Iranian Alert -- August 3, 2003 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

Tilting the axis of evil

By James T. Hackett

President Bush made one of those rare presidential statements that go down in history when he called the regimes in Iraq, North Korea and Iran the "axis of evil." That will rank with Ronald Reagan's call to then-Soviet President Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" as an example of a leader using words to reshape the future.

Diplomats who agonize over what other countries think, and those who believe in paying off the world's evil forces, were aghast at both remarks. Yet, we now know President Reagan's call to tear down the Berlin Wall was like a thunderbolt to the captive peoples of Eastern Europe. They knew then that their plight was understood in the West and proceeded to overthrow the tyrants who controlled them.

But even after the fall of the Ba'ath Party dictatorship in Iraq and the unearthing of mass graves of people executed by the regime, the president's critics still sneer at his reference to the axis of evil. That comment, they say, has complicated efforts to negotiate with North Korea and reach out to the "moderates" in Iran.

But past negotiating with North Korea led to payoffs that helped keep that evil regime in power, while failing to prevent the North from producing missiles and nuclear weapons. Similarly, years of trying to deal with moderates in Iran has shown they have little power, while the anti-American mullahs really control things.

By linking the three evil regimes and then forcibly removing one from power, President Bush sent a strong signal to the other two. Their reactions have been sharply different. The North Korean regime has issued increasingly hysterical threats. The Iranian mullahs, by contrast, are being conciliatory. They now say they will not withdraw from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and will consider a new protocol to allow short notice inspections of suspect nuclear sites.

Despite the critics, the president was right in naming these three regimes. All had leaders who persecuted and repressed the majority of their citizens. They had chemical weapons and were trying to develop nuclear and biological ones, and all had ballistic missiles to deliver them. Saddam Hussein was removed from power because he was the most dangerous. He had twice invaded neighbors (Iran and Kuwait), used chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war and against his own Kurdish citizens, and continued to threaten his neighbors.

The fall of Saddam in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan leaves North Korea and Iran as the principal state threats to peace. North Korea makes and exports ballistic missiles, and now claims to be producing nuclear weapons. The North recently moved long-range artillery closer to Seoul, deployed a second battalion of Nodong missiles aimed at Japan, and says it reprocessed enough nuclear fuel rods to make a half-dozen nuclear weapons.

North Korea is pressing the U.S. for a security guarantee and large amounts of aid. During the Clinton years, its bluster led to gifts of food and fuel. But not under the Bush administration, which has coolly ignored North Korea's threats, while organizing a new international coalition to begin stopping some of its exports.

Eleven countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Australia have joined Mr. Bush's Proliferation Security Initiative to intercept shipments of missiles, weapons of mass destruction materials and narcotics. This new coalition soon will begin training to stop and search suspect ships, and force cargo planes to land. Other countries will be asked to deny refueling and overflight rights. This approach to the North's tantrums — ignore them, make no concessions, and slowly tighten an international noose — is exactly right, despite the wailing of former Clinton administration officials, who want to resume making concessions.

Meanwhile, international pressure on Iran to allow more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities, plus the presence of U.S. troops in adjoining countries, seems to be having a positive effect. The mullahs continue to follow a hard line, cracking down on demonstrators and boasting of their Shahab-3 missile, which they pointedly note can reach Israel. But they also deny they have enriched uranium and suggest they may cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.

The Bush administration's approach to North Korea and Iran is exactly right: Ignore the threats, make no concessions, lead international coalitions to restrain them, press Russia and China to cooperate, and slowly tighten an international noose. After all, it is in the interest of most countries to prevent these rogue regimes from obtaining and selling nuclear weapons and missiles.

With Saddam removed from power and the other members of the axis of evil under growing pressure, President Bush's cool determination is paying off.

James T. Hackett is a contributing writer to The Washington Times and is based in San Diego.

