HISTORY SORT OF REPEATING ITSELF IN IRAN 3/29/07

The Brit hostages are eating. At least that is what the photo of Faye Turney and a couple of her fellow seamen shows. Pity that the British government stands accused of bad behavior, thus compounding the matter. Alireza Afshar, Iranian military commander, is refusing to release Faye Turney who is the alleged author of a letter declaring her gratitude for good treatment. Tony Blair took the case to the United Nations but was only able to get agreement from the Security Council on a press statement. Pity that. Now Britain is faced with the prospect of having to pen a strongly worded presidential statement to be read into the minutes. Kudos to Tony Blair for deciding that there will be no pro quid pro.

I was accused several decades ago of irrationality when my response to the seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was something along the lines of "bomb the 6u3kers." Guess what. I am back to that same irrationality. Furthermore, any liberal American fans of Iranian President Ahmadineshad and the "niceness" he portrayed in his internet blog might do us all a favor by offering to take the place of one of the Brits being held hostage.

radical sapphoq

IRAN PROGRESSES IN A NUCLEAR FASHION 2/12/07

A European Union document states that Iran continues her progress in nuclear research. It's too late to stop. Whether or not the European Union or the rest of the world wants a nuclear-capable Iran, a nuclear-capable Iran is indeed in the offing. Although motivations and estimates vary, Iran shall have her piece of the nuclear pie.

Iran has centrifuges at the ready to produce uranium-enriched power although not quite on the large scale yet. Last year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refused all negotiations. Now, he may be ready for some talking. In a recent election, his buddies lost to more moderate and less hard-line candidates. Sanctions from the United Nations Security Council are already in place and the European Union plans to follow suit with sanctions of its own. The United States has a financial embargo ongoing against Iran, although some European countries are wont to join in that particular endeavor.

Last weekend, Javier Solanger and John-Walter Steinmeier met with Iran's Ali Larijani. Solanger represents the European Union's foreign policy concerns. Steinmeier is Germany's Foreign Minister. Larijani is Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary. But all of that may be for naught since Iran's President Ahmadinejah will not agree to suspend uranium-enrichment activities as a prerequisite to negotiations. The United Nations back on December 23 once again imposed a meaningless two month deadline for Iran to return to the deadlocked talks.

Iran does not want to be sanctioned. Mohammad-Ali Hosseini speaking on behalf of Iran's Foreign Ministry stated that Iranian officials are prepared to help Iranians offset any negative effects of any trade embargos if implemented on February 21rd. Hosseini also stated that the rights of Iran must be upheld as Iran has not violated any international laws in researching uranium enrichment.

Larijani wrote a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency's President Mohamad El-Barade resolving to fix all conflicts over this matter within three weeks. Iran will cooperate with the I.A.E.A. and act within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran and some other countries don't like the idea that Israel has nuclear weaponry but that has not been addressed. Meanwhile, the Iranian centrifuges are being fed processed uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas as you read.

Verdict: One Big Mess which will not go away easily.

radical sapphoq

NUKES AND MORE 1/13/07

Once again two of my unfavorite dictator-types are in the news. Ahmadinejad of Iran and Chavez of Venezuela had a nice tete a tete today concerning the Iranian Nuclear Programme and the selling of oil. Both countries play important roles in OPEC. It appears that the two men [both of whom some of my more liberal buddies continue to assure me are "good guys"] are intent upon signing agreements formalizing their co-operation on various industrial projects and stuff like that. The two countries will be jointly investing in factories producing iron, steel, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, health care equipment, and munitions. The men both hate the United States, and are seeking to strengthen economic ties in light of a possible U.N. embargo.

Ahmadinejad also intends to attend the swearing-in of Rafael Correa as Ecuador's new prez, meet with Bolivia's Evo Morales and with Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega. President Bush, who opposes the nuclear capability developing in Iran, is uneasy about having Venezuela join in the quest for nukes.

