Iranian Alert -- DAY 23 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

It is still the same ideology driving them.

Welcome to the thread. What ideology is driving whom? We spend a lot of time here examing the players in Iran and their ideology. So could you please clarify your statement?

Number of journalists held in unknown location in current crackdown rises to nine

Reporters sans frontières
July 2, 2003

PARIS - Reporters Without Borders today condemned the arrest of another journalist in Iran, Ali Akrami, which brought to at least nine the number of journalists arbitrarily detained in the past few weeks in a crackdown prompted by student demonstrations. It is not known where they are being held and their lawyers and relatives have been unable to get any word of them.

The organisation cautioned the authorities about a campaign orchestrated by judicial officials and revolutionary guards in the mosques and conservative press in which all the detained students and journalists are accused of being "mohareb" (persons who fight against God), which is punishable by death.

Reporters Without Borders also reiterated its call for the release of all the journalists imprisoned in Iran, which now totals at least 17. The recent arrests have made Iran the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East.

Akrami worked for the reformist daily Nedat Eslahat, which has been closed by the authorities for some time. His wife said she has not seen him since 16 June, when he went missing while outside Tehran university, and she said she was worried about his fate.

State prosecutor Saïd Mortazavi has said the recently detained journalists were being held in Evin prisons. But lawyers of the journalists who have gone to the prison have not been able to locate their clients and found no mention of their names in the prison records.

Mohsen Sazgara, the editor of the website Alliran and the (closed) reformist daily Jameh, is meanwhile continuing the hunger strike he began on the day of his arrest on 15 June. He is now very weak, and his condition is all the more worrying because he has a heart ailment. His wife, who is also on hunger strike to protest against his imprisonment, was summoned by judicial officials on 25 June and was hospitalised the same day.

http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org/cgi-bin/smccdinews/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1057154724

http://news.gooya.com/2003/07/01/0107-h-25.php

This link proves what DOCTORZIn said and you can see the pics that showing the action.
The Militant forces, threw a satellite dish from the roof of a house.
Internet access is also restricted thesedays.
Many webpages cant be opened by users.

"Failure of Iran's recent unrest a disgrace for US"

Tehran, Jul 1 - Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Tuesday described the United States as a 'dinosaur with a bird's brain' and said that the failure of recent unrest in Iran, encouraged by Washington, was yet another disgrace for America, IRNA reported.

"The failure of recent riots in Iran brought about another disgrace for America," he told a festival, held by the Iranian Air Force here.

Iran's leaders have said that Washington was behind several days of rioting in Tehran and some other cities and that US officials' praise for the unrest constituted a 'blatant interference in Iran's internal affairs'.

[Iranian students gather in a demonstration at the Amir Kabir university in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 16, 2003. More than 250 university lecturers and writers have called on Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to abandon the principle of being God's representative on earth and to accept his accountability to his people. The move follows a week of protests and riots in Tehran in which pro-democracy demonstrators clashed with police and vigilantes who support the hard-line clerical regime. Theprotests witnessed unprecedented condemnation of Khamenei, calls for his death, in a land where criticism of the supreme leader is punishable by imprisonment.]

"Recent unrest in our country was so much important for America that Mr. (George W.) Bush announced that he supports the protestors and will remain with them," Rafsanjani said.

"The American Congress also announced that it will establish channels to contact the rioters," the official, who heads the arbitrative Expediency Council, added.

Rafsanjani cited US-led occupation of Iraq as another blunder and said America is like a dinosaur which has a got a bird's brain.

"More than three months have passed since the end of war in Iraq and insecurity still predominates in that country, but Washington is not responsible for the reasons for this insecurity," he declared.

By invading Iraq, US is now repeating its military debacle in Vietnam, he said forecasting a 'bitter experience for America' ahead.

"America must realize that it has embarked a hard work and it presumes that the world has no custodians.

"American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld likens the troubles resulting from Iraq's occupation to the times when America was gaining independence.

"His analysis is false since the American people were seeking independence, but armed forces cannot bring independence for the Iraqi people," Rafsanjani said.

The former president, who partly served during the 1980-1988 imposed war of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, played down threats of any military action against Iran.

"The enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran have the experience of the eight-year Sacred Defense in their archives and (know) that Iran is not a suitable ground for aggression," Rafsanjani said.

He reiterated that 'the Islamic Republic of Iran's doctrine is not to invade and attack although the country enjoys a favorable military power'.

