Four days after the elections, there have been anti-demonstration forces on the streets of Tehran whose accents are unrecognizable. Witnesses say they are not able to understand what they are saying. Some say they have openly heard Arabic being spoken by some. Yesterday, I had a chance to chat with one of the plain-clothed men in a sandwich shop.
Me: Salaam brother. How are you?
Him: God Bless you, fine, thank you.
Me: Where are you from?
Him: Torbat
Me: Torbat?
Him: Torbat-e Jam (a small town in the Eastern region of Iran close to the border of Afghanistan)
Me: How old are you?
Him: 36.
Me: Do you have a wife and kids?
Him: No. Wife and kids costs money. I am unemployed.
Me: Unemployed? Arent you a Basiji? Doesnt the army give you a fixed salary?
Him: No. I am not a Basiji. I am unemployed.
Me: But you are working now, arent you?
Him: Yeah.
Me: Why do you have that club?
Him: They brought us here to hit the anti-revolutionaries. Thats why they gave us this club.
Me: Who gave it to you?
Him: Haji. He told me to hit in such a way that they dont get up anymore. Theyre traitors!
Me: What do you think about that?
Him: I dont get involved in these things. I just get my money.
Me: You get money for beating people up. Thats great.
Him: Yeah. They gave me money just to beat people up! Wouldnt you do the same?
Me: How much do they pay you?
Him: 200 dollars (200,000 tomans) per day. (he smiles)
Me: Thats a lot of money. Whatre you gonna do with all that money?
Him: Get a wife. Or even two, if I can have this kind of money. Do you know how much that is? 2000 dollars. Maybe I wont even go back to Torbat. Maybe Ill stay here. Haji says there will be more demonstrations. They will give us more work.
Me: How many days have you been in Tehran?
Him: 3 days. There are still 7 more days left.
Me: Where are all the other people from who are with you?
Him: I dont know all of them. But in our dormiatory we have people from Mazandaran, Arak, Khoozestan. Also from Torbat-e Hedariye and Khvaf. (he takes a sip from his soda. He asks me for a cigarette. I give it to him. He lights it and he smokes and talks.
Me: There are Arabs among them, no?
Him: Yeah. But I heard they put them in a hotel. They say they are from Lebanon. Last night they gave us Tuna for dinner. The guys said the Arabs get better food.
Me: Where is your dorm?
Him: I dont know. I dont know my way around Tehran. But its far. You have to go this way to get there (he points east).
Me: Have you been to Tehran before?
Him: No. This is my first time.
Me: You pray?
Him: Yeah, sure. But here, when we are on duty, were not even allowed to go to the bathroom.
Me: Dont you get upset when you beat people?
Him: People? Haji says those who are in the demonstrations are traitors. I believe him. Hes a haji. You know Haji would not lie.
Q: Aside from a mass deployment of force against unarmed protestors (which, unfortunately, is not unlikely) what is the worst possible outcome in Iran?
A: That it becomes unavoidably clear the post-election conflict isn't a struggle between tyranny and freedom the epic narrative we've been hearing in absolute, non-contestable terms. The worst thing that could happen next, at least for the absolute, non-contestable pundit-ocracy, is that it becomes clear we're looking at an intra-Islamic power struggle that has nothing to do with liberty and justice for anybody. That this may be a battle between theocratic, anti-American, anti-Israel, pro-jihad, Khomeinist factions should be enough to chill the enthusiasm of any pro-democracy booster.
Amazingly, the thought that there might not be a pro-West horse to ride here doesn't enter the collective media mind, from Left to Right. Such unbraked credulity reflects the media failure to deal competently with any non-Western aspect of Islamic society. They instantly project their Western selves onto everything every time.
