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Iran's Taazi Regme Role In The Latest Arab Israeli Conflict
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anusiya



Joined: 01 Apr 2006
Posts: 237

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

brand me all you like, blank

i live in uk do u think i can get american news here?


Last edited by anusiya on Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:57 am; edited 1 time in total
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AmirN



Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 297

PostPosted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anusiya

You once gained my respect with your portrayal of reason and humble words. As I told you before, it takes a greater person to display such an attitude than it does to fly off the handle.

Unfortunately, I am saddened by the fact that you recently have flown off the handle in a most ugly manner. What I also don’t understand is why you are specifically asking Cyrus to ban you. Is it because you realize that your recent behavior is justified grounds for dismissal? I am not talking about the fact that you and the other members disagree about religion or the current Israeli – Hezbollah crisis. I am referring to your most grotesque use of language in what can only be seen as profane and vulgar.

Utter profanity and vulgarity cannot be tolerated in here or anywhere else.

And if you want Cyrus to ban you, why wait to be banned? If you are so unhappy about being here, you are free to leave voluntarily.

Others may feel otherwise, but I certainly would not like to see anyone get banned because he or she disagrees ideologically or politically with others, or even because that person rubs someone else the wrong way or even insults them a little; as long as it is done in a somewhat civil fashion. But I have to note that profanity and vulgarity cannot be tolerated.

You once threw another such temper tantrum with Amil, then retracted your statements. When I inquired, you explained that you are only 16 and made a mistake. Showing regret is certainly admirable. It even serves to excuse a certain behavior once or twice.

Being 16 is an understandable excuse for a couple of times, but it soon gets old. Whether 16, 46, or 76, a certain behavior and code of conduct is expected of members here. If you truly wish to remain here and continue to learn from us as well as teach us things, it would be wise to conform to at least certain minimum requirements. At the least, profane and vulgar behavior must not be displayed.

I offered some words of advice, because

1. I don’t want to see you get banned
2. I don’t want to see this forum become a Chale Meydoon
3. I want you to realize that you are on notice
4. I think that deep inside you are a good and moral person, and that you believe you are truly on the side of justice, and I think you deserve one more chance


I see you had another temper tantrum. Unless you really don’t care about being here, and you really meant what you said about hating us all and truly wish to leave, I suggest you think for a few minutes next time before you explode on a member or this forum like you just did.

If you really meant what you said, and no longer wish to remain here, then I say good-bye, good luck, and keep my advice under consideration the next time you have a disagreement with someone else somewhere else.

Amir
_________________
I am Dariush the Great King, King of Kings, King of countries containing all kinds of men, King in this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having Aryan lineage

Naqshe Rostam
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Oppenheimer



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 1166
Location: SantaFe, New Mexico

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Amir,

I agree with you that it's not an auspicious way to enter into a conversation by insulting the site admin. and characterizing the site and membership in such a manner....For one, this is not a "pro-Israeli" site....it's a pro-Iranian freedom site....the FREE IRAN PROJECT, as stated at the top of the page.

Was there a better way to deal with Hizbollah? I think yes, and anusia's frustration with the situation is in a microcosm, a reflection of many voices, not just the BBC.

Point being, I believe the failure of the international community to properly implement in totality, UN 1559 and provide the necessary military support to the government of Lebanon from get-go, to disarm and disband Hizbollah as mandated by that resolution has in fact directly created the conditions that allowed this present conflict to happen.

That Israel has the right to defend itself is enshrined in the UN charter, as all nations have that right. That Syria and Iran have their hand in this is also fact, but to initiate an armed response by one WMD capable state upon another is to invite total destruction of the region, and this is I hope something all will bear in mind in the coming days.

On another note, Blank wrote:

Quote:
It is unfortunate that in war innocent people gets killed as well.... but war is not pretty. I do hope Israel will drive these savages into the abyss... & hopefully their 70 virgins will be waiting to greet them.... f..... Hezbollah.


Actually Blank, there was a typo in the Quoran, when it was written down as 72 virgins.....it's actually 72 Virginians....Hard-drinkin' good ol' boys from the backwoods who'll F^@k anything....(chuckle).

That's why Zarkouwi rolled off his cot to escape. See, we found this out by his last words, as he was being greated by them at death's door.
"Allah lied"..."Save me from the Virginians!".....(gasp)...

We have it on tape.
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cyrus
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 7:53 pm    Post subject: In Iran’s streets, aid for an ally stirs resentment and anxi Reply with quote

In Iran’s streets, aid for an ally stirs resentment and anxieties
Sat. 22 Jul 2006
The New York Times

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

Published: July 23, 2006
http://rds.yahoo.com/S=53720272/K=In+Iran’s+streets,+aid+for+an+ally+stirs+resentment+and+anxieties/v=2/SID=w/l=NSR/R=1/;_ylt=A9iIgKQnusJEUlgAfQ_QtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHZkMjZyBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNzcg--/SIG=12iv70up2/EXP=1153698727/*-http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/world/middleeast/23iran.html

TEHRAN, July 22 — There is a huge amount of anger here about what is happening in Lebanon, but it is not all the result of Israeli bombs, missiles and artillery.

“Of course I am angry,’’ said Hamid Akbari, 30, a deliveryman. “All our income is going to Palestine and Hezbollah.”

For decades, Iran has been Hezbollah’s prime patron, helping create it as a Shiite Muslim militia and then nurture it with money, expertise and weapons. But now that Hezbollah is in the midst of full-blown fighting with Israel, Iranian officials have been adamant in insisting that they had nothing to do with the events that set off the crisis.

Part of the reason may be fear, or concern, that the United States and Europe would punish Iran, if it were proved otherwise. But Iranian officials may have a wary eye on their public. In interviews in central Tehran Saturday, person after person said the same thing: Iran should worry about Iran’s problems and not be dragged down by other’s battles.

“We Iranians have a saying,” said Ali Reza Moradi, 35, a portrait artist who works in a small booth downtown. “We should save our own house first and then save the mosque. A lot of people think this way. The government should help its people first, and then help the people in Lebanon.”

With the fall of the Sunni-led government in Iraq, and the routing of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Iran has seen its regional influence grow stronger. As the Sunni Arab capitals of Cairo, Amman, Jordan, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, witnessed their own political influence in the region waning, Iran tried to fill the gap. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become extremely popular among many Arabs for his strong anti-Western and anti-Israeli language. And Iran’s role as patron of Hezbollah and Hamas has given it unrivaled influence over two radical groups that have set the regional agenda, more so than governments.

