'Dramatic' Taliban resurgence detailed

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070614.wafghanreport14/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

ALAN FREEMAN
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
June 14, 2007 at 4:34 AM EDT
OTTAWA — An analysis of the situation in Afghanistan last fall prepared for top levels of the Canadian government warned that the country was becoming "two Afghanistans" with the situation in the fractious South and West continuing to deteriorate and the position of President Hamid Karzai "weakening to a new low."
This grim assessment of Afghan reality was prepared last November by the International Assessment Staff of the Privy Council Office, which effectively acts as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government department.
A series of heavily censored documents prepared by the PCO were obtained by The Globe and Mail after Access to Information requests by information expert Jeff Esau.
The briefing notes, with the author's name, were apparently intended for Gregory Fyffe, executive director of the 60-strong assessment unit, and were prepared after Canadian NATO troops based in Kandahar in the volatile southern region had suffered several bloody months of combat.
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"The Taliban resurgence has been dramatic," stated a document dated Nov. 9, 2006.
It describes how the faltering insurgency was given a huge boost by support from sources in Pakistan, the Gulf states and "Jihadi-minded groups and individuals."
"The unpredicted success that suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had in southern Afghanistan last winter further reinforced the spiralling growth of financial assistance, recruitment, training, equipping and morale improvement" of the Taliban, it said, noting that insurgent spirits were particularly raised with the high-profile shooting down of several helicopters.
The paper was slightly more upbeat when it came to analyzing the threat that the insurgency could spread throughout the country, noting that the Taliban lacked popular support in regions outside the South. But it did consider the consequences if NATO failed in its mission, mulling the possibility that the Taliban could "prevail in the South because of a successful propaganda effort that politically forces NATO out of that area."
Because of expanding poppy cultivation and the growing insurgency, the analysis noted, the deterioration of security had effectively created "two Afghanistans" with the North and West advancing while the South and East remain "fractious and relatively stagnant."
As for Mr. Karzai, the PCO analysis noted that his leadership is "continuously challenged and eroded by the many problems facing Afghanistan and the complex relationships over which he has no control. Consequently, Karzai's support may be weakening to a new low."
It adds that Mr. Karzai faces "questions of legitimacy for his governance team - both in Kabul and out in the provinces."
The blunt analysis of the situation is in stark contrast with other Afghan-related documents released at the same time by the PCO and which consist of upbeat "messages and storylines" about how well things were going in Afghanistan and how there were "signs of progress, unthinkable only a few years ago." These messages are clearly aimed at bolstering shaky public support for the mission.
"By supporting the rebuilding of institutions such as independent courts, police and the army, Canada is on the ground laying the foundation for Afghans to govern themselves and secure a better future," one of the documents said.
In contrast, the more candid PCO assessment notes only "mixed success" in reforming the Afghan justice system and addressing "a culture of immunity among major warlords, criminals, drug lords and political figures." And it calls Afghan security forces "weak and undeveloped."
TWO TAKES
On reconstruction
'We are making significant progress in Afghanistan. Canadian, Afghan and international reconstruction efforts have yielded positive results.'
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, Nov. 10, 2006
'The lack of tangible reconstruction in the South (but not in the North) only served to prove the point that the writ of the ... government in Kabul was weak ... in Pashtun areas.'
International Assessment Staff
report, Nov. 9, 2006
On Afghan institutions
'In the five years since the fall of the Taliban regime, Afghans have taken control of their destiny. They have done so by voting for it in peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections; by establishing institutions to provide services to Afghans ...'
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in op-ed article signed with Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende, Nov. 28, 2006
'The five major elements of Security Sector Reform have had mixed success. Justice Sector Reform has been slow in making a difference that could demonstrate progress in addressing a culture of immunity among major warlords, criminals, drug lords and political figures.'
International Assessment Staff
report, Nov. 9, 2006
On illegal activity
'We will continue to vigorously support Afghan efforts to strengthen the rule of law, tackle corruption and take action against illegal narcotics.'
Mr. Harper and Mr. Balkenende, Nov. 28, 2006
'The expanding opium cultivation crisis is pervasive and increasingly linked to the rebounding insurgency, especially in southern Afghanistan.'
International Assessment Staff
report, Nov. 9, 2006