It would seem advisable to feel one's way into this story, particularly after picking up on the mullah-versus-mullah action, along with a few choice highlights of "opposition" candidate Mousavi's resume. Mousavi (who defended the seizure of American hostages taken from the U.S. embassy there in 1979) served as the Ayatollah Khomeini's prime minister (and is believed to have had a connection to the 1983 attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut), reportedly initiated contact with Pakistan's A.Q. Khan to launch Iran's nuclear program, and, as John Bolton recently pointed out, "is fully committed to Iranian terrorism." (So much for the Wall Street Journal's uncontested mention of Mousavi's "mercy Islam.") In a recent Al Jazeera interview, Mousavi revealed his opinion of Ahmadinejad's genocidal intention to "wipe Israel off the map." Mousavi said: "From the beginning, I objected to that phrase."
The phrase?
But there's more. In a seminal but barely reported speech on June 20, Mousavi explained his movement. It has nothing to do with freedom, with modernity or, as Iran-watcher Michael Ledeen has written, a call "in effect for the end of the Islamic Republic as we know it." Indeed, Mousavi's vision as laid out in this speech has everything to do with returning Iran to the past 1979, to be precise.
In a paean to the 1979 Islamic Revolution "an illumination, never experienced before" that empowered the noxious Ayatollah Khomeini, Mousavi explains his intent to revive "the Islamic revolution as it was" and "the Islamic Republic as it should be." Noting that this "noble message ... excited the younger generation, a generation that had not seen those times, and felt a distance between ... this great inheritance," he speaks of the "rights of the people" to fair election results, and pledges his loyalty to this cause. And finally this:
"We are not up against our sacred regime and its legal structures; this structure guards our Independence, Freedom and Islamic Republic. We are up against the deviations and deceptions and we want to reform them; a reformation that returns us to the pure principles of the Islamic Revolution."
Continued on Page 47
#1
Wasn't Dinnerjacket one of the rabble in the street in 1979 that seized the U.S. Embassy?
Bolton is right. The mad mullahs will simply drag their feet in negotiations to buy time to develop nuclear weapons. Dinnerjacket has threatened to wipe Israel off the map. He is a hateful little $hit. People have made the mistake of appeasing and negotiating with tyrants in the past. Chamberlain's fiddling and fumbling opened the door for WWII. With tyrants negotiations are used for advantage or taken as a sign of weakness. History again is ignored.
#2
Yes and much more. According to other OSU officials, when the idea of storming the U.S. embassy in Tehran was raised in the OSU central committee by Mirdamadi and Abdi, Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time. A decade later, most OSU leaders re-grouped around Khatami but Ahmadinejad remained loyal to the ultra-conservatives.
During the crackdown on universities in 1980, which Khomeini called the Islamic Cultural Revolution, Ahmadinejad and the OSU played a critical role in purging dissident lecturers and students many of whom were arrested and later executed. Universities remained closed for three years and Ahmadinejad joined the Revolutionary Guards.
In the early 1980s, Ahmadinejad worked in the Internal Security department of the IRGC and earned notoriety as a ruthless interrogator and torturer. According to the state-run website Baztab, allies of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami have revealed that Ahmadinejad worked for some time as an executioner in the notorious Evin Prison, where thousands of political prisoners were executed in the bloody purges of the 1980s.
In 1986, Ahmadinejad became a senior officer in the Special Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards and was stationed in Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. Ramazan Garrison was the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards extra-territorial operations, a euphemism for terrorist attacks beyond Irans borders.
In Kermanshah, Ahmadinejad became involved in the clerical regimes terrorist operations abroad and led many extra-territorial operations of the IRGC. With the formation of the elite Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the IRGC, Ahmadinejad became one of its senior commanders. He was the mastermind of a series of assassinations in the Middle East and Europe, including the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou, who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards in a Vienna flat in July 1989. Ahmadinejad was a key planner of the attack, according to sources in the Revolutionary Guards.
This is the person Obama wants to buddy up to.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2009 19:59 Comments ||
Top||
"Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction," he (Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami) said in the nationally broadcast speech.
Continued on Page 47
As a leading cleric demanded today that dissenters be punished "strongly and with cruelty" and that some are "worthy of execution," Iran's increasingly isolated opposition leader effectively ended his role in street protests, saying he'll seek permits for future rallies.