But the picture in Iran itself is a bit more nuanced. Although Iran sits atop one of the largest known oil reserves, it cannot refine enough gasoline to meet its own needs — and so prices are rising. Mr. Ahmadinejad may have been elected on a populist economic message, but on the streets people report more pain, more unemployment and higher prices.

Hamidreza Jalaipour, a sociologist and former government official, said that on this point Iranians might agree but that they were also fickle.

“Iranians are very sensitive and want our money to stay in the country and be spent for Iranians to solve their problems,’’ Mr. Jalaipour said. “But, you cannot rely on what they say because their opinion changes quickly, and if the war continues, they might say something else.”

Nevertheless, the Hezbollah crisis occurred at a time of already heightened anxiety. Many Iranians were already nervous about the potential for sanctions as a result of their government’s nuclear program. Iranians have rallied behind the line strongly promoted by their government, that nuclear power is their inalienable right. And while they may have been willing to tolerate further public isolation over something they see as their right, there is far less unity about standing up for Lebanon, many people said Saturday.

“Let them fight with each other until they get tired,” said Reza Muhammadi, 33, who runs small grocery in the center of town. “Arab countries are not supporting Hezbollah, but my country is? They are giving my share to the Arabs.”

Mr. Muhammad said he worked six days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to feed his family. So, he said, he had no tolerance for his government’s financial commitments abroad. “One percent of our budget has been approved by my Parliament to give to Palestine,” he said. “Why should I not get angry about this?”

In a recent edition of the daily newspaper Aftab-e Yazd, one reader wrote in saying: “Radio and television broadcast so many programs about Arab countries that I sometimes wonder if it is the Iranian TV or an Arab TV. Such vast and big propaganda has caused a kind of indifference and even negative sense toward Arab nations.”

Of course, such sentiments are not universal. There are people like Zahra Etefaghian, 51, who runs a small coffee shop near the art museum, who said: “We should really support them, and we should bear the consequences. At emergency times like this, we have to help Muslim people.”

But talk of direct Iranian actions in Lebanon is being officially discouraged — and denied. On Thursday, a group calling itself the Headquarters for the Glory of Martyrs of the International Movement announced that it had an army of 55,000 would-be suicide bombers among its members and had already dispatched 27 to fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A few days later Mohammad Hejazi, commander of the vigilante force known as the Basiji, said that reports about would-be suicide bombers going to Lebanon “have nothing to do with official organizations in the country.”

Everybody here, it seems, is going to great lengths to insist that Iran had no role in setting off this crisis, saying that Hezbollah was too far away, and too independent, to be controlled from Tehran.

“The Hezbollah forces have done a great job and have resisted well,” said Ali Akhbar Hasehmi Rafsanjani, the former president and chairman of the Expediency Council, in recent public remarks. But, he added, “it is misleading to say that Iran and Syria are carrying this out.”

Even a figure like Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, who had been one of the founders of Hezbollah in Lebanon, commented cautiously about Iran’s role in the current conflict. “Iran cannot play an instrumental role because of the long distance,” he told the daily Etemad Melli recently. “Besides, Arab countries consider the issue of Palestine and Lebanon as an Arab issue,” he added, suggesting that Iran, as a non-Arab nation, should keep its distance.

Whether or not Iran played a role in actually inciting the crisis seemed irrelevant to people interviewed Saturday.

Ali Muhammadi runs a small DVD shop, a closet-size booth where he sells pirated DVD’s for about $1 each. “I don’t think it’s an important issue for us,” he said of the conflict in Lebanon. “I think the government should take care of its people first.”
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cyrus
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:27 pm    Post subject: God's Army Has Plans to Run the Whole Middle East Reply with quote



God's Army Has Plans to Run the Whole Middle East

July 23, 2006
Times
Amir Taheri
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2281184,00.html


‘You are the sun of Islam, shining on the universe!” This is how Muhammad Khatami, the mullah who was president of Iran until last year, described Hezbollah last week. It would be no exaggeration to describe Hezbollah — the Lebanese Shi’ite militia — as Tehran’s regional trump card. Each time Tehran has played it, it has won. As war rages between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Tehran policymakers think that this time, too, they can win.

“I invite the faithful to wait for good news,” Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last Tuesday. “We shall soon witness the elimination of the Zionist stain of shame.”

What are the links between Hezbollah and Iran? In 1982 Iran had almost no influence in Lebanon. The Lebanese Shi’ite bourgeoisie that had had close ties with Iran when it was ruled by the Shah was horrified by the advent of the clerics who created an Islamic republic.

Seeking a bridgehead in Lebanon, Iran asked its ambassador to Damascus, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, a radical mullah, to create one. Mohtashamipour decided to open a branch in Lebanon of the Iranian Hezbollah (the party of God).

After many meetings in Lebanon Mohtashamipour succeeded: in its founding statement it committed itself to the “creation of an Islamic republic in Lebanon”. To this end hundreds of Iranian mullahs, political “educators” and Islamic Revolutionary Guards were dispatched to Beirut.

Within two years several radical Shi’ite groups in Lebanon, including some with Marxist backgrounds, had united under the Hezbollah name and became the main force resisting the Israeli occupation of Lebanon after the expulsion of Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1983.

Terror has been its principal weapon. Throughout the 1980s Hezbollah kidnapped more than 200 foreign nationals in Lebanon, most of them Americans or western Europeans (including Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy). It organised the hijacking of civilian aircraft and more or less pioneered the idea of suicide bombings against American and French targets, killing almost 1,000 people, including 241 US marines in Beirut and 58 French paratroopers.

The campaign produced results. After Hezbollah’s attacks, France reduced its support for Saddam Hussein. America went further by supplying Iran with TOW anti-tank missiles, shipped via Israel, which helped to tip the Iran-Iraq war in favour of Iran. In exchange Iran ordered Hezbollah to release French and American hostages.

Once the Iran-Iraq war was over, Tehran found other uses for its Lebanese asset. It purged and then reshaped Hezbollah to influence the broader course of regional politics while using it to wage a low-intensity war against Israel.

In 2000, when the Israelis evacuated the strip they controlled in southern Lebanon, Tehran presented the event as the “first victory of Islam over the Zionist crusader camp” and Hezbollah was lauded across the Arab world. Hezbollah taunted the Israelis with billboards on the border reading, “If you return, we return”.

To prop up that myth, Tehran invested in a propaganda campaign that included television “documentaries”, feature films and books and magazine articles. The message was simple: while secular ideologies — from pan-Arabism to Arab socialism — had failed to liberate an inch of Arab territory, Islamism, in its Iranian Khomeinist version working through Hezbollah, had achieved “total victory” over Israel in Lebanon.

