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

DoctorZIn, I just had an idea. It seems we're losing the PR war in Iraq because the only TV the Iraqis are getting comes from either Al Jazzera or from Iran. Why can't the Iranian TV people there in California have their programs beamed into Iraq? The language must be similar because they are already getting Iranian TV from Iran.

The other part of that would be that maybe the US government would pick up the costs because of the benefit they would be getting in Iraq.

AP's take on the story :

Rioters, Police Clash in Iran; 8 Die
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran - Rioters clashed with police in a central Iranian city in violence Sunday that killed eight people and wounded 150, sparked by a plan to redraw the municipal border, Iranian state media reported.

The rioting began Saturday night in the city of Semirom, when angry residents took to the streets, state-run radio and television reported. Windows of the city's municipal offices and adjoining buildings were smashed.

Clashes went on through the night and morning, but the city was quiet by Sunday afternoon. The government announced Sunday that the redistricting plan was rescinded.

An undisclosed number of people were arrested for allegedly inciting the riots, the radio said. Two of those killed were police officers.

The violence was sparked by the plan to rework the boundaries of the city, 330 miles south of the capital, Tehran. The people who took to the streets were apparently alarmed that if their districts were transferred from Semirom to the jurisdiction of the neighboring city of Shahreza, they would suffer economically. Semirom is a larger and wealthier city than Shahreza.

On Sunday, an official of the Interior Ministry in Isfahan went on state television to say that the redrawing had been called off and that the more than 20 districts concerned would remain part of Semirom.

White House Criticized for Being Soft on Iran

August 18, 2003
Fox News
Liza Porteus

WASHINGTON —- Although President Bush has designated Iran as one of three countries in the "axis of evil," and the country is believed to possess weapons of mass destruction, some experts say Washington needs to be more aggressive toward Tehran.

Those same analysts explain why Iran has earned a mere slap on the wrist when the Bush administration's so-called "first-strike doctrine" says to strike against countries that pose a clear and present danger to U.S. national security.

"Because it's tough — the reason you went to Iraq was that it was doable," said Larry Korb, director of national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and former assistant defense secretary under the first President Bush. "If you looked at [the administration's] rhetoric, it should have been North Korea first, Iran second and Iraq third."

Iran's nuclear weapons program combined with Bush's promise to go after terrorists and the countries that support them would put Tehran in a prime position to become Washington's next whipping post in the global war on terror.

But the administration so far seems to be taking the diplomatic and multilateral route.

"We've got to work in a collective way with other nations to remind Iran that they shouldn't develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said in a Rose Garden press conference last month. "It's going to require more than one voice saying that, however."

Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week that Iran has been told it's time to end its terrorism support, particularly in the Middle East, where Israelis and Palestinians are trying to work out a peace process.

According to the State Department, Iran is the world's "most active state sponsor of terrorism," and offers support to Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It also backs the Lebanese Shi'ite extremists of Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Lawmakers like Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., have introduced measures for the United States and other countries to address Iran's nuclear program.

Others are keeping a close eye on ways to overturn the Islamic regime that currently rules the country.

"The Iranian government is a terrorist state … as a terrorist, it has to be dealt with as such," Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., told Fox News. "We need a proactive policy and an intense policy to … see the creation of an Iranian government that is representative of the Iranian people that does not harbor terrorists."

Although international nuclear inspectors are in Tehran checking out the facilities, experts say Iran won't do away with its nuclear program if it can help it.

"Iran has invested too much pride, money and scientific-technical talent in building its nascent nuclear infrastructure to abandon it completely," George Perkovich, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in a paper released in April on Iran's nuclear program. "No country is more difficult for the U.S. to engage diplomatically than Iran."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , is extremely anti-American and anti-Western hardliners dominate the Iranian military and intelligence services.

According to the CIA, Iran has blood, blister and choking chemical agents that could be used as weapons of mass destruction and missiles and the shells to deliver them. Aside from its efforts to build nuclear weapons, Tehran also has an active biological weapons program and, with Russia's help, is building a nuclear power plant. It also has hundreds of Scuds and other short-range ballistic missiles, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, and is developing longer-range ones.

But a one-size-fits-all approach to nations that don’t shun all terrorists may not work in the global war on terror, Korb said.

"Bush says you're either with us or against us — it doesn't work that way," Korb said.

For example, Iran aided humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan and offered help on search-and-rescue missions for American troops during Operation Enduring Freedom. But last week, it said it would not allow the United States to interrogate Al Qaeda members it has in custody, including Usama bin Laden's son.

