Iranian Alert -- DAY 31 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST [Riots erupt]

Live Thread Ping List | 7.10.2003 | DoctorZin

[DoctorZIn]

The next 24-72 hours may be the most important in Iran's history. As Michael Ledeen posted yesterday, "...we can already say that the regime's intimidation was not successful. And you have to admire the courage of these young Iranians..." The events there are encouraging.

We have heard of a demonstration yesterday with about 100,000 Iranians in the Pars region of the city of Tehran. This is a huge demonstration given that the regime was doing everything possible to keep people from gathering in this matter.

We are continuing to hear of the regime’s jamming of the broadcasts in much of Iran. But apparently the signals are getting through much more often.

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a country. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary.

Please continue to post your news stories and comments to this thread.

Thanks for all the help.

DoctorZin

[Nix 2]

It represents, once again, the complete Islamofascism of the US State Department. In only a few short words, Powell all but handed the reformers over to the Mullahs giftwrapped and tied with a bow.
It represents the UN-ization of the State Department as they seek to destroy freedom everywhere in the world, including here.
It has been China jamming satellite signals even as they continue to speed up Iran's nuclear capability.

COLIN POWELL MUST GO!!!

Secretary Powell met with Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas in Jericho during his travel to Asia and the Middle East from June 16 to June 23.
ABOUT ISRAEL: JULY 2, 2003
There are a couple of elements that are now different. One, we've got a new Palestinian leader that we're working with. Chairman Arafat was the one who was involved in all of those deals you just mentioned, and he, frankly, couldn't deliver. And we asked for new Palestinian leadership. The President did that in his speech last summer. And we now have Prime Minister Abbas, and we're very impressed with him, impressed with the cabinet he's put together -- the finance minister, security minister.
ABOUT LIBERIA: JULY 1, 2003
I have had a number of conversations with Secretary General Annan over the past week. And we're examining our options as to what we might do, but the President has not yet made any decision. We have not provided the President with a recommendation from his National Security team yet.
ABOUT IRAN: WITHSEAN HANNITY, JULY 2, 2003
Well, the best thing we can do right now is not get in the middle of this family fight too deeply. We can express our support for young people who want to have a better life. Remember that the President of Iran is freely elected. President Khatami was elected by his people, not in an American kind of election, but an election that essentially tapped into the desires of the people.
ABOUT CARTER, CLINTON, AND NORTH KOREA:
You know, my predecessors who made that deal did succeed in bottling up the Yongbyon reactor for a period of roughly eight years, and I have to give them credit for that.
FROM BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH COMES THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN BEINGS AND THE END OF HOPE FOR ALL WHO SEEK FREEDOM!!!
FROM BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH, HE ALIGNS HIMSELF WITH THE UN, ITS TYRANTS AND DESPOTS.
IS THERE ANY REDEEMING QUALITY THAT WOULD SEPARATE HIM FROM AMERICA'S FIFTH COLUMN?
"We've got the best relationship with China that we've had in many, many years -- I'd say at least 20 years. Our relations with Russia are fine, improving and back on track after Iraq. We have good relations with our European friends, even though there was enormous disappointment with France and Germany. But, you know, there are ups and downs in any partnership, in any alliance. "
I DON'T THINK SO.

[MHGinTN]

A free Iran is vital to stopping international terrorism and stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

[nuconvert]

I guess you didn't read the beginning of my comment. You have a number of issues.

And yes, only time will tell.

I'm more optimistic than you are.

Thank you on their behalf for your moral support.

[visualops]

[DoctorZIn]

That is awesome. Thank you.

[DoctorZIn]

Iran Democracy Language a Part of State Department Authorization Bill

Thursday, July 10, 2003

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback said he is pleased the Senate last night included language supporting democracy in Iran to the State Department Authorization Bill (S. 925).

“The United States must stand in solidarity with the Iranian people who are resisting the oppressive regime which has refused to reform despite nearly seven years of promises to do so,” Brownback said. “Iran is not a democracy now – but we hope one day it will be.

“To the Iranian people, I offer my continued support. This is how history is made – one brave act at a time. Stay strong, and know that America supports you, and will be there to help you rebuild your beautiful land. Hopefully, next July – as America again celebrates its independence, we can rejoice with you in celebrating a free Iran as well,” Brownback said.

