Posted on 10/30/2004 11:36:29 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
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Sat Oct 30, 1:17 PM ET
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US presidential campaign has put key foreign policy dossiers on hold, including Iraq (news - web sites), Iran, North Korea (news - web sites) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but they promise to resurge with a vengeance for whoever wins on Tuesday.
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If President George W. Bush (news - web sites) is re-elected, there will be a certain continuity, although experts say the choices and changes sidelined for the moment will quickly demand attention.
A victory for Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) will probably put things in flux until his January 20 inauguration.
During that two-and-a-half-month transition period, government business would be conducted by a "lame duck" Bush administration still legally in charge but realistically drained of much of the weight and authority of office.
Iraq will undoubtedly be critical, obliging the president or president-elect to shift quickly and seamlessly out of the set-piece campaign rhetoric of recent months and state out a real, doable agenda, said James Steinberg of the independent Brookings Institution.
"I think one of the problems here is that on neither candidate's side have we gotten a lot of clarity about what they think is both an achievable and acceptable end state" in Iraq, he said.
Bush for the moment is sticking to his goal of holding credible elections in Iraq in January, although events on the ground there have cast serious doubts on the prospects.
Kerry has been vowing to bring new allies into the Iraqi fold to share the burden now almost exclusively on Washington's shoulders, but to date there has been nothing to indicate he will be able to pull it off.
The election is sure to have a profound effect on the International Conference on Iraq in Egypt November 22-23, where the United States will be represented by a Bush administration either reinforced by a second term, or packing its bags.
Experts see the Iranian and North Korean nuclear dossiers as having little prospect of forward motion until the election clouds clear and fundamental decisions are taken in Washington -- either by President Bush (news - web sites) or President Kerry.
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), back from an Asian tour dominated by North Korea, acknowledged the rulers in Pyongyang are probably waiting to decide on any resumption of the six-party nuclear talks that have been stalled for two months.
The North Koreans "may well be waiting for the election," he said recently. "That is their choice to make, but the election is coming up ... and then the North Koreans can see whether or not it's time for them to make a move."
Iran has until November 25, the date set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to furnish proof that its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes. That date will give Teheran sufficient time to tailor its response to the election results.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, largely swept under the carpet by both candidates, will also probably retake the post-election limelight, particularly amid the serious illness of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites).
Despite similar positions on that conflict, Bush and Kerry share "a fundamental divergence over the degree to which the US should be engaged in trying to end" the violence and resume negotiations, said Scott Lasensky of the US Institute of Peace.
The US State Department was meanwhile chugging along, seemingly oblivious to the electoral turmoil swirling around it.
"It may come as a surprise, but, first of all, US foreign policy doesn't stop for an election," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. "And second of all, the world doesn't stop ... for American elections.
"There are many issues that need to be dealt with, that can be dealt with, and that can be planned for in terms of the coming months and longer," he said.
"And if the election results affect that, I'm sure we'll take that into account at the time. But you need to get going on these things."
WASHINGTON -- The US presidential campaign has put key foreign policy dossiers on hold, including Iraq, Iran, North Korea and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but they promise to resurge with a vengeance for whoever wins on Tuesday.
If President George W. is re-elected, there will be a certain continuity, although experts say the choices and changes sidelined for the moment will quickly demand attention.
A victory for Democratic challenger John Kerry will probably put things in flux until his January 20 inauguration.
During that two-and-a-half-month transition period, government business would be conducted by a "lame duck" Bush administration still legally in charge but realistically drained of much of the weight and authority of office.
Iraq will undoubtedly be critical, obliging the president or president-elect to shift quickly and seamlessly out of the set-piece campaign rhetoric of recent months and state out a real, doable agenda, said James Steinberg of the independent Brookings Institution.
"I think one of the problems here is that on neither candidate's side have we gotten a lot of clarity about what they think is both an achievable and acceptable end state" in Iraq, he said.
Bush for the moment is sticking to his goal of holding credible elections in Iraq in January, although events on the ground there have cast serious doubts on the prospects.
Kerry has been vowing to bring new allies into the Iraqi fold to share the burden now almost exclusively on Washington's shoulders, but to date there has been nothing to indicate he will be able to pull it off.
The election is sure to have a profound effect on the International Conference on Iraq in Egypt November 22-23, where the United States will be represented by a Bush administration either reinforced by a second term, or packing its bags.
Experts see the Iranian and North Korean nuclear dossiers as having little prospect of forward motion until the election clouds clear and fundamental decisions are taken in Washington -- either by President Bush or President Kerry.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, back from an Asian tour dominated by North Korea, acknowledged the rulers in Pyongyang are probably waiting to decide on any resumption of the six-party nuclear talks that have been stalled for two months.
The North Koreans "may well be waiting for the election," he said recently. "That is their choice to make, but the election is coming up ... and then the North Koreans can see whether or not it's time for them to make a move."
Iran has until November 25, the date set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to furnish proof that its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes. That date will give Teheran sufficient time to tailor its response to the election results.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, largely swept under the carpet by both candidates, will also probably retake the post-election limelight, particularly amid the serious illness of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Despite similar positions on that conflict, Bush and Kerry share "a fundamental divergence over the degree to which the US should be engaged in trying to end" the violence and resume negotiations, said Scott Lasensky of the US Institute of Peace.
The US State Department was meanwhile chugging along, seemingly oblivious to the electoral turmoil swirling around it.
"It may come as a surprise, but, first of all, US foreign policy doesn't stop for an election," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. "And second of all, the world doesn't stop ... for American elections.
"There are many issues that need to be dealt with, that can be dealt with, and that can be planned for in terms of the coming months and longer," he said.
"And if the election results affect that, I'm sure we'll take that into account at the time. But you need to get going on these things."
MOSCOW –- Tehran and Moscow are set to sign a deal on the return of the spent nuclear fuel to Russia in early December during a visit to Tehran by the Russian Atomic Energy Agency Alexander Rumyantsev, a source told the Mehr News Agency on Thursday.
