Iranian Alert -- June 5, 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.

CHALABI PAYS FOR AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE BLUNDERS

By Safa Haeri
Posted Friday, June 4, 2004

PARIS-WASHINGTON, 4 June. (IPS) As the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI is examining whether Pentagon officials who had frequent contacts with Mr. Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) may have told Iran that American intelligence had broken its secret communications codes, reliable Iranian sources said if the information is correct, Tehran might have swarmed American intelligence agencies with faked information, mostly on its nuclear activities.

Mr. Chalabi, longtime a source of information to the Bush Administration about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) held by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, information that was partly used by President George W. Bush to justify the war against Iraq, but his information came under major criticism after no weapons were found.

He is at the center of a growing controversy over whether he had learned that American intelligence services had cracked Iranian secret communications codes and informed the Iranians about that.

“In case the news is founded, not only Iranian ayatollahs might have their codes to pass on faked information on their military and economic situation, but it could also explain the changes they made in their nuclear projects, particularly transferring some sensitive sites to other places while letting inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog to find the old places, to the satisfaction of the Americans”, a former Iranian intelligence officer told Iran Press Service on condition of anonymity.

Ms. Condoleezza Rice, President Bush 's National Security adviser has promised lawmakers a full investigation on the issue, The Washington Post said.

Rice said that Chalabi, was strongly suspected of informing Iran that the United States had cracked the code.

Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, said the group welcomed any congressional investigations because it had nothing to hide.

The New York Times reported in its Thursday editions that federal investigators have started giving polygraph tests to civilian Pentagon employees in attempt to determine who may have disclosed the highly classified intelligence.

"The number of people who could have leaked this is small, in the dozens or less", former CIA official and National Security Council member Flynt Leverett told The Los Angeles Times.

According to some US sources, an unidentified US official who was drunk at the time allegedly told Chalabi that the United States had broken the Iranian intelligence’s secret code.

During an on-board news conference with reporters as he flew to Singapore Thursday, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he did not know whether officials in the Pentagon have been questioned by the FBI in connection with Chalabi.

"The press is reporting that there is an investigation going on. I do not have personal knowledge of that," he said, adding he was not sure whether anyone in the Pentagon had been questioned.

In Najaf, Iraq, Chalabi told The American news agency Associated Press that reports saying he leaked the highly classified information are "false" and "stupid".

"Where would I get this from?" Chalabi asked. "I have no such information. How would I know anything about that? That's stupid from every aspect."

“The whole of the history, the Chalabi spying for the Iranians and now that he might have give the Iranians CIA’s deciphering Iranian secret communication codes points to one thing: that the Americans are covering up their own misfortunes, placing the blames on Chalabi. This is an old method in secret services”, the former Iranian elite intelligence expert told IPS, referring also to the sudden resignation of George Tenet, the CIA boss.

The Washington Post said Chalabi's attorneys wrote to US Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, telling them the leaks came from "the same individuals within the US government who have undermined the President Bush's policies in Iraq .. and are using Dr. Chalabi as a scapegoat for their own failures".

An intelligence source in Washington said the CIA confirmed its long-held suspicions when it discovered that a piece of information from an electronic communications intercept by the National Security Agency had ended up in Iranian hands. The information was so sensitive that its circulation had been restricted to a handful of officials.

Chalabi, a member of the hand picked Iraqi Governing Council, has also been accused of meddling in an investigation into Iraq's oil-for-food program during the regime of former President Saddam Hussein and is also sought after by the Jordanian government for a 22 millions US Dollars bank embezzlement.

“He (Chalabi) is a crook, a wheeler dealer, but not a person in a position to spy for Iran or misleading the American Administration for attacking Iraq. The best way for the Americans to save face is to sacrifice the smallest and least dangerous collaborator”, he added.

Allegations that Chalabi passed highly sensitive information to Iran have lingered for weeks, and some news organizations were asked by U.S. officials not to report the details about the code breaking because it would endanger an investigation.

"All of this is false," the Islamic Republic's top national security official, Hojjatoleslam Hassan Rohani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council on National Security (SCNS) and the regime’s top negotiator on Iran’s nuclear activities with the Vienna-based IAEA told reporters. "We have no relations in regard to intelligence", he laconically said without emphasising.

“If anything, Rohani is certainly one of the very few who might be informed by Chalabi and then used both him and the old secret codes to massively misinform the Americans”, the intelligence officer added.

