Iranian Alert -- May 15, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anger raises among Iranian Diaspora on Ebadi's controversial stands

SMCCDI (Information Service)
May 14, 2004

Anger is raising among the Iranian Diaspora following the continuation of controversial stands and anti US rhetoric's by Shirin Ebadi.

More and more Iranian exiles are getting upset about her dual stands and persistent efforts to promote the false idea of the possibility of reforms from within the frame of the ruling theocracy. Many of them, just as like as many Iranians of inside, see in Ebadi a new version of demagogy which was made by Mohamad Khatami and his groups for nearly 7 years and bought more time for the Islamic regime by inducing many World leaders in error.

While many Iranians are using the US based Persian talk radio and TV networks for denouncing Ms. Ebadi at the issue of each of her speeches made in the US, several Iranians residing in Los Angles are intending to size the opportunity offered by her today's presence, from 04:00 PM, at the UCLA in order to organize protest actions. Several of them have been able to procure entry tickets despite the strict selection made by Ebadi's meetings organizers and are intending, just as like as in Vancouver and WDC, to bypass the closed Q&A session and to ask her to take a final stand and to show if she's with the People or the Regime.

SMCCDI Coordinator requested, yesterday and during a program broadcasted by the Los Angeles based Lahze TV Network, from all Iranians having principles to try to get into the conference room and to protest against any demagogy and Ebadi's stands by questionning him on issues related to Iran and its people. Aryo Pirouznia had warned also the Iranians about the prospect of a new "reformist" policy promoted by circles affiliated or benefiting from the Islamic regime during several interviews, such as the one, broadcasted last week by the popular NITV following Ebadi's trip to the US.

Already SMCCDI had raised concerns following Ebadi's nomination last year. A Statement entitled "The Nobel Peace Prize and her Historic Duty" warned Ms. Ebadi on any kind of future deviation from the aspirations of the Iranian people striving for Freedom and Democracy. A Persian copy of the statement was e.mailed to Ms. Ebadi and a hard copy of it was remitted to her at the Paris Airport by the Movement's representative in France telling her that "She's carrying the hopes of many Iranians and may that she doesn't deceive them".

The original statement in Persian and its English translation are availabel on this website.

To better understand the situation, one must remember that many Iranians first welcomed Ebadi’s sudden nomination for the Nobel Peace Price by believing that she could be a catalyst for change. Tired of nearly a quarter of a century of a dictatorial and theocratic rule by Iranian mullahs and deceived by seven years of empty promises on even small possibilities of "reforms within the frame of their current regime," many Iranians preferred to see her as a light glowing at the end of a dark tunnel by not discussing the strange conditions of her rushed nomination coinciding with a short three-day trip to France. Her nomination was all the more tarnished by Poland’s 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Walesa's critique and the Nobel Committee’s advanced excuses of not being able to reach her sooner, which were at first ignored by many Iranians.

Back from her short trip, thousands of Iranians sized the occasion by gathering at Tehran Airport and shouting slogans in favor of freedom and against Iran's current leadership including its "reformist" President. But deception soon took place when Iranians witnessed that their "Angel of Freedom" started to shift from many of her initial positions by becoming more of a governmental speaker than a rights activist like the brave and courageous Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar. Many Iranians were shocked when Ms. Ebadi stated that "she kisses the hands of the Islamic Parliament members" and called for a "massive participation for their re-election of the very same MPs" that saw their mass rejection in the boycott of Iran's last elections by a majority of Iranians tired of such games. Ebadi's countrymen's deception reached its culmination when they heard her saying that "she would have voted for Mr. Khatami if he could have run again.” In their minds, their first Nobel peace prize recipient became the advocate of the very same rejected and incompetent President asked to resign by thousands of Iranian demonstrators defying his brutal and evil regime.