The pledge was made during a meeting between Iranian Atomic Energy Agency (IAEO) and foreign ministry officials with Rumyantsev in Moscow on Thursday.
IAEO deputy chairman Mohammad Saeedi and Iran’s special representative for Caspian Sea affairs and the director of the Foreign Ministry Department for Commonwealth of Independent States Mahdi Safari were among the delegates present at the meeting.
During the meeting the two sides discussed various bilateral issues and Tehran-Moscow ties.
Saeedi called for more precise and accurate managerial approaches to expedite the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Rumyantsev stressed that Russia has not changed its position toward nuclear cooperation with Iran. He said Moscow still insists on preserving and expanding bilateral ties with Iran based on international law.
He said that it is Iran’s obvious right to access technology and science and master a nuclear fuel cycle, stressing that according to international regulations no country or organization can ask Tehran to halt its peaceful nuclear program.
Iran can pursue its peaceful nuclear program as long as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors the country’s nuclear activities and it can resolve the problems in the international arena through dialogue and negotiation, the Russian official stated.
Rumyantsev further expressed readiness to negotiate with Iran for the construction of a new nuclear power plant after resolving various issues between the two sides.
Meanwhile Safari called for the prompt establishment of a joint commission for the cooperation of the two countries and the expansion of economic and commercial ties between Russia and Iran over the next months.
The Russian official stressed that the range of cooperation between Iran and Russia would double with the establishment of this commission in late November.
Posted Saturday, October 30, 2004
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PARIS, 30 Oct. (IPS) Ms Zhila Izadi, the 13 years-old Iranian girl who was sentenced to death by stoning according to Islamic canons because of sexual relation with his elder brother has appealed to international human rights organizations and world governments for help.
Under local and international pressures, the Iranian Judiciary changed the original sentence pronounced some months ago by a court in the north-western Kurdish city of Marivan, but condemned both sister and brother to 55 lashes of the wipe.
The young girl, who became pregnant from her 15 years-old brother Bakhtiar, received the lashes days before giving birth to her baby.
According to local sources, the young girl, who became pregnant from her 15 years-old brother Bakhtiar, received the lashes days before giving birth to her baby, which was taken away immediately after birth in prison.
Though Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, a prominent lawyer and human rights activists who won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2003 had informed the international community on the tragic case of Ms Izadi, yet it has not attracted much attention and in Iran itself, except some independent websites like “Peyke Iran” (www.peykeiran.com), the first one that reported the case.
“I’m afraid; I’m afraid, please, help. I want to go away, I want to go to my friends and I want to go to school”, she has told an official in charge of child care.
According to Mr. Azad Zamani, the Secretary of the Centre for the Defence of Children’s Rights in Sanandaj, the capital city of the Kurdish province of Kermanshah, Zhila is in a very poor health, physical and mental conditions and being under strong pressures, she is calling on international rights agencies for assistance.
It was the father that informed the local court about the “incest” between the young children, a matter that in Muslim societies is considered of a great shame for the families.
“She is almost abandoned to herself. No body, no organization is taking care of her, specially the family. After giving birth, she needed special attention and medical treatments, but she received nothing. She has told us that she is under pressures, due to social and cultural traditions. She is all the time crying”, Mr. Zamani told Radio Farda, the 24 hours Persian service of the Prague-based
Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.
Iranian clerical authorities say Ms. Zhila is free and being taken care by the local agencies in charge of children, but Mr. Zamani said though it is true that she is free, but in fact she lives in a bigger prison, because of social and cultural conditions.
“What kind of freedom if one has no one to talk to or to contact, even those who want to help her. Even if she is really freed, she has nowhere to go, as there is a lack of social protections”, Mr. Zamani observed, adding that if freed, Zhila’s life might be in danger, the family wanting to “wash the unbearable shame”.
"I’m afraid; I’m afraid, please, help. I want to go away, I want to go to my friends and I want to go to school”.
“This is why Zhila is so afraid and wanting to go away from here, wanting to immigrate to another country”, he said.
Two months ago, a court in the northern province of Mazandaran had condemned to death 16-years old girl on charges of prostitution and it was the judge, a cleric, who passed on her neck the hanging rope in public.
In was on this background that the European Parliament expressed alarm Thursday at the deterioration in the area of human rights in Iran, in particular those relating to press freedom and the death penalty.
According to the French news agency AFP, the European lawmakers also expressed deep worries by the sentence imposed on Zhila Izadi
Euro-parliamentarians said they were "appalled at the public hanging" two months ago of a 16-year-old girl and noted that 25 minors had been sentenced to death in the past year in the Islamic Republic.