Conde Rice, on her own excursion, is trying to persuade Israel and forces loyal to Palestine's weakened Abbas Fatah movement to unite against Hamas. To this end, President Bush wants Congress to grant "training" money. Unfortunately, the Hamas is very popular in Palestine and the people there are very much against creating any sort of temporary state. Hamas and Palestine want a permanent state to be created rather than going through any intermediate steps which may serve to embroil the Palestinian Authority in further legal battles.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is demanding that the United States share any terrorist intelligence while neighboring Bangladesh is shutting down elections and arresting 2552 people. John Negroponte testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Pakistan is the center of the Al-Queda network and that the mountainous tribal regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan must be brought under control. Negroponte's testimony pissed off the Pakistani government. President Bush is lobbying to give Pakistan a bit more than one million dollars in U.S. aid in October of 2007-- which is still a bit less than what Pakistan is used to getting. A large contingent of Islamic anti-American demonstrators protested continued American military presence anywhere in the Middle East.

Robert Gates has called for an increase of 27K Marine and 65K Army troops, in light of the drain currently being placed upon our current armed forces. It will take time to enlist and to train the new recruits-- about five years and 10 billion bucks a year. National guard reserve units can also be recalled or have their tour of duty involuntarily extended.

All of these events point to escalating conflicts and wars rather than a hoped-for peace. It may very well be that a draft will become a national necessity. Additionally, we the people of the United States need to look at how to decrease our dependency upon oil and manufactured goods from other countries who hate us.

radical sapphoq

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Satellite?cid=1167467723728&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=38862

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6258243.stm

http://www.judeoscope.ca/breve.php3?id_breve=3056

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2007/01/13/AR2007011300834.html

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/170734

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/01/13/2003344572

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,9294,2-10-1462_2054196,00.html

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=5228

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/2007112/99857.htm

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/4465262.html

IRAN AND NUKES CONTINUED 12/23/06

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, rejected the U.N. Security Council's demands that Iran cease her uranium enrichment program and the threat of economic sanctions which were just voted in today. He said that the U.N. Security Council is "deteriorating in power." It was reiterated that Iran's nuclear program is related to the provision of energy rather than to the manufacturing of bombs. The sanctions fall short of any threat of military action. Russia and mainland China also agreed to uphold them even though they have economic interests in Iran.

Iran has repeatedly refused to back down on this issue, as expected.

radical sapphoq says: We need to prepare ourselves for a world where Iran does have nuclear capacity. We are fools if we believe what the Iranian government is telling us.

WHERE ARE THE IRANIAN STUDENT-TERRORISTS NOW? 10/5/06

My friend Jeremy Crow over at:
http://blog.jeremycrow4life.com/2006/11/lets-talk-about-history-baby-volume-5.html
blogged about the 27th anniversary of the American Embassy in downtown Tehran and the notable lack of American media coverage covering it yesterday. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students-turned-terrorists busted through the locked gates of the American Embassy, seizing hostages and holding them until January 20, 1981. The Israeli press mentioned that Iranian students, war veterans, and children celebrated yesterday, as they have every November 4th
by burning the American flag in front of the old embassy building [this year, they also burned the Israeli flag], protesting and marching in the streets, and chanting such enlightened slogans
as, "Death to America!"

This year's "celebration" arrives on the heels of 10 days of war games and Iran nuclear missile testing in defiance of a United Nations order not to. The United Nations is currently talking about the disobedient Iranians. In light of possible sanctions and/or military actions against Iran, last week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to President Bush via the Swiss Embassy offering an alternative solution to the conflict regarding Iran's nuclear energy program. The sending of the letter is remarkable considering that the United States has broken off all diplomatic ties with Iran since the take-over of the American Embassy in downtown Tehran by a gang of militant Iranian students who were members of the OSU. The OSU [Office of Strengthening Unity] was in favor of a strict Islamic regime as embodied by the spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini and was responsible for the purging of dissident students and profs [read: arrested and/or put to death].

Star Reporter Mark Bowden visited Tehran several times throughout 2004 in order to track down the six, seven, or eight student leaders who were involved in the planning of the storming of the American Embassy on November 4, 1979. He found that all of them were involved in politics and/or journalism, although several of them had switched allegiances to less radical Iranian political parties.

One of them-- Abbas Abdi-- had in fact spent time at the infamous Evin prison where some of the hostages had been held by their student-terrorists for the crimes of criticising the Iranian regime and daring to publish results of a poll that purported to show that 76% of folks in the poll wanted to renew talks with the United States. Abdi had also gone to France in hopes of talking with one of the captives about the events of November 4, 1979 through January 20, 1980. That plan fell apart when he refused to apologize for the hostile takeover of the US Embassy.