Since 1984 Iran has created branches of Hezbollah in more than 20 countries. None has equalled the success of the Lebanese branch, which until recently enjoyed something akin to cult status among Arabs, including non-Muslims, because of the way it stood up to Israel.

It has not even cost Iran very much. Hezbollah was launched with just £13m. After that, according to best estimates, Iran spent £32m to £54m a year on its Lebanese assets. Even if we add the cost of training Hezbollah fighters and equipping them with hardware, Hezbollah (the strongest fighting force in the Middle East after Iran and Israel) has not cost Iran more than £1.3 billion over two decades.

According to Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s number two, the party has an annual budget of £279m, much of which comes from businesses set up by the movement. These include a bank, a mortgage co-operative, an insurance company, a travel agency specialising in pilgrimages to Muslim holy places, several hotels, a chain of supermarkets and a number of urban bus and taxi companies.

In its power base in southern Lebanon, particularly south Beirut and the Bekaa valley, it is possible for a visitor to spend a whole week without stepping outside a Hezbollah business unit: the hotel he checks into, the restaurant he eats in, the taxi that takes him around, the guide who shows him the sights and the shop where he buys souvenirs all belong to the party.

Hezbollah is a state within the Lebanese state. It controls some 25% of the national territory. Almost 400,000 of Lebanon’s estimated 4m inhabitants live under its control. It collects its own taxes with a 20% levy, known as “khoms”, on all incomes. It runs its own schools, where a syllabus produced in Iran is taught at all levels. It also runs clinics, hospitals, social welfare networks and centres for orphans and widows.

The party controls the elected municipal councils and appoints local officials, who in theory should be selected by the central government in Beirut. To complete its status as a virtual state, the party maintains a number of unofficial “embassies”: the one in Tehran is bigger and has a larger number of staff than that of Lebanon itself.

Hezbollah also has its own media including a satellite television channel, Al-Manar (the lighthouse), which is watched all over the Arab world, four radio stations, newspapers and magazines plus a book publishing venture. The party has its own system of justice based on sharia and operates its own police force, courts and prisons. Hezbollah runs youth clubs, several football teams and a number of matrimonial agencies.

Its relationship with the rest of Lebanon is complex; it occupies 14 seats in the 128-seat national assembly and holds two portfolios in the council of ministers. But it still describes itself as “a people-based movement fighting on behalf of the Muslim world”.

The backbone of all that is Hezbollah’s militia, a fighting force of about 8,000 men, trained and armed with the latest weapons by Iran and Syria. Of these about 2,000 men represent an elite force under the direct command of the party’s secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, a former pupil of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the man who founded Iran’s Islamic republic. But the party also claims more than 30,000 reservists.

Arab and western experts concur that Hezbollah’s militia is a stronger fighting force than the Lebanese army that is supposed to disarm it under United Nations resolution 1559. Also, most soldiers in the official Lebanese army are Shi’ites who would balk at fighting their own.

Accounts concerning Hezbollah’s arsenal of weapons vary. The militia is said to be armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and an Iranian rapid-fire gun initially modelled on the Israeli Uzi. The party’s crown jewels, however, are an estimated 14,000 rockets and missiles shipped in from Iran over the past six years. Most of these are modified versions of the Soviet-designed Katyusha. The party also has some Chinese-made Silkworm missiles for special use in naval warfare.

“The Israelis would be foolish to think they are dealing with nothing but a bunch of mad fanatics,” says a former Iranian diplomat now in exile. “Hezbollah in Lebanon is a state in all but name: it has its territory, army, civil service and economic and educational systems.”

A few minutes’ drive south from central Beirut takes you into what appears to be a different country. Beirut itself has European-style architecture, shops, hotels and cafes with men and women mostly wearing western clothes.

Once you enter Hezbollah land, the scene changes. You feel as if you are in Qom, the Iranian holy city, with men sporting bushy beards and women covered by mandatory hijab, milling around in noisy narrow streets fronted by nondescript shops. Billboards that advertise global bands in Beirut are used in Hezbollah land for pasting giant portraits of Khomeini and the Iranian “supreme guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Not surprisingly Hezbollah describes its territory as “Dar al-Iman” (House of Faith).

When it took over southern Lebanon, Hezbollah found a territory devastated by years of domination by the Palestinian al-Fatah (the area had once been called Fatahland) and the Israeli invasion of 1982. There were almost no schools, no hospitals, few jobs and certainly no security.

Hezbollah provided all that. At the same time the movement imposed a strict religious code that gave the poor Shi’ites a sense of moral superiority over other Lebanese who aspired after western lifestyles. A generation of Shi’ites in southern Lebanon has grown up in a world shaped by Hezbollah’s radical ideology.

Over the years the Lebanese branch has been woven into Iran’s body politic. Many Hezbollah militants and officials have married into Iranian religious families, often connected to influential ayatollahs. Dozens of Lebanese Shi’ites have worked and continue to work in the Iranian administration, especially in the ministries of security, information and culture. Since the mid-1980s, most of the Lebanese Shi’ite clerics have undertaken training in Iran.

In exchange, thousands of Iranian security officers and members of the Revolutionary Guards have lived and worked in Lebanon. As Ali Yunesi, Iran’s former intelligence minister, said: “Iran is Hezbollah and Hezbollah is Iran.”

Support for Hezbollah cuts across the political divides within the Iranian ruling establishment. Whether “reformist” or “hardliner”, Iran’s ruling mullahs and their political associates look to Hezbollah as a reflection of their own revolutionary youth. Last week parliamentary members of the Islamic Majlis in Tehran set aside their disputes to unite in their demand to go and fight alongside Hezbollah in Lebanon if Sheikh Nasrallah called them.

Why has Tehran decided to play its Lebanese card now? Part of the answer lies in Washington’s decision last May to reverse its policy towards Iran by offering large concessions on its nuclear programme. Tehran interpreted that as a sign of weakness. Ahmadinejad believes that his strategy to drive the “infidel” out of the Islamic heartland cannot succeed unless Arabs accept Iran’s leadership.

The problem is that since the Iranian regime is Shi’ite it would not be easy to sell it to most Arabs, who are Sunni. To overcome that hurdle, it is necessary to persuade the Arabs that only Iran is sincere in its desire and capacity to wipe Israel off the map. Once that claim is sold to the Arabs, so Ahmadinejad hopes, they would rally behind his vision of the Middle East instead of the “American vision”.

That strategy pushed Israel to the top of Tehran’s agenda. This is why, in May, Tehran became the first country to grant the Hamas government in the occupied territories an emergency grant of £27m to cope with a freeze imposed by European Union aid and other international donations. As moderate Arab countries have distanced themselves from Hamas, Iran along with Syria has stepped in.