"It's pretty clear that Iranians had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner", said an intelligence source in Washington yesterday. "Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the US for several years through Chalabi".

Larry Johnson, a former senior counter-terrorist official at the state department said: "When the story ultimately comes out we'll see that Iran has run one of the most masterful intelligence operations in history. They persuaded the US and Britain to dispose of its greatest enemy".

“This is classic disinformation, for Chalabi was not the only one in the Iraqi Provisory Government to have contacts with Tehran. They all have and some are almost linked physically to the Iranian regime. But Chalabi, because of his close ties with some highly placed American officials, is the one who pays the price for his own folies de grandeurs”, the Iranian intelligence source pointed out.

ENDS CHALABI US IRAN 4604

http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/june/chalabi_us_iran_4604.shtml

UN Says Key Questions Remain About Tehran's Nuclear Plans

Eurasianet - By Golnaz Esfandiari of RFE/RL
Jun 4, 2004
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, said June 2 that the whole issue is "being sorted out" and that the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) shows that there are no more important issues on the matter to be disclosed.

In a confidential report that was made public June 1 by Western news agencies, the IAEA says Iran has admitted to importing technology capable of making weapons-grade uranium. The finding contradicts earlier statements made by Tehran that the parts were made by Iran itself. The IAEA also says fresh traces of highly enriched uranium have been found in the country.

Highly enriched uranium is a key ingredient in the production of nuclear weapons. Rowhani again blamed imported equipment for the contamination and urged the IAEA to carry out more inspections to prove the point.

Robin Batthy, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group based in Amman, told RFE/RL, "[The IAEA revelations] certainly sound significant, and in general, the longer-term problem remains that the issue here is not simply whether Iran may or may not have military research programs with regard to nuclear power, but the pattern of evasion that has been manifested in the past with regard to it."

While the IAEA gives credit to Iran for opening up its nuclear program, the agency says many issues about Tehran’s nuclear intentions remain unresolved. The IAEA also criticizes Iran for continuing centrifuge production despite announcing that such activities had stopped. Under international pressure, Iran last year said it would stop its uranium-enrichment activities and allow snap inspections of its nuclear sites.

Rowhani said local production of centrifuge equipment would continue for the time being, since Iranian officials have not yet reached an agreement with three private-sector production facilities involved in making centrifuge parts.

Despite the new concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei said June 1 that UN inspectors have not found concrete proof of a military nuclear program. El-Baradei said it is premature to make such judgments but that the jury is still out whether Iran’s nuclear program is dedicated exclusively to peaceful purposes.

The IAEA’s latest report on Iran is due to be discussed at the agency’s next board of governors meeting on 14 June.

In an interview with the Associated Press before the report was made public, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton accused Iran of engaging in "denial and deception" and said Washington is determined to have Tehran answer to the UN Security Council. Washington accuses Tehran of pursuing a clandestine weapons program. Iran rejects the accusation and says its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.

Recently, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned that Tehran might resume uranium enrichment and no longer allow snap inspections of the country’s nuclear sites if the UN does not recognize its cooperation. Khatami called the IAEA’s 14 June board meeting very important, but acknowledged that Iran’s case might not be resolved at that meeting.

Iran came under criticism for not providing full details about its nuclear activities in a statement last October from the IAEA. Batthy from the International Crisis Group said it is likely the IAEA will issue a compromise resolution. "Chances are you will again see a search for a compromise solution which will ultimately be satisfactory both to those advocates of a stronger response and [to] Iran itself, with the overall goal of continuing to keep Iran within the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] regime and avoid driving it out, which would be, of course, the risk were this to be referred to the Security Council," he said.

The United Sates has been pushing for the issue to be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. European countries have advocated dialogue rather than confrontation.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6479.shtml

Sharon hints at assurances from Bush on Iran nuke threat

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, June 3, 2004

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asserted that Irael had reached an understanding with the United States concerning Iran's nuclear weapons arsenal.

Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday that he and President George Bush agreed to a series of strategic understandings concerning Israel's defensive posture in the Middle East. Sharon said the understandings were among the benefits offered by the Bush administration for the prime minister's pledge to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank.

The prime minister said one of the U.S. benefits concerned "defense against a weapons of mass destruction attack against Israel," a participant at the meeting said. Sharon did not elaborate. But the participant said the reference was to Iran's emerging nuclear weapons program.

