Iranian Alert -- May 2, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

The Iranian Student Movement Up To The Minute Reports ^ | 5.2.2004 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!

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

[TomEwall]

If Carter had handled the situation better, Iran might already have become an ally.

[DoctorZIn]

Join Us At Today's Iranian Alert Thread – The Most Underreported Story Of The Year!

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

[DoctorZIn]

Agreed.

[ConservativeVoice]

PING

[DoctorZIn]

Bush Says Democracy in Iraq has Message for Damascus and Tehran

May 01, 2004
BBC News
BBCi

A year after declaring an end to major combat operations in Iraq, US President Bush has been defending his comments.

After the worst month for US forces in Iraq, his critics have been focusing on the speech made against a background of a banner saying "mission accomplished".

"Life for the Iraqi people is a world away from the cruelty and corruption of Saddam's regime," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address.

But he warned of the challenges still to be faced.

"Illegal militias and remnants of the regime, joined by foreign terrorists, are trying to take by force the power they could never gain by the ballot," he said.

"These groups have found little support among the Iraqi people."

Mr Bush also acknowledged that there is likely to be more violence in the run-up to the 30 June handover of sovereignty.

"We will not be intimidated or diverted. On 1 July, and beyond, our reconstruction and military commitment will continue."

'Not in vain'

The BBC's Nick Childs in Washington says Mr Bush made no apologies for last year's remarks but instead he attempted to put the best gloss on the current situation.

Without mentioning the heavy toll suffered in April, the president said that US forces are "sacrificing greatly".

But he told the families of the soldiers who had died that "their loss is not in vain".

"The success of Iraqi democracy would send forth the news, from Damascus to Tehran, that freedom can be the future of every nation."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3677045.stm

[DoctorZIn]

Saudi Militants Raise Stakes in Battle of Wills

May 01, 2004
Reuters
Dominic Evans

RIYADH -- Militants in Saudi Arabia took their battle against pro-U.S. Saudi rulers to a new level by targeting vital economic facilities in the Gulf state, killing five Westerners in a shooting spree in an oil city.

Saturday's attack in the industrial hub of Yanbu was the first to target a petrochemical complex in the country, the world's largest oil exporter.

Saudi Arabia said the shooting was carried out by workers who used their passes to access the tightly secured site and gun down the five engineers -- two Americans, two Britons and an Australian employed by Swiss-based firm ABB Lummus.

Another American and a Canadian were injured. The four gunmen were later killed in clashes with police. Two officers also died and 18 were injured.

Riyadh has cracked down on militants linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group since a series of suicide bombings on residential compounds in the capital last year killed 50 people, including nine Americans.

But despite the arrest or killing of suspects, militants appear determined to heed calls by al Qaeda leaders and widen the conflict by striking sophisticated and vital targets in their bid to destabilize what they see as "apostate" rulers allied with the United States.

Last month, a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber destroyed a police headquarters in Riyadh and killed five people in the first major attack on a government target.

In Saturday's attacks witnesses said the gunmen also dragged the body of a Westerner through the streets of Yanbu but the report could not be independently confirmed.

Top Saudi al Qaeda leader Abdulaziz al-Muqrin has called for the bodies of Americans to be dragged through Saudi streets, urged fighters to expel "infidel" Americans from the birthplace of Islam and target security forces who stand in their way.

"God willing, the day will come when bodies of Americans and Jews will be dragged, humiliated and trampled in the Arabian peninsula, them and their tyrants and allies. The day will come, God willing, when we will destroy their bases over their heads and kick them out of our land," one statement by Muqrin said.

In the shooting spree in Yanbu, a city on the Red Sea, the gunmen also fired on U.S. fast food chain McDonald's and threw a pipebomb at an international school but no casualties were reported.

Riyadh has come under intense pressure from Washington to quash militants after the September 2001 airliner attacks on U.S. cities in which most of the hijackers were Saudi nationals.

Prior to the attack on the Riyadh police headquarters, Washington ordered non-essential diplomats out of Saudi Arabia and urged its 35,000 citizens to leave the country, citing fresh signals of possible attacks on Western interests.

Threats of instability could hurt efforts to attract international investment and diversify Saudi Arabia's oil-dominated economy. But it was not clear if foreign firms would scale down their operations or pull out staff.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5007846&section=news

[DoctorZIn]

I just received this from Banafsheh regarding her father who has been in Iran's famous Evin prison...

