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

The US media still largley 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.

The Last Word: The Difference Between Them

The Difference Between ThemBy James Rubin

Newsweek International
Aug. 9 issue -

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry claims he'll fix American intelligence and make America safer at home and more respected abroad. James P. Rubin, senior foreign-policy adviser to the campaign, sat down in Detroit with NEWSWEEK's Richard Wolffe to explain what would be different under a Kerry administration. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Expectations are high that American foreign policy would change under a President Kerry. But it sounds like the goals—fighting terror and making America safer—are not that different. Is it a question of style or execution?

RUBIN: The difference, and this is the big and crucial difference, is that John Kerry, by virtue of his experience and his character and his wisdom, will be just as tough as George Bush in defeating Al Qaeda and Islamic extremist terrorists, but he will be a lot smarter in how he solicits the support of other countries. If elected, John Kerry will be sitting down with the leaders of our major friends and allies and demanding action. But he will do that in a way that expresses understanding for other people's points of view, that involves listening and leading rather than alienating, and that involves old-fashioned persuasion and an appreciation for other cultures and values. The bullying of the Bush administration will come to an end.

What makes you think that persuasion and understanding cultures will work now in a way that it didn't before?

Well, 9/11 changed things. Countries like Pakistan that were reluctant to break relations with the Taliban and by extension crack down on Al Qaeda realized after the attacks that they were going to risk their future in the civilized world. So the world's major powers—India, Pakistan, Europe, Asia, Russia, China, Japan—were united, arguably for the first time, to defeat the Taliban and put in place a government that wouldn't support Al Qaeda. It was a great moment, and it has been lost. John Kerry will try to recapture that solidarity.

One of the findings of the 9/11 Commission concerns Iran and its alleged support for Al Qaeda. U.S.-Iranian policy has been in the deep freeze for 25 years. How is that going to change with Kerry?

John Kerry regards an Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism armed with nuclear weapons as unacceptable. He has a multiple-part strategy that is much more realistic than the Bush administration's. One is to rejoin and work through the international legal framework on arms control. That will give greater force to the major powers if they have to deal with violators. Secondly, he has laid out, I think in the most comprehensive way in modern memory, a program to secure nuclear materials around the world—particularly in the former Soviet Union but also in the places where research reactors have existed that could be susceptible to proliferation. The point is to try to prevent Iran from ever getting this material surreptitiously. Thirdly, he has proposed that rather than letting the British, the French and the Germans do this themselves, that we together call the bluff of the Iranian government, which claims that its only need is energy. And we say to them: "Fine, we will provide you the fuel that you need if Russia fails to provide it." Participating in such a diplomatic initiative makes it more likely to succeed.

A lot of European diplomats say Iraq is so toxic politically that they aren't prepared to send more troops. Kerry has talked about changing the dynamic, but what if the dynamic doesn't really want to change?

We will have a far better chance of getting that support in Iraq—to prevent a failed state, a state where terrorism can roam free the way it did in Afghanistan—if we have a president who proposes specific policies to enlist and encourage other countries to participate. For example, giving them a greater stake in reconstruction, being their partner in regional diplomatic initiatives to get countries around Iraq to prevent cross-border incursions and support for the insurgency, making other major powers a partner in those efforts, having an international high commissioner who can work with the Iraqi interim government and have a role in coordinating reconstruction assistance. All of those things give European and other powers a stake in success. You can't just go to them saying: "We've already decided this; this is the way it's going to be."

Sad but true, it wasn't so long ago when governments of moderate Muslim countries or Europe considered it a political plus to be seen cooperating with the United States. Now there's a political cost. But without the toxicity of the debate on Iraq during the Bush administration, and with Kerry sending a message of unity, it will be easier. Is it a sure thing? Nothing is a sure thing, but we'll have a far better chance.

Outside of terror and war, are you going to see a return to the softer principles and concerns of foreign policy—trade, globalization?