Muhammad Hashemi had just retired from the Iranian counterpart to the CIA-- the Ministry of Intelligence and Security. He had hopes of promoting a tourist vacation retreat on the Caspian Sea, even speculating that the hostages would want to return to vacation there a quarter of a century later. That business venture fell through and December of 2004 found him and his spouse [an Iranian student who had lived in Philadelphia, brought in as translator, and referred to as 'screaming Mary' by several of the hostages] living with her mother.

Hussein Sheikh al-Islam was appointed to be Iran's Syrian diplomat and was living in Damascus.

Ibrahim Asghar Zada [or Asgharzadai] is a leader in the Islamic Solidarity Reform Party and the owner of Hambastegi, a conservative Iranian newspaper. His newspaper is thriving today and offers translations in French and English on the web. He was banned from seeking political office in Iran.

Said Hajarian was employed by the Office of Security and Intelligence and may have had an attempt made upon his life.

Hoseyn Shariatmadari was running an Iranian offficial newspaper called the Kayhand.

Ma'ssouma Ibtikar was a parliamentary deputy during the Khatami regime [the president preceeding Ahmadinejad and recognized as being more moderate than Ahmadinejad]. He served as vice-president under Khatami. In 2003, he was quoted as saying that the student protests that occur regularly in Iran are proof that Iran is a democracy.

Seyyed Mohammad Reza Khatami is one of former President Khatami's younger brothers. He had managed a newspaper called Mosharekat until it was banned. He has a wife and two children.

Mohsen Mirdamadi led a protest by some of the Iranian Parliament when all reformed candidates were disallowed from running in the 2005 election. Mirdamadi was among those with thwarted political ambitions. He was attacked in 2004 the night before he was supposed to meet with journalist Mark Bowden, receiving head and chest wounds.

Habibullah Bitaraf became Iran's Minsiter of Energy.

Some of the former hostages specifically remember current Iranian President Ahmadinejad as having a role in their captivity. He was thought to be student-leader-terrorist head of security and chief interrogator. Others of the hostages do not remember him. The OSU students-- and some hastily-trained volunteers-- were also each assigned responsibility of a particular group of captives. The hostages were split into groups and were moved around Iran in a series of private homes as well as stays at Evin and at the Embassy itself. It is highly probable that those with no memory of a younger Ahmadinejad didn't encounter him.

Three of the former student-leader-terrorists also have denied President Ahmadinejad direct involvement with the takeover of the American Embassy. This is also not surprizing considering that during interviews with Mark Bowden, anyone expressing regret at his role in the crisis did so quietly and with hesitation at expression of any criticism of the Iranian's current regime's anti-USA position. An Associated Press picture showing a possible younger version of Ahmadinejad holding a captive by the arm in 1978 was distributed in June of 2005 shortly after he came to power. His own website shows pictures of himself during that period looking quite different. I saw the pictures and read his cirriculum vitae and I believe it is the same man.

President Ahmadinejad had joined the OSU in 1979 as a student. He later was employed as an interrogator at Evin, had a hand in planning the assassination of many people via the elite Guard which he headed up, and considers the United States to be the Oppressor of Islamic nations. He denies the historical accounts of the Holocaust. He wants the nation of Israel to be nuked away or at the very least "re-located" to somewheres in Europe.

President Jimmy Carter failed the hostages and the American people by his inability or unwillingness to take action to end the crisis. The one military attempt to free the hostages resulted in the deaths of eight servicemen when two planes collided over the Iranian desert during a hasty retreat. Fragments of the jets are shown today to Iranian schoolkids who visit the former American Embassy now a museum.

If you have read this far, you really ought to head over to the Carter Memorial Library on-line at: http://jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/r_ode/ where at the bottom of the Robert Ode page, you will see three links to his journal that he was allowed to keep during his ordeal as one of the American hostages.

radical sapphoq

Other sources I used were:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2005/iran-050701-rferl01.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iran/2005/iran-050701-irna01.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200512/december-1979
http://www.groveatlantic.com/grove/bin/wc.dll?groveproc~genauth~1479~4110~DESC
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411u/int2004-11-09
http://www.thememoryhole.org/espionage_den/
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IBP/is_4_45/ai_75332515
http://www.netnative.com/news/02/sep/1079.html
http://www.hambastegi.org/english/index.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-05-iran-us_x.htm?csp=34
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200510/iran-president-ahmadinejad
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/667/re11.htm
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/717/re81.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6116358.stm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1439070/posts