Worst, they saw her taking the defense of Taliban and Al-Qaeda members held at the afar Guantanamo Bay for mass murder and terror while she kept silent about the fate of hundreds of brave Iranians and students held at her nearby Evin and Qhasr prisons for the crime of aspiring for freedom and democracy. The only prisoners having benefited from Ms. Ebadi's public support were at a certain point part of the 1979 revolution or close to moderate religious circles. Held secularists or those calling, like many Iranians, for a Referendum were not able to benefit from her public support as they have put to question the existence of the regime in its totality. Maverick Iranian women also saw their hope in Ms. Ebadi dashed when she intervened on several occasions against the French law on the ban of the Islamic veil and any religious signs in France's traditional secular public schools. They were astonished at how she affirmed on several occasions her obeisance to her country’s repressive law of the mandatory wearing of the veil by women and her keeping her silence on the fate of thousands of her sisters killed, injured, arrested or fined for having chosen to defy the discriminatory and cruel law existing in Iran.

Most likely, knowing the deception she has caused among a young population aspiring for secularism and tired of seeing its genuine aspirations to be somehow labeled by foreign diplomats as variances of Religious Protestantism or Reformist Islamism, and especially the big possibility of a popular hostile demonstration were the main reasons behind the organization of her second return to Iran in a very silent and strange manner. This time, despite having officially received the Nobel award, she returned by one of the Tehran airport's small doors. The official invoked the reason was the fear for her life due to a tract attributed to one of the several hard-line Islamist groups which Iranian leaders and their strategists have shown so many times as their Savoir de faire in their sudden opportune creations.

Of course, it is of note that in any case Ms. Ebadi would not have risked her precious life if she would have only kept her initial word of staying afar from political issues instead of choosing to become an advocator of rejected factions of the current regime and Iran's minor soft opposition from within the Islamic republic.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6200.shtml

IAEA unable to clear Iran of all suspicions so far

15.05.2004, 05.14

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Itar-Tass) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency is still unprepared to clear Iran of all suspicions its nuclear program may be weaponized, IAEA Executive Director Mohammed ElBaradei has said.

"We will close the file when we have dealt with all the issues that require to be investigated," said ElBaradei, whose board of governors will meet in June on Iran's nuclear activities.

Tehran "has the know how" to enrich uranium but there is no proof that it had been processed to a military level, he said.

The United States suspects Iran harbors nuclear ambitions and it has been urging the international community, in the first place, Russia and the European Union, to stop any cooperation with Iran in the nuclear field.

Iran has strongly dismissed these charges and promised to submit to the IAEA the full account of its peaceful activity in the nuclear field in the middle of May.

In the meantime, the last group of IAEA specialists is about to finish inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Their findings are to be included in El-Baradei’s report to be made at the IAEA board of governors meeting in June before a final decision on the Iranian nuclear dossier is made.

Russia believes that Iran has been accused of breaching the nuclear arms non-proliferation treaty without any serious reason. Moscow hails Teheran’s active and constructive cooperation with the IAEA. It wants the IAEA’s remaining concerns to be cleared up and confidence-building measures continued, including Iran’s voluntary commitment to freeze all uranium enrichment work.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=816323&PageNum=0

Iraqi holy cities ‘red line’ warns Iran

TEHRAN: Iran and Shiite Muslim leaders warned the United States on Friday that the Iraqi holy cities of Najaf and Karbala were "red lines" not is crossed. "We are concerned at the intensification of the fighting in Iraq especially in Najaf and Karbala, and we condemn the killing of innocent Iraqis," said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

"The responsibility for the insecurity in Iraq falls on the occupiers, and we want the occupying forces to leave Iraq as soon as possible and give authority back to the Iraqis," he added. Explosions and gunfire Friday as US forces sought to crush an insurgency by renegade Shiite cleric Moqtadar Sadr ahead of the June 30 return of sovereignty shook Najaf.