"Hi Everyone,

Here is a photo of my father in the hospital. My father can now receive visitors as he is officially on a medical furlough. He will be staying in the hospital for the next few months has he has a battery of operations that must be performed on him.

Banafsheh"

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

These young men and women are so brave and courageous. We watch every documentary we see on them. We pray so hard for them.

Because of them one day they will have a country that is free. They will be able to walk in their streets with their children in strollers laughing and loving, living freely like we do here in America.

Freedom isn't free. It is won by blood, sweat and tears. America was founded that way, and is being kept free by the blood, sweat and tears of Americas troops, and from the families of America's fallen hero's.

Thank you for these threads DoctorZin. Democracy in Iran would be such a blessing, for so many reasons. We pray that day will come very soon.

May God protect these young brave people! They just amaze us.... the risks they take, their stories. They are so heroic. Many blessings!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Do you know what DoctorZin is talking about? He isn't talking about the Mullahs.

Goodness. These are some of the bravest people we've ever studied. They DIE standing up against the Mullahs and Ayatollahs. I don't think you understand that this thread is in support of those who "oppose" the current situation in Iran, or that we (America) actually supports "the people" taking a stand against them.

Anyway.. just trying to help you get a "clearer" picture about this thread.

FRegards

[dufekin]

I've heard about rumors that many Muslims (including a sizable contingent in Iran) believe that President Bush is somehow the "Messiah." I'm not exactly sure how best to describe this (apparently an old caliph disappeared and will return or something), but I've heard that the closeness of the 2000 election has something to do with it. Got any information to clear this up?

[AdmSmith]

Please comment on this.

[F14 Pilot]

Najaf office of Iran-based cleric involved in bid to end Sadr standoff

Sunday, May 02, 2004
IranMania News

NAJAF, Iraq, May 2 (AFP) - Representatives of Iran-based Grand Ayatollah Kazem Hossein Haeri are helping mediate to end a standoff between wanted Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr and US forces, the ayatollah's office said Sunday.
An official at the office said Haeri believed that any confrontation with the Americans in this Shiite holy city would result in significant civilian casualties.

"Armed confrontation will give occupation forces the excuse to hit civilians under the cover that they are ridding Iraq of followers of ousted president Saddam Hussein or members of the Al-Qaeda terror network," the source said on condition of anonymity.

He said Sadr was "completely independent" from Haeri but the ayatollah nevertheless had authorised his office here to put pressure on the cleric and the US-led coalition to find a peaceful resolution to the standoff. The office was working through Shiite members of the US-appointed Governing Council and tribal leaders.

A fresh mediation effort involving Iraqi police chiefs and tribal leaders was announced by Sadr's spokesman on Saturday. The official at Haeri's office said the talks aimed to convince the US-led coalition to postpone the trial of Sadr, wanted in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year, until after the June 30 deadline for the transfer of partial sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

As for Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, the official said that it would be converted into a political party that would have the right to take an active role in Iraq's future. "This is the solution that we find reasonable and Sayed (eds: honorific) Moqtada may accept it," said the official.

Previous mediation efforts have come to a dead-end because of what the Sadr camp described as "impossible conditions dictated by the Americans." The US-led coalition insists that while it welcomes all attempts to avoid bloodshed it is not negotiating with Sadr, who must face justice and disband his militia.

A force of 2,500 US troops is camped outside Najaf and clashes with Mehdi militiamen near Kufa to the north last week killed 64 Sadr fighters, according to the US military. Grand Ayatollah Haeri, 65, has been living in exile since 1976.

In Iraq he was a leader of the Dawa party, and then took a leading role in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which was Iran-based but has become the main party in post-Saddam Iraq.

http://www.iranmania.com/news/020504b.asp

[F14 Pilot]

Univ. of Chicago Returns Tablets to Iran

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI,
Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - The University of Chicago on Saturday returned 300 ancient clay tablets taken from Iran on loan 67 years ago, marking the first U.S. return of borrowed Iranian artifacts since the Middle Eastern state's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The clay tablets belong to the Achaemenid dynasty that ruled ancient Persia about 2,500 years ago. They have provided historians with details about the languages and daily life in the Persian empire.