Text of the Iran Democracy Act, as included in S. 925, follows:

(a) FINDINGS - The Congress finds the following:

(1) Iran is neither free nor democratic. Men and women are not treated equally in Iran, women are legally deprived of internationally recognized human rights, and religious freedom is not respected under the laws of Iran. Undemocratic institutions, such as the Guardians Council, thwart the decisions of elected leaders.

(2) The April 2003 report of the Department of State states that Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2002.

(3) That report also states that Iran continues to provide funding, safe-haven, training and weapons to known terrorist groups, notably Hizballah, HAMAS, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

(b) POLICY - It is the policy of the United States that -

(1) currently, there is not a free and fully democratic government in Iran,

(2) the United States supports transparent, full democracy in Iran,

(3) the United States supports the rights of the Iranian people to choose their system of government; and

(4) the United States condemns the brutal treatment, imprisonment and torture of Iranian civilians expressing political dissent.

Sen. Brownback yesterday spoke to a large group of Iranian-Americans at a Washington, D.C. rally in support of the pro-democracy movement inside Iran. July 9, 2003 marked the fourth anniversary of the original student protests in Iran which were brutally put down by the current regime.

Source:
http://brownback.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=205986

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I wrote my senators... and it passed. Very good.

[DoctorZIn]

REGIME’S BAN ON 9 JULY MEETINGS BACKFIRED ON THE RULING CLERICS

By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor

PARIS 10 July (IPS) The Iranian authorities ban on demonstrations and meetings aimed at commemorating the 9 July massacre of the first major students revolt against the clerical rulers and for democracy in Iran has badly backfired against the Islamic Republic, according to all Iranian and foreign analysts and commentators.

In a statement reported by the "Jomhoori Eslami" (Islamic Republic) newspaper that belongs to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the lamed and extremely unpopular leader of the regime, former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, considered as the number two man of the regime said shamelessly "American plots to create troubles in order to overthrow the (Islamic) regime proved wrong. These events offered a nice picture of the might of the Islamic Republic and the weight of the Americans".

But he did not say that the regime has done all it could to prevent demonstrations, including intimidation of the students and the people, closing all universities and student’s dormitories, warnings to all local media and journalists against reporting any news about 9 July, curtailing the activities of foreign journalists based in Tehran, "flooding" popular foreign-based Iranian media with heavy parasite, thus making their reception in Iran almost impossible, the arrest of more than 5.000 students, demonstrators and political activists, and above all placing Tehran and major cities under a virtual state of emergency.

The Intelligence Ministry, controlled by President Mohammad Khatami’s government, had told all Iranian newspapers and journalists not to publish anything related to the 9 July 1999 events, not to talk to foreign-based media or report for Iranian internet websites, bypassing the authority Islamic Guidance and Culture Ministry on the matters related to the press.

Hence, the Iranian media’s total silence, except for the independent "Yas No", the only newspaper that reported the Intelligence Ministry’s order.

"There were five plainclothes thugs, basij militias and Ansar Hezbollah, armed with firearms for every would be demonstrator, cordoning off all the streets leading to universities", one journalist told Iran Press Service, reporting on the situation on 9 July.

But despite all these measures, described by some observers as "unprecedented in the past years", the students and thousands of Iranians in the capital and other cities, including smaller towns, took to the streets and once again, clashed with the regime’s pressure groups and expressed their opposition to the present theocracy by blaring their car’s horns, shouting slogans such as "death to Khameneh’i" and "long live democracy and secularism" and an end to all kind of discriminations.

The thugs used teargas and fired in the crowd of protesters, estimated by some eyewitness at more than ten thousands, arresting at least 60 people, among them Mr. Esma’il Jamshidi, a veteran independent journalist and member of the Iranian Writers Association and three students from the Office for Consolidating Unity (OCU), students largest organization.

"The atmosphere is very tense, the smell of teargas is thick in the air. Police have clashed with youths, the youths have fought with basijis and I saw Police fighting basijis trying to get closer to the university", one witness told "The Times" of London.

"The conservatives, using the past two weeks daily protests as a rehearsal for what might take place on Wednesday (9 July), had mobilized all their forces, this against the students who had been tired of their day and nightly demonstrations in the one hand and the fact that most of their leaders had been arrested on the other, explaining why the students had, wisely though, decided not to stage any major protest movement on this day", Dr. Sadeq Ziba Kalam, a professor teaching international politics at Tehran University commented for the Persian service of the BBC.