"The situation in Iran with regard to the exercise of key civil rights and political freedom has deteriorated since the parliamentary elections of February this year despite commitments on the part of the government of Iran to promoting these universal values", according to a motion passed by the parliament, referring to the victory of the conservatives in the last Legislative elections. ENDS IZADI 30104
Iran terms Afghan election as significant development |
| www.chinaview.cn 2004-10-30 00:48:00 |
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TEHRAN, Oct. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- A top Iranian official on Saturday praised the recent presidential elections in Afghanistan, terming it as a significant development for the country and the region, the official IRNA news agency reported. "Replacing the backward Afghan government by a democratic one is a great development and the entire region will benefit from it," Mohsen Aminzadeh, Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and the Pacific Affairs, was quoted as saying. "Despite the shortcomings, the voting was a great victory for the people of the country," Aminzadeh said, referring to the disputes over the voting. "Given that the presidential elections was the first of its type in the history of Afghanistan, it is considered as the most crucial event in the country's contemporary history toward political and social development," Aminzadeh added. He also noted the participation of Afghan women in the election, saying that "this was the first time that Afghan women took part in an important social development and the voters turnout in some areas was unexpectedly high." Aminzadeh commented that in a country with multi-ethnic structure which always led to civil war, the rivalry among candidates from all ethnic groups and faiths and even women in the elections was of great importance. Afghan launched its presidential election in early November, in which 16 candidates competed for the post, including Hamid Karzai, the incumbent president of the interim government. But the oppositions of Karzai claimed the voting was unjustified. |
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JEDDAH/NEW YORK, 30 October 2004 — Over 2,500 Muslim intellectuals from 23 countries have signed a petition to the United Nations calling for an international treaty to ban the use of religion for incitement to violence. It also calls on the Security Council to set up a tribunal to try “the theologians of terror.” The petition is addressed to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and to all members of the Security Council and its current chairman. “There are individuals in the Muslim world who pose as clerics and issue death sentences against those they disagree with,” says Shakir Al-Nablusi, a Jordanian academic and one of the signatories. “These individuals give Islam a bad name and foster hatred among civilizations.” Nablusi said hundreds of Arab writers and academics were collecting more signatures and hope to have “tens of thousands” by next month. Among those collecting signatures are Jawad Hashem, a former Iraqi minister of planning, and Alafif Al-Akdhar, a leading Tunisian writer and academic. Most of the signatories are from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states plus Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. The signatories describe those who use religion for inciting violence as “the sheikhs of death”. Among those mentioned by name is Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian preacher working in Qatar. The signatories accuse him of “providing a religious cover for terrorism.” Last year Qaradawi raised a storm when he issued a fatwa allowing the killing of Israeli pregnant women and their unborn babies on the ground that the babies could grow up to join the Israeli Army. Last September, Qaradawi in a fatwa in response to a question from the Egyptian Union of Journalists said killing “all Americans, civilian or military” in Iraq was allowed. “We cannot let such dangerous nonsense to pass as Islam,” Nablusi says. The petition also names the late Egyptian preacher Muhammad Al-Ghazzali who, in 1992, issued a fatwa for the murder of Farag Foda, an anti-clerical writer in Cairo. Within weeks of the fatwa, zealots murdered Foda in his home. Other “sheikhs of death” mentioned include the Yemeni Abdul-Majid Al-Zendani, and the Saudis Ali bin Khudhair Al-Khudhair and Safar Al-Hawali. The two Saudis have described the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the United States as “retaliations”, and thus justified under Islamic law. Issuing murder fatwas has a long story. In 1947 the late Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Ahmad Kasravi, one of Iran’s most prominent lawyers. A few weeks later, six men stabbed Kasravi to death in a court of law. In 1951 a group of mullas issued a fatwa for the murder of Iran’s Prime Minister Haji-Ali Razmara. He was shot dead a few days later. In 1989 Khomeini issued a fatwa for the murder of the British novelist Salman Rushdie. The signatories of the petition also want the UN to order its member states to stop broadcasting the “mad musings of the theologians of terror.” |
Iranian Americans Join to Promote Political Activism [Most prefer President Bush]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1263468/posts
Washington Post ^ | 10/31/04 | Mary Beth Sheridan
Dozens of Iranian immigrants gathered on a recent night in Dupont Circle for a get-out-the-vote event, pondering the choice facing them Most Iranians who have settled in this country did so about 1979, when the Islamic revolution toppled the U.S.-backed shah. Although the biggest share headed for Southern California, thousands came to Washington, which had a sizable Iranian student population. The 2000 Census counted 17,390 Iranian-born residents in this area, but activists think there are more. With their roots in Iran's elite, the immigrants are generally highly educated, with a median family income 20 percent higher than the U.S. average,...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41194
Hanoi urged U.S. activists to run for office
Kerry mirrored documented plan to 'plant progressive people'
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TEHRAN: An Iranian woman lawmaker is backing the removal of the concept of gender equality from a state development plan in order to prevent the “bullying” of men, the state news agency IRNA reported yesterday.
“Bringing up the issue of gender justice is a case of bullying men,” the female deputy, Eshrat Shayeghi told the agency.
She said she was supporting a decision by the conservative-dominated parliament to delete a phrase in the ‘Fourth Five-Year Development Plan’ (2005-2010), which aimed at considering equal training and employment opportunities for women as men.
The preceding reformist parliament had given the go-ahead to the “gender justice” concept in the bill but it was subsequently rejected by the conservative legislation watchdog body the Guardians Council.
The new parliament removed the phrase in mid-August to follow the Guardians Council’s call.
“If men are in the habit of beating, women are guilty of talking back,” Shayeghi said.
“If the gender justice is brought up, men can object to payment of the household expenses (nafagheh) – given under Islamic law to housewives – as a sort of abuse and violence against men.”
Out of 11 female MPs in the current parliament, only one had spoken out against the removal of the phrase, IRNA reported.
Iranian women face a number of legal restrictions in Iran’s male-dominated society.
They receive half of the inheritance and blood money given to men, and they are also not allowed to be court judges. If they are married, a woman needs her husband’s permission to travel abroad.
Representatives from Germany, Britain and France are to meet Iranian officials on Friday in Paris to try to convince the country to renounce uranium enrichment and stave off the threat of being summoned before the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities.
"We are expecting from them a calendar of cooperation and we will insist on that point," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
"We expect that in the course of this (Paris) meeting the Europeans will specify their precise commitments, concrete and clear, and the Islamic Republic will take the best decision in line with its own interests," he added.
He also urged that the Europeans show the "flexibility neccessary so that we can come to a result."
- AFP
October 31, 2004
Times
Jim Muir
Uneasy street
If you want to understand modern life in Iran, take a trip up Tehran's most famous avenue. This is a place where rich meets poor, mosques mingle with motorbike shops, and devout Muslims walk among heroin addicts and prostitutes. Seamus Murphy's photographs reveal a thoroughfare of extremes.
A mid the early-morning people waiting for shared taxis on the corner at the bottom of Vali Asr avenue, Kianoush cuts an unlikely figure. His jet-black hair is gelled. Spiky sideburns point to a sharply trimmed goatee. He has gold earrings, studded black leather wristbands, and a skintight black T-shirt and jeans. He used to box, so he has pecs.
