I've Heard That Song Before

Adnkronos - 03/26/07

Iran: Government Rules Out Prisoner Swap For Seized Britons

(AKI) -- Teheran has no intention of freeing the 15 captive British sailors in exchange for the release of five officials from the Revolutionary Guard arrested in northern Iraq by US troops, Iran's deputy foreign minister said Monday.

Mehdi Mostafavi, speaking on Iranian state television, said:

The British military were arrested because they were trespassing in Iranian waters and will not to be swapped with our officials kidnapped by the Americans in Iraq.

In the meantime, the government of Baghdad has denied that the Britons arrested by the Pasdaran last Friday and transferred to Tehran for interrogation, were outside Iraqi territorial waters:

Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari, calling on the Islamic Republic to release them immediately, said:

The 15 Britons were operating in complete respect of international law, they were in our territorial waters carrying out controls of merchant vessels on the basis of a UN resolution.

The Iranian authorities have denied British officials in Tehran access to the navy personnel.

Website: adnki.com

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Syrian President Bashar Assad, center, accompanied by his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, second left, reviewing an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony in Tehran on Saturday.

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Haaretz - 02/17/07

Assad, Ahmadinejad vow to form alliance against U.S., Israel

Iranian President Mahmoud Adhmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday vowed to form an alliance against what they called U.S. and Israeli conspiracies against the Islamic world.

Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the Islamic world in general and Iran and Syria in particular should maintain their vigilance and neutralize conspiracies aimed at sowing discord among Muslims.

Ahmadinejad said that what the U.S. really aims for under the pretext of development in the region "is just another effort to strengthen its own status and that of the Zionists."

The Iranian president also praised the agreement by rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government. He said:

Dispute among Muslim factions has always been harmful for regional nations and useful for Islam's enemies.

ISNA quoted Assad as saying that expansion of Tehran-Damascus ties would help resolve the problems of the Islamic world. He accused the U.S. of trying to attract public opinion within the Islamic world by undermining Iran-Syria relations.

"America's policies have failed in the region ... By creating divisions among Muslim nations, Washington wants to pursue its aims," IRNA quoted Assad as saying during his meeting with Ahmadinejad, who urged "Muslim countries to preserve unity."

The Syrian leader said Muslims worldwide should be informed about "the evil aims by the U.S. and Zionists" which he said were sowing discord among Muslims.

Assad arrived earlier Saturday in Tehran for a two-day visit to discuss developments in the Middle East and was scheduled to also meet Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

On the agenda would be Iraq, Lebanon and cooperation with the Palestinians. Assad was in Tehran in August 2005 immediately after the start of Ahmadinejad's presidential term.

Ahmadinejad said earlier Saturday that Lebanon and Hezbollah have his complete support in their struggle against Israel and the United States. Ahmadinejad said:

Iran and Lebanon are two parts of the same body, and only through cooperation between our two nations will it be possible to foil the conspiracies of the enemy.

Thanks to Hezbollah, the Lebanese people have become a symbol of courage, faith and respect for all nations, and all this through the power of resistance.

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IRNA - 01/23/07

US dominance over Middle East spiralling downward

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that US dominance in the Middle East and the Zionist regime's bullying are spiralling downward.

In a meeting with the visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, Ahmadinejad said that the Islamic and Arab states should prepare ground for strengthening independent and broad-based governments and restore stability and security of regional states through vigilance, resistance, solidarity and cooperation.

He added that the US President George Bush's new strategy for the Middle East aims to repair the image of the US administration and the Republicans. Ahmadinejad said,

The US intends to cause insecurity and dispute and weaken independent governments in the region to continue with its dominance over the Middle East and achieve its arrogant goals.

The US and Zionist regime have a conspiracy to stir up conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims in order to plunder wealth of the regional nations.

Ahmadinejad said that victory of Lebanon's Hizbollah was a victory for all Islamic nations over the US and the Zionist regime.

Regional countries should prepare ground to stop the Zionist regime from occupation of Palestinian territories and interference in Lebanese national affairs through support for the Islamic resistance in both Palestine and Lebanon.

Otherwise, the US and the Zionist regime will step up pressure on Islamic countries.

He praised growing trend of ties between Tehran and Damascus and said,

Powerful and advanced nations of Iran and Syria are keen on stability and security of regional states.

Regional countries should work hard for their development and progress through bolstering regional cooperation.

Expansion of strategic relations between Iran, Syria and Iraq will play an important role in establishing stability and
tranquility in the Middle East.

