which Hamid Reza Asefi, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, has dismissed.

As far as he knows, the Japanese government stays true to available understandings, and talks on Japan's contribution to the project are going on, Mr. Asefi said to the media.

Certain media outlets assume, however, that Japan is giving up the project under US pressure. Suggestively, Nezhad Hoseiniyan, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, has recently complained of related bilateral negotiations procrastinated. If they proceed at their present pace, Iran's current obligations may become invalidated, he warned.

Iran may seek overseas partners elsewhere. Russian-based petroleum companies are among its options.

The Azadegan oilfield, recently prospected in the country's southwest, is estimated at 26 billion barrels, and its development costs US$2.8 billion.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1800.shtml

Transcript: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on 'Fox News Sunday'

August 18, 2003
Fox News
Transcript

The following is a transcribed excerpt on Iran from "Fox News Sunday," Aug. 17, 2003

SNOW: One of the linchpins in this terror network is Iran. Is it your belief that Iran is trying to whip up fervor among Shia Muslims within Iraq to try to destabilize the situation there?

DELAY: Well, Tony, while I was in Baghdad, it was pointed out to me that terrorists are coming out of Iran, they're coming out of Syria. They're creating the problems that we're having now. They're putting our people in danger and, indeed, killing some of our greatest and best soldiers.

DELAY: We've got to continue the pressure on Syria and Iran. We need to turn up the heat on both those countries to join us — either join us against these terrorists or suffer the consequences.

We have to fight this on every front that we can find to get these terrorists.

SNOW: Suffer the consequences — military consequences?

DELAY: Whatever it takes to find these terrorists and get rid of them.

The full excerpt :

And now for a Republican perspective, we turn to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He joins us from Houston for his first Sunday interview as House majority leader.

Leader DeLay, you have now heard what John Dingell has said. Let's try to play the angles here. Do you think we're going to get the kind of energy bill that can put people's fears at rest for a while?

DELAY: Well, John Dingell is a good friend of mine, but you saw why we're having a problem. He doesn't want a long-term energy package.

You know, we passed a bill, the Republican House passed a bill two years ago that would have taken care of many of these problems. Tom Daschle, the majority leader in the Senate at that time, made sure that we couldn't get a bill to the president.

We passed a bill in June — and, by the way, the bill last year, the Democrats in the House had an amendment to strike the incentives that you talked about, Tony, that would have allowed people to build the kind of system that we need right now.

And the bill we passed in the House last June, Mr. Dingell himself offered an amendment to strike all the electricity provisions out of the bill. He offered another amendment that would have made it difficult to relicense hydropower plants, the most efficient, cleanest producers of electricity.

We need a comprehensive energy package. The house has passed one now going on three years. The Democrats in the Senate, the BANANA environmentalists. BANANA — NIMBY is no longer the term, Tony, anymore. It's BANANA: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything environmentalists...

SNOW: OK. Well...

DELAY: ... and utility companies that want to keep their people from competition in areas like the Northeast.

SNOW: OK. We need to break this into digestible portions for our audience, so let's try to talk about some of the key problems.

It is widely suspected the transmission lines were a problem here. One of the problems you've just mentioned — BANANA, NIMBY, whatever it may be — is that in a lot of localities, people don't want people building high-voltage transmission lines over their heads or under their yards. And as a result, nobody's building enough transmission lines. Our demand is growing twice as fast as we're building new wires.

Is it time for the federal government or the administration to get the right of eminent domain, the ability to condemn land, so that those wires get built, even if there is local opposition to them?

DELAY: That was in the bill two years ago, and it's in the House bill right now as we are talking. And, hopefully, we can get the Democrats to — particularly the Democrats in the Senate — to help us pass a bill that would eliminate this problem.

One, we have utility companies that don't want competition. We have regions of the country that have this BANANA problem. And we need to give — create an interstate system. I mean, we've created an interstate highway system. Surely, we could create an interstate transmission system so that we could pass electricity to those areas that need it.

SNOW: So...

DELAY: We've had a demand now of over 30 percent — a 30 percent increase in the demand for electricity, yet we've only improved our technology and transmission by 10 percent over the last 10 years.

DELAY: This president knows that we need something. We tried to do it, but the Democrats in the House and the Senate have stopped us so far from doing anything that would have solved the problem.

SNOW: So far the president's characterized this as a wakeup call, but he has not put the full force, the weight, the authority of his office behind a specific proposal.

What do you think he needs to insist upon so that the folks who are watching this show can say, "All right, they're going to fix the problem"?

DELAY: This president, along with the Republicans in the House, have been trying to wake people up for many years. I've had an electricity bill introduced almost every year that I've been in Congress, my own bill. We've been trying to tell the American people that this was going to happen.

The president, two weeks after he was sworn in, created an electricity group, or an energy group to come together and put together the energy bill that we passed two years ago. You know, if that had been — if that was law two years ago, we might not have had happened what happened last week.