The pincer war launched by Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel is also related to domestic politics. In the occupied territories, Hamas needs to marginalise Mahmoud Abbas’s PLO and establish itself as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In Lebanon, Hezbollah wants to prevent the consolidation of power in the hands of a new pro-American coalition government led by Fouad Siniora, the prime minister, and Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader.

(Shi’ites make up about 40% of the population, Christians 39% and Sunnis, Druze and others the remainder.) If the pincer war against Israel is won, Iran would be able to expand its zone of influence, already taking shape in Iraq and assured in Syria, to take in Lebanon and Gaza. This would be the first time since the 7th century that Persian power has extended so far to the west.

The strategy is high risk. If the Israelis manage to crush Hamas and destroy Hezbollah’s military machine, Iran’s influence will diminish massively. Defeat could revive an internal Hezbollah debate between those who continue to support a total and exclusive alliance with Iran until the infidel, led by America, is driven out of the Middle East and those who want Hezbollah to distance itself from Tehran and emphasise its Lebanese identity. One reason why Hezbollah has found such little support among Arabs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia this time is the perception that it is fighting Israel on behalf of Iran, a Persian Shi’ite power that has been regarded by the majority of Arab Sunnis as an ancestral enemy.

In Lebanon, for the first time in two generations, a consensus is emerging among the country’s different ethnic and religious communities that the only way they can live together in peace is by developing a sense of Lebaneseness.

This means that Arab Sunnis must abandon their pan-Arab aspirations while Christians must stop looking to France as their “original motherland”. In that context Hezbollah’s Iranian ideology cannot but antagonise the Sunnis, the Druze and the Christians, many of whom are angry at the destruction of their country that Hezbollah has brought about by once again antagonising Israel.

The mini war that is taking place between Israel and Hezbollah is, in fact, a proxy war in which Iran’s vision for the Middle East clashes with the administration in Washington. What is at stake is not the exchange of kidnapped Israeli soldiers with Arab prisoners in Israel. Such exchanges have happened routinely over five decades. The real issue is who will set the agenda for the Middle East: Iran or America?
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cyrus
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:55 am    Post subject: Iranian Revolutionary Guard War Dead Flown to Iran Reply with quote

Iranian Revolutionary Guard War Dead Flown to Iran

July 24, 2006
New York Sun
Aaron Klein
http://www.nysun.com/article/36557


JERUSALEM -- The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources said.

Israeli and Egyptian security officials confirmed the news, which follows a report that first appeared in The New York Sun, that Iranian forces posted to southern Lebanon have been aiding Hezbollah terrorists in their attacks against Israel, including helping to fire rockets into Israeli population centers.

The Lebanese sources said between six and nine dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for a flight back to Iran. They said the bodies were transported along with the tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing to Syria.

Since Israel began its military campaign in Lebanon two weeks ago following a Hezbollah attack on the Jewish state in which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped, Syrian authorities have reported that more than 140,000 Lebanese have entered their country, mostly through open areas along the Syria-Lebanon border.

Israeli officials said Iranian Revolutionary Guards directed the firing two weeks ago of a radar-guided C–802 missile that hit an Israeli navy vessel off the coast of Lebanon, killing four soldiers. Israel says Iran acquired the missile from China.

The officials said the Iranian soldiers' duties include keeping custody of long-range missiles within Hezbollah's arsenal, including Zalzal rockets that are said to have a range of 125 miles, placing Tel Aviv within firing range.

Jordanian officials told the Sun they are "100% sure" Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hezbollah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hezbollah rocket fire.

A Baath Party official operating out of the Golan Heights told the Sun he has information that Iranian soldiers have been firing rockets into Israel.

It would be "very logical" if Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were helping Hezbollah fire the rockets, a senior Egyptian security official told the Sun.

Israel has long maintained that Iranian Revolutionary Guard units have traveled regularly to south Lebanon to help train local Hezbollah fighters in terrorist tactics and to fortify Hezbollah positions along Israel's northern border.

At times, Revolutionary Guard soldiers have been seen operating openly at Hezbollah outposts in plain view from the Israeli side, military officials say.

Earlier, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel has information that Hezbollah was trying to transfer the two soldiers it kidnapped to Iran.
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meridian leeweather



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PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:37 pm    Post subject: To anusaiya Reply with quote

Anusiaya:
Your quoting talking points of the Lib's on CNN BBC et al. Come on your a savy dude. Chattin' on A-Chat and all. Go to some of the links Cyrus or some of the Guys and Gals who have written in in 2004. Oh some of them arent Chating any more - Gee I wonder why? Shocked A reporter from CNN was actually pointing out where three Israli tanks were on TV - (Back when the Lebanese TV Antennas were up. Ya see thing like that in the infra-structre HAVE to be destroyed due to HEZBOLA using then.
Right now there are thousands of HEZBOLA sympathizers in Dearborn MI, USA. Wink

Great Job as usual Cyrus - Thanks -... an aide
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Oppenheimer



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Posts: 1166
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 4:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

meridian leeweather wrote:


Quote:
Anusiaya:
Your quoting talking points of the Lib's on CNN BBC et al. Come on your a savy dude. Chattin' on A-Chat and all. Go to some of the links Cyrus or some of the Guys and Gals who have written in in 2004. Oh some of them arent Chating any more - Gee I wonder why? A reporter from CNN was actually pointing out where three Israli tanks were on TV - (Back when the Lebanese TV Antennas were up. Ya see thing like that in the infra-structre HAVE to be destroyed due to HEZBOLA using then.
Right now there are thousands of HEZBOLA sympathizers in Dearborn MI, USA.

Great Job as usual Cyrus - Thanks -... an aide


If I recall, it was Nick Robertson of CNN who attempted to interview UBL during enduring freedom (Afghanistan-2001), and that says a lot about CNN, and the FBI is at present very much aware and looking into Hisballah (read that as also IRI) "sleeper cells" nationwide, not just in Dearborn.

You raise an interesting point regarding the level of participation, and I've observed the same myself, but I suppose there are as many reasons for that as there are individuals making their decision to contribute or not.

You ask, "I wonder why that is?" but I suspect you have some thoughts and ideas. Perhaps you'll elaborate.

speaking for myself,

I agree that Cyrus does a good job here, and I've enjoyed many a good debate with him and others here, whether heated or not, in agreement or not, we are all looking for the truth, hoping to contribute ideas and insight and receive that as well from our fellow members.