"I was at a party last night, and I'm just making my way back to work at my electronics shop," says Kianoush. "Dressing like this isn't a political statement, it's just me. I've been hassled by the basij (the Islamic militia) a few times, but never arrested." He doesn't seem to belong here at the lower end of Vali Asr, down by the railway station that kicks the avenue off and sends it snaking northwards all the way up through the city to the foothills of the soaring Alborz mountains. Vali Asr, still known to many people as Pahlavi, the name it bore before the 1979 Islamic revolution, has for 80 years been Tehran's backbone, the point of reference for the rest of the city. The Iranians say that it is the longest city street in the world, at 25 kilometres.
Much of Iran's recent history has been shaped or reflected at some point along its length.
Most of the people here at the southern end look poor. The younger men wear synthetic suits and carry cheap briefcases; older men are unshaven and wear traditional kolah namadi skullcaps. Women tend to favour the chador, the black shroud made famous by the 1979 Islamic revolution, but worn for centuries before. A huddle of poky teashops serves the day labourers who congregate here in search of work, and travellers from the station. It's a reminder that Iran is not just Tehran. There are accents from all over the country, and teasing remarks are made: people from Rasht in the north are cuckolds; from Tabriz they are stupid; from Esfahan, mean.
A very thin, grimy man with staring eyes lurches up, hand outstretched. He is obviously a junkie, desperate, and probably close to the end. In the side streets and small squares at this end of Vali Asr, such sights are common. Official figures say around 30 junkies are found dead on the streets of Tehran every day. Iran admits to around 1.2m addicts, most of them on opium and heroin from neighbouring Afghanistan. "You can get heroin here more easily than cigarettes," says Hassan, a down-at-heel tailor, in a nearby park. "It's about 30p for a day's hit. If they can see you're not an addict, they practically give you it for free, to get you hooked. The dealers come out in the corner of the park here after dark."
Down here, the other opiate of the masses is religion. Every Friday, people mourn Shi'ite martyrs of 13 centuries ago, especially the Imam Ali and his son Hussein, and give out free food to the poor. On the anniversaries of the martyrs' deaths, young men gather and work themselves into a frenzy, rhythmically thumping their chests and lashing their backs with metal flails.
As you move slowly north up the plane-tree-lined avenue with joubs (water channels) gushing on both sides, you are going both uphill and up-market. By Moniriyeh Square, cheap motorbike shops give way to a large number of sports outlets. Hassan Moqaddam has been here since before the revolution. "In the last 10 years, aerobics has become big, exercise bikes, body-building and rollerblading are in," he says. There are also the traditional mil zourkhaneh, heavy Indian clubs with which musclemen do exercises that would wrench most people's arms from their sockets. Each weighs up to 20 kilograms - your baggage allowance on an economy flight.
Outside on the pavement, a man is buying ration coupons for sugar, rice and oil from people unwilling to queue for hours. In a few places, people just sit on the pavement and beg. Times are hard for many, though the enterprising and those close to the regime can get rich. Vali Asr has them all. Reza Shah Pahlavi's Marble Palace was just north of here. He built Vali Asr in the 1930s to link it to his summer palaces at Saadabad, near Tajrish in the foothills to the north. The Marble Palace is now the Islamic Republic's presidential offices. The Shah's nearby Senate building is its parliament, scene of many confrontations recently between Islamic reformists and hardliners. History has been reflected in the avenue's changing name. First it was Pahlavi, in recognition of the Reza Shah's dynastic ambitions. It remained that until his son Mohammad Reza was ousted by the 1979 revolution. Briefly it was then called Mossadegh, after the nationalist prime minister overthrown by a CIA coup in 1953, but as Islamism won out over nationalism, it became Vali Asr.
Ali Anoushiravan, who is 80, saw it all. "In Reza Shah's day, there were just horses and carriages on the street," he says. "You could get from here up to Tajrish by carriage in about an hour." Now, it usually takes longer, because of Tehran's notorious traffic jams. A little further north, the City (Shahr) Theatre, set up by Mohammad Reza's queen, Farah Diba, has quietly survived the revolution. Among five or six plays showing recently were Athol Fugard's A Place with the Pigs, and Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Both are dark allegories reflecting a longing for deliverance, which seem to strike a chord in Iran today. The plays are translated into Farsi and have to pass scrutiny by the Ministry of Culture, whose net seems to have a wide mesh.
By midtown, the buildings get taller and newer. Shopping malls selling mobiles and computers, fast-food outlets, fancy shoe and handbag shops take over. The Nayeb restaurant has been in business for 80 years, but was recently revamped and is full of well-heeled businessmen, secular politicians and ladies who lunch. The waiters have new uniforms: pinstripe trousers, tail coats, starched shirts with black ties. "This place is incredibly busy," says a waiter, Ramin Alizadeh. "Come here on a Friday and the queue stretches way up the road." Like most Iranian restaurants, it is mainly kebabs and rice, but this is reputedly the best in town.
Iran may be at the vortex of international tensions, high on the hate list of the Bush administration, but you don't feel it on Vali Asr. People here are too busy trying to make a better life. Many have given up on politics, in disillusion with the reformists' failure to deliver.
"When the Americans first went into Iraq, some people here hoped it would go well, and Iran would be next," says Ali, a technician visiting the Paitakht computer mall. "But now they see the mess the Americans are bogged down in, and they know it would be even messier here."
It is on the upper reaches of Vali Asr avenue, around Park e Mellat, that the real struggle over social values is being quietly waged. This is where the young hang out, in coffee shops, fast-food outlets, shopping malls and on the street itself.
Siamak and his girlfriend are walking round the Safavid mall hand in hand, looking at the designer boutiques. She is dressed in north Tehran style: flimsy headscarf pushed to the back of the head, raised designer sunglasses, a light, tight, short overcoat, jeans rolled up to mid-calf, sneakers. This is "bad hejab": their clothes flout the Islamic dress code. They are officially frowned on but generally tolerated, though random arrests do occur. "We behave ourselves in public, and don't get hassled," says Siamak, a 25-year-old student. "If we go to parties, we try to be home by 11pm. You don't have all the freedom you might want in public, but if you're careful you can live the life you want. I think the authorities turn a blind eye to a lot of things."