Over the last two weeks, Sharon's Cabinet has been mulling revisions to the plan, Middle East Newsline reported. A key aide of the prime minister met U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on June 1 to report on Sharon's efforts to win Cabinet approval of the withdrawal program.

Earlier, Israeli sources said Bush and Sharon discussed Iran's nuclear weapons program without their aides during their White House summit on April 14.

[On June 1, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency informed Congress that the United States intends to sell the Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs, to Israel. The Pentagon agency said the sale could total $319 million.]

U.S. analysts and government sources said the Bush administration has discussed the prospect of an Israeli air strike at several levels of government. They said the issue has been examined in terms of the diplomatic, military and security implications for the United States, particularly its military presence in Iraq and the Persian Gulf region.

"Our focus is on getting Iran to end its nuclear program, and we are continuing to work with the international community to urge Iran to take to end its nuclear programs," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said on Wednesday.

The administration has not linked the Sharon plan with any U.S. pledge regarding Iranian or Middle East WMD programs. But U.S. officials said any White House guarantees provided to Sharon were restricted to the plan presented to the administration in April.

"We support that plan and no other plan," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday. "So we have not been presented with any other plan at this point. We went through this very carefully with the Israelis and found that we could support this plan."

The Bush administration has been concerned by the muted but repeated Israeli warnings that the Jewish state would not tolerate the development of an Iranian nuclear arsenal. Over the last year, Sharon has been urged by leading Israeli strategists to consider a preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israeli military intelligence has assessed that Iran could achieve indigenous nuclear weapons capability in 2005.

"Israel will do whatever possible to prevent an enemy coalition from being formed and from coming into possession of WMD [weapons of mass destruction]," a panel of Israeli and U.S. strategists said in a report to Sharon in April. "This could include pertinent preemptive strikes – conventional – against enemy WMD development, manufacturing, storage, control and deployment centers. This recommendation is consistent both with longstanding international law regarding 'anticipatory self-defense' and with the newly-stated defense policy of the United States of America."

In his session with the Knesset committee, Sharon outlined his four-stage withdrawal plan from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. In the first stage, Israel would dismantle the communities of Kfar Darom, Morag and Netsarim; in the second stage, Israel would evacuate the northern West Bank communities of Ganim, Homesh, Kadim and Sa-Nur.

In the third stage, Israel would withdraw from the Gush Katif bloc of communities. In the last stage, the communities of the northern Gaza Strip, including Alei Sinai, Dugit and Nissanitm, would be dismantled.

For his part, Bush asserted in a speech to U.S. Air Force cadets that Sharon's plan would facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Bush said the Sharon plan requires the support of what he termed reform-minded Palestinians to "step forward and lead and meet their road map obligations."

"Prime Minister Sharon's plan to remove all settlements from Gaza and several from the West Bank is a courageous step toward peace," Bush said.

"His decision provides an historic moment of opportunity to begin building a future Palestinian state. This initiative can stimulate progress toward peace by setting the parties back on the road map, the most reliable guide to ending the occupation that began in 1967."

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/front_1.html

Iran's hardline cleric says US, British and Israelis "warring against God"

IranMania News
June 5th 2004

TEHRAN, June 4 (AFP) - Top Iranian hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janati on Friday accused the United States, Britain and Israel of "warring against God" and said their nationals should be made to feel unsafe wherever they are.

"If the Muslims do not know security, the Americans, British and the Israelis should not know security, for they are "moharebs" (warring against God)," Janati said at Friday prayers in Tehran, broadcast by state media.

"It is the duty of all Muslims and ardent non-Muslims to stand against the Americans, the British and the Israelis and to endanger their interests worldwide."

His comments sparked chants of "Death to the United States", "Death to England" and "Death to Israel" from the thousands who gathered for Friday prayers at Tehran University campus.

Janati, who heads the Guardians Council, a conservative vetting body, also distanced himself from the insurgency against the US-led occupation forces in Iraq by radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr.

He urged Iraqis to unite behind Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the top Shiite cleric in Najaf, a holy Shiite city where Sadr's men are battling US troops.

The Americans "are here to fight Iraqi people, Kurds, Arabs, Shiites and Sunnis, in addition to Islam, so do not fight one another, and come under the umbrella of Ayatollah Sistani, for the clerics are your path to salvation," he said.

Iran has repeatedly called for an end to the occupation of neighbouring Iraq, a withdrawal of the US-led forces, and a transfer of power to Iraqis.