Iran's ruling clergy has widened its clampdown on the opposition since a bitterly disputed June 12 presidential election, and scattered protests have replaced the initial mass rallies. The official Web site of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main tool of communicating with his supporters, was hacked today, leaving it blank, an aide said.
Mousavi has said victory was stolen from him through fraud, challenging the proclamation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner. However, Mousavi has sent mixed signals to his supporters in recent days, asking them not to break the law, while pledging not to drop his challenge of the election results.
Hundreds have been detained in recent weeks, including journalists, academics and university students, and a special court has been set up to try them.
In today's central Muslim sermon at Tehran University, a senior cleric, Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, called for harsh retribution for dissent. "Anybody who fights against the Islamic system or the leader of Islamic society, fight him until complete destruction," he said in the nationally broadcast speech.
The cleric claimed some involved in the unrest had used firearms. "Anyone who takes up arms to fight with the people, they are worthy of execution," he said. "We ask that the judiciary confront the leaders of the protests, leaders of the violations, and those who are supported by the United States and Israel strongly, and without mercy to provide a lesson for all."
Khatami said those who disturbed the peace and destroyed public property were "at war with God," and said they should be "dealt with without mercy." He reminded worshippers that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rules by God's design and must not be defied.
The cleric also lashed out at foreign journalists, accusing them of false reporting, and singled out Britain for new criticism. "In this unrest, Britons have behaved very mischievously and it is fair to add the slogan of down with England to slogan of down with USA," he said, as his remarks were interrupted by worshippers' chants of "Death to Israel."
Iran's rulers have accused the West, which has become increasingly vocal in its condemnation of the post-election clampdown, of meddling in Iran's internal affairs. Earlier this week, Iran expelled two British diplomat, prompting the expulsion of two Iranian diplomats by Britain. In Trieste, Italy, foreign ministers of the Group of Eight countries called for an end to the violence in Iran and urged the authorities to find a peaceful solution.
Khatami, meanwhile, alleged that the icon of the opposition, slain protester Neda Agha Soltan, was killed by demonstrators, not the Iranian security forces. Soltan, 27, was killed by a shot to the chest last week, on the sidelines of a protest. "The proof and evidence shows that they (protesters) have done it themselves and have raised propaganda against the system," he said. "I say hereby that these deceitful media have to know that the ordeal will be over and shame will remain for them."
In quelling protests, Basij militiamen have broken up even small groups of people walking together to prevent any possible gathering. Still, dozens of friends and relatives of Soltan managed to pay tribute Friday, arriving at Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in groups of two and three, uttering brief prayers, placing flowers on Soltan's grave and then leaving, witnesses said.
Vigils for Soltan have been held around the world.
This morning, Mousavi, who has said he is being increasingly isolated, lost his main link to the world after his official Web site Kalemeh, came up blank and stripped of any text or pictures. Mousavi's associate Ali Reza Beheshti told The Associated Press the site had been taken down by unknown hackers.
In a message on the site late yesterday, Mousavi had said he would seek permission for future protests, even though he said unfair restrictions were being imposed. He said he has been asked by the Interior Ministry to apply in person, a week ahead of time. The opposition leader noted that his rival, Ahmadinejad, has been able to hold two post-election marches and a Tehran rally "that were well publicized on state television, seeming to encourage participation with their regularly advertised march routes."
Mousavi has said the authorities are pressuring him to withdraw his challenge by attempting to isolate and discredit him. He hasn't led a rally in more than a week.
Khamenei has ordered a large security detail around Mousavi -- ostensibly to protect him, but presumably also to restrict his movements. Authorities have also targeted those close to Mousavi. Late yesterday, state TV reported that the head of Mousavi's information committee, Abolfazl Fateh, was banned from leaving Iran for Britain. The report, which could not be verified independently, identified Fateh as a doctoral student in Britain. The semiofficial Fars news agency said Fateh was banned from travel so authorities could investigate "some of the recent gatherings," a reference to election protests.
At least 11 Mousavi campaign workers and 25 staffers on his newspaper have been detained since the election. On Wednesday, 70 university professors were detained immediately after meeting with the opposition leader. All but four have been released. Those still in custody included Qorban Behzadiannejad, Mousavi's former campaign manager.