Al-Moualem, for his part, presented a report on the latest developments in the region and a visit by the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to Syria.

He said Iran and Syria regard speedy restoration of stability and security in Iraq in the interest of all countries in the region, adding the US interests would be secured only by continued insecurity and insurgency in Iraq and the entire region.

The Syrian minister pointed to efforts made by the US and bullying powers to escalate tension for massacring the Muslims and cause rift between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Al-Moualem urged regional governments to prevent massacre of Muslims and work for establishment of peace and tranquility in the region through unity and regular consultations.

He assessed as strategic Damascus's ties with Tehran and said expansion of ties between Iran and Syria would help restore stability and security in the region.

Website: irna.ir

Reading between the lines of the Iranian president's recent letter, I see an almost desperate plea to the citizens of the United States to reign in a government which has run amok -- a government being administered by megalomaniacs who regard themselves as being above the US constitution, its amendments -- or anything else, for that matter.

I'm reading more and more about US plans to launch another "pre-emptive" war, either by organizing another "coalition" or by using a foreign government as proxy -- with or without UN approval. It gets worse. The word is that this next war will entail use of small(?) nuclear weapons. And the target of this next war? Iran.

Although Iran is not in violation of any international laws, there is apprehension in some quarters that Iran might commit a violation at some point in the future.

So this is what it's come to in the USA! It's OK to punish people, to bomb people -- not for something they've done -- but for something they might do.

Fellow citizens, we don't need to guard against a totalitarian government -- it's already here. And we certainly don't need to demonize George Bush and his neocon/zionist friends -- their words and their actions have demonized themselves far better than anything we could have imagined.

The question (rhetorical or otherwise) is "What are we going to do about it?" And please, spare me the "going to the polls/ballot box" mumbo jumbo. I, and many of you, have participated in this sham "two party" democracy farce for decades -- and things keep getting worse, not better. 05/18/06

One by one, we're losing our freedoms and our rights, supposedly guaranteed by our constitution. But, according to George Bush, our constitution is "just a (expletive) piece of paper". 12/19/05

At the present time the citizenry of the United States can do little or nothing to rid their government of the people who are knowingly and willfully betraying them. These people began to infiltrate our government more than half a century ago and are now firmly entrenched.

By various means and through multiple channels, they have succeeded in making mainstream an ideology and value system which are effectively destroying the United States by "morphing" it into something unrecognizable as the proud, respected nation we once knew and loved.

To add insult to injury, our destruction as a nation is being achieved without a shot being fired. Indeed, many citizens are knowingly or unknowingly cooperating in the destruction by accepting and promulgating ideas that are poisoning our culture, our heritage: diversity, multiculturalism, political correctness, "hate" speech, gun control, illegal immigration, globalism. No nation ingesting these poisons has ever survived intact.

Let me say that again. No nation ingesting these poisons has ever survived intact.

I've never been to Iran, nor do I know what daily life is like among the people who live there. Evidently the vast majority of Irians believe their nation and their way of life is worth preserving. I've never met Mr. Ahmadinejad. From information I've read about him on the internet, including his recent letter to Americans, I sincerely believe him to be an honorable man. Your estimation of him may or may not agree with my own.

As president of his country, he seems guided by an Iran First policy which, in my opinion, is as it should be. In that respect, the citizens of Iran are a fortunate people -- perhaps more fortunate than they will ever realize.

IRNA - 11/26/06
Armed forces, forerunners in defending justice, people's rights

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said here Saturday that armed forces in the Islamic ruling system are forerunners of the nation in defending justice, rights of people, particularly the poor, promoting national security and protecting the values of Islam and Islamic Revolution.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remark while speaking at the graduation ceremony of the cadets of the Islamic Republic Guards Corps (IRGC) at the Military Academy of Imam Hossein University.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces referred to militarism of the world powers as a means for gaining power and said that on the contrary, in the Islamic system, armed forces are actually the field of worship on account of the high logic of Islam:

The most important feature of IRGC is that its cornerstone was laid on Islamic values. It requires determined manpower capable of defending the nation, though the revolutionary conditions no more dominate the country and the Sacred Defense era is over.

Ayatollah Khamenei dismissed some semi-intellectual views against military forces and described a militaryman with Islamic identity as someone prepared to sacrifice himself for his high goal:

Therefore, a militaryman with an Islamic identity is not comparable to the violent and irrational US or Zionist troops and those from hegemonic countries.