It has expressed anger at fighting in the Najaf and Karbala between coalition troops and Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, saying the violence "desecrated" sacred sites.

http://www.iranmania.com/news/040604c.asp

U.S. says Chalabi sought Iran's help in 1995 plan to oust Saddam

WASHINGTON - Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician suspected by U.S. authorities of having told Iran this spring that its communications code had been broken, was involved in another intercept episode nine years ago, according to senior administration officials.

Officials recounted Thursday an incident in early 1995 when Chalabi's name turned up in an encrypted Iranian cable reporting a purported CIA-backed plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein. The message was intercepted by U.S. intelligence and caused a major stir in Washington.

The incident arose at a time Chalabi was in northern Iraq, working with CIA support against Saddam. The CIA case officer working with Chalabi at the time was Robert Baer.

In his 2001 book, "See No Evil," Baer wrote that the plot to kill Saddam was phony, concocted by Chalabi in hopes of enticing Iranian support for his Iraqi opposition efforts.

To prove to the Iranians that he had U.S. support to go after Saddam, Chalabi forged a letter on U.S. National Security Council stationery that asked him to contact the Iranian government for help, Baer wrote. The letter said Washington had dispatched an "NSC team" to northern Iraq headed by Robert Pope, a fictitious name.

In a meeting with Iranian intelligence officers, Chalabi left the letter on his desk while he took a phone call, knowing the Iranians would read it, Baer wrote.

The Iranian intelligence officers sent an encrypted message to Tehran about Chalabi's supposed plot, officials said Thursday. The United States intercepted the transmission.

The contents of the 1995 intercept became the basis of a report that circulated in Washington intelligence and law enforcement circles, an official recalled. The result was not only deep distrust within the CIA for Chalabi, but also an FBI investigtion of Baer.

Shortly after the intercept, Chalabi's militia forces and Kurdish fighters went ahead with a coup attempt, launching a three-city strike against Saddam's troops. But the offensive quickly foundered.

The White House, having warned Chalabi not to proceed because Iraqi intelligence had learned of the operation, declined to provide air power to help him. Saddam's troops crushed the attackers, leaving the CIA angry that it had funded such a fiasco and infuriating top Clinton administration officials.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=54&u_sid=1113551

Want to Prosper? Then Be Tolerant

Paul Johnson, 06.21.04, 12:00 AM ET

In economic activities the greatest of virtues is tolerance. All societies flourish mightily when tolerance is the norm, and our age furnishes many examples of this. China began its astounding commercial and industrial takeoff only when Mao Zedong's odiously intolerant form of communism was scrapped in favor of what might be called totalitarian laissez-faire.

India is another example. It is the nature of the Hindu religion to be tolerant and, in its own curious way, permissive. Under the socialist regime of Jawaharlal Nehru and his family successors the state was intolerant, restrictive and grotesquely bureaucratic. That has largely changed (though much bureaucracy remains), and the natural tolerance of the Hindu mind-set has replaced quasi-Marxist rigidity.

In the last fiscal year India's GDP grew an estimated 8%, and in the third quarter, 10%. India's economy for the first time is expanding faster than China's. For years India was the tortoise, China the hare. The race is on, and my money's on India, because freedom--of movement, speech, the media--is always an economic asset.

When left to themselves, Indians (like the Chinese) always prosper as a community. Take the case of Uganda's Indian population, which was expelled by the horrific dictator Idi Amin and received into the tolerant society of Britain. There are now more millionaires in this group than in any other recent immigrant community in Britain. They are a striking example of how far hard work, strong family bonds and a devotion to education can carry a people who have been stripped of all their worldly assets.

Common Denominator

The contrast between China and India--both moving steadily to join the advanced countries of the world--and those countries where Islam is dominant is marked. Whatever its merits may be, Islam is not famed for tolerance. Indeed, of the major world religions it is the least broad-minded and open to argument. With the rise of a new form of fundamentalism in recent decades, its intolerance has been growing--as has the concomitant poverty.

In the past when an Islamic society has been modified by a strong secular influence, economic progress has been possible. Take Iraq. Until 1958 the British-influenced Nuri as-Said regime, which was comparatively tolerant in its outlook, made good use of the country's oil revenues. The Iraq Development Board was doing an excellent job. Had it been allowed to continue, this enlightened form of capitalist state planning would by now have made Iraq one of the richest countries in the world. Alas, the regime was too tolerant of extremists. In 1958 Nuri as-Said and all his colleagues were murdered by an alliance of Baathist officers and religious fanatics. Since then Iraq's oil revenues have been wasted on war and armaments, and its people brutalized almost beyond belief.

