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| Worldâs Notorious Terrorists Backed by US: Rafsanjani |
| 2004-02-28 |
| Iranâs influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said yesterday that all ânotorious terroristsâ get their money and support from Washington, in response to the latest US government report slamming Tehranâs human rights record. âAll the world-known and notorious terrorists are made with US money, support and experience,â he said in his Friday sermon, broadcast live on state radio. Some statements just take your breath away, don't they? According to an annual United States government report released Wednesday, human rights conditions worsened last year in Iran as well as in China, Cuba and Myanmar. The US State Department human rights report gave a bleak assessment of Iranâs rights record, amid a âpursuit of numerous violations,â against fundamental rights that notably targeted government opponents in politics and the media. Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi bluntly accused the United States nine months ago of supporting terrorism because its State Department lists the Peopleâs Mujahedeen, also known as the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization, as a terrorist organization. The MKO was given sanctuary by Iraqâs then-president Saddam in 1986 after being driven out of Iran in the wake of a vicious power struggle following the 1979 Islamic revolution. âAn example of the US action which it calls combating terrorism, are those terrorists who are serving the US, they explode the Imam Reza center and martyred a lot of visitors, and now they are in US asylum either in Iraq or the US,â Rafsanjani said. That's it? That's the best you can come up with? Nearly a dozen people were killed when a bomb exploded at the center in northeastern city of Mashad on June 20, 1994. Iran blamed the blast on the MKO, which were disarmed under a treaty with the US military in Iraq after the US-led war ousted Saddam Hussein. "Disarmed" means we took their weapons away... The MKOâs deal with the US forces angered Tehran, which accused Washington of being equivocal in its âwar on terrorismâ. Because we wouldn't give them to Iran to torture and kill... Rafsanjani also saluted Iraniansâ participation in last weekâs first round of parliamentary elections. âThe peopleâs participation in the elections was able to neutralize the psychological war which was headed by the US, thus saving the country from the whirlpool they had envisioned for it,â he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Baghdad Bob has competition! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-2-28 11:43:29 AM |