Time I think is the proof -pudding as to whether an idea or position on issues remains valid, and so I think it serves no good purpose to the process of debate for personal credibility to be at issue, when contrary opinion is offered.

personal credibility only becomes an issue when intentional effort is made to distort the truth (unless made in jest), or intentional effort is made to detract from the site's purpose or credibility, and/or an individual's worth as a person.

"We may not have arrived here in the same boat, but we're all in the same boat now."
-MLK

And so I think we must row together, or witness the boat go round in circles.....

The truth is not a finite destination, it evolves through understanding.

ba Sepaas,

-Oppie
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:17 pm    Post subject: Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women a Reply with quote

Israeli forces push deeper into Lebanon

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060724/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel;_ylt=AiBfAmBEEA.kY1149et654CbOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE-

But a day after criticizing Israel for "disproportionate" strikes against civilians, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland accused Hezbollah of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians.

"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," Egeland said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:17 am    Post subject: Meanwhile, The View From Inside Iran Reply with quote

Meanwhile, The View From Inside Iran
Hizballah may be Tehran's client, but Iranians aren't buying the propaganda

By AZADEH MOAVENI
SUBSCRIBE TO TIMEPRINTE-MAILMORE BY AUTHORPhoto Essay: Inside Hizballah
Analysis: Hizballah Nation
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1218048,00.html?cnn=yes

Posted Sunday, Jul. 23, 2006
Parvin Heydari, an Iranian mother of two, was flipping back and forth between the nightly news and Oprah when a bulletin on an Iranian state channel caught her attention. It urged Iranians to boycott what it called "Zionist products," including those made by Pepsi, Nestlé and Calvin Klein, and warned that profits from such products "are converted into bullets piercing the chests of Lebanese and Palestinian children." As evidence, the voice-over intoned, "Pepsi stands for 'pay each penny to save Israel.'" Heydari says she changed the channel, as she has no intention of crossing Nestlé's Nesquik off her shopping list. "Lebanon has nothing to do with us," she says. "We should mind our own business and concentrate on policies that are good for our economy, and our kids."

To many observers in the Western world, Hizballah, the Lebanese guerrilla group battling Israel, is a mere puppet of Iran. Some are convinced that Hizballah triggered the crisis on Tehran's orders to divert world attention away from Iran's controversial nuclear plans. But client states are not necessarily as docile as one might think. Just as Israel sometimes takes actions that surprise (and even displease) the U.S., Hizballah does things Iran has neither ordered up nor necessarily approves of.

It's impossible to know the precise origins of the current crisis in Lebanon, but since it erupted two weeks ago, the mood in Tehran has swung between indifference--the fighting rarely makes the headlines--and resentment over Iran's longstanding sponsorship of Hizballah. True, there have been officially sponsored rallies declaring support for Hizballah, whose leaders pledge religious allegiance to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. But the emotional support for Hizballah common throughout the Arab world is largely absent here.

Iranians like Heydari believe that their country, ethnically and linguistically Persian, should stay out of the Arabs' fight with Israel and focus on improving living standards at home. "I don't think it's right to support them when our own people are hungry," says Mohammad Reza Afshari, 23, a mechanic who works two jobs yet still cannot afford to move out or attend college. The shop where he works abuts a vast mural depicting a female suicide bomber with a baby in her arms, accompanied by the words I LOVE MOTHERHOOD, BUT I LOVE MARTYRDOM MORE. Frustration with such propaganda underpins young people's reactions to the conflict. "Where are the Arabs?" asks Afshari angrily. "They're sitting around, while we're risking our position in the world."

It's not only ordinary Iranians who are worried about what the Middle East explosion means for Iran. Even as state infomercials order Iranians to boycott soft drinks, officials in Tehran--pragmatists and conservatives alike--concur that the conflict is bad news for the Iranian regime because it exacerbates the West's image of Tehran as a regional troublemaker. Rather than helpfully distracting attention from Iran, as many have charged, the conflict "undermines Iran's position," says a university professor close to senior Iranian officials.

The thorny nuclear negotiations with the West are likely to become even trickier. The delay in efforts to enforce a cease-fire in Lebanon is inflaming divisions within the Iranian regime on how to respond to the U.S.-backed package of incentives offered to Tehran in June. Before the crisis erupted, the momentum seemed to favor advocates of a pragmatic, positive response. But now the radicals are using the U.S.-backed Israeli campaign in Lebanon to push their case for a tough line. As an adviser to a senior conservative ayatullah puts it, "This has strengthened the hand of those who argue, 'If this happened to us, the only thing that would save us is a nuclear deterrent.'"

In the low-rent neighborhood of Tehran Pars, patrons at a café talk of how to balance faith with the politics of aiding Islamic militant groups. Mehdi Sedaghat, 27, a clothing-store clerk, speaks between bites of his bologna sandwich. "It's our religious duty to aid Muslims who are being killed," says Sedaghat, whose car bears a sticker on the rear window that reads INSURED BY IMAM REZA (Shi'ite Islam's revered figure). "But reality is reality, and we can't afford it." He quotes a Persian proverb: "If the lantern is needed at home, donating it to the mosque is haram [forbidden]."
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meridian leeweather



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:12 pm    Post subject: Alfabet Networks-Truth-Iranian War Dead Reply with quote

Hi oppie: I hope my suugestions that the main steam media are not to be trusted did not upset you.

As far as the whereabouts of the previous bloggers, Ohh I'd say- shorltly after Irans new Piminister was Selected alot of Iranian bloggers were rounded up and inprisoned or killed at least one that I chatted with any way. There was a post on this blogg when it happened and many tears fell. I kid you not, chief.

Truth and Evolving are mutally exclusive terms. Truth is always truth.
Now - how people FEEL about the truth due to temporal circumstances - Well Thats another issue.

Be Firm in what you believe or you'll be tossed about on the sea, from one belief to another - PETER (MLK believed in his Lord too!) woo hoo.

Which brings us to rowing in boats and such. Well we are all here for a common goal A FREE IRAN, to point out that someone (Ayuisa or something) shouldn't take too much stock in CNN or CBS or Nick @ UBL, should hardly be a point to be lectured about and have Fifty cent quotes thrown at me , We ARE on the same side,

BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE MY FRIEND THERE IS A FIFTH COLUMN IN THIS COUNTRY. (an un-Holy Alliance between the Left and the Radical Islamists) The FBI director of the Michigan (I'm not from there) actually spoke at a mosque, to a mainly Shiite audience, saying how great they are. (www.debbiedoespolitics.com/). There have been arrests of US Veterans, one a parapalegic, for having a dissenting opinion on HAMAS and HEZBOLA backing Shiite Moslems in thier neigbourhood. It's called "Operation Backlash"


There were reports by Cyrus on this blog about 100 wounded Iranian Federation Fighters returning home after thier battles in southern Lebanon.

