I just found this article by one of the true leaders of the conservative movement in America. He says "it's not too late for our country to be more bold in proclaiming support for the Iranians..." Thank God for genuine leaders like him.
Iran Revisited
By Paul M. Weyrich
Just four years ago, July 9th was the start of mass student protests in Iran to protest their repressive government. While the protests failed to usher in a new, more democratic government, many Iranians continue their fight to bring about a freer society.
Unrest continues to dominate the citizens of this country, particularly among young Iranians, and while there were demonstrations earlier this summer, the government had taken steps to prevent open displays of unrest from marking the fourth anniversary. But that didn't stop Islamic vigilantes from seizing student leaders after a news conference yesterday. Silence on the streets of Tehran should not be taken for approval of Iran's governing regime.
Many Americans have unfavorable memories of Iran from the takeover of our hostages that was perpetrated by the followers of Ayatollah Khomeni over two decades ago. Indeed, Iran, ruled by a so-called `reformist' faction for the last seven years, was identified a few months ago as having links to an Al Qaeda cell.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) has earned a reputation as a sensible, committed advocate of human rights. When the news broke a few months ago about new evidence that Iran had links to an Al Qaeda cell, Brownback made clear his belief that the Iranian regime is a terrorist regime.
"A longstanding truism of American foreign policy has been that you cannot and should not negotiate with terrorists. I hope that the current revelations will put an end to the dangerous desires by some to make a deal with these tyrants."
However, the tyrants still hold the reins of power for the time being. Just a few weeks ago, Iran's `reformist' president, Mohammad Khatami, insisted his government was not operating an atomic weapons program. This week, however, Iran announced that it had completed testing of a long-range, surface-to surface missile that experts say has the capability of being deployed against Israel.
Many Americans think the clerics exercise total control over the citizens of Iran. But as the demonstrations that took place earlier this year and in 1999 show, the current Iranian regime like the failed Soviet Communist government cannot sate their people's thirst for true freedom.
Now, Brownback is promoting the Iran Democracy Act, which will: a.) expand pro-democracy broadcasting into Iran; b.) increase the participation by Iranian-Americans in the U.S.-Persian radio service, Radio Farda, and increase grants for translating materials into Persian; c.) establish as U.S. policy support for an internationally-monitored referendum to let Iranians to change their system of government; and d.) clearly place the United States on the side of the Iranian people rather than the misidentified "reform" faction that holds power.
When Brownback introduced the Iran Democracy Act, he appeared with several Iranian-Americans who related how their friends had suffered violence, even death at the hands of the Iranian regime's so-called reformists. "How can a regime that would do this to its own people ever be trusted?," he asked.
The choice is between cutting a deal with the so-called reformists who offer a softer, gentler kind of blood-soaked tyranny or being steadfast in support of a whole new system.
The passion and commitment that Iranian exiles have to change their country's system for the better is demonstrated by Zia Ataby who has used his own family's money to help finance National Iranian TV, which is based in Los Angeles, and which broadcasts into Iran. It's just one of a dozen radio and TV stations based in LA which is broadcasting anti-regime messages. One of the former Iranian presidents even used a prayer sermon to warn Iranians against becoming ensnared by the "evil" TV networks established by his country's expatriates. Iran's government has jammed Ataby's signals and those of other anti-regime stations, even Voice of America programming. But the pro-change message continues to be sounded, and protest leaders in Iran call the stations to let others know what is happening.
The situation in Iran is not exactly comparable to the crackup of the Soviet Union. However, continued resistance to the regime by student demonstrators is a sign that the grip of the ayatollahs over the nation's young is weakening. The nation's economic ills suggest the discontent is more widespread and deeper than kids who just want to listen to rock music. It's been estimated that seventy percent of the nation's gross domestic product is concentrated in government-controlled entities that are inefficient. Inflation, high unemployment, and a high rate of poverty plague Iran.
As one who saw firsthand how badly many of our government's foreign policy "experts" failed to recognize the massive changes underway in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, it's hard not to wonder if history is repeating itself again. In fact, the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen had argued that we would have been better off to tackle Iran first, rather than Iraq, because of the discontent that is prevalent throughout Iran's citizenry. If Iran's regime had fallen and a democratic government put in its place, then that might have inspired an uprising in Iraq.
It's too late for that exact scenario to occur. But it's not too late for our country to be more bold in proclaiming support for the Iranians who seek a better system of government that truly serves their needs, not just those of the governmental and clerical elites. The leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee so far are not considered to be supportive of Senator Brownback's Iran Democracy Act. But there may come a day when the leaders of a new Iran ask us: "Whose side were you on, the government's or the people's?" Is there any doubt what our answer should be?
http://toogoodreports.com/column/general/weyrich/20030710.htmBRUTALISED IRANIAN-CANADIAN PHOTOJOURNALIST DIED IN HOSPITAL
ROME 12 July (IPS) The Association of Iranian Journalists Abroad (AIJA), in a fax to the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, protested vigorously to the death of Ms. Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-born Canadian photo-journalist.