The tale in Iran is similar. Under the secular regime of the last Shah the economy was going great guns, but then the Shah wasdriven out by the Ayatollah Khomeini and his zealots. Some Iranians believed the modernizing and industrialization were happening too fast. But at least Iran had been moving forward--incomes had risen and poverty was on the wane. Since the Iranian revolution this great and once highly civilized country has stagnated or gone backward, and all the money generated by its oil has been wasted.

There are many other examples. Algeria once had a flourishing agricultural sector, a significant industrial sector and highly productive oil and gas fields, but it has little to show for all that now. Libya's Muammar Qaddafi may have come to his senses, but a generation of rich oil production has been wasted. Nigeria, where Islam is on the ascent, has also dissipated its oil wealth. Conditions there are less promising today than when Britain was in charge a half-century ago.

Saudi Arabia is another country where intolerance has held back economic advance. No nation has received more cash from its natural resources than has this Sunni Muslim state, with its ferocious tradition of Wahhabi fundamentalism. What's happened to the wealth? Gone with the wind of bigotry. Some of the other oil-rich Gulf states have done a little better, but in none of them do enterprise and free-market capitalism flourish.

As for the less well endowed Islamic states like Pakistan and Bangladesh, it's better to draw a veil over their misery. On the evidence of the second half of the 20th century it would appear that Islamic state control is a formula for continuing poverty, and Islamic fundamentalism a formula for extreme poverty.

The more I study history, the more I deplore the existence of those--be they clerics, bureaucrats or politicians--who think they know what's best for ordinary people and impose it on them. We have a pungent example of this know-all mentality in the EU. The bureaucrats of Brussels have created yet another brand of intolerance that determines by law everything from the shape of bananas to the number of seats in a bus, from apple growing to house plumbing. As a result the German economy is contracting and the French economy is stagnant. There are now more unemployed people in single-currency EU Europe than there have been at any other time since the worst of the 1930s, and many of them will never work again.

Let those of us fortunate enough to live in the U.S. or Britain hang on to our traditions of tolerance at all costs, resisting like fury all those who seek to undermine them with political correctness or any other kind of dogma.

Paul Johnson, eminent British historian and author, Lee Kuan Yew, senior minister of Singapore, and Ernesto Zedillo, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, former president of Mexico, in addition to Forbes Chairman Caspar W. Weinberger, rotate in writing this column. To see past Current Events columns, visit our Web site at www.forbes.com/currentevents.

http://www.forbes.com/columnists/free_forbes/2004/0621/041.html

Imam Al Kabbangi speaks against Al-Sadr, Iran and the Wahhabis

AsiaNews
4 June, 2004

Najaf (AsiaNews) - The moderate Shi'ite Imam, Sadreddin Al Kabbangi, was very clear today in his words criticism of Shi'ite fundamentalists at the Mosque of the Mausoleum of Ali in Najaf. This was his first address following the attack he suffered last Friday and the first since the formation of the new Iraqi government. The Imam was very critical of Shi'ite clerics in Iran and said "the Shi'ites of Iraq are being invaded by Baathists and Wahhabis." Raising the tone, the moderate Imam called on the Shi'ite faithful to make themselves be heard. "What is the point of your silence when our clerics are threatened by militiamen armed with missiles?" he said, referring to the presence of Al-Sadr's militia in the sacred cities of Najaf and Karbala. "How can you accept the killing of Ulemas and attacks against the tomb of the Imam Ali?", he said, whle adding, "all this happens in the name of war against the Americans at a time when matters have nothing to do with hatred against the Americans." Furthermore, the Imam harshly criticized the Iranian satellite broadcaster, Al-Alam, "which defended Saddam Hussein to the end and now defends the Baathists and passes off what is happening in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq as operations of "Islamic resistence".

A prompt reply arrived from the followers of Moqtada Al-Sadr, who were present and armed at the entrance of the mosque. Dozens of Al Sadr supporters entered the mosque and prevented the moderate Shi'ite Imam from completing his address. Crying "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada," the young supporters of the radical Imam Al Sadr, wearing t-shirts on which "Al Mahdi" was written, began chanting "Allah, Mohammed, Ali, give us victory!" Imam Al Kabangi tried to continue his address; it was clear however that the noisy crowd was drowning out his words, so he decided to abandon the pulpit.