Dont take my post and think thats all I KNOW - Thats just all I have TIME to write. (i.e. "not only in Dearborn")
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Oppenheimer



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PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Hi oppie: I hope my suugestions that the main steam media are not to be trusted did not upset you.


Not at all my friend, this is why I go to the source as much as I can, eliminating the middleman in the process of deleting spin ( sound-bites don't cut it when searching for the truth, thus my posting complete interviews, transcripts, etc.)

My point about truth being not a finite destination is that one perceives the truth as it exists , then something that is added to the whole picture that is also truth creates the evolution of a better understanding, and thus changes mindsets in the process (as long as self denial of it is not an issue)

As example, The world community's opinion of the IRI has gone through a few changes over time, and so today you see a greater consensus of nations as to what the truth about the regime actually is.

That's evolution.

Quote:
As far as the whereabouts of the previous bloggers, Ohh I'd say- shorltly after Irans new Piminister was Selected alot of Iranian bloggers were rounded up and inprisoned or killed at least one that I chatted with any way. There was a post on this blogg when it happened and many tears fell. I kid you not, chief.


No doubt, and I am aware of that as a factor, not to mention this site is banned in Iran.

Quote:
Which brings us to rowing in boats and such. Well we are all here for a common goal A FREE IRAN, to point out that someone (Ayuisa or something) shouldn't take too much stock in CNN or CBS or Nick @ UBL, should hardly be a point to be lectured about and have Fifty cent quotes thrown at me , We ARE on the same side,



Well....(chuckle) I wasn't throwing it at you, or anyone in particular, simply throwing it out on the forum in the hope that the idea would stick, know what I mean?

Lot of division within the opposition, personalities in conflict etc, etc, despite folks claiming to be on the same side.....basicly over how to get there from here.

And over what exactly is that final destination, and other than regime change being a common goal now (after the debunked referendum and reformist agenda) .....again the truth evolves, no?

There is of course a great difference between a dissenting opinion, and active support (material or otherwise) for a designated terrorist org. /// one is not arrested for his opinion.

Mr. Bush gave a speech in a Mosque right after 9/11, but I don't think his praising the Muslim community in America qualifies as being "5th collum".....his intent being to keep the peace among America's diverse cultural fabric of the melting pot of communities - (which was also the context and subject of MLK's remarks about being in the same boat).

I believe our primary task as activists is to ask the hard questions the press has niether the wit nor the will to ask, and great changes can come from a single question asked at the right moment to the right people.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/69001.htm

Eric from Sante Fe, New Mexico writes:
Dear Under Secretary Joseph,

General Omar Bradley once said, "Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants, we know more about war than we do about peace, more about killing than about living."

Mine is a philosophical question:

At what point does the international community determine that the ethical infant's diapers need changing, as the smell of ill intent has become all too overwhelming and noxious to Humanity? Or will ethical infants like the leaders of Iran and North Korea be allowed to remain in power to "dump" on civilization at a time of their choosing?

I've noted that the diplomatic attempts at "behavior change" have only resulted in temper-tantrums, at the expense of global peace and security. But as my granddad worked with Oppenhiemer on the Manhattan project, and these issues are thus quite personal to me, I'd like to personally thank everyone involved globally seeking solutions to these problems, as well as the building of consensus among nations to address these issues in concrete terms.

Under Secretary Joseph:

As in Omar Bradley’s time, the United States continues to offer the world ethical leadership, dedicated to partnerships that lead to lasting international peace and security, as well as to the development of democratic governments and the rule of law. The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism will build on Secretary Rice’s vision of transformational diplomacy by building consensus among partner nations regarding our most serious international security threat, and galvanize them to take concrete and sustained steps to defeat it.


-----------------------------------end--------------

If you have any doubt as to who sent in this question, I'll be glad to show you the proof.

I was told by Bolton's office that it was "a very good question", but I was VERY suprised that the Dept. of State published it, due mainly with how it was presented.....my guess is that not only did they agree with the premis, but that it afforded an opportunity to really "stick it" to the regimes mentioned, and deliver a "message" to the international community by the perspective offered at the same time.

The human condition being what it is, I also suspect that it probably had the whole Dept. in a fit of laughter despite it's seriousness.



Best Regards,

Eric Jette (aka oppenheimer)
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:54 am    Post subject: Iran's War Reply with quote

Taazi's War

By Kenneth R. Timmerman
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 27, 2006

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23557


Haifa, Israel – Some have suggested that the latest round of fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization in Lebanon is the beginning of World War III.

Think again.

“This is more like the Spanish Civil War,” says Daniel Seaman, an Israeli government spokesman. “What we are seeing is a series of conflicts that foreshadow a future world conflict, just as the Spanish Civil war prefigured the Second World War.”

Seaman’s analogy is worth exploring.

Just as Hitler used Franco as his proxy in Spain to test new military techniques and equipment on the battlefield, so Iran is using Hezbollah as its proxy to do the same.

Hezbollah is no longer a rag-tag guerilla group, but a veritable terrorist army. “They understand complex military tactics, and are pursuing combined military operations using ground forces, missiles, intelligence, and the media,” Seaman said.

Over the past six years, following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from south Lebanon, Iran began supplying Hezbollah with massive quantities of long-range artillery rockets of a type never before used against Israel.

These Iranian-made Fajr-3 rockets have a range of around 43 kilometers, and carry a 50 kilogram warhead packed with thousands of deadly ballbearings.

These are terrorist mass-kill weapons, designed to kill as many civilians as possible. No one standing within a 50 meter radius of one of these incoming rocket can survive, Israeli bomb experts say. The Fajr-3 was used with great success in a July 16 attack that killed eight railway workers at a repair depot in downtown Haifa.

“When they showed me the small pellets packed inside, I thought they were showing me a suicide bomber belt,” Haifa mayor Yona Yahav told me. In fact, Iran modeled the design of the Fajr-3 warhead on the suicide bomber belts, with the clear aim of maximum its lethality.

Syria supplied similar rockets to Hezbollah, packed with ball-bearings. Hezbollah purchased smaller rockets from Communist China, after they had been similarly modified.

How many terrorist groups can boast an arsenal of over 10,000 long-range rockets? Only those with the backing of a sovereign state, Iran.

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni explained Hezbollah’s aims with stark clarity here yesterday.

“While Israel is targeting Hezbollah, and during this operation, unfortunately it can lead to loss of civilian life, Hezbollah is targeting our cities in order to hit, in order to target civilians and to target Israeli population centers. This is a crucial difference.”