Crown Prince Reza PAHLAVI Heir to Throne of Iran

Ha'aretzLily GaliliSaturday, June 9th, 2007PRAGUE -- Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran, suggests taking Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threat to annihilate Israel very seriously. However, he suggests refraining from military action against his country.That's not what scares the regime there," he explains. "What scares it are the opponents from within, who should be strengthened. An attack from outside could give this regime carte blanche to do anything, and even lead to a nationalist awakening that would bring into its camp people who do not belong to it now."Pahlavi spoke with Haaretz at a gathering in Prague of dissidents from 17 countries that was sponsored by the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center. For the past 19 years he has lived in Washington, where he married a woman of Iranian descent and fathered three daughters. He operates from the exile he entered at age 19 like a bench player who practices determinedly for the moment when he is called to step back onto the court. Two years ago he even went on a hunger strike to demand the release of political prisoners, even though he cannot escape the fact that during his father's reign there were many political prisoners in Iran."I am not saying there were no mistakes made under the previous regime," he says. "But you have to remember the context of that time. Those were the days of the Cold War, and there was in Iran a sense that the Soviet Union wanted to turn us into its satellite. I can understand why the public went along with the revolution, but I also know that no one wished for the tragic result of today."Iranian exiles, who come from polar opposite groups, have a complicated attitude toward the Shah's son, and their interests truly overlap only in the desire to overthrow the current regime.Asked whether he supports a return of the monarchy, Pahlavi replies diplomatically. "The people will decide," he says. "One of the options is indeed a parliamentary monarchy. That suits the character of our people. In heterogeneous societies, the monarchy is a symbol of unity".Pahlavi says he has been feeling encouraged lately, especially following the recent statements on Iran by France's new president."It is possible that the divide-and-conquer system that sabotages the efforts to eradicate such regimes is now being replaced by greater unity," he says hopefully. "We have in Iran now an inquisition like the one they had in Europe and that was followed by the Renaissance. We are not far from that. Iran needs a further push, additional pressure on the regime by means of sanctions that hurt the system without hurting its citizens.... The Iranians must become convinced that the world is serious enough not to abandon them along the way."Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the Shah's son is accorded a wary respect. He wasn't an original invitee to the conference, which was organized by Natan Sharansky, Vaclav Havel and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and whose high point was an appearance by George Bush en route to the G-8 meeting. With so many conflicting interests among the regimes the human rights crusaders hailed from including Egypt, Sudan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others it was hard to spot the unifying political interest, aside from the participants' subjective feeling that they represent absolute good opposing the absolute evil in the world. At times, the uniting factor was anger at Bush, like that which linked Garry Kasparov, a vehement Putin opponent, and Saad al-Din Ibrahim, a noted freedom fighter from Egypt and longtime opponent of Mubarak's. For years they have felt that Bush betrayed them along the way, based on erroneous considerations, and they got a chance to tell him so during a brief meeting with the U.S. president in Prague.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/868822.html

Training for the Next War?

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General: Iran Aids Karzai, Maybe Taliban