In all, at least 17 people have been killed in postelection protests, in addition to eight members of the Basij, the government has said.
Continued on Page 47
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Lebanese lawmakers overwhelmingly re-elected a pro-Hizbullah parliament speaker Thursday despite the Iranian-backed group's recent election loss, signaling that the political factions are moving toward a unity government.
Lebanese leaders have been looking for a fresh start after a divisive election.
The June 7 vote brought victory for the Western-backed coalition which fought off a strong challenge from the militant group Hizbullah and its allies. But it also underscored the deep divisions among the Lebanese.
Re-electing Hizbullah ally Nabih Berri for a fifth consecutive term is expected to smooth the way for the formation of a new government in the coming weeks. Majority leader Saad Hariri is tipped to head it.
Hariri said picking Berri for the job "consolidates national unity and preserves civil peace."
The choice of Berri, a Shi'ite Muslim, respects Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing structure that calls for the speaker to be a Shi'ite, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the president a Maronite Catholic. Both Parliament and Cabinet are divided in half between Muslims and Christians.
Berri heads the Shi'ite Amal movement that together with Hizbullah control most of the Shi'ites' 27 seats in the 128-member legislature.
He was the sole candidate for the post, which he has held since 1992.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11139 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Israeli army has deployed its Mirkava tanks and personnel-carriers along the Lebanese border, Lebanon's National News Agency says.
The deployment took place on Thursday along the barb-wired fence which separates the Shebaa Farms from other parts of Lebanese territories.
Israeli tanks were also gathering along a 5-km area, stretching from the Tallat Sobaih army post to Mount Hermon while sporadic gunfire was also heard throughout the day, the agency reported.
The Israeli air force also carried out a number of flights over the Shebaa Farms, al-Arqoub villages, Hasbaya, Marjayoun, western Bekaa and Iqlim al-Tuffah.
Shebaa Farms comprises of a group of 14 farms close to the poorly-defined border of Lebanon and Syria. The farms were captured from Syria during the Six-Day Israeli War in 1967.
Lebanon says that Israel must leave the Shebaa Farms area, which it says lies on Lebanese territory while Israel contests this claim. Israel says that Shebaa is part of Syria's territory and its fate should be discussed in future peace talks with Damascus.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
Expecting a little "hey! look over here!" by the Iranians? Good guess. I'd tighten the Gazan border as well. Shiny objects and distractions work on small minds and Democrats...but I repeat myself
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2009 0:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Grom, has there been a call-up? I thought the Israelis couldn't deploy without serious short-term reserve mobo?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/26/2009 9:17 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Jerusalem Post quotes the LNNA report, having no sources of their own on this story, Mitch.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The head of defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi's information committee, Abolfazl Fateh, has not been allowed to leave the country for Britain.
Following the recent incidents and a move by some Mousavi supporters to provoke people to hold "illegal gatherings", Fateh - who is a PhD student in Britain - has been banned from leaving Iran, Fars news agency reported.
Fateh has been banned from leaving the country so that some issues behind the gatherings can be clarified, the news agency reported.
Following the announcement of the results of Iran's 10th presidential elections, supporters of some candidates took to the streets to protest against alleged irregularities in the election process.
Meanwhile, Iran's Interior Ministry has repeatedly declared that it has not issued any permit for the rallies and has stressed that such protests are illegal.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[ADN Kronos] Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has warned of more protests while expressing concern about the number of people who have "vanished" or been targeted by authorities since the presidential election.
In a statement on Thursday, Mousavi's official website expressed concern about pressure to withdraw his challenge to the election result and attempts to control the activities of him and his supporters.
"Many people have been arrested in Iran since the release of the election results, some of whom have been paraded on national TV and titled as thugs, terrorists or foreign paid agents," the site said. "Many others have vanished completely in the system."
He complained of restrictions on his access to people and a crackdown on his media group.
