Posted on 10/29/2004 9:05:19 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
The US media still largely 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.” As a result, 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. In fact they were one of the first countries to have spontaneous candlelight vigils after the 911 tragedy (see photo).
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
WASHINGTON - The United States said that "time is running out" for Iran to avoid being hauled before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions by complying with international demands to halt uranium enrichment activities and come clean on its suspect nuclear program.
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The State Department noted that next month's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors was fast approaching and recalled that the IAEA had set a November deadline for Iran to comply with the threat of UN Security Council referral if it does not.
"Iran needs to agree to that and needs to be able to put the IAEA in a position to verify and report it," spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
He declined to comment on whether the US position on bringing the matter to the Security Council might change depending on talks between Tehran and Europe's big three nations who are now trying to convince Iran to abandon uranium enrichment in return for concessions.
"Time is running out on the Iranians," Boucher said, noting that the talks Britain, France and Germany are having with Iran had yet to yield any result and that the IAEA board is scheduled to meet on November 25.
"But at the same time, these discussions will continue and we will see where we are in November whether or not Iran has met the requirements," he said. "That's the issue and it's a simple issue as far as we're concerned."
Iran and the so-called "EU3," have met twice this month to discuss the incentives and are to resume the last-chance talks in Paris next week as the IAEA meeting looms.
In Tehran, influential former president Hashemi Rafsanjani said Iran would continue the talks but would reject any threats aimed at depriving the country of peaceful nuclear technology.
Iran insists that its program is for civilian power and has angrily dismissed persistent US accusations that it is really a cover for secret nuclear weapons development.
Win or Retreat? It's America's Choice
Victor Davis Hanson,
National Review Online
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/
More than 150 demonstrations took place in cities around Iran...
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/
Iran – John Kerry's next Vietnam?
Dr. Jerome Corsi
WorldNetDaily.com
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/
Ping; Excellant read; Victor Davis Hansen article
Win or Retreat? It's America's Choice
Victor Davis Hanson,
National Review Online
http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/
Thanks DoctorZin
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When the Americans go to the polls on Tuesday they would do well to remember two events that have altered their lives forever. The first was the raid on the US Embassy in Tehran, and the seizure of American hostages on Nov. 4, 1979. The second was the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against New York and Washington. The embassy seizure showed that Americans were no longer safe outside their homeland and that even diplomatic immunity would not protect them. The 9/11 attacks showed that the Americans were no longer safe even in their own homeland, and that no amount of military clout could protect them against enemies that recognized no bounds. In a sense the Nov. 4, 1979 attack on the US Embassy in Tehran could be regarded as the opening scene of a long drama that reached its catharsis on Sept. 11, 2001. Here is why. The 1979 embassy attack came at a time that the administration of President Jimmy Carter was trying to prop up the new Khomeinist regime in Tehran. Carter had decided to support Khomeini in the context of the so-called “Green Belt” strategy developed by his National Security Advisor Zbigniew Bzrezinski. That strategy was born out of the assumption that the US and its allies were unable to contain the Soviet Union, then expanding its zone of influence into Africa, the Indian Ocean region and, through left-leaning regimes, in Latin America. To counter that, Bzrezinski envisaged the creation of a string of Islamic allies that, for religious as well as political reasons, would prefer the United States against the “Godless” Soviet empire. The second stage in Bzrezinski's grand strategy was to incite the Muslim peoples of the USSR to revolt against Moscow and thus frustrate its global schemes. The Bzerzinski strategy had been partly inspired by the French Sovietologist Helene Carrere d’Encausse who, in her book called “The Fragmented Empire”, predicted the disintegration of the USSR as a result of revolts by Muslim minorities. When the Islamic revolution started in Iran, the Carter administration saw it as the confirmation of its assumption that only Islamists could master enough popular support to provide an alternative to both the existing despotic regimes and the pro-Soviet leftist movements. The Carter administration went out of its way to support the new regime in Tehran. A ban imposed on the sale of arms and materiel to Iran, imposed in 1978, was lifted, and a US presidential “finding”, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, was dusted up to reaffirm Washington’s commitment to defending Iran against Soviet or other threats. Also to symboliZe support for the mullas, President Carter initially rejected a visa application for the exiled Shah to travel to New York for medical treatment. Just weeks after the mullas’ regime was formed, Bzerzinski traveled to Morocco to meet Mehdi Bazargan, Ayatollah Khomeini's first prime minister. At the meeting, Bzrezinski invited the new Iranian regime to enter into a strategic partnership with the United States. Bazargan, concerned that the Iranian left might bid for power against the still wobbly regime of the mullas, was “ecstatic” about the American offer. The embassy raid came just days after the Bzrezinski-Bazargan meeting in Morocco and, by all accounts, took Khomeini by surprise. It is now clear that leftist groups opposed to rapprochement with the US had inspired the raid. Khomeini saw the incident as a leftist ploy to undermine his authority. He was also concerned about the possibility of the