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061101216.html

By JASON STRAZIUSO and JOHN DANISZEWSKIThe Associated PressMonday, June 11, 2007; 3:42 PM
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Iran gives political and material support to President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government, but it also may be aiding the Taliban as a way of hedging its bets in neighboring Afghanistan, NATO's top general here said Monday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill said Taliban fighters are showing signs of better training, using combat techniques comparable to "an advanced Western military" in ambushes of U.S. Special Forces soldiers.
Iran's possible role in aiding insurgents in Iraq has long been hotly debated, and last month some Western and Persian Gulf governments charged that the Islamic government in Tehran is secretly bolstering Taliban fighters.
"In Afghanistan it is clear that the Taliban is receiving support, including arms from ... elements of the Iranian regime," British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in the May 31 edition of the Economist.
Iran, which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, denies the Taliban accusation, calling it part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign. Tehran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.
McNeill, the commander of 36,000 soldiers in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said indications on the ground cut both ways.
There is "ample evidence" Iran is helping Karzai's administration, particularly with road construction and electricity in western Afghanistan, he told the AP.
But, he added: "I have heard officials in the Afghan government say that the Iranian government has provided some support to political opponents of the Karzai administration. I suspect that's probably true. And I don't doubt that somewhere the Iranians may have helped the Taliban.
"So what does that add up to? It makes me think of a major American corporation that will give political campaign money to three or four different candidates for president of the United States. Somebody is going to come out on top. This corporation wants to be aligned with whoever comes out on top."
McNeill, a 60-year-old, four-star general from North Carolina who has fought in most American conflicts since Vietnam, said he had no hard evidence the Iranian government has helped the Taliban. He said munitions, particularly mortar rounds found on Afghan battlefields, "clearly were made in Iran," but said that does not prove the Iranian government is formally involved.
"If I had the information, I would have no reservation about saying it," he said.
In a separate interview Monday, the Iranian ambassador to Afghanistan rejected the accusation that his government aids the Taliban.
"This is not correct," Mohammad R. Bahrami told the AP at his embassy. "The return of extremism in Afghanistan will affect not only Afghanistan and the region, but the entire world."
Bahrami claimed the U.S. and Britain are making the accusation as an excuse to "justify their failures" in Afghanistan, such as the increasing opium poppy production and the resurgence of the Taliban.
Insurgents have stepped up the pace of suicide and roadside bombings from last year, which saw the most violence since the Taliban was toppled in late 2001. More than 2,200 people, many of them insurgents, have died in fighting this year, according to an AP count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan reports.
McNeill said NATO forces under his command pursued a successful offensive this spring against insurgents, but he acknowledged Taliban militants are showing signs of improved training.
For instance, they have advanced on U.S. Special Forces in recent months after staging ambushes in tight terrain between high ground and a river, a complex military maneuver that McNeill termed "surprising."
"We have now seen them shoot and maneuver a couple times in ways we haven't seen before. Where that's coming from I'm not exactly certain," he said. "But they have used some versions of fire and maneuver that makes one think of an advanced Western military."
There also has been speculation Taliban fighters are adopting tactics used by insurgents in Iraq, and McNeill said he wouldn't rule out that they are coordinating their efforts. But he stressed he didn't have any information to state conclusively that is happening.
NATO forces gained a major victory in Afghanistan last month with the killing of Mullah Dadullah, who was deemed the top Taliban commander.
McNeill said Dadullah had attained "iconic" status among some Afghans, but his reputation had begun to wane after the distribution of videos showing his participation in beheadings of enemies and his encouraging a 12-year-old boy inside Pakistan to behead an alleged spy.
While withholding details about how Dadullah was tracked down, McNeill said it was the "ego" of the Taliban commander that led to his death.
"It was my view that any of these Taliban leaders, especially Dadullah, if they ever left their sanctuaries, especially if they came into Afghanistan, that their egos would be their undoing. In Dadullah's case that was a large part of it," McNeill said, alluding to the belief that Dadullah and other insurgents have operated from bases in Pakistan's tribal region.
McNeill said NATO forces have slightly reduced the number of insurgents flowing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, but he gave no details.
"We have stemmed it a tad. Have we stemmed it greatly? I'm not in a position to say that's the case," he said. "Do I continue to be worried about what's coming over the border? The answer is yes."
McNeill painted an optimistic picture of the development of the Afghan National Army, now approaching the fifth anniversary since its first battalions were trained.
The Afghan army has made "tremendous strides" and is taking the lead in a new operation in Ghazni province, he said. Recruitment is up from 600 soldiers a month last year to more than 2,000 a month this year, McNeill said.
"When I see how they are moving and shooting on the battlefield today, I realize how far they have come and how more advanced they are," he said.
"That does not mean game over, time for us to go home. But I think that quite possibly the fighting season next year, maybe some fighting units will be operating independently."
___
Associated Press writer Alisa Tang contributed to this report.

What oridnary people think about Iran and Crown Prince Reza PAHLAVI

This man has got to get himself out into the media more. He would do much service to the Iranian people. The Crown Prince brings up the excellent point that Iran is one of the very few nations in the region that is not an artificial post-colonial creation, but that it is one of the most ancient of nations (indeed, as you know it is really an empire), with its own unique culture and language, with a population that strongly identify with it. He also is certainly right that it is Iran which could become the model of democracy in the region. It's people are Indo-European, highly educated, worldly. As you and I have said in the past, Iran could become one of the world powers. Perhaps this is what the other powers really fear: A revitalized Iran, with economic and military clout.

Iran Envoy's Meeting With IAEA Canceled

By GEORGE JAHNThe Associated PressMonday, June 11, 2007; 9:45 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061100461.html

VIENNA, Austria -- A meeting between a senior Iranian envoy and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency was abruptly canceled Monday and diplomats blamed Iran's refusal to make good on a promise to provide answers about past atomic activities.
The meeting, between Javeed Vaidi of Iran and IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei, had been billed as a test of Iran's readiness to end years of stonewalling and provide answers on aspects of its nuclear program that could be used to develop weapons.

