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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iranians Face Crackdown on ’Immoral’ Behavior |
| 2004-06-02 |
| Iran’s feared morals police have launched a crackdown on "social corruption" such as women flouting Islamic dress codes, newspapers reported Tuesday, in what analysts said may reflect a changing political climate. "A serious fight has started to tackle the spread of social corruption in society, especially the improper dress code," Tehran’s Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was quoted by Seda-ye Edalat newspaper as saying. Enforcement of strict moral codes governing women’s dress, Western music and mingling of the sexes has become more lax since President Mohammad Khatami’s election in 1997 on a platform of social and political reform. Emboldened young women have steadily tested the barriers of permissible attire, wearing gradually more colorful, tighter and more revealing coats and scarves and more obvious make-up. Many young couples in the capital even dare to hold hands in public, in defiance of Islamic rules which prohibit physical contact between unrelated members of the opposite sex. Religious hard-liners accuse Khatami of encouraging what they deem "immoral behavior" by Iran’s youth. Islamic conservatives who swept aside reformists in a February parliamentary vote Khatami’s allies called a "sham," have said they do not intend to roll back social freedoms. But analysts said the conservatives must play a delicate balancing act between upsetting their loyal supporters and provoking unrest by taking a tough line on social offences. "This (crackdown) is a display of their power," said one political analyst who declined to be named. "The conservatives have to satisfy the people who elected them." Tehran residents have noted an upsurge in arrests for "immoral behavior" in recent weeks. Islamic volunteers and morals police have stepped up raids on illegal house parties where young people meet to drink alcohol and dance to Western music -- both illegal since the 1979 Islamic revolution. And along Tehran’s Jordan Avenue -- a popular place for young Iranians to cruise in their cars at night -- plain-clothes security men have been stopping cars and arresting occupants for a variety of offences. "My car was confiscated for three months because they found illegal music cassettes and my girlfriend was in the car," said Arshia, a 32-year-old architect. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #11 They are just following the Wahabi playbook. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-06-02 11:21:03 PM |
| #10 When I say push, I mean to make it nice and clear that the U.S. supports the Iranian's growing desire to be free of their mullahs, and to make public pledges of assistance, if necessary, which just might spur the Iranians to throw off mullah rule. I mean, nothing inspires confidence more than knowing one has the support of the heavyweights, no? The more the mullahs resort to ever more repressive measures to keep their citizens under their thumb, the closer that day comes when the Iranians will have had enough of it and decide to take matters into their own hands. I'd like to see that date moved up a bit. Normally, I'd agree that taking our time would be a prudent course of action, but the mullahs' efforts to get their hands on nuclear weapons doesn't give us that luxury. Either we start stirring up Iran very soon, or we end up dealing with them after they have a working Bomb. That the latter scenario is something that can't be allowed to happen is beyond question. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-02 9:31:18 PM |
| #9 bomb - im not saying that as of today, there is an Iraqi intell service that is competent, loyal, and is running hordes of agents into Iran. I was responding to your nice push suggestion. If thats ALL thats required, we're very close to it I think. Perhaps thats NOT all thats required. In which case a different kind of plan would be required. Perhaps I simply dont understand what you mean by "a nice push". |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-06-02 5:03:05 PM |
| #8 Lol! I LOVE the Black Hats! Their "do the wrong thing at the wrong time" batting average is 1.000. Truly amazing. Hey, keep it up guys! Close those city parks where the lovers and potential lovers meet. Cut everyone off from the Internet. Strictly enforce your barbaric flavor of Islam. Buy missile tech from NorK and upgrade your missiles so they can reach Israel. Beg, borrow, and steal centrifuge tech and parts. Frantically seek to make your own fissile material while claiming you need it for energy generation. Build a nuke pkg to tip your Shahab-3/4/5 missiles. Publicly threaten that you will, immediately upon acquiring a deliverable nuke, wipe out Israel. Force even the lapdog IAEA goofs to report you're liars, recipients of all sorts of proscribed nuke tech, and a threat to the region. Now pretend you're innocent victims. Right. Yep, you've covered all the bases, alright. Somebody, somewhere, is gonna hang your dumb asses from Teheran's lampposts. BTW, Thx! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-06-02 4:12:22 PM |
| #7 "A serious fight has started to tackle the spread of social corruption in society..." Infidels! The affrontery of your wicked Western ways! Next thing you know, women will be demanding vaginal delivery for male babies! The world is going to hell! |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-06-02 3:26:21 PM |
| #6 See Allawi, friend of CIA, new PM in Iraq. I would trust this "friend" about as far as I can throw him. What real friends we do have there are not likely to be this visible. See recreation of Iraqi intell service, with historic penetration of Iran. Recreated with what? Former Baathists? If such is the case (and it would have to be to a certain degree if this "historic penetration" is to be exploited), then how many of them could be really be considered trustworthy, given that the possibility of Saddam-style punishment for perfidy no longer exists? How can one be reasonably confident at this early point in a dictator-free Iraq that an intel agent is going to put their country before themselves and/or their tribe (or religion even)? See Karbala and Najaf shrine cities, with constant movement of pilgrims to and from Iran, an eary route for moving agents. What does this mean? Agents don't spring up from the ground. This stuff takes time to organize, and the time that's passed (a year, at best) can't possibly be enough. The Mad Mullahs are no doubt hurrying along their nuclear program and by the time an effective cadre of agents are in place, it may be too late to avoid a very messy situation. The longer that people in Washington sit on their hands with regard to Iran, the more dangerous the situation becomes. Now if some third party decides to take out Iranian nuclear facilities, then going the patient route is perfectly fine, but that's something that shouldn't be counted on. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-02 2:50:36 PM |
| #5 Next: a airlift and dropping of millions of issues of 'Playboy Special Edition: The Girls of Iran (gone wild!)'..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-06-02 2:03:23 PM |
| #4 yes it is libhawk....these things take time and unfortunetly we live in a society used to immediate results..thus we have people crying about quagmires...things are getting worse ect...stay the course and we will prevail. once the mad mullas are out - either internally or externally - we will see the benifits of our policy over the last 4 years.. |
| Posted by: Dan 2004-06-02 1:52:22 PM |
| #3 "All that's needed is a nice push. Is anyone in the Bush Administration paying attention to these developments and readying their plans? Do they even have a plan?" See Allawi, friend of CIA, new PM in Iraq. See plan for very large US embassy in Baghdad. See recreation of Iraqi intell service, with historic penetration of Iran. See Karbala and Najaf shrine cities, with constant movement of pilgrims to and from Iran, an eary route for moving agents. IF they have a plan, the infrastructure looks like its starting to come into place. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-06-02 1:44:20 PM |
| #2 Ok, i understand that Bush cannot do anything before novemeber. But could Iran be next in line, please? |
| Posted by: Anonymous5098 2004-06-02 1:42:57 PM |
| #1 All that's needed is a nice push. Is anyone in the Bush Administration paying attention to these developments and readying their plans? Do they even have a plan? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-02 1:05:26 PM |