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20030802-110709-1660r.htm

Tilting the axis of evil
By James T. Hackett
Washington Times 8.3.2003

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/957322/posts?page=21#21

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Khomeini's grandson says...

"IF ALIVE, AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI WOULD ALSO JOIN THE PROTESTERS"

AMSTERDAM 3 Aug. (IPS) "If my grandfather would be alive now, he would have joined the rank of all the Iranians opposed to the present regime", a Dutch newspaper quoted Hojjatoleslam Hoseyn Khomeini, the nephew of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran as having stated.

In an interview carried Saturday by the Amsterdam-based "NCR Handelsblad", the nephew of the founder of the present Islamic Republic of Iran who now lives in Baghdad also expressed the hope to see the ongoing popular protest movement against the regime becoming a basis for "a great and surprising event that would happen in Iran in the near future".

Mr. Khomeini called for the establishment of a secular, democratic system in Iran and accused the present ruling ayatollahs of "abusing" Islam and the revolution for their own interests.

Opening "the lock off his mouth", Mr. Hoseyn Khomeini said though his grandfather left an "important legacy" in the form of the velayat faqih, or the rule of Juristconsult for his successors, yet, if he would be alive, he would have changed the system.

In the one-page interview carried in the Iraqi capital where the 45 years-old Khomeini has taken residence, Hoseyn said if the United States is the only nation that can bring freedom and democracy to Iran, he is ready to cooperate.

"Freedom must be for everyone and everywhere. If the Americans are the only ones capable to bring it for Iran, let them do, why not?" he told the paper.

He said if stability and democracy is returned to Iraq, all Iranians struggling for freedom in their homeland, "clerics as well as intellectuals and nationalists" could make Baghdad a base for their liberation movement.

Asked if the present leader of the regime, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i had been able to carry properly the legacy of his grandfather, the young Khomeini answered by the negative, pointing to the fact that Mr. Khameneh’i lacked the rank, legitimacy and authority of the late Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini.

"He (Khameneh’i), like the other ruling clerics are mediocre people who abuses of the name of Khomeini to legitimise their shameful rule, one of worst forms of religious dictatorship that governs by ruthless oppressive actions", he said.

Commenting of the present situation and the crackdown of the students protest movement, Mr. Khomeini said the people are "deeply deceived" and "extremely dissatisfied".

"The people see by themselves how they are unjustly treated and oppressed in the name of God, religion and the Shi’ites twelve imams and they don’t want to see Islam be abused by clerical rulers who do not care less about Islam or the revolution. If my grandfather would have been alive, he would have been one of the first ones to join the protesters", he added with conviction.

Asked to comment on the situation of President Mohammad Khatami and his failed reforms, Mr. Khomeini said Mr. Khatami is "finished", having "no future".

"People have lost their fate and confidence with both the President and the reformists. Mr. Khatami could have been successful in the process of reforms, but his mission has ended in fiasco. He exists by name only", he observed.

Asked if he agrees with the majority of Iranian intellectuals and scholars who wants the religion be kept outside of the sphere of politics, he said secularism was one of his most important desires "both in religious and in political term".

"All political system must be based on the separation of religion from the state and anyway, until the return of the Shi’ite’s twelfth imam Mahdi, no one can rule in the name of God and Islam", he noted.

Asked about the present Iranian Islamic system of velayat faqih, Mr. Khomeini said this is something that must be reviews, adding that though the system was one of the "most important legacy’ his grandfather left for his successors, yet, "if he would have been alive and in regard of what is happening in the country, "he would have certainly changed it".

In an obvious effort to belittle Mr. Hoseyn Khomeini’s declarations to NCR Handelsblad, the daily "Jomhoori Eslami (Islamic Republic) that belongs to the leader of the regime said the Grand Ayatollah had ordered his nephew from talking politics, "knowing his eccentricities".
ENSD HOSEYN KHOMEINI INTERVIEW 3803

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

Thanks.

That's nice to know.
Thanks.

