Posted on 07/15/2009 6:53:19 AM PDT by Cheney-Palin 2012
Iran hanged 13 members of a Sunni Muslim rebel group Tuesday convicted of bombings and killings in the country's restive southeast near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, the state news agency reported.
The mass execution was the largest ever carried out against members of Jundallah and was likely meant as a warning to the group, which is composed of Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic minority. They have waged a low-level insurgency in recent years, accusing the mostly Shiite and Persian Iranian government of persecution.
The group, whose name means Soldiers of God in Farsi, took credit for a suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in May that killed 25 people in Zahedan, the capital of Iran's southeast Sistan-Baluchistan province that has witnessed some of Jundallah's worst attacks.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com.my ...
The Mullahs are protected by Putin and Obama and Chavez.
Terrorist in Iran, Who would have thunk?
Red Yugoslavia and the Soviets were artificial states with confliting nationalist sentiments among the separate groups.
Iran is much more centralist and cohesive than these two young artificial experiments.
And I sure as heck don't want to see multiple small fiefdoms at the fringes which are economically unsustainable. For example Baluchistan, which is the issue here, will result in an Al-Qaeda base without proper economy and inevitably result in a break-up of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It would be total chaos and another "Waziristan".
BTW good riddance to the Jundallah terrorists. Iran is right to hang Jundallah Al-Qaeda terrorists. It's Red on Red here.
Let's not forget that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Al-Qaeda mastermind of 9/11 was also a Balooch (from Pakistan). I sure as heck don't want them to gain strength. Sometimes the concept of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" doesn't apply. This is such a case.
Aside from that one of the key issues regarding the border trio Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan is drug trafficking.
We don't have a dog in the fight between Baloochi Sunni narco-terrorists and the mullah regime.
Typo correction:
separatist groups aren’t even dominant among their ethnic groups...
‘likely meant as a warning to the group’
Hanging 13 of these POS is a ‘warning’?
Sure... it’s the type of warning that should be given terrorists: “If we get you, you’ll hang.”
P.S.:
Look at Iraq... a young artificial “country” which forcibly united three people (Shia Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Sunni Kurds)... Iraq was (and is) much more likely to disintegrate than Iran ever was or will be.
But we made sure that Iraq becomes federalist, yet remains an unified state. Having multiple small failed states in the region is a recipe for chaos and would open a pandora’s box.
The only alternative to centralist states would be federal states with some (limited) regional self-rule.
Thanks for sharing your thoughtful perspective.
The one good thing I can say about Iran is they're not afraid to use capital punishment.
Unlike the blue states.
I’m sorry SolidWood, but you are wrong in lumping every Balouchi into one group, which they clearly are not. It is more complicated than you outline.
There are in fact several trends of Balouchi groups that operate out of Iranian Sistan and Balouchestan province. Not all are sympathizers with Al Qaeda nor related to the Taliban, nor Saudi funded, nor connnected to Drug barons in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
IRI by its inability and Unwillingness to discriminate between various mentioned groups and trends that exist in Sistan and Balouchestan province of Iran, is simply adding fuel to fire, and throwing those who have no allegiance to the Taliban, the Saudi Salafists, the West, or secessionists of Drug Barons, into the hands of the extremists.
This universal IRI approach, which is also applied to some other key ethnic minorities in Iran will be an Ethnic Time Bomb for Iran.
As for Jundallah and those in the same “Jundallah” group/umbrella, they only want a Federal Iran that respects their autonomy; they want IRI to stop killing members of their tribe, raping their women. They want IRI to stop their propaganda, force and bribery to convert them to Shi’ism.
With Balooch in that case I was talking about separatists/Jundallah/Al-Qaeda. Not about the Balooch Moe Sixpack.
Your other points do not conflict with what I said... I agree that ethnic/religious minorities like the Sunni Balooch or Kurds should have the freedoms and rights like every man has. They should have their religion, language and limited regional authonomy.
As to Jundallah’s aims... although their leader Rigi has claimed to want some self-rule within Iran and his pronounciation of his Iranianness, they are still seditious, terrorist and clearly fundementalist Sunni along the lines of the Taliban. Their Sunni Islamism will offer the Balooch people a weak remedy from Shia Iranian rule.
As you certainly know Baloochistan is comparetively to other regions very backwards (not at least because of neglect by Iranian authorities since long). Westernisation also in the past hasn’t reached them even remotely to the extent it did to the rest of Iran, and IMO Westernisation is a key component of the capability of self-responsibility. (The Kurds in Iraq for comparison have reached that level.)
My point is that that a further splintering of the whole ME is not in our interest (nor that of the region, the world or the countries in question for that matter). In the case of Baloochistan it would result in an economically and politically failed narco-state that would suck in Pakistani Baloochistan and further increase the chaos in South Asia.
The next steps would be the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq breaking away, the Shias in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain breaking away (and possibly reaching further out towards Iran). It’s a Pandoras Box.
After the Afghan Episode of the 1980’s we should by now have learned that supporting Sunni Islamist rebels in that region is short-sighted. The Mujahedeen and their Arab soldiers of fortune were cheered on in their fight against the Soviets. But we know what long-term effects this had... regardless of the fact that stopping the Soviets then had certainly priority.
Regional federalism with local and regional rights can only come with a regime change in all of Iran.
Neither the IRI nor the Sunni insurgents are our friends obviously, and I see little cleavage of our interest and either one of theirs. We should stay out and let them fight it out. I say good riddance to both Revolutionary Guards and Sunni Islamist insurgents. Both us and the people in the region are better off without either of them IMO.
Russia won’t allow it. Iran is easily their biggest $$$ maker and is a key ally in their fight against the west and controling the worlds energy supplies.
...members of Jundallah and was likely meant as a warning to the group, which is composed of Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic minority... The group, whose name means Soldiers of God in Farsi, took credit for a suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in May that killed 25 people in Zahedan, the capital of Iran's southeast Sistan-Baluchistan province that has witnessed some of Jundallah's worst attacks.A warning, right. Like when they pumped bullets into demonstrators' heads, rounded up and tortured thousands, threatened the winner of the election with execution...
As SolidWood has stated, Iran versus Jundullah is basically slime vs. slime.
>After the Afghan Episode of the 1980’s we should by now have learned that supporting Sunni Islamist rebels in that region is short-sighted.
While we initially supported Hekmatyar’s bunch, we switched to the other factions, who were more moderate. Also, as for the Arab foreigners, they had to make do with Saudi and other Gulf Arab money for their support, they had no American backing.
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