This is a strategy Iran is testing out for a future war. Iran is testing Israel, probing Israel’s reaction, and testing the response of the international community.

Let’s recall how this all began. On July 12, a Hezbollah commando broke through the security fence at the border and snuck into Israel. In an operation that lasted scarcely five minutes, they ambushed an Israeli army Humvee on patrol, killed three soldiers, kidnapped two others, and escaped back across the border.

Shortly afterwards, Hezbollah launched six long-range rockets into Israel, hitting Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. It was the first time Haifa had been attacked in such a manner.

How would the Israelis respond? Would they launch a massive ground assault into Lebanon? That was what the Iranians were hoping, because they believed it would catalyze the Muslim world against Israel, and position Iran as the new champion of the Muslim “resistance.”

When the Israelis didn’t bite, the Iranians ordered Hezbollah to step up the rocket attacks against Israeli cities, towns and villages. On day two, they launched 133 rockets into northern Israel, 108 on day three, and 126 on day four.

In response, Israel launched air strikes deep into Lebanon, striking the airport, cutting resupply routes into Syria, and attempting to knock out command bunkers where they believed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was hiding. But none of this deterred Hezbollah, and for good reason: the Iranians had prepared them to fight a long war, dispersing their weaponry across Lebanon.

On July 15, Iranian advisors in charge of Hezbollah’s more sophisticated weapons stunned the Israelis by launching two sophisticated C-802 anti-shipping missiles against an Israeli SAAR-5 boat cruising some 18 kilometers off the Lebanese coast.

One of the missiles was apparently deflected by Israeli counter-measures, and hit a Cambodian merchant vessel that was 60 km from the coast and 44 km down range from the Israeli ship, according to a technical analysis of the attack published by the Israel Resource News Agency on Tuesday. The second seriously damaged the Israeli corvette, the INS Ahi-Hanit.

What terrorist groups possess third-generation radar-guided anti-shipping missiles? The Chinese-built C-802s were first shipped to Iran in 1995, and at the time generated concern among U.S. naval commanders in the Persian Gulf because at the time the U.S. had no defense against them.

The Israelis had electronic countermeasures on board the Ahi-Hanit that could have deflected the missiles, the experts believe, but had turned them off for fear of friendly-fire incidents against Israeli fighters flying overhead.

More lessons learned for the Iranians.

And how did Israel respond to the rocket attacks?



Anyone who has been watching television over the past two weeks has probably heard the eerie wail of the air raid sirens that go off many times each day in Haifa and in smaller towns and settlements across northern Israel.



As many as 500,000 Israelis have fled the warzone. Most of Israel north of Haifa is deserted, while those remaining are living in underground shelters.



Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav estimated that the economic impact has been devastating – “in the billions of shekels” of lost business for Haifa alone. That’s roughly $500 million.



Israeli officials believe the Iranians gave the go-ahead for the kidnapping and the rocket war. They point to the unannounced arrival in Damascus the night before Hezbollah launched its attacks by the head of Iran’s National Security Council and Iran’s intelligence minister.



For Dr. Michael Oren, author of a forthcoming book on the history of the U.S. relationship to the Middle East, the current conflict is just a stage in the war against Iran. “People need to realize this is not a bilateral conflict. It is part of the broad regional and international conflict between the West and Islamic fundamentalism championed by Iran,” he told me.



Dr. Oren is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center for Strategic Studies in Jerusalem. He is also a major in the Israeli Defense Forces reserves. He was called up for active duty on July 21, but asked for a three day extension so he could finish his new book, Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East from 1776 to the Present.



He believes the stakes of Israel’s effort to smash Hezbollah as an effective fighting force in Lebanon go way beyond the immediate impact on Israeli or Lebanese civilians.



“If we don’t win in Lebanon, Iran will be well on the way to creating an arc of influence extending from the Indian border to the Mediterranean,” he said.



Those are the stakes.



Iran launched this war to deflect attention from the G-8 summit in Saint Petersburg from its nuclear weapons program. But at the same time, it launched this war to try out new weapons and new tactics for future conflicts.



The next step, should the West fail to step up to the plate: how about long-range Shahab-3 missiles in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, aimed at Europe? And how do you think the Europeans would respond, seeing the devastating impact far smaller rockets fired into Israel have had on Israel’s economy?



Can you imagine Parisians or Romans taking to the bomb-shelters? Sending their children to stay with relatives living overseas? Can you imagine them resisting Iran as Israel is doing?



Unchecked, Iran will continue its march toward nuclear power, and it will use terrorist proxies to conduct war against the West. In the future, those proxies will have nuclear weapons.



This is the “hurricane” Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised the world earlier this week in Tehran, in yet another “mein kampf” statement.



Now is the time to draw the line.



Click Here to support Frontpagemag.com.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth R. Timmerman is the author of Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran (Crown Forum, New York), and Executive Director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran.
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ViaHHakimi



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 12:44 am    Post subject: IRAN'S CATSPAW Hezbollah serving Islamic Republic’s bid to l Reply with quote


http://www.coxandforkum.com/

IRAN'S CATSPAW Hezbollah serving Islamic Republic’s bid to lead Arabs
by Amir Taheri
New York Post

July 23, 2006 -- 'YOU are the Sun of Islam, shining on the universe!" This is how mullah Muhammad Khatami, the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran until last year, described the Lebanese Hezbollah in a message this month. Addressed to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezballah, the message highlights the importance of the Lebanese Shiite militia in Iran's strategy.

It would be no exaggeration to describe the Hezbollah as Tehran's regional trump card. Each time Tehran played it, it won.

In 1982, the Islamic Republic had virtually no influence in Lebanon. The Lebanese Shiiite bourgeoisie that had ties with Iran under the shah was horrified by Khomeini's populist discourse, while poorer Shiite masses looked to the clergy in Iraqi Najaf for guidance.

The Islamic Republic needed a bridgehead in Lebanon, and asked its ambassador to Damascus, radical mullah Ali-Akbar Mohtashami-Pour, to create one. Mohtashami-Pour opened a Lebanese branch of the Iranian Hezbollah (Party of God) founded in 1975 by Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari. Hundreds of Iranian mullahs, political "educators" and Islamic Revolutionary Guardsmen were sent to Beirut to set up the branch. They united several radical Shiite groups (including some with Marxist backgrounds) under the Hezbollah brand name.

Soon, the Islamic Republic started playing its Hezbollah card to exert pressure on France, Britain and the United States, which it saw as sponsors of Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran. Throughout the 1980s, the Hezbollah kidnapped more than 200 foreign nationals in Lebanon, most of them Americans or Western Europeans. It also organized suicide attacks against U.S. and French targets, killing almost 1,000 people, including 241 U.S. Marines and 56 French paratroopers.