Khomeini's grandson says...

"IF ALIVE, AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI WOULD ALSO JOIN THE PROTESTERS"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/957322/posts?page=23#23

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Iran’s Missile Capabilities to "Guarantee Regional Peace"

By Mehr News Agency
Aug 3, 2003

TEHRAN - Iran’s missile capabilities are a deterrent which guarantees its security and brings about peace to the region, Commander of the Army Air Force, Brigadier General Seyed Reza Pardis, said. Talking to the Mehr News Agency, Pardis said, “today’s world has become an arena for the global arrogance to attack other countries and if we want to confront it we have to be equipped with defensive technology and equipment.”

The equipment of the country with the sophisticated technology aims to defend he territorial integrity of the country, he added.

“Our defensive power enables us to give befitting response to any invader,” the senior army official announced. “We had some shortcomings during the time of our sacred defense, but thanks to God today we are equipped with suitable equipment.”

Referring to the propaganda of the Zionist regime against Iran’s Shahab-3 missiles, the commander of the Air Force said, the Zionist regime’s hands are tainted with the blood of the oppressed Palestinians, but it introduces Iran as a threat to peace.

“We announce that we will equip ourselves with whatever is necessary for the defense of our country and its territorial integrity,” the general noted

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1533.shtml

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Khomeini...

propaganda

Iran’s Missile Capabilities to "Guarantee Regional Peace"

By Mehr News Agency

"Fair and Balanced"
"We report, you decide"

Excellent article. Pity the left never thinks about this.

Although, actually, one of the serious threats we are facing is that much of the left is very attracted to Islam because it is as authoritarian and irrational as Marxism. I think you're going to see more and more of the Marxist left and the Islamicist movement coming together, to the peril of us all.

This is a change of pace. Not a news article. And humor.

Who should be searched? Khalid Akhmed Al-Habibi Bin Hamal or Sister O'Connor, the Irish nun
Iranian ^ | 08/02/03 | Sean Tohibi

I am outraged. Not a day goes by without talking to a fellow Iranian who tells me about a friend who's neighbor's cousin's classmate's brother told him that his girlfriend's uncle had a friend who was treated very harshly during a security check at some US airport.

As an Iranian-American I am outraged by this treatment of Iranians and all Middle Eastern men especially, for that matter. I travel quite often for work and have been through at least 34 airports in the last year. I have never been subjected to this harsh treatment myself which is strange given the fact that the odds are certainly against me. Actually everybody is always very nice to me at the airport. I even got free upgrades a couple of times but that doesn't matter. I am outraged nevertheless.

It is totally unacceptable to subject people to tougher standards just because they fit a certain profile. Imagine you own a store and a guy wearing a "Metalica" T-shirt and a "F#ck U" hat comes to your store and buys a pack of gum and malt liquor and pays with a check. The check bounces and you are stuck with the bill. Another guy wearing the same kind of "Metalica" T-shirt and "F#ck U" hat comes in a couple of days later and writes you a check that again bounces.

After a while you have 19 bounced checks all given to you only by guys who wore "Metalica" T-shirts and "F#ck U" hats. Does this mean you should stop honoring checks from guys who wear "Metalica" T-shirts and "F#ck U" hats? That would be profiling and you would be a racist pig! Think about that before you start treating people who wear "Metalica" T-shirts and "F#ck U" hats any differently!

Anyway, I decided to do something about this very alarming trend. I wanted to do my part and I decided to write to my congressman to express my concerns and to demand that something be done about it. So I sat down at the kitchen table and fired up the old laptop and started to type a letter. I even told my dear wife to take the trash out by herself because what I was doing was very important and that I couldn't be bothered with trivial things. I didn't understand why she gave me the finger later when I ask her for help in writing the letter!