Ms. Kazemi, 54, a free lance photographer covering for the Montreal-based "Recto Verso" and the London-based "Camera Press Agency", had been arrested on 23 June in Tehran while taking pictures near the notorious Evin prison and taken to an undisclosed prison, where, according to informed sources, she had been beaten to death, accused of espionage.
Confirming the death, the Director General of the press and foreign media department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad Hoseyn Khoshvaqt, on Saturday said "the hospitalised Iranian photographer and reporter, Zahra Kazemi, 54, passed away Friday night as a result of brain stroke".
"Kazemi, introducing herself as an Iranian national, was authorised to take photos and prepare reports on the recent university unrests as a representative of the English "Camera Press" institute", Mr. Khoshvaqt added, quoted by the official news agency IRNA, keeping silence that she had been arrested and beaten up.
According to the official, the victim complained of a headache while being interrogated at the Information (Intelligence) Ministry, after being detained by Evin prison’s guards "who treated her as an Iranian national, since she had produced Iranian passport".
"The AIJA accuses you as the sole responsible of the death of our colleague, Ms. Zahra Kazemi, as not only you are the commander of all the Armed Forces of Islamic Republic, but also one that directly controls the pressure groups and rogue plainclothesmen and their prisons", the Rome-based Association said in a fax to Mr. Khameneh'i.
The Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF, or Reporters Without Borders) for its part in a statement says it hold the Iranian authorities as "responsible" for the death of Ms. Kazemi, "having used arbitrary procedures for her arrest in the one hand and doing nothing to provide her necessary medical cares".
Canada has urged Iranian authorities to investigate Ms. Kazemi’s case, particularly allegations that she had been beaten while in custody.
According to newspaper reports, Ms. Kazemi was grabbed by plainclothes after taking photographs of the Elvin prison facility in northern Tehran.
Canadian officials said they were unsure of what, exactly, happened to Kazemi after she was taken into custody, but they know she was admitted to hospital under mysterious circumstances two days later.
Her family alleges Kazemi slipped into a coma with a cerebral hemorrhage suffered during a violent interrogation.
The Canadian Foreign Affairs Department said it learned of the arrest on Monday, when Kazemi's mother contacted the Canadian embassy in Iran.
"We have asked the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate and report to us as soon as possible about the circumstances surrounding Kazemi's being taken into detention, and what might have taken place during the detention to require being taken to hospital for urgent medical reasons", a Department’s spokesman said, adding that no reply had been received as of Wednesday afternoon to Canada's request for information.
While Canadian consular officials in the Iranian capital are trying to confirm Kazemi's condition, friends who visited her in the Baqiatollah Hospital Tuesday said she remains unconscious with severe cuts and bruises on her face and head.
Consular officials visited Kazemi in hospital Tuesday, but were kept too far from the patient to properly assess her condition.
Kazemi was born in Iran but later immigrated to Montreal. Her son, Stephen Hachemi, who is in Montreal said he is convinced his mother was assaulted, but discounts suggestions she was involved in espionage.
"Spying? No, she's not spying", Hachemi told the "National Post". "She does the same thing that every journalist does. She takes pictures of what's going on".
"The country is living through nighttime upheavals that are ideal for photographers," she wrote, describing the anti-government student protests that engulfed the capital, sparking mass roundups and the detention of numerous journalists by security forces.
At least 17 journalists are believed to still be in custody following a security clampdown after the student protests.
Meanwhile, the rights group Amnesty International expressed concern over the arrest of three student activists in Iran earlier this week.
The three students activists, Reza Ameri Nassab, Ali Moqtadari and Arash Hashemi of the Office to Consolidate Unity (OCU) were detained on Wednesday just minutes after they had held a press conference condemning the Islamic republic for banning events to mark the fourth anniversary of bloody student clashes with security forces.
Denouncing the arrests, Amnesty International said the trio "may have been targeted solely for the peaceful expression of their political views".
"During the press conference they criticized restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Iran. They were reported to have been forced to the ground and thrown into three separate vehicles and taken to an unknown destination", Amnesty said, adding that the authorities have confirmed the arrest of up to 4,000 demonstrators in Iran since June 11 in the latest wave of student protests, and that some 2,000 may remain in detention without charge or trial.
But students and other independent sources say the number of protesters detained is more than 8.000, with a hundred abducted, and placed in undisclosed prisons controlled by the ruling conservatives.
"Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. Amnesty International also calls for anyone charged with a recognisable criminal offence to be given prompt fair trial.
"The authorities should take immediate measures to ensure that student activists and peaceful demonstrators are treated in accordance with international human rights standards", the statement added. ENDS JOURNALIST DIES 12703
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ "If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”