Website: irna.ir

The third and final act in the national tragedy that is the Bush adminis-
tration may soon play itself out. The Okhrana reports increasing indications of "something big" happening between the election and Christmas. That could be the long-planned attack on Iran.
CounterPunch - 10/31/06
by William S. Lind

The Third and Final Act: Attacking Iran

An attack on Iran will not be an invasion with ground troops. We don't have enough of those left to invade Ruritania. It will be a "package" of air and missile strikes, by U.S. forces or Israel. If Israel does it, there is a possibility of nuclear weapons being employed.

But Israel would prefer the U.S. to do the dirty work, and what Israel wants, Israel usually gets, at least in Washington.

That this would constitute folly piled on top of folly is no deterrent to the Bush administration. Like the French Bourbons, it forgets nothing and it learns nothing. It takes pride in not adapting. Or did you somehow miss George W. Bush's declaration of Presidential Infallibility? It followed shortly after the visit to the aircraft carrier with the "Mission Accomplished" sign.

The Democrats taking either or both Houses of Congress, if it happens, will not make any difference. They would rather have the Republicans start and lose another war than prevent a national disaster. Politics comes first and the country second. Nor would they dare cross Israel.

Many of the consequences of a war with Iran are easy to imagine. Oil would soar to at least $200 per barrel if we could get it. Gas shortages would bring back the gas lines of 1973 and 1979. Our European alliances would be stretched to the breaking point if not beyond it. Most people outside the Bushbubble can see all this coming.

What I fear no one forsees is a substantial danger that we could lose the army now deployed in Iraq. I have mentioned this in previous columns, but I want to go into it here in more detail because the scenario may soon go live.
Unfortunately, no one in Washington and few people in the U.S. military will even consider this possibility. Why? Because we have fallen victim to our own propaganda. Over and over the U.S. military tells itself, "We're the greatest! We're number one! No one can defeat us. No one can even fight us. We're the greatest military in all of history!"

It's bull. The U.S. armed forces are technically well-trained, lavishly resourced Second Generation militaries. They are being fought and defeated by Fourth Generation opponents in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They can also be defeated by Third Generation enemies who can observe, orient, decide and act more quickly than can America's vast, process-ridden, Powerpoint-enslaved military headquarters.

They can be defeated by strategy, by stratagem, by surprise and by preemption. Unbeatable militaries are like unsinkable ships. They are unsinkable until someone or something sinks them. Read Article

AFP - 10/20/06

Ahmadinejad predicts Israel's collapse, warns of 'boiling wrath'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has predicted Israel will collapse and warned that its allies face the "boiling wrath" of the people if they continue to support the Jewish state.

The renewed assault on Israel by Ahmadinejad -- who has been castigated by world powers for his frequent anti-Israeli outbursts -- came as tens of thousands marched through Tehran in an annual pro-Palestinian rally.

Ahmadinejad, who has previously called for Israel to be "wiped from the map" and described the Holocaust as a myth, told the protestors:

This regime (Israel) will be gone, definitely.

You (the Western powers) should know that any government that stands by the Zionist regime from now on will not see any result but the hatred of the people. The wrath of the region's people is boiling.

Efforts to stabilise this fraudulent regime have completely failed, thank God . . . This regime has lost the rationale of its existence.

Ahmadinejad described his warning as an "ultimatum" for Western powers:

You should not complain that we did not give a warning. We are saying this explicitly now.

If a hurricane starts be rest assured that the dimensions of this hurricane will not be limited to the geographic borders of Palestine.

This regime (Israel) will take its supporters to the bottom of the swamp.

The best solution is for you to take all the components of the regime and take it away.

Chanting "Death to Israel" and predicting the "Triumph of Palestine", tens of thousands of people had earlier converged on Tehran University, where Ahmadinejad gave his speech, to mark Iran's Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

Started on the initiative of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the event annually attracts massive crowds, many of them government workers, to call for the handing of Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki referred to the sex scandal that has left Israeli president Moshe Katsav facing possible indictment for rape, saying such "ethical deviation" showed Israel was collapsing.

"The Zionist regime is filled with moral corruption and ethical deviation in its highest ranks. Therefore this regime internally, and regionally from the outside, is cracking and is falling apart."

Ahmadinejad once again questioned the extent of the Holocaust and said that, in any case, it was not right for the Palestinians to pay for events committed on European soil.

"If the Holocaust is real why are those who have the opposite opinion about it being arrested and jailed? If it is true, where did it happen? If it was in Europe, why should it be paid for in Palestine?"
Iran insists it has every right to a full nuclear fuel cycle and has refused to obey repeated UN deadlines to halt uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be diverted to make weapons.