Anyway, the letter was coming along quite nicely. This whole thing was very appropriately timed since I had a flight to Miami the next morning for a meeting with some clients. So I kept pounding on the keyboard and words kept popping up on the screen. I have to confess I was very pleased with myself. I was doing something, I was taking action and it filled me with a nice warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I guess sometime between page 17 and 22 I dozed off right there at the kitchen table. Must have been the Chelokabab and the double mast-o-khiar my wife told me not to eat so late in the evening.

When I woke up it was 7:35 in the morning. My flight was for 10 and I didn't have much time. Fortunately I had already packed the night before and we only live about 15 minutes from the LA airport. I took a quick shower, called for a cab, got dressed, picked up my bags, kissed my wife good-bye and headed out the door.

I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Checked in at the counter and picked up my boarding pass and kept waiting for someone to pick on me. But to my disappointment everybody was quite nice. I tried to put on my 'mean look' when I checked in and later when I went through the security checkpoint. I had all the lines ready in my head and was planning on giving a grand performance about injustice and racism. It was going to be a performance worthy of an Oscar.

When standing in line to go through the security check, I noticed something peculiar. It was a pretty long line so I had time to confirm my suspicion. It appeared that the guards at the checkpoint were only selecting one in every 15 passenger for a thorough search. I guess that's what they call random checks. Great! All I needed was random checks. What if I don't get picked? I was really looking forward to giving my performance. Well, maybe I'll get lucky, I thought.

As the line moved ahead I noticed this other guy in the line. He looked like he was also Middle Eastern. I am pretty sure he wasn't Iranian. He was too hairy even for an Iranian! He was looking very intently at the guards and seemed like he was counting something. After a few minutes I realized that he was counting the number of passengers going through the checkpoint and the number of people ahead of him in the line. A couple of times he even repositioned himself by moving back a couple of spaces in the line. It kind of looked strange but I didn't give it much thought. I was too busy thinking about my performance and rehearsing the lines in my head.

I was trying to count the people in front of me so I could be the 15th passenger to get searched but I must have lost count when I was distracted by the blonde I thought was giving me the eye. I got to the checkpoint and after getting my carry-on bag x-rayed I was waved through. Nobody even looked at me funny. I was so mad at them. I had this long speech ready and never even got to deliver it. To make matters worse people kept being all nice and pleasant. I think they knew I was on to them and were just trying to piss me off.

I picked up my bag and walked pass the checkpoint. As I looked back I saw the hairy guy got through as well. He seemed relieved and I could swear I saw a little flash in his eyes after he was cleared to go through. The security guards then stopped this Irish nun for the random check. This was as close to a perfect world as possible.

What is the world coming to, I thought to myself. They let me and this Khalid Akhmed Al-Habibi Bin Hamal guy go through and instead search Sister O'Connor the Irish nun. Then I thought, this is what I wanted, right? This is how it should be in a perfect world. No profiling, only random checks. Actually, in a perfect world there wouldn't be any searches at all and there wouldn't be terrorists who want to blow things up. But at least we now have random checks. I think I am going to call this "Almost a Perfect World".

So we were off and it seemed like it was going to be a nice flight. About an hour into the flight I was still trying to get the last peace of crumb out of the little peanut bag. Why do they have to make these bags so small? I rang the little bell to ask the flight attendants for more peanuts and that's when all hell broke loose.

I saw the hairy guy get out of the lavatory. He had a red bandana around his head with Arabic stuff written on it that I couldn't make out without my glasses. He had what looked like a bomb strapped to his belt with a wire coming out of it to a little button that he was holding in his hand.

The scene back at the airport flashed in my head. As I was counting the passengers trying to get picked for the search so I can bitch about it later, he was counting the passengers to not get picked. Looked like he succeeded too. I didn't have much time to think about anything. All I could think about was this asshole is going to blow us up at 30,000 feet because O'Connor, the Irish nun was searched instead of him. So much for my "perfect world".