Sheik Al Kabbangi escaped from an attack largely believed to have been plotted by Moqtada Al Sadr, on last Friday, May 28. Hundreds of people marched immediately following prayer services today in Najaf to protest against the attack against Al Kabbangi. The protesters began their march from the offices of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution, chanting slogans in favour of Muslim unity.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1147961/posts

Iraqi cleric speaks against Al-Sadr, Iran and the Wahhabis

Asia News - Report Section
Jun 5, 2004

Najaf - The moderate Shi'ite Imam, Sadreddin Al Kabbangi, was very clear today in his words criticism of Shi'ite fundamentalists at the Mosque of the Mausoleum of Ali in Najaf. This was his first address following the attack he suffered last Friday and the first since the formation of the new Iraqi government. The Imam was very critical of Shi'ite clerics in Iran and said "the Shi'ites of Iraq are being invaded by Baathists and Wahhabis." Raising the tone, the moderate Imam called on the Shi'ite faithful to make themselves be heard. "What is the point of your silence when our clerics are threatened by militiamen armed with missiles?" he said, referring to the presence of Al-Sadr's militia in the sacred cities of Najaf and Karbala. "How can you accept the killing of Ulemas and attacks against the tomb of the Imam Ali?", he said, whle adding, "all this happens in the name of war against the Americans at a time when matters have nothing to do with hatred against the Americans." Furthermore, the Imam harshly criticized the Iranian satellite broadcaster, Al-Alam, "which defended Saddam Hussein to the end and now defends the Baathists and passes off what is happening in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq as operations of "Islamic resistence".

A prompt reply arrived from the followers of Moqtada Al-Sadr, who were present and armed at the entrance of the mosque. Dozens of Al Sadr supporters entered the mosque and prevented the moderate Shi'ite Imam from completing his address. Crying "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada," the young supporters of the radical Imam Al Sadr, wearing t-shirts on which "Al Mahdi" was written, began chanting "Allah, Mohammed, Ali, give us victory!" Imam Al Kabangi tried to continue his address; it was clear however that the noisy crowd was drowning out his words, so he decided to abandon the pulpit.

Sheik Al Kabbangi escaped from an attack largely believed to have been plotted by Moqtada Al Sadr, on last Friday, May 28. Hundreds of people marched immediately following prayer services today in Najaf to protest against the attack against Al Kabbangi. The protesters began their march from the offices of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution, chanting slogans in favour of Muslim unity.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6488.shtml

Europe's big three to push for "cooperation" with Iran over nuclear program

AFP - World News (via Yahoo)
Jun 5, 2004

VIENNA - Europe's big three -- Britain, France and Germany -- are not ready to break off cooperation with Iran in uncovering its nuclear secrets despite damning new revelations from the UN nuclear watchdog, diplomats said.

The Euro-3 told a meeting of European Union states in Vienna Friday that they are to present a resolution stressing continued cooperation with Iran when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets in the Austrian capital on June 14, according to diplomats.

The United States accuses Iran of hiding a program to develop nuclear weapons but is not expected to push for a tough resolution, diplomats said.

They said Washington is not only hampered by the situation in Iraq, where it needs Iran to at least not inflame the Shiite population, but also does not have support at the IAEA for its hardline stance.

The United States has called for the IAEA, which has been investigating the Iranian program since February 2003, to refer the Islamic Republic to the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions.

Washington accused Iran last week of continuing to hide clandestine nuclear activities, after an IAEA report said agency inspectors had found more traces in Iran of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that could be bomb-grade.

This cast serious doubt on Iran's claim that the HEU contamination came from imported equipment rather than HEU it had introduced or tried to make.

The IAEA also reported that Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian purposes, has admitted to importing parts for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges for enriching uranium, going back on claims that it had manufactured the parts domestically.

HEU is made by centrifuges and can be fuel for nuclear reactors or the explosive in an atom bomb.

The EU-3 had struck in October 2003 an agreement with Iran to work with the IAEA, including building confidence with a voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment, and the Europeans are still holding to this line despite Iran's failure to halt all enrichment-related activities and failure to fully disclose its nuclear program.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6487.shtml

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