The tablets were received in Iran on Saturday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said, citing National Museum chief Mohammed Reza Kargar.

Archeologists discovered the tablets in 1933 in the ruins of Persepolis, capital of the Achaemenid dynasty. They were loaned for research purposes to the institute, Kargar said.

The tablets have taken on added significance as the university's Oriental Institute — a leading center for the study of ancient Iran in America — tries to re-establish ties with Iranian scholars and archaeology sites.

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 1979 after Iranian militant students seized the U.S. embassy to protest Washington's refusal to hand over the shah to Iran for trial. Militants held 52 people hostage for 444 days.

Tehran-Washington relations began thawing after the 1997 election of President Mohammad Khatami, who called for cultural and athletic exchanges to help bring down the wall of mistrust between both countries.

Relations worsened after President Bush named Iran as part of an "axis of evil."

Kargar said Iran was open to new cooperation with the university's Oriental Institute, which shared a close relationship for most of the 20th century until Iran's 1979 revolution.

"Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization is prepared for scientific exchanges with the world's scientific centers, but so far we have not signed any research cooperation agreement" with the Oriental Institute, Kargar said.

The 300 tablets are among tens of thousands discovered in 1933 by University of Chicago archeologists excavating in Persepolis. They vary in size from that of a dish towel to a packet of chewing gum and in color from beige to reddish brown.

The tablets are written in cuneiform — an early system of writing that used wedge shapes — but the language is Elamite, which is poorly understood. The translations took years, but all 300 tablets have been translated and published.

From the tablets, researchers have learned how much laborers in Persia were paid, that workers were brought in from distant parts of the empire, such as Greece, Egypt and Central Asia, and details about the system under which foreign delegations were authorized to travel across the land.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=9&u=/ap/20040502/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_ancient_tablets

[F14 Pilot]

You might check this

To: DoctorZIn
I just received this from a student inside of Iran regarding the capture of Saddam...

"People are happy & shocked here.

Most say that the regime should review itself... It is a turning point for Iran too. Mullahs can see Saddam now and think about their own destiny.

One Taxi driver said here: Mr.Bush is the 12th Imam of Shiites, God bless him. "

34 posted on 12/14/2003 9:36:22 AM PST by DoctorZIn (Until they are free, we shall all be Iranians!)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1040014/posts?page=32#32

[DoctorZIn]

Several teachers arrested at the issue of first day of strike

SMCCDI (Information Service)
May 2, 2004

Several teachers have been arrested at the issue of their first day of strike and rallies in front of the regime's Ministry of Education. Arrests were made in Tehran, Esfahan and Hamedan by the plainclothes agents of the regime who were identifying the activists.

While thousands of teachers defied the official threats by striking and not organizing their courses, many of them used this first day to gather and to shout slogans against the regime's officials and policies by requesting an immediate follow up of their conditions.

The exasperated demonstrators were shouting: "ta eghdam e assassi, na class na darsi" (No class and no course, till proper measures), "Etessab, Etessab" (Strike, Strike), "Hokoomat e adl e ali, in hame bi edalati" (Regime of justice and so much injustice), "Vazir e bi kefayat, estefa, estefa" (Incompetent Minister, Resign, Resign), "Majless e be in bi liaghati hargez nadide mellati" (A parliament with so little competence, no nation has ever seen), "Moalem mimirad, Zelat nemipazirad" (Teacher will die but won't accept submission), "Dirooz sokoot, emrooz faryad, farda..." (Yesterday silence, today slogan, tomorrow...).

In most schools, many teachers and supportive students didn't show up or didn't organize regular classes and spoke about the deteriorating situation of the country.

During the today's demos, several plainclothes agents having infiltrated among the demonstrators were recognized and seen their cameras and walky talkies confiscated. Other had to escape as recognized and rush toward the regime's official forces blocking the perimeters in most cities.

Most Academic areas of the Capital and cities, such as, Babol, Esfahan, Lahijan, Kerman, Tabriz, Mashad, Yazd, Gorgan, Amol, Shiraz, Hamedan, Ahwaz, Khomein, Rasht, Kermanshah, Abadan and Oroomiah (former Rezai-e) were touched by the today's action. A wider spread to more cities and a radicalization of strike are planned for tomorrow.