The hairy guy then gave us all a crazy look and shouted something that sounded like "All you infidel pigs are going to die now." I wanted to get up and say "Hey man, I'm Iranian. I'm a Muslim just like you. I'm no infidel. Please don't kill me!" But I didn't have time. Next thing, there was a big flash. I felt the warmth of the explosion on my face. It was all over. My entire life flashed before my eyes and it was boring as hell. It was so boring I wanted to walk out in the middle of it but I didn't have much choice at that point. It all became dark after that.

I woke up at the kitchen table and felt the warmth of the blast on my face again. I opened my eyes and it was already morning. The sun coming through the blinds was right on my face. Thank God it was a dream. I got up and walked around a little to make sure I was alive. I don't think I like this Almost Perfect World at all. That could have actually happened. I could have turned into shark food all over the Gulf of Mexico. Not that I have anything against sharks. I think they are fine animals, I just don't think I like the idea of them munching on my body parts.

I sat back down at the kitchen table. My laptop was still on. I moved the mouse and the screen came back on. The curser was blinking at the last thing I wrote before I dozed off. The words were "racial profiling". That's as far as I got. I read the whole thing from the start. I wrote this for a perfect world, I thought. I'm not so sure about our Almost Perfect World now. This would be a great letter to send if there weren't any lunatics in the world. But...

The last thing I did before shutting off the laptop was to highlight the entire document and hit the delete button. I still think this letter is very important and I sure hope someone writes it and sends it to as many people as possible. I just know that I am not going to. But what the hell do I know. I am just shark food!

(A bit predictable, but a break from the usual)

Iran might swap terrorists for help from U.S.

By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Iran might be willing to hand over al-Qaeda terrorists it is holding if the United States cracks down on an Iraq-based terrorist group that Iran says is carrying out a propaganda campaign against the Tehran regime.
A top-level Iranian official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that his government is holding several al-Qaeda prisoners. According to U.S. intelligence, the detainees include Seif Al-Adel, the terrorist network's No. 3 leader and its chief of military operations.

U.S. interrogators badly want access to Al-Adel and the others, who they believe might be able to shed light on plans to attack the United States, or even help point the way to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Iranian official, who has direct knowledge of the negotiations between Iran and the United States, suggested that Iran might be willing to comply with U.S. requests to extradite the prisoners to their home countries, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. There, U.S. intelligence officials would have access to the prisoners that they do not have in Iran.

But for now, the Iranian government is refusing to do that because it says the Bush administration has failed to rein in a violent Iranian exile group called the Mujahedin el-Khalq (MEK). Tehran had hoped that the United States would neutralize the MEK once coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein. Instead, the Iranian official says, the MEK has been allowed to resume broadcasting anti-government propaganda into Iran, has kept its light weapons and has retained access to its heavy weapons — which are under U.S. guard — to maintain them.

The MEK is a group of Iraq-based Iranian exiles who fought on Iraq's side during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Their continued attacks on Iranians have landed them on the State Department's list of terrorist groups. Iranian officials want MEK leaders sent back to Iran, but they might settle for a crackdown on the group's activities against the Tehran regime.

A Defense Department official denied the Iranian accusations about lax treatment of the MEK: "The policy of the U.S. government is to eliminate the MEK's ability and intent to engage in terrorist activity and to prevent its reconstitution as a terrorist organization."

The controversy has highlighted internal Bush administration conflicts over policy toward Iran, which President Bush included in his "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea. The administration has conducted secret talks with Iranian officials to try to reach understandings about Iraq, al-Qaeda and the nuclear weapons it says Iran is seeking to develop.

But it has also been publicly hostile. It has warned the Iranian regime not to interfere in post-Saddam Iraq and has made no secret of its desire to see the regime collapse. Some intelligence experts say elements in the administration want to use the MEK to pressure the Iranian government.

Vince Cannistraro, a former director of counterterrorism for the CIA, says the State Department and the CIA killed proposals by hard-liners in the Pentagon and Vice President Cheney's office to use the MEK as a U.S. military surrogate after Saddam's fall. "But the broader covert action plan is not fully set," Cannistraro says. "There's no question that we have not disbanded them, and there is an ongoing debate about them between the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the State Department."