Ahmadinejad reaffirmed Iran's defiant stance, saying "Iran is ready to negotiate but will not tolerate the slightest pressure."

He also recalled that on a recent visit to the United States he had dared Western powers in an address to a think-tank to shut their own nuclear fuel programmes and let Iran supply the material.

"I told them 'You shut down your nuclear programmes and we will produce fuel from the fuel cycle in five years time and sell it to you at a 50 percent discount!"

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"Fox News Fans the Hysteria"
by Paul Craig Roberts - 01/30/06

Can we be optimistic and assume that diplomatic failure does not include orchestrated failure by the Bush administration? Alas, we cannot expect too much from the American people as even the corrected report indicates a majority of the population in thrall to disinformation.

The only "evidence" that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons is mere assertion by members of the Bush administration and the neoconsevative press. Iran says it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, and the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors say there is no evidence of a weapons program.

Iran is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Under the treaty, signatories have the right to develop nuclear energy. All they are required to do is to make reports to the IAEA and keep their facilities open to inspection. Iran complies with these requirements.

There is no Iranian "defiance." When news media report "defiance," they purvey disinformation. The "seals" on Iranian facilities were placed there voluntarily by the Iranians while they attempted to resolve the false charges brought by the Bush administration.

The "Iran crisis" is entirely the product of the Bush administration's determination to deprive Iran of its rights as a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty. It is just another demonstration of President Bush's opinion that his word overrules fact, law and international treaties.

Despite the clear and unambiguous facts, the Fox Opinion Dynamics poll reports that 60% of Republicans, 41% of Independents, and 36% of Democrats support using air strikes and ground troops against Iran in order to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

This poll indicates an appalling extent of ignorance and misinformation among the American public. The Bush administration will take advantage of this ignorance to initiate another war in the Middle East.

A majority of Americans have now been deceived twice on the same issue. Just as there was no evidence that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons, there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.

There is nothing but unproven assertions, assertions, moreover, that are contradicted by the evidence that does exist. Americans, it would appear, are so anxious for wars that they welcome being fooled into them.

One wonders, also, where the 60% of Republicans, 41% of Independents, and 36% of Democrats think the US will find the ground troops with which to invade Iran. As the three-year old "cakewalk war" in Iraq has made completely clear, the US does not have enough ground troops to successfully occupy Iraq and to suppress a small insurgency drawn from a Sunni population of 5 million people.

We hear report after report from military authorities that the Iraq war is straining our armed forces to the breaking point. For example, a Pentagon study by Andrew Krepinevich concludes that the US Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency.

Every military expert knows this to be true, although few can afford to say it. If we are on the breaking point from trying to deal with an insurgency drawn from 5 million people, how are we going to send ground troops into vastly larger Iran with a population of 70 million people? It boggles the mind that a majority of Americans favor an impossible policy.

The situation is even worse than it so far sounds. Another recent poll, a LA Times/Bloomberg poll, finds ... that 57% of the respondents "favor military intervention if Iran's government pursues a program that could enable it to build nuclear arms." These are the same respondents, 53% of whom believe it was not worth going to war against Iraq.

The poll thus reveals the American public as grist for the neoconservatives' war mill. If a country can produce material for nuclear energy, it can, with additional facilities and knowledge, produce material for nuclear weapons. Thus, if Iran exercises its rights under the non-proliferation treaty, 57% of Americans support a US military attack on Iran!

American politicians, whose strings are pulled by the American-Israeli Political Action Committee, despite AIPAC's current engulfment in spying charges against the US, are demanding, as we will see below, that the US attack Iran "in order to protect Israel."
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Moreover, Israel has never signed the non-proliferation treaty and does have nuclear weapons. An Iranian invasion of Israel could be fatal for Iran.

Why, then, is the American population being whipped up by the Bush administration and Fox "News" into war hysteria against Iran?

Fox is aggressively agitating for war with Iran. On shows such as Hannity and Combs, guest after guest -- Newt Gingrich, Ollie North, various retired generals, pundits, and even Democratic politicians -- agitate for attacking Iran:

The US must absolutely attack Iran if for no other reason than
"for the sake of Israel."
-- Bob Beckel

We need to renew and re-strengthen our commitment to Israel.
-- Bill Richardson

Iran not only cannot be trusted with nuclear technology, but also Iranians cannot be trusted with their oil.
-- Newt Gingrich

On January 27, 2006 Democratic strategist Pat Cadell expressed mystification as to how strongly the polls surged, literally overnight,
in support for attacking Iran.