A high-ranking police officer seen arguing with a masked student in the fourth consecutive day of protest in areas around Tehran University campus and dormitories on 13 June 2003 in Tehran.

The official, however, stressed the need for investment in the country's military and defense research establishments in the face of 'American floating of the plan to establish a unipolar world'.

"Under such conditions, it is necessary to maintain Iran's defense preparedness and our vigilance," he said.

Commenting further on the recent unrest in Iran, Rafsanjani said, "Washington paid a very heavy price to create an atmosphere of unrest in our country."

The riots were conducted by 'a bunch of thugs, hooligans and hoodlums who thought a miracle was in the offing in Iran', he added.

The riots followed a peaceful gathering of students to protest perceived privatization of state universities, which officials have denied, and took an ugly turn when vigilantes attacked students.

Police have said maximum security had been restored following the unrest and vowed to 'stand up with full force to those who seek to jeopardize the country's security'.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=16620&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

If Khatami resigns it will be civil war, this is the threat he is using against Khamenei. Sooner or later this game of poker will have a showdown.

YEMENI PRESIDENT DISCUSSES IRANIAN AL-QAEDA EXTRADITIONS. Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Salih said in an interview in London's "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" of 29 June that Iran has extradited approximately six Al-Qaeda members to Yemen, and Yemen currently has 80 of the terrorists in custody.

Other Yemeni Al-Qaeda members were returned via Oman and Saudi Arabia. Salih said Al-Qaeda causes unease in all the regional states so nobody encourages them or harbors them.

"These terrorists are ignorant extremists who pick and choose from Islam what suits their purposes and do not know anything about the principles of the religion," Salih said. BS

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 124, Part III, 2 July 2003

Expect more of this the coming week before IAEA will visit Iran on July 9th. What a day for a visit!

APANESE PRIME MINISTER WEIGHS IN ON POSSIBLE OIL DEAL WITH IRAN.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on 2 July urged the Japanese consortium that includes Tomen Corporation, Inoex Corporation, and Japan Petroleum Exploration Company to examine from several angles the possibility of signing an oil-development contract with Iran, Jiji Press reported. Koizumi said important factors are nuclear nonproliferation, Japan's role in the international community, and domestic Iranian issues. On 1 July, Tokyo announced that Japan will not sign a contract with Iran for an oil-development project if Tehran fails to address international concern about its nuclear activities (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 July 2003). BS

IRAN-INDIA GAS PIPELINE LOOKS DOUBTFUL. The respected daily "New Delhi Business Standard" reported on 2 July that the possible discovery of more natural-gas reserves in the Krishna-Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh and the deep waters off the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal is threatening to overshadow the proposed natural-gas pipeline from Iran to India.

Citing anonymous "knowledgeable sources," the report said that even if India does import liquefied natural gas from Iran, it is unlikely to invest in a natural-gas pipeline, not least because supply and demand projections show that India's natural-gas supplies are sufficient to meet demand by 2006-07, and if there are more discoveries India could have a surplus of gas. The pipeline project was a major feature of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami's January visit to India, and India has voiced skepticism about the security of a pipeline that would pass through Pakistan (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 27 January 2003 and 10 March 2003). BS

Source: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 124, Part III, 2 July 2003

I wonder why they stopped lying and admit now that they have actually 8,000 in custody. I see the regime showing some cracks now.

Time to storm the Bastille?

Iranians' ideology, from the mullahs to the government officials to the "students" to Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all, is nothing more than this.

All they will settle for is total Muslim control of the world.

BTTT

Iranians' ideology, from the mullahs to the government officials to the "students" to Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all, is nothing more than this.

I understand your scepticism of the Iranian masses. But on what do you base your opinion?

If you were to read the articles and comments from Iranians living in Iran to these threads you will hear a very different attitude than the one you assert.

So my question is, on what do you based this opinion? Can you cite me polls, studies, or anything?

BTW, you can find links to all the Iranian Alert Threads at:

Is the IAEA really going to Iran on July 9th? That's no coincidence.

So, there's no such thing as a new generation not liking the gov't and the religious establishment's control over them and wanting to change it?
You can be sure there is, because that's what's going on in Iran right now.
Please read some of the posts from the past days, and you may see things quite differently.

Is the IAEA really going to Iran on July 9th? That's no coincidence.