In another development on Thursday, Iranian state media said that eight members of the pro-government Basij militia had been killed and dozens more wounded in the protests. The eight deaths were in addition to 17 other people whose deaths have already been reported. The figures cannot be verified due to severe reporting restrictions inside Iran.
"I won't refrain from securing the rights of the Iranian people... because of personal interests and the fear of threats," Mousavi said on the website of his newspaper, Kalameh.
Iran's Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri warned the nation's rulers on Thursday that the continued suppression of opposition protests over the disputed presidential election could destabilise the regime. "If Iranians can not talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful," he reportedly said.
Unrest has grown in Iran since hardline presidential incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the 12 June election - a vote that Mousavi and his supporters claim was rigged.
Mousavi and his supporters are demanding an annulment of the election and the Guardian Council, the country's electoral body, will give its final verdict on the election on Sunday but it has already indicated it will not annul the election result.
According to official Iranian media, Ahmadinejad received 62.3 percent of the vote, or 24.5 million votes, compared to Mousavi's 33.7 percent or 13.2 million votes.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11144 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[ADN Kronos] Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was placed under house arrest on Thursday, Iranian sources have claimed. The reformist website 'Nasimfarda' made the claim about Mousavi's house arrest amid continuing unrest in the country since the presidential elections on 12 June. "All of Mousavi's aides and collaborators have been arrested and the government is trying to completely isolate him from the reformist protesters," the website reportedly said.
However, official Iranian sources have not yet confirmed the arrest of Mousavi.
Unrest has grown in Iran since hardline presidential incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the 12 June election - a vote the opposition claims was rigged.
Mousavi and his supporters are demanding an annulment of the election and the Guardian Council, the country's electoral body, will give its final verdict on the election on Sunday but it has already indicated it will not annul the election result.
According to official Iranian media, Ahmadinejad received 62.3 percent of the vote, or 24.5 million votes, compared to Mousavi's 33.7 percent or 13.2 million votes.
Foreign media have been subjected to tight restrictions and reporters are not allowed to cover unauthorised gatherings or move around freely in Tehran.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I look for him to die of a mysterious illness sometime soon. Dinnerjacket and the mullahs will publicly express profound sorrow.
Reporting from Tehran -- The mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters wait. They sip tea, amble around, look at their watches and stare at the posted lists of names, about 700 or 800 of them.
They arrived early outside Evin Prison, the notorious complex of buildings in northern Tehran where most of the Iranians arrested in the recent unrest have been locked up.
A suggestion: in Argentina the mothers of the disappeared marched in silence daily in a plaza. The families in Iran should do the same.
By 8 a.m., dozens have gathered, standing around the entrance or sitting on brown plastic chairs after wiping away the dew. They hold pay vouchers or shop licenses to use as collateral to bail out family members and friends. Many were called late the previous night and told to come here.
But no one is there to tell them where to go or what to do.
One man approaches the gate of a shuttered general courthouse near the prison entrance.
A kindly soldier approaches. "My dear father," he says. "You must go to the Revolutionary Court on Moallem Street. They will say where and when your child will be released."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11141 views]
Top|| File under:
Reporting from Tehran -- Security was tight around the bare grave of Neda Agha-Soltan on Thursday. Militiamen and police stood nearby, witnesses said, and it was difficult for visitors to hold a conversation within sight and hearing of the glaring officers.
"We are here for Neda and our deceased relatives too"
An unidentified man
But the visitors come nonetheless to pay their respects to Agha-Soltan, who was shot dead by an unknown assailant during protests Saturday over Iran's disputed presidential election. Her dying moments were captured on video and found their way onto the Internet and the international airwaves.
"I read the news on the Web, and I saw the picture of the grave," said one man, hovering near the burial site. "I figured out the location of the grave and came."
"We are here for Neda and our deceased relatives too," he said. "We are here to utter our respect for them."
The man said that he too was in the street that day. "She was with us," he said. "Maybe one of us would have been killed that day. We are here to respect her, and all the martyrs they killed in the last days."
Another man who came to pay tribute said he found it amazing that the government was now fighting against ordinary people. "Not even the politicians, or some students, but normal people in the streets," he said in disgust.