Not always. Nearby, the Cafe Paris has its door sealed for the fourth time in two months, for allowing bad hejab and playing the wrong music: racy Iranian songs recorded by exiles in California. Up the road, two fast-food bazaars - the Jam e Jam food court and Superstar complex - are both closed periodically. Their owners refuse to speak. "It's just too sensitive," says one. Because so many young people gather here, there are sometimes skirmishes with security forces. Kerb-crawling and prostitution are rife in this area too. "The hookers often come in here - we know who they are - but we don't bother them unless they misbehave," says one cafe owner.
The last stretch of Vali Asr, up to Tajrish, is boring - scattered posh shops, institutes, banks - so we take a taxi with Sherine, a 24-year-old bank clerk. Her face is bandaged because she has just had a nose job. "I did it to make myself more attractive, so I can find a suitable husband," she says. "It cost 1.5m tomans (£1,000) but it's too early to say if it was worth it."
At the end of the line, Tajrish itself is an odd mixture of bad hejab and chador. Its bustling traditional bazaar abuts on one side the Imamzadeh Saleh, the ancient shrine of one of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, but on the other, a modern shopping mall. When bazaar merchants die, their coffins are carried through the narrow alleys so that their friends and competitors can bid farewell.
From Tajrish Square, a short avenue leads up to the Saadabad palaces. Up here, it is several degrees cooler. As you hike up through the gracious park, dotted with palaces turned museums, crickets chirr in the plane trees and pines. The mountains are so close, you can see every crag and cranny. At the top, the former residence of the Pahlavi Shahs, the Green Palace, is preserved as a curiosity, rooms cordoned off so visitors can admire the richly mirrored walls and ceilings, the ornate French furniture and the huge Tabrizi and Mashhadi carpets. Three cool-looking students are among the visitors. "We've come here because it's part of our heritage, but monarchy as a form of government is gone," says one. "The current system, for all its faults, at least holds out the hope of gradual evolution."
But in the bus down, a man sitting with his wife volunteers: "I like the Shah. His policies for the world were very good. All the world loved Iran. With these people, everybody hates Iran. Their policies are wrong. I'd like to see him come back. So would many others."
Outside the White Palace, a colossal bronze statue of Reza Shah used to look down over Tehran. From up here, it must have been easy to think you ruled the world. Now all that are left are the empty boots.
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This was the gist of Osama bin Laden's latest videotaped mes sage as broadcast by his favorite television channel al-Jazeera late Friday night.
The fugitive terror mastermind wanted to say that he was alive, in good health, self-confident and in a place safe enough to make and distribute videotapes. Oh yes, and he wanted to say that he has been watching Michael Moore's "Farenheit 9/11."
The timing was no coincidence. The fugitive meant to influence the outcome of the American presidential election. He couched his message in such a way that, whoever wins next Tuesday, he would be able to claim part of the credit.
While bin Laden's fire was mostly aimed at Bush, whom he accused of having "deceived and tricked" the Americans for four years, he did not offer a clear endorsement of Sen. John Kerry. The most he could do for Kerry was to assert that "liberals," presumably meaning Kerry, could be as strong on security as anyone else. But few people have forgotten that bin Laden's first attack against the World Trade Center came in 1993, when Bill Clinton, a "liberal," was president.
A MORE careful reading of bin La den's text, however, reveals his no torious thirst for publicity and self-aggrandizement.
For the first time, he claims the copyright for the 9/11 attacks, seeking to end rumors that the operation was planned and carried out without him being informed of the specifics.
Indirectly, the fugitive is rejecting the theory that it was Khalid Sheikh Muhammad who masterminded the 9/11 attacks, and that bin Laden's role was limited to providing the cash. Like a child who wants to take credit, he is crying I did it, I did it!
The tape is interesting for still other reasons.
First, the style: For the first time, bin Laden uses a clean, direct prose, free of blood-curdling hyperbole, childish poetics and flowery rhetoric. This may be because his message is specifically addressed at American voters rather than Islamist militants. Second, this is a clearly political message. There are no religious motifs, no citations from the Holy Book or the Hadith and no pseudo-theological arguments. Having claimed for years that religion and politics were one, he now acknowledges that they are distinct domains. In that sense he has taken his first step toward secularization.
Third, Bin Laden appears to have abandoned his messianic pretensions. He no longer wants to save humanity from kufr (unbelief) and plant the banner of the Only True Faith on top of every capital in all continents. He is, in fact, reading an op-ed piece written in the style of Michael Moore.
FOURTH, Bin Laden is trying, rather belatedly, to attach himself to politi cal causes that might attract some Arabs. These include the Palestinian cause, a key ingredient of pan-Arab bitterness. But he also speaks of the U.S. intervention in Lebanon in 1982, forgetting the fact that the U.S. Marines and the French paras went there on behalf of the United Nations to prevent Israel from marching on Beirut to capture and kill Yasser Arafat and the entire Palestinian leadership trapped there. Nor does he mention that Arafat and his colleagues were taken to safety in an American ship under U.S. Marine escort.
His selective memory also omits the numerous instances when the Americans came to help Muslims such as in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in Kosovo.
Finally, and here is the most surprising theme of the message, bin Laden is offering the Americans a deal. To cast himself as an honest deal-maker, he takes up some of Michael Moore's themes, especially about President Bush not reacting to the 9/11 attacks fast enough.
The deal is simple, and bin Laden hammers it in more specifically: "Do not play with our security, and spontaneously you will secure yourself."
What does this mean? Translated into practical terms, it means that bin Laden would call off his hounds, if he has any left, provided the United States and its allies stop hunting him down.
Compare this with bin Laden's previous statements, and you will be struck by the change of tone and substance. He is no longer promising to destroy America come what may. Nor is he issuing one of his typical jeremiads about the Americans never again being safe or secure. Nor, again, is there any sign of one of his favorite phrases: "Every street in America will become a river of blood."