The campaign produced results. France reduced her support for Saddam Hussein. The United States went further, supplying the Islamic Republic with anti-tank missiles (shipped via Israel), helping tip the war in favor of Iran. In exchange, the Islamic Republic ordered the Hezbollah to release French and American hostages in small batches spread over years.

ONCE the Iran-Iraq war was over, Tehran found other uses for its Lebanese assets. It purged and then reshaped the Hezbollah to influence the broader course of regional politics while waging a low-intensity war against Israel.

In 2000, when the Israelis decided to evacuate the strip they controlled in Lebanon, Tehran presented the event as, in Khatami's words, the "first victory of Islam over the Zionist-Crusader camp."

To prop up that myth, Tehran invested in a propaganda campaign that included TV "documentaries," full-length feature films, books and magazine articles. The message was simple: While secular ideologies - from pan-Arabism to Arab socialism - failed to liberate an inch of Arab territory, Islamism, in its Khomeinist version, had achieved "total victory" over Israel in Lebanon.

Since 1982, Iran has created branches of the Hezbollah in more than 20 countries. None has equaled the success of the Lebanese branch, which, until recently, enjoyed something akin to a cult status among Arabs, including non-Muslims.

The beauty of all this is that the Lebanese branch has not cost the Islamic Republic as much as might be expected.

The project started with just $25 million. After that, according to best estimates, the Islamic Republic spent $60 million to $100 million a year on its Lebanese assets.

Even if we add the cost of training Hezbollah fighters and equipping them with hardware, the Lebanese branch could not have cost the Islamic Republic more than $2.5 billion over two decades. And, that, as students of geopolitics know, is small change compared to the stakes involved.

OVER the years, the Lebanese branch has been woven into the Islamic Republic's body politic.

Many Hezbollah militants and officials have married into Iranian religious families, often connected to influential ayatollahs. Dozens of Lebanese Shiites have worked and continue to work in the Iranian administration, especially in the ministries of security, information and culture, for short or long stints. Since the mid 1980s, most Lebanese Shiite clerics have trained in Iran. In exchange, thousands of Islamic Republic security officers and Revolutionary Guardsmen have lived and worked in Lebanon and, in many cases, forged family links with the locals. Systematic intermingling with Iranians means that Hezbollah's younger cadres speak Arabic with a Persian accent.

The Lebanese branch has also played a role in eliminating the Islamic Republic's enemies abroad. At least 20 Lebanese are in European prison on charges of involvement in the murder of some of the 117 Iranian exiles "eliminated" in Europe between 1982 and 2000.

Treated as a reserve force of shock-troopers for the Islamic Republic, the Lebanese branch on several occasions has sent militants to Iran to help crush anti-regime street demonstrations. Such missions are facilitated by the fact that an estimated 60,000 Lebanese Shiites have acquired Iranian citizenship. More recently, the Lebanese branch served as the conduit for shipment of Iranian arms to pro-Tehran militant groups in Iraq.

As Ali Yunesi, the Islamic Republic's former security minister, once put it: "Iran is Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is Iran."

BUT why did Tehran decide to play its Lebanese card now?

Part of the answer lies in Washington's decision last May to reverse its policy toward the Islamic Republic and seek an accommodation by offering major concessions. Tehran interpreted that as a sign of weakness and a confirmation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's belief that (thanks to the Hidden Imam) the Islamic Republic is heading for victory over the U.S.-led "infidel."

Ahmadinejad believes that his strategy to drive the "infidel" out of the Islamic heartland cannot succeed unless Arabs accept Iran's leadership. But this is not easy to sell to the majority of Arabs, who are Sunni, for the Khomeinist regime is Shiite.

To overcome that hurdle, it is necessary to persuade the Arabs that only Iran is sincere in its desire to wipe Israel off the map and has the power to do so. Once the Arabs buy that claim, Ahmadinejad hopes, they will rally behind his vision of the Middle East, as opposed to the "American vision."

That strategy pushed Israel to the top of Tehran's agenda. This is why Tehran decided to adopt the Palestinian Hamas movement, left an orphan by Arab powers that had rallied behind Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement.

Ahmadinejad has also managed to convince Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to abandon the temptation to switch to the American side. Last month, Syria signed a military agreement with the Islamic Republic - acknowledging Iran's position as leader of a new "Rejection Front." In exchange, the Islamic Republic's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei declared that he would regard any attack on Syria as an attack on Iran.

THE mini-war between Israel and the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah is, in fact, a proxy war in which Tehran's vision (Read BRITISH!- H.H.) for the Middle East clashes with Washington's rival vision. Just as Washington cannot afford to let Israel lose, or even bow to a cease-fire that could be interpreted as a victory for Hezbollah, Tehran may be forced to back the Lebanese branch to the hilt - even if that means a larger war.

What is at stake is not the exchange of kidnapped Israeli soldiers with Arab prisoners in Israel. Such exchanges have happened routinely over five decades. The real issue is: Who will set the agenda for the Middle East - the Islamic Republic (The BRITS _H.H) and its allies, or the United States and its allies?

Iranian author Amir Taheri is a member of Benador Associates.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:52 pm    Post subject: The war that will be brought upon Iranians by IRI supporters Reply with quote

The war that will be brought upon Iranians by IRI supporters
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:30:17 -0700

Dear friends,
The link below forwarded to Professor Foote and posted by him in his filthy group, is from CASMII. If you read the pro-IRI article this link provides, you will notice it is titled and written by individuals as follows:
Wake up call for Iranian Communities around the World: War waged by Israel in Lebanon is prelude to war on Iran
By Abbas Edalat, Foaad Khoshmood, Shahram Mostarshed, Daniel M Pourkesali, Rostam Pourzal, Nader Sadeghi, Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, Massy Homayouni, 31 July 2006

Hopefully there won't be a war against Iran, but if there is one, it is only because of bastards who have supported IRI and organized anti-war and pro-Hezbollah demonstrations to benefit IRI and opposed all opposition groups and tried to keep the opposition groups weakened which has prevented the opposition groups from toppling IRI by Iranian hands and prevent such a war.

You all know how Shahram and Soraya have posted on traitorsusa yahoogroup and I've told you that I know for a fact that Shahram has worked with Amirahmadi, Harandi and Susan Akbarpour in a team in the past and you now see how Shahram and Soraya are involved in CASMII (the organization which organizes anti-war demonstration to benefit IRI). Now you can see the proof that Shahram (from California) and Soraya (from Utah) are very active members of CASMII.

Siavash


Last edited by cyrus on Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
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