One wonders if Americans ever think of the consequences of the rash actions that they say they favor. The Bush administration has placed Iraq in the hands of the majority Shia, who are allied with Iran, which is allied with Hizbollah, the strongest military force in Lebanon, which is friendly to Hamas, the new Palestinian authority.

What response might a US attack on Iran bring from the Shia population in Iraq? What terrorism might Iran unleash throughout the Middle East? What US puppets might fall? What consequences might follow if Iran not only shuts off Iranian oil, but knocks out facilities throughout the region and blocks oil flows from the Middle East?

Compared to attacking Iran, attacking Iraq was a small if reckless risk. Nevertheless, the unexpected consequences of the US invasion of Iraq have prevented the Bush administration from achieving its goals.

Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda must be marveling at the rank stupidity of the American people. Maybe Fox "News" only pretends to be the Ministry of War Propaganda for the Bush administration and is really in the employ of al Qaeda.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

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The Zionist occupied government of the United States suspects Iran's nuclear enrichment activities are a cover for a weapons program. Lest we forget, these are the same people (neocons) who suspected Saddam Hussein of possessing weapons of mass destruction. Enough said.

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MyWay News 06/27/06
by Nasser Karimi

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that Iran does not need negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program, apparently seeking to reassure hard-liners the country will not cave in as it considers a key Western incentives package.

Khamenei, who has the final word on all state matters, did not give his position on the proposals aimed at persuading Iran to impose a long-term moratorium on enriching uranium.

Iran received the proposals June 6, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the government will not respond officially until at least mid-August. The United States and Europe are pressing for a quicker reply.

The United States has said it would join direct talks with Iran, which is being asked to suspend uranium enrichment - a program it has vowed to pursue and never give up completely. Enrichment is a process that can produce fuel for nuclear generators or the material for nuclear warheads.

Loyalists in Iran's clerical-run leadership have called on the government to reject the proposals and have painted any agreement to talks with Washington as a surrender. i.e., not in the best interests of the Iranian people.

Khamenei's remarks could be aimed at assuaging their fears by showing that talks with the United States are not a major lure for the government and that negotiations with the West will not mean giving up enrichment.

Negotiations with the United States would have no benefit for us, and we do not
need them.

We do not negotiate with anybody on achieving and exploiting nuclear technology.
But if they recognize our nuclear rights, we are ready to negotiate about controls, supervisions and international guarantees.

He said Iran was willing to hold talks on its own terms, warning that the West can misuse the negotiating process and try to bar Tehran from its right to pursue enrichment.

If Iran accepts the incentives package, the United States has offered to join European nations in multilateral talks with Tehran over a framework that will guarantee its nuclear program cannot produce weapons.

Washington's offer to join talks was seen as a major concession since the United States lists Iran as a sponsor of international terrorism and there have been no diplomatic relations between the two countries since 1979, when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage for 444 days.

President Bush has warned Iran that it faces U.N. Security Council action unless it accepts the incentives. It is uncertain what the Iranian people think of Mr. Bush's warning. Their response to his warning might well be "Bring It On!"

Website: myway.com

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In its latest edition, the German magazine Der Spiegel has published an exclusive interview with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The interview was published in its entirety with Mr. Ahmadinejad being allowed to express his views on a topic which would have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence had they been stated by a German citizen -- the official version of the holocaust.

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During the interview Mr. Ahmadinejad questioned the veracity of the official version, saying that if the holocaust happened as claimed and Germans or Europeans were collectively guilty, then Israelis should be repatriated to Europe. And if it didn't happen as claimed, then there was even less justification for the Palestinians to suffer occupation and injustice at their hands.

The Iranian president also challanged German law which stipulates that scientific research into the holocaust is punishable by prison should it result in findings unfavourable to or objectionable by the Jewish lobby.

In addition, Mr. Ahmadinejad said that the young generation of Germans should not be made to feel guilty for whatever their great grandparents might have done and that Germans should stop allowing themselves to be humiliated by the Zionists after having paid reparations for decades.

So far there has been no threat of legal action against Der Spiegel. If this published interview remains unchallenged in the courts then it should now be permissible in Germany to report the views of holocaust revisionists, and as long as the revisionists themselves are not German, no charges would be brought. Germans, hitherto forbidden from discussing these issues, might be able to do so simply by quoting what others have said without adding their own opinion or judgment.

The first cracks in the political and legal edifice to protect the holocaust industry from scrutiny and criticism have started to appear. These cracks are likely to widen over time.

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