Posted on 07/06/2004 6:02:00 PM PDT by blam
Iranians want to bury their war dead in London
By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor
(Filed: 07/07/2004)
British officials were taken aback yesterday by a plan to unearth the remains of Iranian soldiers and rebury them in the grounds of Iran's London embassy.
If Teheran gets its way, Kensington could feature a new memorial to Iran's "unknown martyrs" alongside such landmarks as the Albert Memorial and the new Diana Memorial Fountain.
It would make a strange addition to an embassy made famous in 1980 when the SAS stormed the building to free 26 hostages being held by a group of opponents of Ayatollah Khomeini.
In an initiative privately regarded in Whitehall as "absolutely bizarre", Iran's Sacred Defence Preservation Foundation, which preserves the memory of soldiers who died in the 1980-88 war with Iraq, wants to send an unspecified number of "unknown martyrs" to London to create a weekend attraction for Iranian expatriates.
"Iranians across Europe told us that they wanted to commemorate those who defended Iran, and they wanted a place to go on Sundays," explained Daoud Ghiasirad, the head of public relations for the foundation.
He said there was nothing unusual in the request, pointing out that there were several hundred Commonwealth graves of soldiers from two world wars in a British diplomatic compound in Teheran. Nearly a million people - most of them Iranians - died in the Iran-Iraq war. The remains of identified soldiers are still being found. A week ago, 200 bodies were recovered from the border area with Iraq.
The remains of unknown soldiers are buried in special cemeteries across Iran, even at universities, government buildings and in parks. But this is believed to be the first time that Iran has sought to export its public adoration of the "martyrs".
Mr Ghiasirad complained that the Government had already turned down the proposal, a claim denied by the Foreign Office. "We have not received any request from the Iranian authorities," said a Foreign Office spokesman. "If we did, we would consider it and ensure that the relevant authorities process this request accordingly."
A spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the local authority for the Iranian embassy, said: "This is a entirely a matter for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office."
The Iranian embassy declined to comment.
British officials are treating the plan as one that was "not co-ordinated" with the Iranian government. "This is the first we have heard of it," said one.
Officials are nevertheless worried that the affair could snowball into a public dispute.
Last week, Britain came close to accusing Iran of deliberately abducting eight British servicemen - who were captured and released after three days - as they sailed up the Shatt al-Arab waterway which separates Iran from Iraq.
There is also growing tension over European attempts to increase pressure on Teheran to come clean about its nuclear programme, which America says serves to hide Teheran's secret attempt to make an atomic bomb.
Relations with Iran are also beset by lesser slights, such as Teheran's decision to rename a road behind the British embassy from Winston Churchill to Bobby Sands Street, in honour of the IRA terrorist who died on hunger strike.
Excuse me?
for the love of G-d, don't let them bury ANYONE anywhere. Creates shrines, which become Islamic holy sites, and before you know it, they cannot endure the presence of infidels in the vicinity of a holy site, which would make London a holy city before you know it.
It has happened all over the world, everywhere these swine set their cloven hooves becomes a holy site in a holy city.
Better check the caskets for ABC.
I thought this was a joke. What they are doing, however, is quite serious: they intend to use the dead as political pawns. Just lovely of them. It will be worth watching to see how GB handles this.
I'm beginning to think that London will be 'hit' before NY. We need to move on Iran pronto.
They might hit london, but I think we would do well to prevent the creation of any more phoney-baloney holy sites.
Ask the people in india what happens when the muslims do ANYTHING religious in a place; ask them in Constantinople, at the Haga Sophia, now a mosque. The same can and will happen to cathedrals all over Europe and the rest of the West if we don't stop 'em.
That's better than what the Saudis do, which is to destroy holy sites (like the ornate mosques of Kosovo)
As for mosques, with very few exceptions, i shed no tears for their loss or damage. Esp. in kosovo, which is NOT islamic land. The mosques are an anomaly.
Saudis? I wouldn't put anything past them.
... and the British have decided to open a pork rendering plant on the other side of the wall ....
I go crazy when I read that! I have family there!
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