Posted on 06/22/2009 2:41:12 PM PDT by lewisglad
The son of the late shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, was Monday carrying in his breastpocket a photograph of the slain protester known as Neda said to have been killed in the Tehran protests.
"I have added her (Neda) to the list of my daughters. She is now forever in my pocket," Pahlavi told AFP fighting back tears, after calling at a press conference for Western media and governments to stand strongly alongside the protest movement in Iran.
The former crown prince of Iran took from his left breastpocket photographs of his wife, Yasmine, and three daughters, Noor, Iman and Farah, and, in the same clutch of images, one of a veiled Neda.
He held them up silently, and stammered an apology for having tears in his eyes.
A video of a blood-drenched young woman, purportedly killed in protests in Tehran, has been flashed around the world via the Internet since it was posted Saturday.
The woman, known only as Neda, has become a symbol of Iranian defiance of the country's Islamic rulers and their insistence that hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won this month's presidential election.
In a speech at the packed National Press Club in Washington, Pahlavi slammed the "brutal violence of the regime's plain-clothes thugs against unarmed people" and urged global media to continue to be "the international artery" of the Iranian protest movement.
"No one will benefit from closing his or her eyes to knives and cables cutting into faces and mouths of our young and old, or from bullets piercing our beloved 'Neda' whose only sin was the quest for freedom -- no one but tyrants and their thugs," Pahlavi said, breaking off his speech as he was overcome by emotion.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
All a CIA plot, right DU?
Gasoline is a weapon.
A granddaughter of the former Shah, that does explain why she would have been singled out as a target.
Jimmy Carter, the gift that keeps on giving.
Don’t laugh. The CIA Angle is already making it’s rounds on Twitter.
I think it was a figure of speech.
The speaker called her his daughter in a symbolic manner. There is no relation.
He meant it rhetorically, as I'm sure you realise.
Yeah they getting shot down by Iranian users on Twitter it funny they put this out
Yes and a few other household chemicals in their proper proportions.
a gallon of gas can make one hell of a fuel/air explosive
I think he was speaking a metaphor.
Still the time is ripe for revolution, and Obama is mum. Damn him.
Starting with the Ayatollahs palace.
Isn't Iran one of those places where we supposedly saw all sorts of folks in the streets shooting automatic weapons into the air?
ML/NJ
Yeah, the problem is getting the mix just right. Too much of one and it does not burn well. Too much of another and it burns too fast.
Now if you can get your hands on some INDUSTRIAL chemicals, methyl alcohol, nitric acid, sulfuric acid .... then you can really start with the fun stuff. However, handle with EXTREME caution.
Damn, I hope no-one puts out the right mixture on Twitter.
Gasoline in a bottle with a lit rag is called a “Molotov cocktail” after the Russian General Molotov who recommended they be used against the Germans.
Of course what they really need is GUNS.
Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun.
Staerting with the Ayatollahs. And Almond Joy.
Major train accident in DC...Only peons were invoved.. but the world was saved from global warming.
Joe Biden could not be reached for comment
I know nothing about what Pahlavi has been doing for the past thirty years? Is he an opportunistic bystander, trying to jump on a bandwagon here? Or has he been doing anything meaningful to promote freedom in Iran?
This escalates the issue tenfold. He could be a legitimate leader in Iran.
Thank you to the jillion or so folks who clarified this to me. Mea culpa. You can stop now!
I do recall on other occasions when things were dicey he would speak up, I believe he wants a free Iran. I think he has been in the West long enough to know he would not return as a true king but maybe more as a figurehead.
And yet, given what he caused, he keeps on blabbering!
You’d think he and Kennedy who decided to depose the Shah and cause all this would have the smarts to shut up.
At World Cup in Germany many ex pat Iranians carried the Iranian flag with the symbol of the former Shah.
He continues to be loved by many in and out of Iran.
I remember him as this rail-thin kid with thick black hair. It’s shocking to see him today. In 1979, I was a rail-thin kid with thick black hair. And it’s shocking to see me today.
Was Jimmy Carter also involved in that?
"We do not know what happen to the woman".
Some "journalist"! Hey Bill, SHE DIED, they buried her YESTERDAY, the Iranian government refused to allow people to come to her burial and Neda has become THE FACE of the Iranian revolution, like "Tank Man" in communist China.
I often wonder where Bill O’Reilly spends his time. He is one of the most poorly informed people on tv. This is just one example of a long list.
Gas, bottle, rag and match. let they who would stop peaceful demonstrations know what it is like to face the wrath of an enraged citizenry.