All desperate tries made, in the last days, by the Islamic regime and its security circles, such as, arrest of several teachers and threats of imprisonment or expel were not able to match the teachers exasperation and will to show their anger.

Their today's strike and demos follow several years of actions in order to protest against the persistent deterioration of their conditions, the repressive measures existing in Iranian schools and the non fulfillment of the regime's promises. The teachers are also requesting the immediate release of their arrested colleagues.

Millions of students are supportive of the legitimate aspirations of their "Spiritual Fathers and Mothers" and ready to defy the regime in case of the radicalization of the situation. Such event will face the regime with an unprecedented problem and its impossibility to control around 20 millions of students.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6008.shtml

[DoctorZIn]

Intelligence: A Double Game

May 02, 2004
Newsweek
Mark Hosenball

Has Chalabi given 'sensitive' information on U.S. interests to Iran? He denies it, but the White House is wary.

Ahmad Chalabi, the longtime Pentagon favorite to become leader of a free Iraq, has never made a secret of his close ties to Iran. Before the U.S. invasion of Baghdad, Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress maintained a $36,000-a-month branch office in Tehran—funded by U.S. taxpayers. INC representatives, including Chalabi himself, paid regular visits to the Iranian capital. Since the war, Chalabi's contacts with Iran may have intensified: a Chalabi aide says that since December, he has met with most of Iran's top leaders, including supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his top national-security aide, Hassan Rowhani. "Iran is Iraq's neighbor, and it is in Iraq's interest to have a good relationship with Iran," Chalabi's aide says.

But U.S. intelligence agencies have recently raised concerns that Chalabi has become too close to Iran's theocratic rulers. NEWSWEEK has learned that top Bush administration officials have been briefed on intelligence indicating that Chalabi and some of his top aides have supplied Iran with "sensitive" information on the American occupation in Iraq. U.S. officials say that electronic intercepts of discussions between Iranian leaders indicate that Chalabi and his entourage told Iranian contacts about American political plans in Iraq. There are also indications that Chalabi has provided details of U.S. security operations. According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could "get people killed." (A Chalabi aide calls the allegations "absolutely false.")

Why would Chalabi risk his cozy ties to Washington by cuddling up to Iran's fundamentalist rulers? Administration officials say Chalabi may be working both sides in an effort to solidify his own power and block the advancement of rival Iraqis. A U.S. official familiar with information presented to policymakers said that White House advisers were concerned that Chalabi was "playing footsie" with the Iranians. Yet Chalabi still has loyal defenders among some neoconservatives in the Pentagon. They say Chalabi has provided information that saved American lives. "Rushing to judgment and cutting off this relationship could have unintended consequences," says one Pentagon official, who did not respond to questions about Chalabi's dealings with Tehran. Each month the Pentagon still pays his group a $340,000 stipend, drawn from secret intelligence funds, for "information collection."

Still, the State Department and the CIA are using the intelligence about his Iran ties to persuade the president to cut him loose once and for all. Officials say that even some of Chalabi's old allies in Washington now see him as a liability. If Chalabi's support in the administration was once an iceberg, says one Bush aide, "it's now an ice cube."

Newsweek May 10 issue

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4881157/

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Denies Directing Warning to U.S. on Iraq

May 02, 2004
Kuwait News Agency
KUNA

TEHRAN -- Iran Sunday denied that it had directed a letter of warning to the U.S. on the situation in Iraq through an Iraqi mediator and said that any such action is conducted through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

Hamidreza Asefi, the Foreign Ministry's spokesman, said that "what was rumored about Tehran directing a letter of warning on the U.S. performance in Iraq through member of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council Ibrahim Al-Jafari in untrue and is only a fabricated report."þ

Asefi said that directing letters is done through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran which cares for American interests in Iran.

Meanwhile, Asefi lashed out at Washington's reliance on Baathists to occupyþgovernment posts in Iraq and said that such policy "is a sign of a mistake inþthe strategy adopted by the the United States there."þ

þHe said that the [U.S.] is relying on trial and error in Iraq for lack of a clear-cut policy.

Asefi said that rehabilitating Baathists despite widespread opposition byþpolitical and religious powers affirms that the U.S. always chooses the worstþsolutions when its policy reaches a deadend.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?DSNO=627359