Also gone are all his pretensions that his perverted version of Islam provides an alternative world vision.
IN offering a deal to the Americans, bin Laden has few cards to play. He is holed up somewhere with his movements seriously restricted. His group has managed to produce just three videotapes and four audiotapes in four years — not an impressive figure even for amateurs who make home movies. In the past four years, a number of terrorist attacks have been attributed to al Qaeda. But in not a single case, from Bali to Madrid to Islamabad to Tunis, has a clear link with al Qaeda been established.
Most experts agree that the threat comes from a wide variety of terrorist groups with little or no central coordination and command. In any case, the latest State Department estimates indicate a fall in the number of international terror attacks in the past two years compared with the years 2000 and 2001.
More importantly, there has been no terror attack in the United States or in the territory of its closest allies — the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan and Australia.
Theoretically, bin Laden and his closest aides could continue in hiding for years, producing a couple of videos every now and then. But it is clear that they are no longer major-league players in international terrorism. ...
In fact, one aim of the latest tape may well be to counter recent claims by various terror leaders that bin Laden belongs to the past. One such claim came last month in the form of a videotape from the Uzbek terror leader Tahir Yuldash, who has been located in the roughlands of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
In the hour-long tape, Yuldash does not mention bin Laden at all. Instead, he speaks of a new Jihadist leadership under Mullah Omar. Unlike bin Laden, Yuldash does not offer Americans a deal and renews the Jihadist promise of "destroying America."
SO, what does bin Laden have to offer? His chief asset is name recognition. He has become an iconic figure of terror throughout the world. It is enough for him to send one of his al-Jazeera messages to capture the headlines in the West, though not in the Muslim world. Whatever the outcome of the U.S. election, he can always boast that he had an impact. And who can be sure whether he did or did not?
Appearing on the eve of elections in democratic countries to throw in a political hand grenade is the major asset that bin Laden has left. And it is on that basis that he is offering a deal.
Bin Laden may have the illusion that offering an olive branch (albeit in his own strange way) might pave the way for negotiations with a putative Kerry administration in Washington. There is, however, no chance that any American leader would ever be able to take up the fugitive's offer.
E-mail:
amirtaheri@ benadorassociates.com
October 29, 2004
| No.808 | |
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This week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice each published a column in the London daily Al-Hayat. Both officials wrote about U.S. foreign policy in the post-9/11 world, outlined the future of the U.S. War on Terror, and advocated American policies in the Middle East. The following are excerpts from the articles, published online in English: Colin Powell: 'The War on Terror is this Administration's Number One Priority' Colin Powell's article, titled 'American's Destiny and the World after 9/11,' was published on October 25. The following are excerpts: "In the past dozen years the world has changed so dramatically. And on September 11, 2001, that pulse of change took on a particular shape - a shape that defines the principal security challenge of our time. Terrorism and the war on terrorism is this administration's number one priority, and will remain so for as long as necessary. "As the President has emphasized from the very start, this unprecedented struggle against terrorism has its military as well as its non-military dimensions, and using all the tools at our disposal, it is a challenge, it is a war, it is a conflict that has to be fought to a successful and a complete conclusion. Terrorists must be attacked. They must be destroyed. They cannot just be contained. Their sanctuaries and means of support must be eliminated, not just limited. "Every day as we go about this conflict, as we go about resolving this conflict, we work to strengthen our international partnerships. We are dealing with the cases of weapons of mass destruction wherever they might be found - in Iraq, or more successfully, through skilled diplomacy in Libya, and we've put Libya onto a new path to a better future for the Libyan people and removed the cause of concern." 'We Work to Advance Reforms that Eliminate the Frustration, the Injustice, the Poverty' "And every day we work with friends and allies, in the Middle East and beyond. We work to advance reforms that will eliminate the frustration, the injustice, the poverty, the despair that gives rise to ideas of mass destruction. "Every day terrorists have fewer places to run, fewer places in which to hide; and every day terrorists have fewer silent helpers, and more outspoken adversaries, more brave nations and individuals willing to stand up to them, willing to confront the savagery and the hatred and the nihilism that define terrorism. "[A] few days ago a free and fair Presidential election took place in Afghanistan, the first ever in that nation's history. The election wasn't perfect. The important thing is that they had an election. That's a sign of democracy growing. "There is no reason that we cannot do the same thing in Iraq. We are facing a difficult time in Iraq. There's no point in saying it is not the case. Things are changing. Najaf and Samarra are back in the hands of the Interim Iraqi Government. Muqtada al-Sadr, who made such difficulties for all of us a few weeks ago, is now talking of reconciliation. Weapons are being turned in in Sadr City. "It's going to be tough. It's going to be difficult. There will be dark days ahead and brighter days will be coming. We have to stand - we will stand - with the courageous and dedicated Iraqi leaders, with the people of Iraq who want a better future. We will stand with our NATO colleagues who are there with us and others who are coming. The UN is working to put in place more election officials so that we can have an election by the end of January 2005. "We do this for their sake, we do it for our own, because if we make this work - and we will make it work - we will have an entirely new image in that part of the world: democracy, freedom, people selecting their own leaders, the world coming together to help this nation back up on its own feet. We will never have another debate about weapons of mass destruction. We will not have to talk about terrorism any longer. Monsters ruled and ravaged Iraq. They rule and ravage it no more. "And after the January elections, I believe it will be clearer than ever to all people that we've done the right thing. We're confident in our course because we have worked hard to understand the world that is taking shape before us. And with this administration, with President Bush, there's no mystery about what we think. "But it is more than just about Iraq and Afghanistan. We used to worry almost exclusively about the power of states. Today we also have to worry about the weakness of states - states that allow or can't prevent terrorists from plotting mass murder on their soil, and states that provide the breeding ground for terrorist recruits." 