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*** IRAN POLITICS AND CULTURE PING LIST *** FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT TO JOIN ***
A beautiful speech delivered in impeccable English
THE TEXT OF REZA PAHLAVI’S SPEECH:
VIDEO OF REZA PAHLAVI’S SPEECH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zv5VMShOyk
REZA PAHLAVI OF IRAN Opening Remarks
THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB WASHINGTON, D.C. JUNE 22ND, 2009
WASHINGTON, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you all for coming. Thank you for your time, and attention to the cry for freedom and democracy on the streets of Iran. I can tell you, first hand, how much my compatriots are appreciative of your generous attention to their plight. The best I can do for you today is to recount what my fellow Iranians tell me about their conditions, hopes and fears.
Bear in mind that for the great majority of Iranians born after the Islamic Revolution, the unfolding events are the most significant transforming experiences of their collective memory. The courage of their convictions gives hope for peace and democracy in the most troubling region of the world. On the other hand, their defeat will encourage extremism from the shores of the Levant, to the energy jugular of the world. At the very least it will threaten regional tranquility and global economic recovery through fears of terrorism, slowdown of globalization and steeply higher energy prices. At worst, fanatical tyrants - who know that the future is against them - may end their present course on their terms: a nuclear holocaust.
But which will it be? That is the question of the day. My message to you is: do not underestimate the role you play in the outcome. International media are already the information artery connecting different parts of the freedom movement in Iran. That is why the regime has ominously warned media, that only officially approved reports can be dispatched out of the country. Having restricted the return path of media, they are also jamming electronic transmission and restricting internet traffic into the country. But it is the third leg of communication, from people to people, from one resistance cell to another, and from leaders to supporters inside Iran, of which the regime is most fearful. They cannot fight people who stand together. Only an information blackout can isolate individuals, so that they can be oppressed separately. Thus the outcome of this struggle will depend on your ability, the free media, to fight their blackout with the light of information.
Your second contribution is keeping your political leaders informed about the brutal violence of the regime’s plain-clothes thugs against unarmed people. Your governments have insisted that they would not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. I applaud that. Any such attempt will give the tyrants the excuse they need to paper over their own differences, and target every man struggling for freedom as a foreign agent. But that is not all they do. They are painting every statement in defense of human rights as foreign interference, benefiting from the confusion between the two. It is vital that the free world not fall for such cruel cynicism in the name of realpolitik.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights knows no national boundaries. Its defense is not only a matter of ethics, but a mutual obligation of all governments who are its signatories. It is also in their interest. No one will benefit from closing his or her eyes to knives and cables cutting into faces and mouths of our young and old, or from bullets piercing our beloved “Neda” whose only sin was the quest freedom - no one, no one but tyrants and their thugs. Do not let them define what is disrespect for sovereignty, what is interference in others’ affairs.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A movement was born on the 22nd of Khordad in my calendar, the 12th of June in yours. It is not Islamic or anti-Islamic, it is not for capitalism or socialism, nor any other ideology or specific form of government. It cares little about historical squabbles before its birth. It is about the sanctity, even more, the sovereignty of the ballot box. It may not succeed immediately. It may have ebbs and flows. But, let me assure you it will not die, because we will not let it die.
A week later, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic decided to stand erect as a dam in front of this movement, sanctioning theft of the ballot box and flagrant fraud, all in the name of Islam. It was an ugly moment of disrespect for both God and man. It will not stand. The citizens of Iran will not stand it. And at the end, he will not stand.
Rest assured, the Movement of 22nd of Khordad, already invested with the blood of my brave countrymen, with energy and support in every corner of Iran and the globe will not rest until it achieves unfettered democracy and human rights in Iran.
SOURCE Reza Pahlavi
Thank you, jammah cahter!
Nope. That's the Arab countries or Afghanistan/Pakistan. All tribal societies.
Iran is very urban and detribalized since almost a century and under the islamic regime the people are disarmed. Prior to the Revolution it was possible to own privately guns. No more... typical for tyrannies.
The only folks with guns in Iran are the regime militias and "security forces".
He is not aching to get the throne. He wants a popular referendum on the form of state. He is open to be either President or King if this is what the people wants. http://www.rezapahlavi.org/
“I know nothing about what Pahlavi has been doing for the past thirty years?””Or has he been doing anything meaningful to promote freedom in Iran?”
Try entering keyword Pahlavi or RezaPahlavi into the FR Search for starts
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