The heaviest fighting occurred in and around Najaf’s cemetery, considered sacred ground by Shiite Muslims who form the majority in Iraq and neighbouring Iran. There were also running clashes this week in Karabala in which tens of Sadr militiamen were killed, although the cleric has vowed to continue his fight. Almost 90 percent of Iranians are Shiites, while Najaf and Karabala are home to some of the sect’s most sacred sites.

Iran vehemently opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, despite having fought an eight-year war until 1988 with its neighbour in which more than one million dead were killed on both sides. In Beirut, a Shiite Muslim leader had a stern warning for the Americans. "The holy cities of Najaf and Karbala have been the object for several days of a barbaric and savage attack by the American occupation forces.

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en64588&F_catID=&f_type=source

Iran, Saudi Arabia Call For United Islamic World to Confront Iraq's Occupiers

AMMAN (IRNA) -- Iran and Saudi Arabia's parliament speakers in a meeting here on Wednesday night stressed on need for the Islamic world's unity to confront the occupiers of Iraq. During the meeting on the sidelines of a conference attended by the parliament speakers of Iraq's neighbors, Hojjatoleslam Karrubi said, "The only way to confront the enemies of Islam effectively is to achieve Islamic unity at global level."

He also elaborated on the Islamic Republic of Iran's detente policy and its positive effects on regional cooperation with the country's various neighbors. The parliament speaker added, "The excellent Tehran-Riyadh relations, for instance, has had a significant positive regional and international effect." Expressing deep sorrow over the inhumane torture and massacre of the innocent Iraqis by the uninvited occupiers of their country, Karrubi said, "Ever-more proximity of the world Muslims would annul the inhumane plots hatched against the Iraqi nation by the occupiers."

He also considered the situation in Palestine as extremely complicated, asking for the Muslim nations' cooperation to solve the Palestinians' problems.

The Majlis speaker at the end once again asked for close Parliamentary relations between the two friendly countries. Saudi Arabia's Parliament Speaker Saleh bin-Abdullah bin-Hamid, too, said during the meeting, "The past experience proves that good relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia can benefit both countries, as well as the whole region." Stressing that Riyadh is trying to further deepen and broaden its ties and cooperation with Tehran, the Saudi parliament speaker confirmed, "The Middle East is now facing one of its toughest eras in its history, and the threats against Mideast are serious." The Saudi parliament speaker emphasized at the end on the importance of maintaining excellent relations between the two important regional countries, that he said is to the benefit of the Islamic Ummah, adding, "Further improving the Tehran-Riyadh ties would have a positive effect on Middle East developments."

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/15/2004&Cat=2&Num=002

Another NYTimes Article On Iran:

Velvet Hand, Iron Glove
The NY Times
May 15, 2004
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

I had just about convinced myself that Iran is not a police state — and then the authorities detained me for a second time.

The first time was in Isfahan, for committing journalism. The police apologized and let me go after 30 minutes when my papers were found to be in order. The second time was at Tehran's airport as I was trying to leave, and this time the interrogation was tougher.

"Have you ever been to Israel?" Gulp, yes.

"Are you working for the Israeli government?" Of course not.

"Are you working for the American government?" I tried to explain that my views make me unemployable by either the Bush or Sharon administrations, but the interrogators were weak on both subtlety and humor.

After hinting for 90 minutes that I was a spy and a liar, and that they might hold on to me indefinitely, the interrogators finally let me board my plane. Indeed, toward the end, they seemed worried principally by my threat to write about the encounter.

That episode crystallized an impression that had been forming during my trip through Iran: if it were an efficient police state, it might survive. But it's not. It cracks down episodically, tossing dissidents in prison and occasionally even murdering them (like a Canadian-Iranian journalist last year). But Iran doesn't control information — partly because satellite television is ubiquitous, if illegal — and people mostly get away with scathing criticism as long as they do not organize against the government.