'The President Believes in Partners … but even in a Multilateral Approach, You Often have to have a Leader' "… We have to do more than just fight them when they come after us. We have to do more. We have to engage with these nations to remove the causes of terrorism, to remove the hopelessness and the poverty and the despair… "We understand the policy logic of encouraging good governance, of poverty alleviation, of fighting disease - so that societies won't stagnate or implode, so states won't fail. "So when we work to spread liberty and democracy, we don't see it only in terms of idealism. We see that work also in terms of our own enlightened self-interest. As the President said, this strategy 'reflects the union of our values as well as our national interests.' "There are many challenges that we still face. Proliferation is a problem. Iran and North Korea are problems. We are using diplomatic means and political means to try to resolve these problems. Foreign policy in the 21st century means using all of the tools at your disposal. The President's first choice is diplomacy, political action. "So we are working hard around the world to solve regional crises in Africa, places such as Sudan, do everything we can to get the roadmap underway so that we can finally make progress toward peace in the Middle East. "It is America's destiny, it is the fate that has been given to us, to be that nation that people look to solve the problems and challenges of the world. We like to do it with partners. The President believes in partners. We are members of strong alliances. But even in a multilateral approach, you often have to have a leader in order to make sure that the multilateral team will work, and the United States has often been that leader, and President Bush will continue to show that kind of leadership to the world." [1] Condoleezza Rice: 'We'd been Drawn into a Global War against a Determined Enemy' Condoleezza Rice published an article on October 26, titled 'What Changed in U.S. Policy Since 9/11.' The following are excerpts: "About a year after the attacks of September 11th, I was in London, at the American Embassy. Embassy personnel had saved newspapers from September 12, 2001, and mounted the front pages on one of the walls. When I first saw them, I realized that I had never read a single newspaper account of the 9/11 attacks. With all we had to do, there was simply no time. "But as I stood in the Embassy, I could not take my eyes off of those newspapers. The story they told was familiar, yet still bracing: America attacked … thousands of Americans dead … our financial markets at a standstill … central bankers standing by to intervene should markets collapse … American armed forces placed on high alert … Americans fearing follow-up attacks. I remember thinking: the killers who perpetrated those attacks were not merely trying to terrorize the United States. Through their choice of targets they were trying to symbolically bring us down. They chose the center of our economic might … the headquarters of our military power … and seat of our democratic government. These were not criminal acts. They were acts of war, designed to cripple us as a nation. We had been drawn into a global war against a determined enemy. "Now, today there is a debate in our country about what the Global War on Terror calls us to do. For some, it is a limited engagement whose goal is to go after bin Laden and Al-Qa'ida, assume a defensive posture at home, put it out of our minds and just hope they do not attack us again. They see a narrow struggle against a narrow enemy. This is a fundamental misunderstanding about what happened to us on that fateful September day - a day that should have changed all of us. The Global War on Terror calls us, as President Bush immediately understood, to marshal all elements of our national power to defeat terrorists and the ideology of hatred that sustains them and recruits others to their ranks. "Yes - we must capture or kill bin Laden, and as we meet today bin Laden is on the run because there are U.S. forces, Afghans, Pakistanis and others, hunting him down. "Moreover, more than three-quarters of Al-Qa'ida's known leaders and associates have been detained or killed. We have frozen millions of dollars of their assets. And we have ended their sanctuary in Afghanistan. Three years ago, that nation was home to dozens of training camps that graduated thousands of trained killers over the course of half a decade. Today, those camps have been destroyed. The Taliban regime, which sheltered and supported Al-Qa'ida has been overthrown and replaced with a free Afghan government that is helping American soldiers hunt Taliban remnants and Al-Qa'ida terrorists who still hide in caves…" 'Unless We Change the Circumstances that Produced this Ideology of Hatred Our Children and Grandchildren will Still be Fighting this War Decades from Now' "But the terrorists need to be right only once; we must be right 100% of the time. It is an unfair fight to fight this war on defense. The fact is - that unless we change the circumstances that produced this ideology of hatred and hopelessness so great that it causes people to fly planes into buildings and strap suicide bombs to their bodies our children and grandchildren will still be fighting this war decades from now. But if we choose to wage a broad war against this global menace… and if we choose to create a lasting foundation for peace… we can defeat the terrorists and their ideology of murder, and build a better world. "Since 9/11, America has built a coalition of some 90 countries that are sharing intelligence and working closely to combat the threat from transnational terrorism. Together, we have captured or killed thousands of terrorists. We have disrupted terrorist plots and broken up terrorist cells from Europe to the Middle East to Southeast Asia. "Through action and diplomacy, we are also shifting the geo-strategic balance and shrinking the terrorists' world. A fundamental objective of war is to take the enemy's territory and this war is no different. But the way we are taking their territory is different. State sponsors of terror have a choice abandon their support of terror, or face the consequences. The Taliban made the wrong choice… "The terrorists' world continues to get smaller. The places where they can operate with impunity are becoming fewer and fewer. And we will not rest until there is no safe place left for terrorists to hide." 'Regimes Can Pursue WMDs at Great Peril and at Great Cost' "A second front in the Global War on Terror is to stop the spread of the world's deadliest weapons. And this President has had concrete success in stopping the spread of these deadly weapons. The President's policy on WMDs is very clear; regimes can pursue WMDs at great peril and at great cost. Or regimes can give up their WMDs and embark on a path to better relations with the international community. Some have listened; Colonel Gadhafi chose wisely and gave up his weapons. And because of the President's plain spoken and resolute leadership in combating WMDs, sensitive nuclear plans and thousand of pieces of dangerous equipment from Libya are now locked away safely in the United States of America… "Less than a year ago, a network headed by the Pakistani nuclear weapons scientist A.Q. Khan was selling nuclear plans and equipment to countries like Libya, Iran and North Korea. Working closely with other governments, we painstakingly pieced together the nature and extent of Khan's network, whose operatives spanned three continents. Today, this dangerous source for deadly weapons is no longer in business. A. Q. Khan has confessed his crimes… "And it was the United States that blew the whistle on Iran and North Korea and their dangerous efforts to deceive the international community." 