This year, the administration started a radio station, Radio Farda, that beams pop music and U.S.-approved news into Iran, and there are proposals on Capitol Hill to spend millions of dollars on other anti-regime activities.

At a news conference last week, Bush repeated support for Iranians who seek to overturn the government. "The people of Iran are interested in freedom, and we stand by their side," Bush said.

Capturing Al-Adel would be a significant intelligence coup. An Egyptian, Al-Adel is believed to have knowledge about suicide bombings May 12 in Saudi Arabia that killed 25 people, including nine Americans. He is also linked to bombings at two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people in 1998 and is believed to rank third in al-Qaeda after bin Laden, the group's Saudi founder, and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, another Egyptian.

U.S. officials believe that Iran is also holding an al-Qaeda spokesman, Suleiman Abu Gheith, who is a Kuwaiti, as well as one of bin Laden's sons.

The Bush administration has pressed for a handover through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of formal U.S.-Iranian diplomatic relations. Iranian officials have responded with complaints about the MEK.

"We will reciprocate any gesture on the part of the United States," the Iranian official said.

Harbored by Saddam since falling out with Iran's Islamic government after taking part in the 1979 Iranian revolution, the MEK has taken responsibility for numerous attacks in Iran, including assassinations of regime figures and mortar attacks on government buildings.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-08-03-iran-usat_x.htm

Middle East analyst: Iran should hand over Al-Qaeda suspects

Brussels Aug 3, IRNA -- Iran should hand over suspected members of
the Al-Qaeda who have been arrested in the Islamic Republic to the
International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague to stand trial for
crimes against humanity, said a Brussels-based analyst on Middle East
affairs.
The analyst, who requested anonymity, said the handover should be
done especially in the case of suspects who are refused to be taken by
their own countries and those that cannot be extradited.
"This would be the best way for Iran to defend itself against
US-Israeli accusations that Tehran is sheltering terrorists," said
the analyst.
"In this way the world would see how Iran is cooperating in
combating terrorism and how the US allegations are false.
"Iran would get her name written in history as one of the first
defenders of the global justice system," he said.
The US does not recognize the ICC and has no influence on it.
Moreover, the ICC does not recognize the death penalty given by
military and civilian courts in Arab countries and in the US.
"Through a fair trial by ICC, Iran wouln't be guilty of punishing
any innocents among the suspects or sending the perpetrators to the
gallows of their countries of origin," added the analyst.

http://www.irna.ir/en/head/030803151815.ehe.shtml

Australian Paper:

Iran detains al-Qaeda No.3

From correspondents in Washington
August 2, 2003

IRAN is holding Saif al-Adel, the third-ranking member of al-Qaeda, but has refused to hand him over to the United States, the New York Times reported today.

Iran will only surrender al-Qaeda members in its custody in exchange for members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen Khalq, many of whom are in US-supervised camps in Iraq, the daily said.

A US official approached Tehran through a third party about taking custody of Adel and other al-Qaeda figures but "did not receive a positive response," the Times quoted a US official as saying.

Among those held in Iran, according to US and Middle Eastern officials, are al-Qaeda's Kuwaiti-born spokesman Sulaiman Abu Gaith; Osama bin Laden's Saudi-born son, Saad; and Abu Masab al-Zarwaqi of Jordan, a close aide to bin Laden.

"We are confident that Iran is holding these people," a US official said.

Adel is thought to have arranged the triple suicide bombings in Riyadh on May 12 that killed 35 people, and to have played a part in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200.

Tehran admitted in late July that it was holding prominent members of the al-Qaeda network but did not identify them.

It was "completing the files" on members of the terror network in its custody before deciding on their fate, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said in a press conference on Monday.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6855087%255E1702,00.html

Good to see your back.

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