"All of us are in danger, like Neda," said a third man at the grave site. "Now the military has taken the power and prevents us from paying our respects. It's not a big request! We want respect to Neda."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11142 views]
Top|| File under:
TEHRAN, June 25 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at President Obama on Thursday, warning him against "interfering" in Iranian affairs and demanding an apology for criticism of a government crackdown on demonstrators protesting alleged electoral fraud.
Not even Bambi is going to apologize to Short Round ...
Despite an increasingly harsh response to the protests, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi pledged to continue challenging official results that showed a landslide victory for Ahmadinejad in Iran's June 12 presidential election. He vowed to resist growing pressure to end his campaign and said he remains determined to prove that those who rigged the election are also responsible for the violence unleashed on opposition protesters.
The two rivals issued their dueling statements -- neither mentioning the other by name -- a day after security forces broke up the latest demonstrations, then temporarily detained university professors who had met with Mousavi.
Two grand ayatollahs, leading figures in Iran's predominant Shiite Muslim faith, also waded into the fray, as did European foreign ministers from the Group of Eight world powers at a meeting in Italy.
In a speech at a petrochemical plant in southern Iran, Ahmadinejad said Obama was behaving like his predecessor, George W. Bush, and suggested that talks with the United States on Iran's nuclear program would be pointless if Obama kept up his criticism. Obama, who has expressed interest in talking to the Iranian leadership about the nuclear issue, said at a news conference Tuesday that he was "appalled and outraged" by recent violence against demonstrators, and he accused the Iranian government of trying to "distract people" by blaming the unrest on the United States and other Western nations.
"Do you want to speak with this tone?" Ahmadinejad responded Thursday, addressing Obama. "If that is your stance, then what is left to talk about?"
He added: "I hope you avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it." He asked why Obama "has fallen into this trap and repeated the comments that Bush used to make" and told the U.S. president that such an attitude "will only make you another Bush in the eyes of the people."
Ahmadinejad also praised Iran's election as demonstrating "the great capabilities and grandeur of the Iranian nation" and declared that his country is practicing true "freedom," as opposed to "this unpopular democracy which is governing America and Europe." Americans and Europeans "have no right to choose and are restricted to . . . two or three parties" in voting for their leaders, he said.
In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed Ahmadinejad's criticism. Obama has said "that there are people in Iran who want to make this not about a debate among Iranians in Iran, but about the West and the United States," Gibbs said. "And I would add President Ahmadinejad to that list of people trying to make this about the United States."
The 67-year-old former prime minister posted a statement on his Web site Thursday saying he was being pressed to withdraw his challenge and had been severely restricted in his ability to communicate with supporters. "However, I am not prepared to give up under the pressure of threats or personal interest," he said.
"The truth . . . is that a major fraud has taken place in these elections, and the people who tried to show their dismay with this event were attacked, killed and arrested," Mousavi said. "Not only am I not scared of responding to their false accusations, but I'm ready to show how the people responsible for the presidential fraud" are also to blame for having "spilled the blood of the people." Mousavi asked his followers to "continue your legal and responsible protest, which is born out of the Islamic revolution, with calm and by avoiding trouble."
A senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, called for the election dispute to be settled through "national reconciliation," saying in a statement Thursday that recent events "have caused deep regret and sorrow in all Iranians loyal to the Islamic establishment and revolution . . . and have gladdened the enemy," state-run Press TV reported. "Definitively, something must be done to ensure that there are no embers burning under the ashes" and to turn "hostilities, antagonism and rivalries . . . into amity and cooperation" he said.
But a leading dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, said an "impartial" committee should resolve the election dispute, which he warned could ultimately undermine the government if it is not addressed. "If Iranians cannot talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful," Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying.
The streets of Tehran were largely quiet Thursday after another opposition presidential candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, postponed plans for a demonstration to mourn protesters killed by security forces. Karroubi said he has not "succeeded in booking a particular location" for a mourning ceremony, apparently because the government has banned demonstrations. He said he still wants to organize a gathering that would "match the dignity of the martyrs of the past few days."