'The President has Broken with 60 Years of Excusing and Accommodating the Lack of Freedom in the Middle East' "But all these victories - against Al-Qa'ida, the A.Q. Khans of the world, and Libya are only battles in the Global War on Terror. To achieve permanent victory, we must do more - we must affirm the truth that when freedom is on the march, America is more secure - and when freedom is in retreat, America is more vulnerable. This is why the President has broken with 60 years of excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East, in the hope of purchasing stability at the price of liberty. The stakes could not be higher. As long as the broader Middle East remains a region of tyranny and despair and anger, it will produce men and movements that threaten the safety of Americans and our friends." 'Our Commitment to Freedom is Helping to Spur a Great Debate Throughout the Middle East' "Already our commitment to freedom is helping to spur a great debate throughout the broader Middle East. From Morocco to Jordan to Qatar, we are seeing elections and new protections for women, and the beginnings of political pluralism. Political, civil society, and business leaders have issued stirring calls for political, economic and social change. And in Afghanistan last week we witnessed extraordinary testimony to the power of the vote. A U.S. soldier in Afghanistan reported with awe what he witnessed in the Afghan elections. This soldier talked about the Afghans that began lining up hours before sunrise in the falling snow to vote. He talked about lines of patient Afghans, some of them amputees, waiting to vote in lines that reached, in one case, 2.5 kilometers long. And he talked about former Taliban elements who came into one Afghan town to try to intimidate the local citizens into not voting, but were met by the village population and refused entry into the village. "To those that have seen only chaos to those who said that Afghanistan was a failure to those who did not believe that freedom could change peoples' lives or that America would have to impose freedom, the Afghan people have delivered a crushing rebuke the Taliban could not stop the advance of freedom, votes have been cast and the elections were a success. Challenges lie ahead, but Afghanistan has shown what is possible when democracy becomes an alternative to terror, repression and fear. "When Iraqis go to the polls next year to elect a government and put behind them their brutal history democracy's power will be affirmed again. That opportunity exists today because America and a Coalition acted to remove one of the most brutal and dangerous regimes in the Middle East." 'By Cheating the United Nations Oil for Food Program, Saddam was Evading and Eroding the Sanctions' "Saddam was the only tyrant of our time not only to possess weapons of mass destruction … but also to use them in acts of mass murder. He manufactured chemical and biological weapons, and then refused to account for those weapons. He systematically deceived UN weapons inspectors and was in material breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1441. "We all expected to find WMDs. Intelligence services around the world expected to find WMDs. What we did find is Saddam had a strategy, which demonstrated that we were never going to be able to break the link between Saddam Hussein and WMDs. The only way to put an end to his ambitions buttressed by wealth, knowledge, and capability was to change the regime; a reality recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1998. As the Duelfer report records, Saddam was waiting for sanctions to end so that he could restart his weapons programs without hindrance. Through front companies and by cheating the United Nations Oil for Food Program, Saddam was evading and eroding the sanctions, raising illegal revenues, and spending some of that money on illegal dual-use materials and goods. And he was not just waiting for sanctions to end; he was working to end them. He gave targeted incentives to nations, companies, and individuals, incentives that were designed to give an economic stake in the regime's success. The Duelfer report shows, sooner rather than later, Saddam was going to be in a position once again to pursue his goal of a WMD-armed Iraq dominating the Middle East, and menacing the United States and our allies." 'After 9/11, No President Could Have Sat Still in the Face of Such a Threat and Done Nothing' "Saddam's brutal outlaw regime was a unique threat to America, to the Middle East, and to the world. He tortured his own people, invaded his neighbors, and shot at our pilots patrolling the no fly zones. The threat from Saddam had been festering for a dozen years, with no solution in sight. And after September 11th, it was a threat that appeared in a fundamentally different light. "The possibility of an outlaw state passing weapons of mass destruction to a terrorist network is the greatest danger of our time. Saddam Hussein harbored terrorists and maintained ties to terrorists. He was an avowed enemy of America, and an avowed enemy of our allies. After 9/11, no president could have sat still in the face of such a threat and done nothing. So long as Saddam remained in power, menacing his people and menacing the world from the heart of the world's most volatile region, he remained a key enemy of hope and progress in the broader Middle East. "The period since the liberation of Iraq has been difficult. But, an interim Iraqi government is now preparing for transitional elections next January - the first free and fair nationwide elections in that country's history. Iraqi security forces will number 125,000 by the end of the year, as Iraqis take more responsibility for their own security. The Iraqis are bravely and defiantly meeting the challenges that confront them. "Next year, an elected transitional assembly will draft a new constitution with a bill of rights that provides the framework for a permanent government. Under that constitution, the people of Iraq will go to the polls again in December of 2005, to elect a permanent government. There will be 145,000 security forces by February and 200,000 by the time of their permanent elections. At that point, Iraqis will have achieved for themselves what people all over the world have sought for centuries: a decent government that protects their rights, and allows them to fulfill their aspirations in freedom and peace. "Through suicide bombings, beheadings, and other horrific acts, terrorists and Saddam hold-outs are trying to ensure that the Iraqi people never achieve this goal. There will be more violence in the coming weeks. These killers know that a free Iraq will be free of them and free of their cruelty and ideology of murder. They know that the success of democracy in Iraq will be a mortal blow to their ambition to impose Taliban-like rule over the entire Middle East. Iraq is a central front in the war on terror, and there they must be defeated. "And they will be defeated. Their tactics grab headlines with their brutality and daily toll in blood and treasure. But their strategy will not work. They seek to intimidate Iraqi leaders through assassination and other forms of violence, but those leaders refuse to be intimidated. They seek to demoralize Iraq's security forces, and discourage new recruits, but every day more brave Iraqis have come forward to volunteer to serve their country. They seek to sow sectarian violence but Shiite, Kurd, Sunni, and other minorities continue to build toward a unified Iraq. The future the Iraqi people seek, the government they deserve, will be achieved in spite of the violence in Iraq."[2] |
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