The embarrassing point for us is that while Iran is no democracy, it has a much freer society than many of our allies in the Middle East. In contrast with Saudi Arabia, for example, Iran has (rigged) elections, and two of its vice presidents are women. The Iranian press is not as free as it was a few years ago, but it is now bolstered by blogs (Web logs) and satellite TV, which offer real scrutiny of government officials.

I was astonished that everywhere I went in Iran, people would immediately tell me their names and agree to be photographed — and then say something like, "There is no freedom here."

All this means, I think, that the Iranian regime is destined for the ash heap of history. An unpopular regime can survive if it is repressive enough, but Iran's hard-liners don't imprison their critics consistently enough to instill terror.

Pet dogs, for example, are strongly discouraged in Iran as dirty and contrary to Islam, and traffic police regularly arrest dogs and their owners. But the number of pet dogs is multiplying, and Tehran now has dozens of veterinary clinics.

Many Iranians believe that the Iranian leadership is pursuing a "Chinese model," in which the authorities tolerate personal freedoms but rigidly control politics. But it won't work. In China, the greatest expansion of personal freedoms was followed, in 1989, by the biggest antigovernment demonstrations in Chinese history.

In one country after another (including Iran in 1979), repressive governments have tried to buy time by easing up a tad, and dissidents have used that as leverage to oust the oppressors. I'm convinced that Iran will be the same (although I should acknowledge that my Iranian friends, who know the situation much better, tend to be more pessimistic).

The crisis in legitimacy even manages to create nostalgia for the repressive shah. "Everybody longs for the good old days of the shah," said Amir, a peasant in a village north of Isfahan. "Prices were cheap, and he was good at building the country. If the shah built a road, it would still be good after 30 years. Now if they build a road, it cracks and falls apart in a few years."

Young people constantly told me how they scolded their parents for backing the Islamic Revolution in 1979. As a young woman, Sogand Tayebi, put it, "Those who backed the revolution are now sorry about that."

In the end, I find Iran a hopeful place. Ordinary people are proving themselves irrepressible, and they will triumph someday and forge a glistening example of a Muslim country that is a pro-American democracy in the Middle East.

I treasure a memory from the airport: after I was detained, a security goon X-rayed my bags for the second time and puzzled over my computer equipment. He snarled at me, "American reporters — bad!" The X-ray operator, who perhaps didn't know quite what was going on, beamed at me and piped up, "Americans — very good!"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1136031/posts

US warns citizens of dangers traveling in Iran
(AFP)

15 May 2004

WASHINGTON - The US Department of State on Friday warned US citizens that travel to Iran could be dangerous.

The State Department renewed earlier warnings that citizens carefully weigh the risks of travel to Iran and check the department’s security updates before going.

“Due to ongoing tensions in the region, particularly along the border with Iraq, US citizens may be at higher risk of harassment or kidnapping,” the State Department said in a statement.

The war in neighboring Iraq as well as tensions between the US and Iranian governments have increased the potential threat, the State Department said.

“Some elements of the Iranian government and population remain hostile to the US,” the statement said.

“American citizens may be subject to the possibility of harassment or kidnapping.

“Some areas of the country, including the Baluchistan border area near Pakistan and Afghanistan generally, are not safe for tourism.

“The Kurdish northwest of the country and areas near the Iraqi border are not considered safe either,” the statement said.

The United States does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, it said, “and therefore cannot provide protection or routine consular services to American citizens in Iran.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2004/May/middleeast_May416.xml&section=middleeast

Velvet Hand, Iron Glove

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: May 15, 2004

I had just about convinced myself that Iran is not a police state — and then the authorities detained me for a second time.

The first time was in Isfahan, for committing journalism. The police apologized and let me go after 30 minutes when my papers were found to be in order. The second time was at Tehran's airport as I was trying to leave, and this time the interrogation was tougher.

"Have you ever been to Israel?" Gulp, yes.

"Are you working for the Israeli government?" Of course not.

"Are you working for the American government?" I tried to explain that my views make me unemployable by either the Bush or Sharon administrations, but the interrogators were weak on both subtlety and humor.