Karroubi also charged that the government has acted illegally in banning demonstrations and arresting political activists. He called for the immediate release of political detainees, and he challenged the Interior Ministry to allow separate but simultaneous demonstrations by Ahmadinejad supporters and the opposition to see which side would draw more people.
At least 17 people have been reported killed in violence after the presidential election, state-run media have reported. But Press TV, an English-language version of state television, put the death toll at 20 and quoted "informed sources" as saying that eight of the dead were members of the pro-government Basij militia. There was no independent confirmation of the claim, which marked the first mention in official media of deaths among security forces in the recent violence.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Obama will apologize. He is the ice cream man of apologies: he drves to your neighborhood (with bells chiming) and has a great selection of apologies to offer. For this joker he will be selecting one from the dollar menu
TRIESTE, Italy, June 25 (Reuters) - Group of Eight powers were divided on how to respond to Iran's disputed election on Thursday, with hosts Italy pushing for a strong condemnation of violence and Russia calling the vote "an exercise in democracy".
Much angst to ensue ...
Western nations at a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Trieste were pushing for tough language in a final communique on Iran, where about 20 people have been killed in demonstrations following the June 12 presidential election two weeks ago.
"We are working on a document that should condemn the violence and the repression and at the same time stress that electoral procedures are an (internal) Iranian matter," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. But he cautioned: "We (the international community) can't recount the vote."
But you wring your hands so well ...
The statement is expected on Friday. Delegates to the G8 conference, getting under way with a dinner on Thursday evening, were wrestling over the wording of the statement on Iran to take into account the sensibilities of Moscow, which has already said it considers all issues linked to the election as Iran's internal affair.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made clear that Russia was not prepared to sign up to a G8 statement condemning Iran's handling of the election. "No one is willing to condemn the election process, because it's an exercise in democracy," Lavrov told reporters.
Certainly a Russian would recognize democracy when he saw it ...
"We agreed that we will develop a language which would allow us to concentrate on the main task -- to move toward resolving the issues of the Iranian nuclear programme...," Lavrov said after separate talks with Frattini.
"Isolation is the wrong approach ... Engagement is the key word," he said.
Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari said the G8 would express concern over Iran's nuclear programme but added "we want to maintain as far as possible a climate of dialogue".
Events in Iran have cast a shadow over the G8 meeting that should have focused on stabilising Afghanistan and pursuing Middle East peace. Diplomats had seen the June 25-27 event as a rare chance for the Group of Eight nations to sit down with regional powers like Iran to discuss shared goals for Afghanistan and Pakistan. But Iran declined to answer Italy's invitation to attend.
Speaking in Washington before the meeting, a senior U.S. State Department official said foreign ministers were expected to discuss the impact of the situation in Iran on efforts to engage Tehran over its nuclear programme.
European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner condemned excessive force by Iranian security forces against demonstrators, urged a halt to arbitrary arrests and called a crackdown on journalists unacceptable.
As delegates gathered, a small group of Iranian protesters held up signs condemning the violent crackdown in Iran. "We want the G8 to exert pressure so Iran allows peaceful protests, free elections, democracy," said Siamak, an Iranian expatriate who fled Iran after the 1979 revolution.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11136 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is what happens when there is no leadership on the earth.
BEIRUT - Lebanese militant group Hezbollah accused the West on Thursday of fomenting protests in Iran over this month's presidential election but added that it had no worries about the stability of its main foreign backer.
Yup, it's all our fault. We knew it too, even before he pointed it out to us ...
If they aren't worried, why are they fussing?
"The extent of Western and American involvement in Iran's internal affairs is now clear," the Shiite militant group's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, told AFP in an interview.
"What is going on in Iran is not a simple protest against the results of the presidential election," he said. "There are riots and attacks in the streets that are orchestrated from the outside in a bid to destabilise the country's Islamic regime."
Qassem insisted that his party, still blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington and regarded by its critics as an Iranian proxy, would not be affected by the events Tehran. "Hezbollah has nothing to do with Iran's internal affairs," he said. "We don't side with anyone. This is an internal Iranian issue.