Globalization is a phenomenon, not a policy. One of the failings of the Bush administration is to not understand the extent to which subnational, nongovernmental actors pose both risk and opportunities for the United States and the world. So for too long prior to 9/11, terrorism, international crime, drugs, disease and the environment were seen as soft issues rather than realities. In Kerry you will see a president sophisticated and smart enough to deal not just with classic nation-state interactions, but the amalgam of activities that have come to be known as globalization, whether it's communication or travel or the computer revolution.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5570503/site/newsweek/

Terrorism Suspects Traced to Iran [Excerpt]

Los Angeles Times - By Sebastian Rotella
Aug 1, 2004

"When the Iranian government says it is not dealing with Al Qaeda, it is telling the truth," said Mustafa Alani of the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank affiliated with the British Defense Ministry. "It's not the government — it's the Revolutionary Guard.

"We are talking about an ideological army, not just an intelligence service, and the politicians really have no power over them. There is some sort of tactical alliance with Al Qaeda in which the Revolutionary Guard turns a blind eye toward the activity in Iran."

Al Qaeda figures who allegedly have operated in Iran, according to court documents and investigators in Europe, include Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian seen as a leader of the Iraq insurgency and a broader international network; Saif Adel, an Egyptian regarded as Al Qaeda's military chief; and Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a veteran Spanish-Syrian fighter seen by Spanish police as a possible mastermind of the Madrid attacks.

Intelligence reports from foreign agencies last year placed Nasar in Iran, high-ranking Spanish investigators said. Nasar, a former propagandist in London and commander of a training camp in Afghanistan, has emerged as a prominent figure in a faction that has distanced itself from Bin Laden, Spanish investigators said.

Although Bin Laden and his right-hand man, Ayman Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding in the Afghan-Pakistani borderlands, other core leaders found shelter in Iran after fleeing the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan in late 2001, officials say.

"The intelligence reports about a year ago said elements of the shura [leadership council] had relocated to northeastern Iran," a top Spanish law enforcement official said. "The Iranians don't cooperate with information, they deny everything, so it's not clear what's going on. They want to present themselves as reformers opening to the West, but it's possible that there are power groups within the regime supporting Al Qaeda."

Some European experts accept the Iranian argument that the presence of militants is confined mostly to vast border areas that are hard to control. And Iran has arrested prominent figures such as Bin Laden's son Saad, the top French anti-terrorism official said.

Yet Iran has offered little information about the status of suspects such as Saad bin Laden and Adel, the former Egyptian commando who is Al Qaeda's military chief. About a year ago, U.S. officials said Iranian forces had Adel in custody, but Iran did not confirm his detention. Reports among counter-terror officials suggest that Iranian agents allow some leaders "controlled freedom of movement," the French official said.

Adel is a top suspect in the bombings last year of expatriate compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; U.S. communications intercepts indicate that those attacks were ordered from Iran, European officials say.

There are also suspected links between bosses in Iran and the suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, that took place four days after the Riyadh attacks, the French official said. The Casablanca bombings, in turn, intersect with the network involved in the Madrid train bombings.

As Al Qaeda geared up three years ago for its offensive on the West, Iran was a busy route to training camps in Afghanistan, investigators say. In a March 10, 2001, conversation wiretapped by Italian police, a member of a terrorist cell in Milan said associates passing through Iran had nothing to fear, according to the transcript in court documents.

"Isn't there a danger in Iran?" asked a Tunisian named Tarek Charaabi, who was later convicted on terrorism-related charges.

"No, because there's an organization that takes care of helping the mujahedin brothers cross the border. There's total collaboration with the Iranians," responded a Libyan named Lased ben Heni.

"Pakistan was the most comfortable route, but in these past years there's too many secret services," Ben Heni continued.

He said an Al Qaeda operative "in Iran receives the brothers and selects them and decides whether to send them to Afghanistan. It's better to go to the Iranian Embassy in London because it's very smooth and then everything's well organized all the way to the training camps."

The Iranian entry route became an escape route in late 2001. When the U.S. military smashed Bin Laden's Afghan sanctuary, dozens of his militants fled into Iran, some with wives and children in tow. Iranian authorities soon arrested and deported many of them — including Tunisians connected to the Milan cell.

But other suspected terrorists got different treatment, investigators say. Fugitives ran to Iran after eluding dragnets in Spain and other European countries, according to investigators and court documents. Others used Iran as a departure point to attempt attacks in Europe.

U.S. intelligence agents warned Italian police in December 2001 about a suspected leader of a terrorist cell known as Hamza the Libyan, according to Italian court papers.

"American intelligence organisms" advised that "Hamza the Libyan is a mujahedin trained in Afghanistan who has traveled to Italy via Iran to plan criminal actions against unspecified targets in Europe," the documents state.