US taking strong military and political action against his still fragile regime. Deciding to hedge his bets, the ayatollah played a double game for several days, waiting to gauge American reaction. According to his late son Ahmad, who had been asked to coordinate with the embassy-raiders, the ayatollah feared “thunder and lightning” from Washington. But what came, instead, was a series of bland statements by Carter and his aides pleading for the release of the hostages on humanitarian ground. Carter’s envoy to the UN, a certain Andrew Young, described Khomeini as “a Twentieth Century saint”, and begged the ayatollah to show “magnanimity and compassion.” Carter went further by sending a letter to Khomeini. Written in longhand, it was an appeal from “one believer to a man of God.” Carter’s syrupy prose must have amused Khomeini who preferred a minimalist style with such phrases as “we shall cut off America’s hands.” As days passed, with the American diplomats paraded in front of television cameras blindfolded and threatened with execution, it became increasingly clear that there would be no “thunder and lightning” from Washington. By the end of the first week of the drama, that was to last for 444 days and ended the day Ronald Reagan entered the White House, Khomeini’s view of the United States had changed. Ahmad Khomeini’s memoirs echo the surprise that his father, the ayatollah, showed, as the Carter administration behaved “like a headless chicken.” What especially surprised Khomeini was that Cater and his aides, notably Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, rather than condemning the seizure and the treatment of the hostages as a barbarous act, appeared apologetic for unspecified mistakes supposedly committed by the US and asked for forgiveness and magnanimity. Once he had concluded that the US would not take any meaningful action against his regime, Khomeini took over control of the hostages’ enterprise and used it as a means of propping his “anti-imperialist” credentials while outflanking the left. The surprising show of weakness from Washington also encouraged the mullas and the hostage-holders to come up with a fresh demand each day. Started as a revolutionary gesture, the episode, soon led to a demand for the US to capture and hand over the Shah for trial. When signals came that Washington might actually consider doing so, other demands were advanced. The US was asked to apologize to Muslim peoples everywhere and, in effect, change its foreign policy to please the ayatollah. Matters became worse when a military mission sent by Carter to rescue the hostages ended in tragedy in the Iranian desert. The A-Team dispatched by Carter fled under the cover of the night, leaving behind the charred bodies of eight of their comrades. In his memoirs, Ahmad nicely catches the mood of his father who had expected the Americans to do “something serious” such as threatening to block Iran’s oil exports or even firing a few missiles at the ayatollah’s neighbourhood. But not only none of that happened, the Carter administration was plunged into internal feuds as Vance resigned in protest against the attempt to rescue the hostages. It was then that Khomeini coined his notorious phrase “America Cannot Do a Damn Thing.” He also ordered that the slogan “Death to America” be inscribed in all official buildings and vehicles. The star-spangled flag was to be painted at the entrance of airports, railway stations, ministries, factories, schools, hotels and bazaars so that the faithful could trample it under feet every day. The slogan “America cannot do a damn thing” became the basis of all strategies worked out by Islamist militant groups, including those that, for doctrinal or political reasons, were opposed to Khomeini. That slogan was tested and proved right for almost a quarter of a century. Between Nov. 4, 1979 and Sept. 11, 2001 a total of 671 Americans were seized and held as hostages for varying lengths of time in several Muslim countries. Almost a thousand Americans were killed, including 241 Marines who were blown up while asleep in Beirut in 1983. For 22 years the United States, under presidents from both parties, behaved in exactly the way that Khomeini predicted. It took countless successive blows, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, without decisive retaliation. That attitude invited, indeed encouraged, more attacks. The 9/11 tragedy was the denouement of the Nov. 4 attack on the US Embassy in Tehran. |
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Iran,China to construct gas refinery
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| 11:37:53 Þ.Ù Beijing, Oct 30 - Iran and China here Friday night signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a gas condensates refinery in Iran's southern city of Bandar Abbas. The refinery will be constructed within the next three years aiming at producing extra gasoline which constitutes 56 percent of the refinery's output. The refinery's capacity is estimated to be some 300,000-350,000 barrels per day. Total investment necessary for the joint project is projected to stand at some 1.5 billion dollars. According to the MOU, Iran will own the gasoline produced at the refinery and China will export other outputs. Iran will take the ownership of the refinery after 25 years. Visiting Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and the chairman of China's development and reforms commission Ma Kai on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to award the project to develop Yadavaran oil field to China's Sinopec. Under the MoU, Sinopec has agreed in return for Yadavaran project to purchase annually 10 million tons of Iranian liquefied natural gas (LNG) over a period of 25 years. SR |
Iran: 13 year old schoolgirl facing death by stoning flogged 55 times
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1262989/posts
Iran Focus ^ | 10/30/04 | Iran Focus
Tehran, Oct. 30 - Zhila Izadyar, the 13-year-old schoolgirl from the Iranian town of Marivan (north-western Iran) who is sentenced to be stoned to death is reported to be in poor health after she was lashed 55 times in prison. Azad Zamani of the Society for the Protection of Children’s Rights has said that Zhila’s health has been rapidly deteriorating. Zamani has managed to visit Zhila although under close supervision of the Iranian regime’s agents. Zamani stated that Zhila said, “I am scared; I want to go home; I want to be able to go back to school like other...
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