SNOW: You're talking about a lot of bills. I need specifics here. I need things that the president has to insist upon, changes that are going to make a difference. What are they?

DELAY: Well, the bill that passed the House is what we need. We need new capacity. We need to be able to allow people to build plants to create electricity. We need the energy to burn in those plants, whether it be coal, natural gas, nuclear power, more hydropower. We need transmission lines that can be connected nationwide, not just in the regions, so that they can be protected.

And the American people need to understand that there are people out there that have fought us every step of the way to keep us from doing it: utility companies that don't want competition, Democrats in the House and Senate, and these BANANA environmental extremists that's don't want anything anywhere.

SNOW: All right, so, final question on this now, then I want move on to other topics.

There is a proposal out, I mentioned it to John Dingell, to create these regional transmission organizations that would be responsible for coordinating transmission. The utilities you just mentioned are opposed to it. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wants this to happen, but the administration has agreed to put it off for three years.

Would you like to see this change enacted right away?

DELAY: No, the House hasn't agreed to put it off for three years. We're insisting on creating at least these regional transmission authorities. Actually, we ought to have a national transmission authority so that companies can sell electricity wherever the need is.

It just shows you the kind of problem we're having with utility companies that don't want competition.

SNOW: But the president is a guy who's got considerable standing. Is it not important for him to stand up, rather than to say, "Well, we don't have the votes, we're going to put it off for three years"?

DELAY: I can show him where we'll have the votes, and I'm sure he'll support it.

SNOW: All right, let's switch to Iraq. You recently returned from a trip to the region. There's been a little more violence today. Apparently, there's been an attack on a prison, where six prisoners were killed.

My question for you is, should the United States and its Army and its forces get out of the peacekeeping business and stick strictly — that is, the policing business — and stick to more military operations?

DELAY: I think the United States ought to be doing what we're doing, and that's fighting the war against terrorism, whether we find it in the Middle East or in Southeast Asia or in Israel. We ought to go after these terrorists, as we have been doing, and eliminate them and the states that support them. And we're doing a very good job at that, and we ought to continue it.

SNOW: You support the administration's position that the United Nations simply doesn't have a role in this, at least the peacekeeping within Iraq at the present time?

DELAY: Well, Tony, I haven't seen where the United Nations has the capacity to carry out anything as massive as the war on terrorism that's actually worldwide.

You saw what we went through with the United Nations in trying to deal with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. We should have gone into Iraq over a year ago, yet it took more than almost a year in order to do what was necessary to be done, and it was because of the United Nations.

SNOW: One of the linchpins in this terror network is Iran. Is it your belief that Iran is trying to whip up fervor among Shia Muslims within Iraq to try to destabilize the situation there?

DELAY: Well, Tony, while I was in Baghdad, it was pointed out to me that terrorists are coming out of Iran, they're coming out of Syria. They're creating the problems that we're having now. They're putting our people in danger and, indeed, killing some of our greatest and best soldiers.

DELAY: We've got to continue the pressure on Syria and Iran. We need to turn up the heat on both those countries to join us — either join us against these terrorists or suffer the consequences.

We have to fight this on every front that we can find to get these terrorists.

SNOW: Suffer the consequences — military consequences?

DELAY: Whatever it takes to find these terrorists and get rid of them.

SNOW: All right. Let's switch to another topic. Texas — there is an imbroglio about redistricting. Republicans want to change the map because their Republican majority is substantial in your home state.

But there's a question. These same Republicans, a couple of years ago, agreed to a redistricting, or at least, in courts, got involved. Why should Republicans get another bite at the apple?

DELAY: Well, we haven't had the first bite. We're supposed to, by Constitution, apportion or redistrict every 10 years. The state legislature in Texas couldn't do it in the last legislature, and three judges did it and they did a very poor job, as evidenced that the fact that we have a minority of Republicans in our congressional delegation.

What — you know, we in Texas, Tony, have prided ourselves on honor, duty and responsibility. Unfortunately, the Democrats in the state legislature don't understand honor because they're violating their oath of office to support the United States Constitution. They don't understand their duty, which the Constitution calls for in redistricting. And they don't want to accept responsibility for it, so they ran.

We're insisting that the Constitution be upheld, and we feel very confident that if the state legislature does its duty and redistricts, then we will end up with a majority of Republicans in the congressional delegation.

SNOW: Final question: Same-sex marriage, a lot of people are talking about it. We took a poll on the the question regarding whether people support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between men and women only. Fifty-eight percent favor; 34 percent oppose.

What do you say? Is it time to amend the Constitution to define marriage from the standpoint of the United States Constitution?

DELAY: I think, Tony, we have to do everything that we can to support our society, upholding the basis of our society, the foundation of our society, and that's the family, and that is one man married to one woman — however we do it.