I found that fascinating as well.

I base my opinion on the recent events in Iraq concerning the Shi'ite Muslim who blew up American soldiers after being whipped into a frenzy by some traveling Mullahs. (Shi'ites are the prominent sect in Iran.) One thing I do understand is that it doesn't matter what an Islamist's citizenship is; religious beliefs are the end game, regardless of national origin.

In case we've forgotten...

Almin Karamehmedovic
The Associated Press

March 29, 2003

IN THE IRAQI DESERT -- A suicide bomber killed four Americans in an attack Saturday north of the city of Najaf, U.S. military officers said.

Capt. Andrew Wallace said the victims were part of the Army's 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.

The attack occurred at a U.S. checkpoint on the highway north of Najaf.

A taxi stopped close to the checkpoint, and the driver waved for help. The soldiers approached the car, and it exploded, Wallace told Associated Press Television News.

U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, confirmed the incident but had no additional details. Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart said that kind of attack was "a symbol of an organization that's starting to get a little bit desperate."

The suicide bombing was the first against U.S. and British forces since the invasion of Iraq began.

There have been warnings of suicide attacks in Iraq.

Iraqi dissidents and Arab media have claimed that Saddam Hussein has opened a training camp for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces in Iraq.

Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden also urged Iraqis last month in an audio tape aired on Arabic television to employ the tactic against the Americans. Other Arab militants also spoke about suicide missions against the invading armies.

Such suicide attacks are common by Palestinian militants in targeting the better equipped Israeli army during the uprising on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri was asked in a mid-March television interview, whether Iraq would use the tactic of suicide attacks against the invading American forces.

"We have prepared ourselves for all kinds of war. For many months, tens of thousands have volunteered to serve as martyrdom-seekers (suicide attackers) in the battle with the American enemy," he said. "We trained them and readied them. We have prepared ourselves for street fighting and desert fighting."

The biggest suicide bombing against the U.S. military abroad was in Lebanon when a truck packed with explosives drove into the U.S. Marine base at Beirut International Airport and exploded in the early morning Oct. 23, 1983, as the troops slept. The attack killed 241 American servicemen and leveled the base. Simultaneously, a Beirut base for French soldiers was attacked by another suicide bomber, killing 58 paratroopers.

The Americans and the French were in Lebanon as part of an ill-fated peacekeeping mission to end Lebanon's civil war. Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militants were blamed for the attacks.

In 1996, a truck bomb at the U.S. Khobar Towers barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 19 U.S. servicemen.

Which do you think is better for America's safety & interest in the region, and safety at home and abroad? 1) An Iran run as it is now, with the ayatollahs having the final word? or 2) An Iran with more of a secular, democratic/parliamentary style gov't with the religious leaders in the background where they should be?

#2 is what the people of Iran would like. How about you?

Did you know, that a mullah in Iran was beheaded last week? (although I certainly don't condone this)

I think there's a lot going on that you may not be aware of, because it really hasn't been reported to any great degree.

I base my opinion on the recent events in Iraq concerning the Shi'ite Muslim who blew up American soldiers after being whipped into a frenzy by some traveling Mullahs. (Shi'ites are the prominent sect in Iran.) One thing I do understand is that it doesn't matter what an Islamist's citizenship is; religious beliefs are the end game, regardless of national origin.

I am not arguing that there are not Islamic fascists in Iran. The opposite is true. I am only arguing that this element in the Iranian regime is a small minority position in the Iran of today.

The people of Iran, according to their own polling; want a radical change in the regime. The majority are angry at the regime's emphasis on Islam and Palestine at the expense of the needs of their own people.

The majority no longer respect the mullahs in Iran, most consider them corrupt or fools. This is why there is a huge interest in pre Islamic religions in Iran today.

The problem is so serious that Iranian mullahs are now starting to support the protest movement, because they fear Islam will be dead in Iran if they don't support it and a regime change happens.

Are you aware of any of this? Have you been reading the news reports in the threads I mentioned? I understand your anger, I share it against the Islamic fascists, but I do not agree that the people of Iran are all Islamic fascists. Few are today. This is the very reason the regime is about to crumble. The students and people of Iran are demanding a secular democratic republic. I support this, and I believe you would to. Read the comments of the Iranian students and leaders. They often sound more conservative and informed about our founding principles than most conservatives I know. If they succeed, they will be one of our strongest allies. Please support them.