Posted on 05/22/2004 9:04:06 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
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.
DoctorZin
Iran Chides Spain for Hosting Iranian Royals
May 23, 2004
Islamic Republic News Agency
IRNA
Tehran -- Iran sternly admonished Spain Sunday for inviting the son and widow of the defunct shah to the wedding of Crown Prince Felipe.
"Inviting such individuals, who have been banished by the Iranian people, was not a suitable move," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters here in a weekly news briefing.
Iran`s embassy in Madrid, he said, had formally protested to the Spanish government for inviting Reza Pahlavi and Farah Diba to the wedding.
"These individuals have no place not only among our people, but among other people around the world and the Spaniards will realize later that the individuals invited are not used as delegates in any such ceremonies," Asefi added.
Crown Prince Felipe married former television presenter Letizia Ortiz Saturday amid tight security in the wake of the March 11 train bombings, which killed 191 people.
The 36-year-old heir to the crown exchanged vows with Letizia, a 31-year-old divorcee, before 1,400 guests at the Roman Catholic Almudena Cathedral.
There were reports of protests held before wedding, including by several hundred republicans who staged a parody of a wedding and chanted sloagans "Tomorrow Spain will be a republic!".
According to AFP, the protest passed off without incident under the watchful eye of a large police presence.
Another grouping, the news agency said, denounced this `waste of money`.
Iran`s `Peacock Throne` was overthrown following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which was led by late Imam Khomeini and forced Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to flee.
He died one and a half years later after being denied asylum by one after another government, including by his own closest ally -- the United States.
http://www.irna.ir/?SAB=OK&LANG=EN&PART=_NEWS&TYPE=HE&id=20040523182858F03
Chalabi Denies Giving U.S. Intelligence to Iran
Sun May 23, 2004 11:28 AM ET
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ahmad Chalabi, once a favored Iraqi exile of the Bush administration, on Sunday denied accusations that he passed along U.S. secrets to Iran and challenged the CIA director to a duel before Congress.
Some U.S. government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have accused Chalabi of giving U.S. intelligence to Iran, which the United States considers to be part of an "axis of evil."
"It's not true. It's a false charge," Chalabi said on ABC's "This Week" television program. "It's a smear."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said suggestions that Chalabi had passed sensitive U.S. intelligence to Iran were baseless. "We have not received any classified information, neither from Chalabi nor any member of the Iraqi Governing Council," Asefi said.
The Baghdad headquarters of Chalabi, a council member, were raided last week, and his lawyers have written to Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, condemning the raid and demanding financial restitution.
Chalabi said the CIA, which had viewed his Iraqi National Congress group with skepticism for years, was trying to discredit him and that CIA Director George Tenet was behind the accusation that he gave American secrets to Iran.
"We never provided any classified information from the U.S. to Iran, and neither I nor anyone in the INC. And that is a charge being put out by George Tenet," Chalabi said on CNN's "Late Edition."
"I say, let him bring all his charges, all his documents. We also will bring all our charges and all our documents to the U.S. Congress, and let Congress have hearings and resolve this issue. We believe that the Congress is the place to resolve this issue, and I think our record will be cleared," he said.
Chalabi acknowledged that the Iraqi National Congress had met with representatives of the Iranian government.
"Indeed we have had many meetings with the Iranian government, but we have passed no secret information, no classified documents to them from the United States," Chalabi said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Furthermore we have not had any classified information given to us by the United States," he said.
U.S. officials last week said the Pentagon had stopped the monthly payments of about $340,000 to Chalabi's INC group.
Chalabi on Sunday said he believed the Bush administration had turned on him because while he had favored the U.S.-invasion of Iraq, he opposed the subsequent occupation.
"I have become a person who is calling for complete sovereignty in Iraq," he said on ABC.
Chalabi also deflected criticism that he misled the U.S. government before the war by introducing defectors who made a strong case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the main justification given by the Bush administration for invading Iraq. No stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction have been found since the invasion.
"We gave no information about weapons of mass destruction, we introduced the U.S. government agencies to defectors at the request of the U.S. government agencies -- three defectors," Chalabi told ABC.
"It was up to them to analyze this (information), and the responsibility for reporting to the president after analyzing the information is not mine," he said.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5227903
Very well put.
Idiots' regime!
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