I think that we can do it statutorily. We can do it in many different ways. But if we just can't do it any other way, then yes, we need a constitutional amendment supporting the family in this country.

SNOW: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, thanks for joining us.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,94952,00.html

Transcript: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on 'Fox News Sunday'

August 18, 2003
Fox News
Transcript

The following is a transcribed excerpt on Iran from "Fox News Sunday," Aug. 17, 2003

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/965824/posts?page=36#36

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

The Black Turbans' 'Counterrevolution'

August 18, 2003
Al-Ahram Weekly
Mustafa El-Labbad

The Iranian regime faces a challenge from new quarters. In an unexpected outburst, Hussein Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, lashed out against the ruling theocracy.

Hussein Khomeini has added fuel to an already fiery domestic situation in Iran, with his vehement attack on the "rule of the clerics", the underlying principle of government in Iran since shortly after that country's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Moreover, Hussein's words should be assessed with regard of the added weight of the lineage factor in a society and polity in which 90 per cent of the populace are Shi'ite Muslims. Lineage is of fundamental importance to the Shi'ite creed which holds that the nephew of the Prophet Mohamed, Ali, and his descendants had been usurped of their right to inherit the command of the faithful. The Shi'ites have elevated the family and descendants of the Prophet to a position of sacred authority, and, today, among the Shi'ite communities in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, the Ashraf (descendants of the family of the Prophet) are still distinguishable by their black turbans, as opposed to the white turbans worn by other members of the Shi'ite clergy. The charismatic leader of the Iranian Revolution Ayatollah Rohallah Khomeini, the Spiritual Guide of the Revolution Ali Khameini and the current President of Iran Mohamed Khatemi all wore black turbans.

Hussein Khomeini is the son of Mustafa Khomeini, eldest son of Ayatollah Rohallah Khomeini. In an open letter to Mohamed Khatemi, the Ayatollah's grandson demanded a public referendum allowing the Iranian people to determine the nature of their government. Advocating a secular form of government, he proclaimed that religion must be liberated from the tyranny of the state and warned that the regime had better take heed of the lessons to be learned from the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Topping this off with another bombshell to the media, he declared that the struggle with Israel was a "fabricated conflict" and of little concern to the Iranian people.

Although the opinions aired by Hussein Khomeini have been frequently voiced by various factions of the Iranian opposition, his genealogy lends them a unique substance and, consequently, makes him a force that may ultimately be more dangerous and demoralising for the regime than any military operations carried out by the Mujahidin Khalq. That it was the Ayatollah's grandson that launched this powerful salvo suggests that the legitimacy of the Iranian regime has begun to crumble as political tensions slowly rise.

Born in Tehran in 1958, Hussein Khomeini fled Iran, then under the rule of Shah Mohamed Riza Pahlevi, in 1965, accompanying his father and grandfather in their exile, first to Turkey and then to Iraq. In the mid-1970s, SAVAK, the Shah's notorious secret service, assassinated Hussein's father in Najaf, Iraq, after which the dissident voice of his grandfather began to have a growing impact on events in Iran. Hussein, during this time, had followed the government educational curriculum in public primary and preparatory schools, after which he was enrolled in a Shi'ite seminary. Before completing his education, he was forced to leave Iraq with his grandfather who had fled to France. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Hussein returned to Iran with his grandfather. At the age of 22 he served in the Iranian armed forces for eight months during the Iran-Iraq war.

The mid-1980s saw the emergence of a new political movement in Iran. The Republican Party, as it was called, acquired increasing sway in Iranian politics and eventually succeeded in moving into key positions in government. The most prominent figures in this movement were Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei, who continue to dominate the power spectrum in Iran today. One effect of the rise of this movement was to curb Khomeini's influence and curtail the prospects of his descendants in sharing or inheriting power. In addition to Ahmed Khomeini, the Ayatollah's second son who was still alive at the time, the contenders also included Hussein and Ahmed's son Hassan. While Hassan Khomeini would appear in official functions, Hussein had chosen to remain a recluse in the Shi'ite holy city of Qum. Upon the succession of Khamenei, following the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the exclusion of Khomeini's descendants was finalised. Indeed, Ahmed was accorded no honours apart from permission to be buried by his father in the huge mausoleum whose gilded dome can be seen from the rooftops of Tehran, glittering under powerful spotlights at night. Perhaps inspired by the Shi'ites' historically ingrained sense of injustice and by the perceived wrong to the memory of his grandfather, Hassan Khomeini began to harbour a growing opposition to the regime. Although for several years he had been under compulsory detention in his residence in Qum, he has recently fled to Najaf, in Iraq, from where he broke his silence so dramatically this week.