After hinting for 90 minutes that I was a spy and a liar, and that they might hold on to me indefinitely, the interrogators finally let me board my plane. Indeed, toward the end, they seemed worried principally by my threat to write about the encounter.

That episode crystallized an impression that had been forming during my trip through Iran: if it were an efficient police state, it might survive. But it's not. It cracks down episodically, tossing dissidents in prison and occasionally even murdering them (like a Canadian-Iranian journalist last year). But Iran doesn't control information — partly because satellite television is ubiquitous, if illegal — and people mostly get away with scathing criticism as long as they do not organize against the government.

The embarrassing point for us is that while Iran is no democracy, it has a much freer society than many of our allies in the Middle East. In contrast with Saudi Arabia, for example, Iran has (rigged) elections, and two of its vice presidents are women. The Iranian press is not as free as it was a few years ago, but it is now bolstered by blogs (Web logs) and satellite TV, which offer real scrutiny of government officials.

I was astonished that everywhere I went in Iran, people would immediately tell me their names and agree to be photographed — and then say something like, "There is no freedom here."

All this means, I think, that the Iranian regime is destined for the ash heap of history. An unpopular regime can survive if it is repressive enough, but Iran's hard-liners don't imprison their critics consistently enough to instill terror.

Pet dogs, for example, are strongly discouraged in Iran as dirty and contrary to Islam, and traffic police regularly arrest dogs and their owners. But the number of pet dogs is multiplying, and Tehran now has dozens of veterinary clinics.

Many Iranians believe that the Iranian leadership is pursuing a "Chinese model," in which the authorities tolerate personal freedoms but rigidly control politics. But it won't work. In China, the greatest expansion of personal freedoms was followed, in 1989, by the biggest antigovernment demonstrations in Chinese history.

In one country after another (including Iran in 1979), repressive governments have tried to buy time by easing up a tad, and dissidents have used that as leverage to oust the oppressors. I'm convinced that Iran will be the same (although I should acknowledge that my Iranian friends, who know the situation much better, tend to be more pessimistic).

The crisis in legitimacy even manages to create nostalgia for the repressive shah. "Everybody longs for the good old days of the shah," said Amir, a peasant in a village north of Isfahan. "Prices were cheap, and he was good at building the country. If the shah built a road, it would still be good after 30 years. Now if they build a road, it cracks and falls apart in a few years."

Young people constantly told me how they scolded their parents for backing the Islamic Revolution in 1979. As a young woman, Sogand Tayebi, put it, "Those who backed the revolution are now sorry about that."

In the end, I find Iran a hopeful place. Ordinary people are proving themselves irrepressible, and they will triumph someday and forge a glistening example of a Muslim country that is a pro-American democracy in the Middle East.

I treasure a memory from the airport: after I was detained, a security goon X-rayed my bags for the second time and puzzled over my computer equipment. He snarled at me, "American reporters — bad!" The X-ray operator, who perhaps didn't know quite what was going on, beamed at me and piped up, "Americans — very good!"

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/15/opinion/15KRIS.html?ex=1085284800&en=94635880b5884497&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Iran: TV Commentary Says "Occupiers" Crossed "Red Line" in Iraq

May 15, 2004
BBC Monitoring Middle East
XETV Fox6

The unrest and instability in Iraq has entered a new phase now that military occupiers have entered the holy city of Najaf and caused the escalation of clashes in Karbala.

It is 14 months that Iraq is under military occupation and is pregnant with bitter and untoward events. Apart from the fact that the occupiers have committed atrocities against human beings, on average, 10 Iraqi civilians, be they women, men children or teenagers, are killed every day. This has infuriated the people of the country and Muslims in the region. Muslim religious principles and beliefs, particularly those of Shi'is, have been encroached upon. This has only infuriated people further and filled them with hatred.