"I think what you have to be careful of in foreign policy is the hypocrisy," Korb said. "To beat Hitler, we had to align ourselves with Stalin."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95070,00.html

White House Criticized for Being Soft on Iran

August 18, 2003
Fox News
Liza Porteus

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/965824/posts?page=44#44

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

US, allies to practice high seas weapons seizures with eye on NKorea, Iran

World News
Aug 18, 2003

WASHINGTON - The United States and 10 allied countries plan a series of naval exercises in the coming months to train their forces to seize arms, missiles and their components shipped on the high seas, the US State Department said.

US officials say the exercises, the first of which is to be held in September in the Coral Sea off northeastern Australia, are not aimed at any country -- but North Korea and Iran could expect to be targetted should they continue proliferation activities.

"The goal is to prevent terrorists and terrorist-supporting states from acquiring missiles, from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and the materials to make them," spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"Obviously any country that's proliferating missiles could be affected by this," he said, adding: "North Korea and Iran are two of the greatest potential proliferators in the world."

The Coral Sea exercise, to be followed by similar operations in the Mediterranean and the Arabian seas, will include navy and coast guard elements from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

All of the countries have either signed onto or expressed an interest in joining US President George W. Bush's so-called "Proliferation Security Initiative," first announced in June.

The initiative aims to curtail the global threat posed by the sales of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as delivery systems, such as missiles, by boarding suspect vessels on the high seas and seizing their cargo. Air and ground interdictions are also foreseen.

The plan has been topic of at least two high-level meetings between officials of the 11 countries, first in Madrid and then in Australia.

The Coral Sea exercise was announced after the last meeting in Brisbane where the participants agreed to move quickly on developing guidelines, but set no timetable for actually beginning interdiction operations.

Although making clear the initiative intends to counter all trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, the Brisbane participants focused primarily on North Korea, which is believed to earn about a billion dollars a year in arms trading to prop up its collapsed economy.

They also specifically mentioned Iran.

The New York Times reported earlier Monday that Washington believed the program was one of the reasons that North Korea dropped its demand for one-on-one talks with the United States over its nuclear weapons program and agreed to a six-party format.

Beijing is to host those talks, which are to begin on August 27, and includes senior officials from North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1805.shtml

I'm behind on the thread, but wanted to bump it.

Going to read it, now. Thank you both!

Iran warns Israel against any ‘aventurism’ targeting nuclear sites

TEHRAN: Iran warned Israel on Monday against carrying out any “adventurist” military attak on its nuclear sites.

“I hope the Zionist regime will not commit any adventurist act,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said.

Israel has “demonstrated that it is adventurist and does not respect any principles and, if it makes such a mistake, it will pay a very heavy price,” he added.

Assefi was responding to a journalist, who referred to a report last week in the Washington Post saying that Sharon had raised the issue with US President George W. Bush when he visited the White House recently.

The newspaper said Sharon told Bush Iran was much closer to producing nuclear weapons than US intelligence believes, triggering concern that Israel is seriously considering a preemptive strike against Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor. —AFP

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_19-8-2003_pg4_7

Iran Warns Israel on Nuclear Reactors

The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran --
Iran, building its first nuclear reactor and planning a second, warned Israel Monday against attacking the nuclear installations as it did an Iraqi facility in 1981.

Hamid Reza Asefi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters Monday that he hoped Israel, which has warned against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, would not resort to such an "adventure."

"At any rate, the Zionist regime proved to be adventurous in the past and doesn't abide by any principles. In case it will commit such a mistake, it will pay dearly," he said.

Israeli officials have been urging the United States and Europe to pressure Iran to stop its alleged nuclear weapons programs after Tehran inaugurated a missile capable of hitting Israel.

Analysts have speculated that Tehran's possession of the bomb could trigger an arms race between Iran and Israel. Israel bombed an Iraqi facility in 1981.

Israel has never confirmed being a nuclear power, but it is widely believed to have as many as 100 to 200 such weapons.

Iran denies that it intends to make nuclear weapons and says it seeks nuclear power as an alternative source of energy as its oil reserves diminish.

With Russian assistance, Iran is building its first nuclear. The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Thursday that its second nuclear reactor will have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

The United States suspects Iran of developing a clandestine nuclear weapons program and has lobbied for the International Atomic Energy Agency to declare the country in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The IAEA, a U.N. watchdog, has been pressing Iran to allow unfettered access to its nuclear sites

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030818/API/308181042

US legislators to push for more sanctions against Syria collaborating with Iran

World News
Aug 18, 2003

WASHINGTON - Bush administration opposition to a bill that would impose sanctions on Syria seems to be fading, raising hopes the legislation could soon become U.S. law, a key U.S. congressman said on Monday.

Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, said he received strong support for the legislation from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Engel, a key sponsor of the bill, spoke with Reuters by telephone from Jerusalem after a meeting with Sharon that covered Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, Iran and Turkey, as well as Syria.

The Syria Accountability Act cites Syria's support for terrorism, continued military presence in Lebanon, cooperation with Iraq, and development of weapons of mass destruction as reasons for imposing penalties.

During the runup to the Iraq war in 2002, the administration successfully prevailed on Congressional leaders to block the legislation.

Officials argued it would undermine U.S. efforts to achieve a Syrian-Israeli peace agreement, maintain high level communications with Syrian officials to avert serious escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border, and obtain Syrian cooperation with the administration's policies toward Iraq.

U.S. presidents usually oppose legislation that might restrict their foreign policy options and U.S. President George W. Bush is no different, Engel said.

But he said the bill has the support of majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, adding: "We've gotten some rumblings the administration may mute or lift their opposition."

Syria's "collaboration" with Iran in Lebanon -- where Tehran backs Hizbollah guerrillas -- is a major concern, he said.

"Sharon said that pressure was put on Syria during the Iraq war and the aftermath but now the pressure has been let up. ... One way we could put back the pressure on Syria ... is by passing this act," Engel said.

He said Sharon criticized new Palestinian Prime minister Abu Mazen for "not doing anything" to rein in terrorists.

Sharon prefers Mazen to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat but believes Arafat still controls at least 60 percent of Palestinian security force and is undermining Palestinian adherence to the peace plan known as the road map, Engel said.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1812.shtml

Israel has reason to be concerned about Iran's nuclear program.

I remember reading a statement from Rafsanjani quite a while ago where he had threatened Israel with total extermination.

If my memory serves me, he said that an attack on Israel that resulted in a counter by Israel on Iran that resulted in ten million Iranian deaths would be a fair exchange for the elimination of Israel.

Rafsanjani? The Godfather of the Iranian Mafia.
Mmmmm, He wont have time to talk like this.

Fit for a foot soldier
Abbas Abdi punished twenty four years too late

By Hassan Farzin
August 13, 2003
The Iranian

A few days ago, I was reading a twelve page letter dated June 13, 2003, written by Abbas Abdi from Evin Prison in Tehran. The letter was originally published in one of the Internet sites (Rooydad) Before I describe the reason for discussing Abdi's complaint, an introduction of Mr. Abdi is in order.

Mr. Abdi is one of the three mid level mullah government employees who conducted (or were accused of conducting) a survey in Iran last year, trying to poll the Iranian public opinion towards the United States. To the extend I understood, the survey was conducted, wholly or partially, at the request of member(s) of the Majles deputies, who themselves are hand picked by the mullahs!

Mr. Abdi, and the two other accused members of the three member group, were "convicted" a few months ago based on their "admission" of wrong doing, and Mr. Abdi was sentenced to ten (10) years in prison. I believe the other two members either were acquitted, or lightly sentenced, but were freed by the "judge."

Mr. Abdi, however, has a much more colorful past. He, along with a number of the current not-so-hot shots in Iran, including one of the current "Vice Presidents" of the mullah government, led a gang of criminals who climbed over the walls and gates of the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979, and took a number of U.S. diplomats and other workers hostage for 444 days.

The crimes of this hostage taking gang, supported by Khomeini himself, are well known and documented. The gangster activities that were actually conducted or supervised by Mr. Abdi in the U.S. Embassy compound, and in the prison that housed U.S. diplomats, included beatings, mock executions, long and senseless interrogations, and sleep deprivation. The idea behind this hostage taking had nothing to do with the U.S.-Iranian relationship.

In the early times after the start of Iran's Khomeini troubles, and before gangster mullah bosses had been able to consolidate their grip on the sources of money and guns in Iran, it was becoming obvious to them that their lies were losing effect. They knew their rule was in danger of collapse, and they needed a diversion from their domestic troubles so that while people were preoccupied with an external issue, such as hostage taking, the mobsters could move to consolidate their grip on the sources of money and guns, and impose their rule.

Mr. Abdi, then only a foot soldier in the mullah gagster enterprise, showed effective brutality with hostages, and hence became one of the leaders of that gang. He was later promoted and received numerous rewards for his ruthlessness in handling of the hostages.

In fact, he must have had demonstrated so much willingness to personally impose inhumane treatment of the hostages and prisoners under his control that the gangster bosses gave him additional assignments of kidnaping and holding other people, as well as interrogation and torture. Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam, Deputy Prime Minister, and later ambassador to Sweden, under Mr. Bazargan's government, is another one of Mr. Abdi's kidnaped victims turned into long term prisoner.