Hussein's rebelliousness is not unique in contemporary Shi'ite societies. To his name, we can add those of such figures as Moqtada Al-Sadr in Iraq and Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. In spite of the vast differences in the outlooks of these three figures, they share, in addition to the black turban, a spirit of defiance against traditional Shi'ite leaderships, a relative youthfulness when compared to most Shi'ite spiritual leaders and generally radical politics and attitudes. They also all lack the necessary theological credentials for Shi'ite religious leadership, qualifications which must be acquired through a stringent centuries-old system of education and training.

Moqtada Al-Sadr, heir to the spiritual influence among Iraqi Shi'ites of the Sadr family which traces itself to the Prophet, came into the spotlight following the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein. Al- Sadr has capitalised on the frailty of the traditional Shi'ite leadership in Iraq, on the shaken legitimacy of the Iranian Ayatollah Muhsen Al-Hakim who had arrived in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, on Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's call to keep Shi'ite religious institutions out of politics, and on the fact that his father, Mohamed Baqer Al-Sadr, and uncle, Mohamed Sadeq Al-Sadr, both Shi'ite religious leaders, were assassinated by the former Iraqi regime. Drawing on this political capital, Moqtada Al- Sadr has also appealed to the Iraqi Shi'ites' sense of historical oppression and political exclusion, succeeding in mobilising millions of his coreligionists into taking to the streets to demand their long overdue share in power in Iraq, where Shi'ites constitute the majority of the population.

The Lebanese Hassan Nasrallah led the Lebanese armed resistance against the Israeli occupation. At a time when many Lebanese political leaders were content with small gains and prepared to negotiate with the occupation forces, Nasrallah and his supporters mounted armed operations of great inventiveness and impact. Unable to sustain increasing losses, Israeli forces pulled out of Lebanon, marking their first forced, unconditional retreat in the Arab-Israeli conflict. On the basis of this victory, which gave him his credentials as a freedom fighter, Nasrallah won the support of the most of the Shi'ite community, which makes up a plurality of the diverse Lebanese population. Nasrallah's power is in spite of the presence of Al-Sayyid Fadlallah, the most highly esteemed Lebanese Shi'ite theologian, respected not only in Lebanon but among scholars and intellectuals throughout the Arab world.

In times of severe crisis, radical ideology is prone to gain ascendancy over logic and reason. An ideology operates on three interrelated philosophical levels: a perception of the order of the world, the nature of life and the role of man, or the metaphysical; an evaluation of specific states of affairs, grounding the ideology in the concrete; and an approach or programme for changing that which is imperfect or unacceptable.

The Khomeini ideology, since the success of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, appeared capable of realising the hopes not only of the Iranian people but also of the Shi'ites in Lebanon and Iraq, as well as smaller minorities in the Gulf States. With Khomeini, a perception of the world blended with the politics of the marginalised and discontent which in turn converged with religion as both the source of authority and the solution to create the revolutionary ideology par excellence. Marx has said, "Philosophers understand the world differently, but changing this world is what is important," his implication being that veneration for revolutionary goals had to be given primacy over philosophical and moral hairsplitting if the revolutionary movement is have the impetus and dynamism to effect change. It would seem that this applies to the new black-turbaned revolutionaries in the predominantly Shi'ite areas in the Middle East. However, the transformation which this new generation of radicals is steamrolling by the traditional Shi'ite leadership does not appear to be controlled or well-defined. Indeed, it appears totally unchecked by any social constraints and fuelled purely by the ideology of change, regardless of the form and means.

Recent developments suggest that Shi'ite communities in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon are headed for a new period of revolutionary ideological ferment, not from the radical left, which elsewhere in the world has generally been associated with the term "revolutionary", but from the centre of Shi'ite society, and targeting the traditional religious institutions and leaderships that once held that society together. The problem the Iranian regime has with Hussein Khomeini is that the ideology the Islamic Revolution had formerly used against its intellectual adversaries has, in the hands of Ayatollah Rohallah's grandson, been turned into a weapon against the "revolutionary state". Suddenly the winds of change have shifted direction; they are not coming from pro-royalists or left-wing Marxists who could always be branded as foreign proxies. Rather, they are coming from the core of one of the major pillars of revolutionary legitimacy: the Khomeini line. The black turban revolution is imbuing the Shi'ite masses in Iran with a new radicalism and mustering this energy against, not the civil, but the religious establishment.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/651/re9.htm

The Black Turbans' 'Counterrevolution'

August 18, 2003
Al-Ahram Weekly
Mustafa El-Labbad

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/965824/posts?page=38#38

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

Please note that al Ahram is more or less equating Hussein Khomeini with Hassan Nasrallah and Moqtada Al-Sadr. Why do they do this, I assume that they should know more about these persons.

The actions by Sadr (that are supported by the militant clerics in Iran) has actually alienated the followers of his father and caused a split, and Nasrallah is as well supported by the militants.

Khomeni is advocating a separation of mosque and state, while the other two are working for the opposite.