Under the current circumstances, the developments and the crisis in Iraq, which cause concern, can be considered and analysed in terms of a few well-defined criteria. Firstly, the occupying forces have crossed the red lines drawn by the eminent religious sources of emulation and scholars at the Najaf Theological Seminary. Military operations have spilled over into the cities of Najaf and Karbala. This has caused grave concern throughout the Islamic world, particularly among the Iraqi people and the sources of religious emulation in Iraq, as well as outside that country. They are following the matter closely.

Secondly, military clashes have continued, and indeed escalated, in various Iraqi cities. The escalation of the conflict may prepare the ground for wider clashes between the people and the occupying forces. Thirdly, the occupiers' decision to cross the red line and enter sensitive areas, from which they had been barred, can have dangerous consequences. Their decision to do so can make the situation in Iraq unpredictable.

Certainly the existence of holy sites, such as the sacred shrine of the exalted Imam Ali, the first Shi'i Imam, peace be upon him, and the leader of freedom-lovers, Imam Husayn, the third Shi'i Imam, and the ancient Najaf Theological Seminary, has led the people and the sources of religious emulation in Iraq, as well as Shi'is and Muslims in every part of the Islamic world, to interpret any kind of encroachment upon and adventurism in Najaf and Karbala as being tantamount to encroachment upon their sanctities and religious beliefs. Thus they have shown extreme sensitivity to this matter.

It is for that reason that the consequences of any encroachment on those sanctities by the occupying forces will lead to the escalation of the crisis and, as a result, new variables will be introduced into the current crisis in the occupied country of Iraq. This will only further complicate the situation in which the occupying forces find themselves. They will be responsible for any untoward developments.

http://www.fox6.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=0FC3EB07-C991-4C6A-AD81-5EA4B05D184E

Cleric Urges End to Najaf Battle

May 15, 2004
BBC News
BBCi

An aide to the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia Muslims, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has called for an end to the fighting in the holy city of Najaf. American tanks went into the city's ancient cemetery in response to what US forces said were attacks by supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.

It is not known how many people died in the fighting, but one source told the BBC that bodies littered the streets.

Sadr supporters have also attacked the US-led coalition's HQ in Nasiriya.

The Mehdi Army (MA) militants have pinned down foreign and other staff inside the building in the southern city.

Reports say they have also gained control of several strategic points in Nasiriya, including a central bridge.

There has also been fighting in the holy city of Karbala, where at least four Iraqis are said to have been killed.

Fears for holy sites

Heavy fighting in Najaf raged up until Friday afternoon when a pause set in but sporadic gunfire returned after dark.

Mr Sadr's followers showed off four holes in the golden dome of the Imam Ali mosque, one of Shia Islam's holiest sites, accusing the Americans of shelling it.

However, Brig Gen Mark Kimmit, the coalition's deputy operations director, suggested the cleric's own militia may have been responsible for the holes.

"I can just tell you by the looks of where we were firing and where Moqtada's militia was firing, I would put my money that Moqtada caused it," he said.

The BBC's David Willis in Baghdad says the Americans have consistently said they will not encroach on the Imam Ali Shrine but in recent days they have said their patience is wearing thin.

Mr Sadr, who is wanted by the US in connection with the assassination of a rival Shia cleric, launched an uprising against coalition forces last month.

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mohri, aide to Ayatollah Sistani, called on both the US military and Mr Sadr's forces to leave Najaf.

He told Reuters news agency that the fighting was spreading fast and he feared for the holy sites and Ayatollah Sistani's safety.

US troops fired cannon and machine-guns at Shia militants sheltering in the sprawling cemetery, about three kilometres (two miles) from the Imam Ali Shrine, close to where Mr Sadr has taken sanctuary.

And American tanks blocked off roads between Najaf and the nearby holy city of Kufa, in an apparent attempt to prevent Mr Sadr from reaching Kufa for his habitual Friday prayers.