"What is happening there has nothing to do with our situation," he added. "We have our own Lebanese identity and popularity, and these events don't concern us."
He said he felt certain the situation in Iran would soon return to normal. "The Islamic republic has succeeded in overcoming this plot from overseas aimed at destabilising the internal situation," Qassem said, singling out Britain for criticism of its role.
Got all his talking points from Khamenei, especially the part about the Brits ...
#3
I can't see that Israel would have any choice. Am I wrong?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/26/2009 10:38 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The big question has always been, "How can Israel accomplish a win in this scenario?" It simply cannot be with the finesse the US used in Gulf War I. Israel cannot just destroy critical equipment and materiel.
It's going to have to kill a lot of Iranians, and do it ugly. Iran has to be so traumatized that they become fearful.
To be specific, Iran has to experience firsthand the horror of nuclear war--even if nuclear weapons aren't used.
The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments.
Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university in the south of England, said he ran to Neda Agha-Soltan's aid after seeing she had been shot in the chest. Dr Hejazi also told how passers-by then seized an armed Basij militia volunteer who appeared to admit shooting Ms Soltan.
"We heard a gunshot. Neda was standing one metre away from me. I turned back and I saw blood gushing out of Neda's chest."
"She was in a shocked situation, just looking at her chest. Then she lost her control. "We ran to her and lay her on the ground. I saw the bullet wound just below the neck with blood gushing out."
"I have never seen such a thing because the bullet, it seemed to have blasted inside her chest, and later on, blood exiting from her mouth and nose. I had the impression that it had hit the lung as well. Her blood was draining out of her body and I was just putting pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding, which wasn't successful unfortunately, and she died in less than one minute."
Dr Hejazi said he first thought the gunshot had come from a rooftop.
But later he saw protesters grab an armed man on a motorcycle. "People shouted 'we got him, we got him'. They disarmed him and took out his identity card which showed he was a Basij member. People were furious and he was shouting, 'I didn't want to kill her'.
"People didn't know what do to do with him so they let him go. But they took his identity card. There are people there who know who he is. Some people were also taking photos of him." It would be nice to post this murderer's ID and photos on the web. Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/26/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11150 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iranian gubmint wouldn't allow her family to bury her. She was buried by the thugs in the gubmint. When Gibbs was asked about this he said Obama was more determined than ever to sit down with Dinnerjacket and talk about this.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/26/2009 9:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
When Gibbs was asked about this he said Obama was more determined than ever to sit down with Dinnerjacket and talk about this. bend over and grab his ankles.
There, I fixed it for you.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/26/2009 11:10 Comments ||
Top||
#3
When Gibbs was asked about this he said Obama was more determined than ever to sit down with Dinnerjacket and talk about this
The Iranian gov't isn't going to give the White House the time of day for long, long time.
#5
* SAME > GUARDIAN: OBAMA RISKING ANOTHER VIETNAM [ala Afghanistan]??? The Vietnam War = Afghanis/AFPAK devol into a REGIONAL CRUSAGE AGZ AMER, in addition to destroying two US POTUSes [JOhnson -Nixon] and caused Amers to distrust their own Govt. + country???
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ADN Kronos] Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was placed under house arrest on Thursday, Iranian sources have claimed. The reformist website 'Nasimfarda' made the claim about Mousavi's house arrest amid continuing unrest in the country since the presidential elections on 12 June. "All of Mousavi's aides and collaborators have been arrested and the government is trying to completely isolate him from the reformist protesters," the website reportedly said.
Reporting from Tehran -- Security was tight around the bare grave of Neda Agha-Soltan on Thursday. Militiamen and police stood nearby, witnesses said, and it was difficult for visitors to hold a conversation within sight and hearing of the glaring officers.
TRIESTE, Italy, June 25 (Reuters) - Group of Eight powers were divided on how to respond to Iran's disputed election on Thursday, with hosts Italy pushing for a strong condemnation of violence and Russia calling the vote "an exercise in democracy".