Some readers may have more information regarding this criminal character and his tendencies as a terrorist, kidnaper, hostage taker, torturer, and perhaps even as a murderer. My own information about Mr. Abdi's character does not go deeper than what has been printed in newspapers. In general, anyone who takes human beings as hostage, regardless of the "reason" for such behavior, or excuses offered, must have tremendous criminal tendencies. Mr. Abdi cannot be excepted from this general rule.

It is hoped that enough background information is given here so that the reader sees this criminal for what he is. I am confident that Mr. Abdi's criminal activities have gained plenty of rewards for him, including money, government positions, perhaps a house or two, one of the Shah's cars (!), etc., etc.

The reader should only remember that this person is a career criminal, in a sense that he commits crimes against innocent human beings with pleasure, and without any remorse, and for a price. In his case, we know for certain that he has received jobs and government positions for which he has no qualifications, as payout for his criminal activity; at least the "judge" who sentenced him has said so!

Now the point for which I described the above background information: In his twelve page letter (written in Farsi) Mr. Abdi has described the " Gestapo" style attack on his apartment in the middle of the night. Being pulled out of his bed while his wife and kid(s) watched in horror, arrested and filmed (yes, filmed) while his apartment was being ransacked, and all his papers and valuables taken away.

He has been subjected to lengthy interrogations on several occasions while he was tied to a bench in the prison interrogation chamber, blindfolded to assure he is unable to see anyone or anything, being subjected to multiple threats, more than once being subjected to kangaroo style interrogations and court trials. As he tells it, he finally accepts what he considers to be a plea bargain: he will write the confession papers as the "judge" dictates to him, and be publicly sentenced, in exchange for the promise of being released from prison within two days of the sentencing date.

Unfortunately for Mr. Abdi, his former comrades and bosses do what all mobsters do: they lie. Mr. Abdi is kept in prison; he is upset and unhappy. He should be reminded that mobster code of ethics (!) dictate that he be liquidated. The fact that he is still alive should indeed be good news to his mother!

Although much of his letter contains descriptions of events from his arrest to conviction, including a terrible prison life, the main point he is trying to communicate to the reader is not the short comings of the prison system, but the "injustice" and " illegality" of his imprisonment. He declares that his imprisonment is "against Islamic principals," and " against civilized norms of behavior!" He recites many articles of "law" for which the "judge" who interrogated him, and subsequently convicted him, has ignored the "rule of law."

Stories that he tells about his arrest, his description of the prison, interrogations, sleeplessness, the interrogators' threats for beating and killing him, as well as threats of torture against his family members, is shocking.

One of the unmistakable threats made to him involves his wife: several times during the interrogation, the "judge" makes threats to charge his wife with phantom crimes, and bring her into the general prison population, unless Mr. Abdi cooperates with what the judge needs to "prove." The implication being that the wife could receive sexual assaults within the prison population, unless he agrees to admit what the "judge" dictates to him. And all this for a lousy poll taking job, if we are to believe Mr. Abdi's story!

Here is the point that I am trying to make: The man who is complaining about relatively "small" injustices (compared to kidnaping, hostage taking, and murder) is the person who took diplomats of a foreign government hostage for 444 days, against all norms of civilized behavior, against the international (and Iranian) law, and against the teachings of Islam, including those teachings that even the murderous mullahs accept.

Is this not interesting? Or laughable? When Mr. Abdi is caught in the same lawlessness net and structure that he helped to create, he complains about the lack of proper application of the law, and civilized norms of conduct and justice! From his point of view, it must have been just fine when he personally was violating all standards of behavior and justice, including kidnaping, taking hostage, torturing, beating, and perhaps even murdering innocent people! It is "terrible," and "inhuman" when he is the subject of such violation!

When I first heard of Mr. Abdi's conviction for 10 years prison in the hands of a "judge," (who, by-the-way is in the same class as Mr. Abdi himself) I was moved with happiness. I thought that at least one of the criminals participating in the kidnaping of innocent people is caught and will at least be getting part of the punishment that he deserves, even if it is on a trumped up and unrelated charge.

When I read his letter, though, I was reminded of the "justice" system that the murderous mullah government has set up in Iran. I was extremely saddened about the terrible faith of thousands of innocent Iranians who are arrested daily on trumped up charges. I did not know if I should start dancing in the street for this criminal low life getting punished twenty four years too late, even on an unrelated charge; or cry for the injustices, looting and destruction that the murderous mullah government has brought to this nation.

