http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/mullahs/ en-us Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:01:15 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410781/posts ran’s nuclear chief said Friday the country has started making more efficient models of centrifuges for nuclear program by early 2011. The official, Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, said Iranian scientists are still testing the more advanced models before they will be put to use at Iran’s enrichment facilities. The statement underscores Iran’s defiance to U.N. demands to have Tehran halt its controversial enrichment program — a defiance that has not wavered amid recent signals of possible new sanctions over the issue. Tehran has been saying since April that it is building more advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium with... ap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410781/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:01:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2402397/posts "President Obama promised last week that America will speak out on behalf of those who live under the “dark cloud of tyranny.” Okay. That’s nice. So, thousands of those people living under the dark Iranian cloud of tyranny are protesting in Iran today. What exactly will Obama do to speak out on their behalf?... OBAMA AT WEST POINT: "” And we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights, and tend to the light of freedom,... ConservativeAmerican.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2402397/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 23:08:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374056/posts It was late February 2003, a few weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and President George W. Bush's administration still lacked a real strategy for the would-be regional hegemon next door. As the Iran desk officer in the office of the secretary of defense, I felt desperate. We were about to invade Iraq without a definitive policy toward its most bitter foe. I feared a repeat of Vietnam and saw in Iran a new Ho Chi Minh Trail -- the enemy lifeline that snaked through Laos and Cambodia and helped dash U.S. hopes for Southeast Asia. I knew that... From Foreign Policy Magazine October 29, 2009 via The Woodward Report Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374056/posts#comment Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:05:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2365577/posts No, this is not satire from The Onion. If only it were, we could laugh instead of cry. Laura Rozen reports in Politico: The U.S. has condemned a suicide attack that killed five Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps members today. Five commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards were killed in suicide attacks in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province bordering Pakistan, according to reports. The Baluch group Jundullah claimed responsibility for the attack, that killed some 30 people. Iranian authorities have accused the group of receiving funding from foreign countries including the United States. The US has denied supporting Jundullah. "We condemn this act... CNSNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2365577/posts#comment Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:31:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2344941/posts When a tyrannical regime dies, you can see the symptoms in the little things. Late Friday afternoon, after millions (yes, millions–this according to Le Monde, France 2, and L’Express, with the BBC saying that the demonstrations were bigger than those at the time of the Revolution) of Greens mobbed the streets and squares of more than thirty towns and cities to call for the end of the regime, there was a soccer game in Azadi Stadium in Tehran. It holds about a hundred thousand fans, and it was full of men wearing green and carrying green balloons. When state-run tv... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2344941/posts#comment Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:44:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2324996/posts Sources close to Iraqi Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim say the cleric has died. Hakim was being treated for lung cancer at a hospital in Iran, and those close to the man said his health was deteriorating. A family member and an aide to Hakim, speaking on the condition of anonymity, separately told reporters Wednesday that he had suffered a setback. Hakim was known for his close links with Iran, and he led the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite groups. In June, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visited Hakim in Tehran, where the ailing cleric was... Voice of America http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2324996/posts#comment Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:52:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306760/posts While the Western & Official Islamic Iranian Media ignores the story, a Turkish lawyer has claimed that his Iranian client, Esmail Safarian-Nasab, has transferred an $18.5-billion treasure from Iran to Turkey through "courier services" - reportedly two truckloads as opposed to the original story of just one. The TWO container-TRUCK loads of "courier services" of US dollars and gold bullion was delivered to Ankara Customs last month. (Watch video below for visuals only unless you speak Turkish) but efforts have been made by Turkey (even denying any money arrived) and some Mullah friendly Press, to confuse/misdirect it with a smallish,... AntiMullah & Sources Inside Iran http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306760/posts#comment Mon, 3 Aug 2009 00:06:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304294/posts TEHRAN/BAGHDAD - On Tuesday, Iraqi soldiers and riot police stormed Camp Ashraf, where Mojahedin Khalq Organization members had been based, triggering violent clashes that left at least 260 people injured. Iraqi officials say clashes broke out as they were trying to establish a police post in the camp. “After the failure of negotiations with the Mojahedin (Khalq) to enter peacefully, the Iraqi army entered Camp Ashraf with force and it now controls the interior and all entrances to the camp,” an Iraqi military source said. An Iraqi army spokesman in Diyala said two battalions of 400 soldiers each plus 200... Tehran Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304294/posts#comment Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:53:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2301349/posts AN Iranian student arrested in protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election has died in jail, a newspaper said today, the second such death reported in recent days. Amir Javadifar, "a student of industrial management in Qazvin (city) died in prison", the reformist Etemad newspaper said, adding that his family has been asked to come for the body this morning. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured into Tehran streets after the disputed June 12 re-election of Ahmadinejad to protest their "stolen votes" before a crackdown by security forces. Iranian official reports say at least 20 people died and more than 1000... Agence France-Presse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2301349/posts#comment Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:02:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2295391/posts With some fatwas (religious decrees) from the most senior ayatollahs declaring the Ahmadi-Nejad election AND government as illegitimate and an increasing rift among the Mullahs, the latest gambit of the Supreme Leader's Ali Khamenei clan is to scapegoat Ahmadi-Nejad as behind all the troubles of the country and have him killed/murdered or killed/executed for the deaths of the demonstrators. It's all his fault. In addition while Mullah Khamenei Sr. has the top boss TITLE, he has NO respect among the other clerics who consider him an usurper, who took away Ayatollah Montazeri's job by stealth and deceit, by issuing a... AntiMullah & Sources Inside Iran http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2295391/posts#comment Sat, 18 Jul 2009 08:42:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2294855/posts Another eyewitness account, emailed to us from a very close friend. Made my way down the west side of Laleh Park, large crowd was gathered around a radio listening to Rafi give the sermons, moved down to Keshavarz Blvd, where people had already started to taunt the bassijis who look like teenagers with Darth Vader helmets that was one size too big for them. The main slogans were “Baradar’e basiji chera Baradr Koshi” (”Brother basiji, why do you kill your brother?”, the speaker after Rafi was urging people to shout “death to America” and “death to Israel” people responded in... NIAC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2294855/posts#comment Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:47:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289910/posts Iranians prepared for another violent day of confrontations between demonstrators and security forces on Friday, after riot police used tear-gas against hundreds of demonstrators who defied government warnings and swarmed the streets to commemorate the anniversary of a student massacre in 1999. Jerusaleum Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289910/posts#comment Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:59:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2283010/posts The young Islamic revolutionaries of the late 1970s are now middle aged, and do not wish to slaughter their neighbors. That is why the mullahs have imported killers from abroad: the five thousand or so Hezbollahis who, according to Der Spiegel, have been brought in from Lebanon and Syria. Dissidents on Twitter report clashes with security forces who do not speak Farsi, and there are even some rumors suggesting that Chavez has sent some of his toughs from Venezuela. Who knows? Fausta’s Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2283010/posts#comment Wed, 1 Jul 2009 03:47:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281198/posts MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The United States may have been behind the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old Iranian woman whose fatal videotaped shooting Saturday made her a symbol of opposition to the June 12 presidential election results, the country's ambassador to Mexico said Thursday. "This death of Neda is very suspicious," Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said. "My question is, how is it that this Miss Neda is shot from behind, got shot in front of several cameras, and is shot in an area where no significant demonstration was behind held?" He suggested that the CIA or another intelligence... CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281198/posts#comment Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:45:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279341/posts As we watch the horrors in Iran, it makes us wonder if anything like that could happen in America. In Iran, the mullahs control everything and feel justified in any injustice they commit because of a belief in the rightness of their own actions. Is there anyone like that here? In an answer to that question, Frank Schaeffer wrote a column for the Huffington Post entitled “The Real Lesson of Iran — Beware America’s Republican Mullahs.” Reading it and the comments to it, I came to a realization: people who think the religious right are just like Iranian mullahs are... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279341/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:09:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279246/posts As we watch the horrors in Iran, it makes us wonder if anything like that could happen in America. In Iran, the mullahs control everything and feel justified in any injustice they commit because of a belief in the rightness of their own actions. Is there anyone like that here? In an answer to that question, Frank Schaeffer wrote a column for the Huffington Post entitled “The Real Lesson of Iran — Beware America’s Republican Mullahs.” Reading it and the comments to it, I came to a realization: people who think the religious right are just like Iranian mullahs are... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279246/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:21:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277634/posts We are told that President Barack Obama has said relatively little over the past 10 days because he does not want to feed perceptions that America is "meddling." Fine. He's being overly cautious, in my view. But let's assume his expressed concerns are genuine. Why does he seem to believe that he has only two choices: American meddling or virtual silence? Obama ran for president promising to end the unilateralism of the Bush administration. He ran as a liberal internationalist, a multilateralist of the first order--reaching out to everyone, at all times and with no preconditions. What about a global... The Weekly Standard http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277634/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:58:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277625/posts TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for a second term sometime between July 26 and August 19, state-run media reported Tuesday. Many Iranians who have disputed the official outcome of the June 12 vote have taken to the streets to protest the results. The Guardian Council -- Iran's election authority -- declared Ahmadinejad the winner with 62.63 percent of the vote. His closest rival, Mir Hossein Moussavi, received 33.75 percent, according to official results that surprised experts who expected him to win. The Iranian parliament's board of directors announced Tuesday that Ahmadinejad will be... CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277625/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:48:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277353/posts The widespread protests in Iran, even in the improbable event they deliver presidential challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi to power, are unlikely to dramatically change the country's nuclear ambitions or the strategic complications the West faces in countering Tehran's political gambits across the Middle East. Iran's nuclear program, which Washington alleges is intended to produce atomic weapons, is ingrained in the national psyche. It was begun decades ago and is embraced across the Iranian political spectrum. Its future rests more on the wishes of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the ruling clerics than it does with hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or... LATimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277353/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:54:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276470/posts A backstage struggle among Iran's ruling clerics burst into the open Sunday when the government said it had arrested the daughter and other relatives of an ayatollah who is one of the country's most powerful men. Tehran's streets fell mostly quiet for the first time since a bitterly disputed June 12 presidential election, but cries of "God is great!" echoed again from rooftops after dark, a sign of seething anger at a government crackdown that peaked with at least 10 protesters' deaths Saturday. he killings drove the official death toll to at least 17 after a week of massive street... AP via Breitbart http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276470/posts#comment Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:00:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276381/posts (IsraelNN.com) Extremist Moslems have not dropped their allegations that Pepsi Cola is essentially the code name for a Zionist plot. MEMRI has released an English transcript of an address given by a Muslim religious leader in Egypt this past February, in which he explains that PEPSI is actually an acronym for "Pay Every Penny to Save Israel." Israel National News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2276381/posts#comment Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:31:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275937/posts 12.02 pm. Mousavi tells he's bathed [ritually] for martyrdom Atlantic Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275937/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:56:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275910/posts Iranian riot police beat protesters and fired tear gas as violence erupted in Tehran today when thousands of members of the opposition movement took to the streets in open defiance of the country's supreme leader.... The crackdown on supporters of the reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi confirmed fears that authorities would carry out their threat to suppress protests in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election... Eyewitnesses in Revolution Square reported around 20,000 riot police, made up of Basiji militiamen and soldiers, and armed with rifles, tear gas and water cannons, far outnumbering the hardcore of around 3,000 opposition... Guardian, UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275910/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:40:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275862/posts There is nothing the MSM loves more, than describing hardline Islamic fundamentalists as "conservatives". Ayatollah Khamenei and Ahamadinejad are often referred to as "conservatives" or "ultra-conservatives". Clay Waters shows the bias in the New York Times in this regard: http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2009/20090615153200.aspx Simply because the Mullahs are religious, oppose gay rights, and believe in spending more on defence (nukes), does not make them "conservative" in the Western sense. The Iranian regime is a religious socialist regime, that believes in a big government theocratic system. It has no regard for individual rights and free speech, major pillars of Western-style conservatism. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275862/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:20:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275795/posts The Iranian government has suffered a serious blow to its legitimacy, but that blow is not fatal. Barring dramatic and unlikely changes in the ensuing weeks, the regime will remain intact, by force if necessary. As much as we might like it to be otherwise, that is the reality Washington faces. Critics, including many advocates of engagement with Iran, who argue that Obama's policy of negotiating with Iran has to be delayed or scrapped entirely misread the situation-as do those calling for rhetorical grand gestures from the White House. Lost in the clamor is sober reflection on how best to... THE WEEK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2275795/posts#comment Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:03:17 GMT