"Showing more maturity and a better organization in their past protest movement, the students were able to mobilize Iranians all over the nation as well as both their compatriots outside and the international public opinion behind their cause and dealing a humiliating blow to the ruling conservatives", added Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, a veteran political analyst in Paris.

In commentaries on the Iranian students movement, international media and Iranian observers were unanimous saying the authorities ban on commemorating the 9 July 1999 savage crackdown was a major set back for the ruling mullahs and a great victory for both the students and Iranian people fighting for a democratic state.

The Judiciary, controlled directly by Mr. Khameneh’i, confirmed the arrest of at least 4.000 students and demonstrators, but independent sources put the number at more than 8.000, with another hundred abducted by plainclothes men.

The "Peykeiran" website (www.peyekeiran.com) said Thursday that the bodies of several missing students have been handed to their families, accompanied by warnings that they should not organize funerals or informing the media, "if not, they would also be arrested and reserved "the same fate" as their beloved ones".

"They told us that our children have been killed during the demonstrations, but in fact, they have been assassinated in prisons belonging to units of the Revolutionary Guards (controlled by the office of the leader), placed in specially made bags and beaten up to death with iron bars and electric cables", the website reported, quoting some of the bereaved families it did not named.

Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the general secretary of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), the country’s largest political organization that has the majority in the Majles (the Iranian parliament), in a letter to the powerless Mohammad Khatami, his elder brother, disclosed that "rogue and parallel" security and intelligence units are busy fabricating documents, based on fake confessions against 60 political activists and dissidents, some of them members of the IIPF’s central and political bureaus".

Comparing the crackdown on Iranian students movement for democracy by the clerical rulers with that of the Chinese students protests on 4 July 1989 in the Tien An Men Square in Peking, the Italian newspaper "Corriere della Serra" wrote in an editorial on Thursday that the difference between the two crackdowns is that while the Chinese Communist authorities offered the students with jobs and some social freedoms, the Iranian authorities not only crushed all forms of freedoms, but had nothing to offer instead but unemployment and despair". ENDS STUDENTS UNRESTS 10703

http://www.iran-press-service.com/

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[visualops]

You know after I finished I realized I left off the "s" and put "we are all Iranian", instead of "shall be". So, here is the improved version:

[RaceBannon]

Rally for a Free Iran, July 9, 2003 New York City in front of the UN building

http://community.webshots.com/album/80515932kQqsdb

[DoctorZIn]

Again, thanks! It is beautiful.

[RaceBannon]

I was interviewed by the Sun, can you copy and paste it to me in a Freep Mail? The article? I am not an online subscriber

[SauronOfMordor]

Looks like they're going to have to go underground DoctorZIn. They are going to have to form small groups and come up with some kind of communication system that the mad mullahs can't figure out. The real problem will be finding out who might be infiltrators.

That's the advantage of the "leaderless resistance" approach: no communication = no possibility of intercept. Working by yourself = no possibility of infiltrators betraying you. In any group of a dozen members, you can rely on one or more members being agents, defectors, or informants. Ideally, you would work alone, or at most with one or two people you have known intimately for most of their lives

[SauronOfMordor]

Communications? They don't need to communicate, they just need to act, independently, like ELF/ALF. Three-person groups could snipe security forces on a regular basis, causing all sorts of trouble (once they get guns).

Last year, the "DC snipers" (Mohammod and Malvo) had a long-running spree in the area of the US capital, with a huge chunk of the FBI and local police looking for them. If they hadn't started sending stupid notes to the cops, and calling them up on the phone to get payoff money, they might still be at it.

[Texas_Dawg]

Cool pictures; good turnout; wish I could have gotten off work to be there.

[visualops]

Wow great pictures!
That is awesome, all the flags and signs! Hooray for the people!

What make/model cam did you use?

[DoctorZIn]

This is an important article by Michael Ledeen. Sorry for the format, it's the only way I could post it on FR. Thought you should read it.

The New York Sun 7.8.2003

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Excellent... thank you!

Ledeen is a good writer, and I am glad he called attention to Reuter's distortion.

[nuconvert]

I saw on the news that there were 2 earthquakes in S. Iran.; 5.5 and 5.7(?).

What are you hearing about arrests and the general feeling of the Iranian people about last night?

Do they have access to phones, T.V? Are the signals still being blocked?