A criminal enterprise is run by criminals for the sole purpose of the boss' gain, who in turn distributes some of the crumbs of the loot among his foot soldiers, enforcers, and mid level captains. When such an enterprise is overlaid on a government, the target of extortion would be the wealth of the governed. Enforcement must then be imposed on all who raise their voice, or head, seeking freedom and objecting to the looting that is going on. Enforcement must also be imposed on one of their own gangster foot soldiers whose goal may have been to steal more than his share of the loot!

Mr. Abdi appears not to have learned this lesson when he started his criminal career twenty four years ago: the boss decides what a foot soldier's share is! He should be reminded of the wisdom written in a poetic form long ago. The poetry is in Farsi, but it is written here using the English alphabet, followed by a rough translation into English. I hope that those who can read Farsi will remember the original poetry.

Az mokaafaat-eh amal ghaafel masho
Gandom az gandom berouyad, joe ze joe.
*
Rough translation:
Do not forget the consequences of your actions
[Be aware that only] Wheat will grow from [sowing] wheat, barley from [sowing] barley
*
http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2003/August/Abdi/

http://rescueattempt.tripod.com/hostagerescueattempt/id16.html

Outspoken or outsmarted?
The "high-jack" theory is another self-denial attempt made by those who were outsmarted by the clergy

By Parkhash
August 12, 2003
The Iranian

The appearance of a letter by T. Zolfaghari in response to another three-year old letter by Kambiz Ameli [Letters, 1 August: "Dwelling on the past"] was what triggered the writing of this piece.

In this bizarrely belated, if not out-of-date response, to the spurious allegations made by Ameli some three years earlier, Zolfaghari urges us to drop the question of "who to blame for the revolution" and move on. Ironically, it is Zolfaghari himself who, strangely after a three-year lapse, is still hooked on the subject of on who to put the blame.

Ameli's motives are, to say the least, questionable. He shows all the symptoms of a deeply wounded (and betrayed) ex-affiliate of the old regime, most likely through family connections, who had found a chance to settle some old scores. His previous associations with the regime is evident. Clearly he carries no affection for, as he put it, the "communist-backed" Mossadegh, nor does he pelt the usual venomous rhetoric at the Shah's Savak.

Ameli's arguments are often so familiar that makes me wonder if he has copied them from other letters of the same kind written by the usual anti-Pahlavi fraternity. But his comparison with the Saudi Arabia and its royal family is definitely original. Ameli must be a zealous antifeminist who prefers to see the women under the veil and in the kitchen - as is the case in the Saudi - as opposed to seeing them reaching the professorial, ministerial and ambassadorial posts, as was the case under the Pahlavis.

But I am not writing this piece as a reply to Ameli's or Zolfaghari's letters as I found their contents lacking any credible argument. However, what I am interested in is using the re-emergence of this topic, no matter how untimely it might be, to address a wider question.

The reality is that the causes behind the events of some twenty five years ago which brought the rule of the fundamentalist clergy upon us remain to be a gripping subject and a burden on the national conscious. Iranians, as a nation, have made it a habit to escape from self-accountability. They go to great pains to find any excuse to clear themselves from blames and self-guilt. But if they choose to search deep and hard in their collective souls, they should find, principally, only themselves to blame.

The evidence is compelling: All other nations who staged a revolution at some point in their history, did so in order to break with the "tradition" and adopt a "modern" status. Iranians are the only nation in the history who revolted against the "modern" and returned to a dark and degraded "tradition."

This is a uniquely Iranian phenomenon, not explainable by any Western analytical or sociological tool. The only way to understand and explain this retrograde development we call the "Islamic revolution" is by revisiting our history and particularly the progression of the Shiite culture - something that was totally ignored and even rejected by our so-called progressive non-religious intellectuals.

These pseudo-intellectuals are amongst those who prefer to claim that the revolution was "high-jacked." This group who were in fact the foot soldiers of the Ayatollahs were, in true sense of the word, the collaborators. In their mind, there was nothing out of line when they rallied behind a fanatical Ayatollah who, through his writings and preaching, had made no secret of his intentions to restore the Shiite's long lost pride and claim to power.

The collaborators had no problem either when voted for the establishment of an Islamic Republic. Only when the boundaries of the revolutionary justice reached them did our collaborators realise how ignorant they were. The "high-jack" theory is another self-denial attempt made by those who were outsmarted by the clergy.

Yes, for now, we must move on. But a nation cannot have a peaceful future unless it comes to peace with its past. The past is always there to haunt the future.

http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2003/August/Old/

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Join Us at the Iranian Alert -- August 19, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

Live Thread Ping List | 8.19.2003 | DoctorZin

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

It is my understanding that these programs WERE being beamed into Iran, until the Cuban government jammed the satelite or upload in some manner. Dr Zin, is that correct ?