However, Mr Sadr appeared in Kufa to deliver his sermon in which he denounced coalition leaders and condemned Iraqis working for the occupying forces.

In Baghdad's mainly Shia slum of Sadr City, representatives of Mr Sadr urged young men to go to Najaf and join the fight and there were similar militant calls in Iraq's second city, Basra.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3713453.stm

Nuclear Monitor Sees Treaties Weakening

May 15, 2004
The New York Times
Judith Miller

The chief international nuclear weapons monitor warned yesterday that the intricate web of treaties and agreements that limit the spread of nuclear weapons was weakening and could be endangered unless sweeping reforms to the system were made in the United Nations Security Council and elsewhere.

Speaking at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he and President Bush had discussed at the White House working jointly toward a package of measures to bolster the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and on other reforms that he called crucial to stopping the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Specifically, he said, he and the Bush administration had discussed a proposal to spend between $50 million and $100 million over the next five years to better guard stockpiles of highly enriched uranium in atomic power reactors and other sources throughout the world. Experts have warned that terrorists who obtained such material could use it to make nuclear or radiological weapons.

He said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham of the United States would travel to the atomic agency's headquarters in Vienna this month to announce details of the program.

Jeanne Lopatto, spokeswoman for the Energy Department, confirmed that the administration was developing a plan to "accelerate and expand efforts to secure and remove high-risk nuclear and radiological materials.''

Dr. ElBaradei said Mr. Bush and he had also agreed on the need to supplement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the main treaty that seeks to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, and to strengthen both the agency's ability to inspect suspect nuclear facilities and international controls on sales of nuclear technology. Both agreed, he added, on the need to penalize states that opt out of the treaty after acquiring nuclear equipment under the guise of a peaceful program.

He said there was further agreement on the need to find a way to deny countries that refuse to sign the treaty, or those that are suspected of cheating on it, access to technology that enriches uranium or reprocesses fuel that has been used in peaceful nuclear reactors. Such material can also be used in nuclear bombs.

Although he said Mr. Bush and he had disagreed about "some approaches and specific proposals," he said he was struck by the substantial degree of agreement about the need for urgent reform. This assertion by Dr. ElBaradei, an Egyptian citizen who studied law in New York, surprised several who heard the speech, given previous tensions between the atomic agency and the administration over the invasion of Iraq and over charges by some in the administration that the agency has been too tolerant of nuclear cheating and other treaty violations by member nations like Iran.

Dr. ElBaradei said that his agency was not ready to state that Iran was not using its peaceful nuclear program to acquire nuclear weapons, but that Tehran was now cooperating more fully with his agency than it had in the past. In a brief telephone interview after his speech, he said that although he expected to receive a "good deal of information" from Iran in the next two weeks, he did not know whether Iran would clear up questions about its nuclear program in time for his agency's board of governors meeting in June.

He said that while Iran had the technology to enrich uranium, he had no proof that such uranium had been processed to a level adequate to make a nuclear bomb.

"We will close the file when we have dealt with all the issues that require to be investigated," he said.

Iran has been pressing the monitoring agency to state that it does not have a nuclear weapons program, while the Bush administration has been pushing the agency to go to the Security Council with a resolution to punish Tehran for withholding information about its nuclear activities.

Dr. ElBaradei also said North Korea's announcement that it was withdrawing from the nuclear weapons treaty posed one of the most significant challenges to international efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. He expressed disappointment that the United Nations Security Council had failed to act against North Korea in connection with over a decade of the agency's complaints about that country's nuclear activities. The Council's lack of action, he said "has not been optimum."

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Dr. ElBaradei's remarks reflected the growing recognition that the nonproliferation system that had served the world well during the cold war was now unraveling. "There's a consensus that something needs to be done," he said. "But there's not yet consensus on what needs to be done."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/15/international/15nuke.html?ei=1&en=06883aba4efede4a&ex=1085596369&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1084613861-Rn/mQ+OYkv2SE0nZ8ZpHAA

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