U.S. agents provided cellphone numbers for the Libyan, who allegedly was in telephone contact with Saad bin Laden in Iran, according to Italian investigators. British police arrested the Libyan, whose name is Farj Hassan, in 2002.

As the U.S. confrontation with Saddam Hussein gathered momentum, so did Al Qaeda-related activity in Iran, investigators say. Police in London and Paris broke up terrorist plots in late 2002 and early 2003 that involved primitive chemical and biological weapons.

The plots were traced to Zarqawi, who had fled Afghanistan to Iran, where he had a support structure in the city of Mashhad near the Afghan border, Italian investigators said.

Zarqawi set up shop at training camps with the Kurdish extremist group Ansar al Islam in Iraqi Kurdistan near the Iranian border, an area out of Hussein's control.

Although U.S. officials cited those camps as evidence of an Al Qaeda-Hussein alliance, Zarqawi spent a lot of time on the Iranian side of the border, European investigators said. Along with Syria, Iran became the gateway for militants from Europe and North Africa traveling to the Zarqawi camps to prepare for battle against U.S. forces, according to investigators and court files.

"Our cases showed that Iran was the preferred trampoline for the militants bound for Iraq," a high-ranking Italian investigator said.

When U.S.-led forces overran the camps in Iraq, many Ansar and Al Qaeda militants fled to Iran. Western intelligence agencies reported that agents of the Iranian secret services set up a field hospital and shelters for fleeing militants, Italian investigators said.

Nonetheless, Iran also captured a number of the jihadis and handed them over to European authorities after the war, officials acknowledge.

Zarqawi is also believed to have found refuge in Iran after the war, French and Spanish officials said. In Spanish communications intercepts last year, a fugitive Moroccan suspect, Amer Azizi, said he was "in Iran with Abu Musab Zarqawi," Spanish investigators said. Police believe Azizi made his way back from Iran to Madrid to play a lead role in the train bombings.

Zarqawi's whereabouts, meanwhile, are a mystery. Some U.S. military officials place him in Iraq at the forefront of the insurgency. French investigators say he moves among Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

"The Iranians have been saying for two years that they have dismantled the networks," said Claude Moniquet, director of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a Brussels think tank. "But there are people in the European services who think Zarqawi was in Iran until recently. It's a contradictory picture."

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_7419.shtml

Iraqi delegation in push for trade ties with Iran

Gulf Daily News
August 2nd, 04

TEHRAN: Iraq's Economy and Finance Minister Adel Al Mahdi led a high-level delegation here yesterday for talks on boosting trade links.

Mahdi was accompanied by the deputy foreign minister for political affairs, Hamed Al Bayati, and some 300 other government officials as well as businessmen.

In an opening speech to a conference on boosting trade, due to conclude late today, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said the two neighbours and former rivals had "a special and historical opportunity".

Kharazi pointed to planned oil co-operation under which Iraq would pipe 350,000 barrels per day of crude from Basra to Abadan in Iran, and Tehran would in turn export Iranian crude on Iraq's behalf from the Gulf.

Iran has also offered assistance with electricity projects in Iraq, and increased trade, railway and road transportation projects as well as joint tourism development.

The minister of economic affairs and finance, Safdar Hosseini, said Iran has donated $10 million and alloted $300m of credit toward Iraq's reconstruction drive.

Conference chairman Mohammad Hossein Adeli, who is Iran's deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, predicted the value of trade between the two neighbours would reach $4 billion within three years.

Kharazi said: "We expect Iraqi officials to act vigilantly and precisely given the special current circumstances. Each side should not permit foreign agents to create challenges and prevent the expansion of bilateral and regional co-operation," he said.

Iran has worked out a framework for a long-proposed crude swap with Iraq, but at half the volume suggested last year, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Hossein Adeli was quoted as saying yesterday.

Opec Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili last year said Iranian refineries could take delivery of Basra light crude, and an equivalent amount of Iranian light crude would then be exported from Kharg island in the Gulf.

"Under the swap project it is settled that some 350,000 bpd be transported from Basra to the refinery at Abadan," Adeli said in remarks carried by the ISNA students news agency yesterday.

Kazempour last year said the arrangement could involve 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iraqi Basra crude.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=88250&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27135

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