Gregory Schulte, left, head of the U.S. delegation to the IAEA talks to Director General of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei prior to the start of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board meeting, on Monday, June 11, 2007, at Vienna's International Center. (AP Photo/Hans Punz) (Hans Punz - AP)
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But the talks were canceled on short notice because of perceptions that Vaidi would bring "nothing substantial" to that meeting and another with deputy IAEA director general Olli Heinonen, a diplomat told The Associated Press.
Along with Iran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment and restrictions on IAEA inspectors, the country's stonewalling was also the focus of ElBaradei, in opening comments to a meeting of the agency's 35-nation board of governors.
The agency is unable "to make any progress in its efforts to resolve outstanding issues relevant to the nature and scope of Iran's nuclear program," ElBaradei told delegates, describing the development as a "key proliferation concern."
Vaidi did talk with EU negotiator Robert Cooper on a recent Iranian pledge to clear up past nuclear questions in talks at Austria's foreign ministry. Both men warned against expecting "miracles," saying the purpose of their talks were to set up a future meeting between their superiors _ Ali Larijani of Iran and the EU's Javier Solana.
Still, the cancellation of subsequent meetings with ElBaradei and Heinonen dashed hopes that the Iran was prepared for a breakthrough compromise on one of the issues that led to its referral last year to the U.N. Security Council.
It was also likely to give support to Iran critics at the board meeting, with the United States and its allies using that gathering as a platform to pressure the country on enrichment and other issues.
Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the gathering, set the tone for countries pushing Iran.
"Iran's leaders (are) continuing to develop capabilities to enrich uranium and produce plutonium" in violation of the Security Council, Schulte told reporters. "These capabilities are not necessary to benefit peaceful nuclear technology but are necessary to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons."
With disagreements within the Security Council over what kind of new sanctions should be imposed and how quickly, diplomats said the United States was looking to play up new evidence of Iranian nuclear defiance at the IAEA board meeting. The diplomats, who were all involved in international attempts to persuade Iran to give up enrichment, demanded anonymity because their information was confidential

Lieberman Backs Limited U.S. Attacks on Iran

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/washington/10cnd-policy.html?hp

WASHINGTON, June 10 — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent who strongly supports the war in Iraq, said today that unless Iran stops training Iraqis to carry out anti-coalition attacks, the United States should launch cross-border attacks into Iran.
“I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” Mr. Lieberman said in an interview on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.”
This could be achieved mostly with air attacks, Mr. Lieberman said, adding, “I’m not talking about a massive ground invasion of Iran.”
The comment from Mr. Lieberman of Connecticut, who is sometimes a swing vote in the closely divided Senate, went far beyond the official position in the Bush administration, which has warned Iran about supporting Iraqi insurgents but also recently held high-level talks with Iranian officials. There was no immediate White House reaction.
The administration has criticized Tehran for failing to stop the flow of highly destructive explosives into Iraq, and training Iraqis in their use, but American officials concede that they are unable to prove that senior Iranian officials are behind the smuggling.
Mr. Lieberman said he supported the high-level talks with Iran, but added that there was “incontrovertible” evidence that Iranians were training Iraqis to use the explosives, which are blamed for killing as many as 200 Americans.
"They can’t believe that they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill Americans," he said. "We cannot let them get away with it.”
The senator also said he doubted that the White House decision not to renominate Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff presaged any strategy shift for Iraq.
White House spokesmen have pointed to a caution from Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, that a Pace reconfirmation hearing would have provided a platform for a bruising re-examination of mistakes made in Iraq.
The president “would have loved to renominate Pete Pace,” the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, said on CBS. “That was his intent.” But he said there was a desire to avoid “getting mired in a backward-looking debate.”
Mr. Snow denied, in an appearance on Fox, that the White House was effectively giving the Democratic Congress a preemptive veto over its nominations.
But some Democrats suggested that, congressional opposition aside, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates wanted his own man in the job — not the last high-ranking holdover from the Pentagon regime of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
“To suggest that tough sledding on Capitol Hill is a reason to pull the plug on Peter Pace, I don’t think that’s a good argument,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. He said he probably would have voted to confirm General Pace.
In the past, the Bush administration has not shied away from such battles — and Mr. Snow said today that the White House would pay no mind Monday if a Senate no-confidence vote in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales prevailed. Mr. Snow called it “a purely symbolic vote.”
Mr. Durbin expressed surprise at that reaction. “This is a White House that is prepared to fight for Attorney General Gonzales,” who has faced intense bipartisan criticism for his handling of the firings of several United States attorneys, “but not fight for Marine Corps General Peter Pace?”

Fourth Iranian-American detained in Iran

Those individuals assisted the IRI to sustian its birtality in Iran. Now, those entities are becoming victim of their own vicious master.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070611.WORLDBRIEFS11-2/TPStory/TPInternational/Africa/

AP
June 11, 2007
Tehran -- - Iran confirmed yesterday that it has detained a fourth Iranian-American - this one a peace activist from California.
Iranian-American Ali Shakeri is being held, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said.
Mr. Shakeri, a founding board member of the University of California, Irvine, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, is the fourth dual citizen detained in Iran in recent months.

Shah's Son Talks about Democracy and Iran

June 8, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Reza Pahlavi, the oldest son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was in Prague this week to participate in a high-profile Security & Democracy Conference that brought together national leaders, influential policy observers, and dissidents and former dissidents. Pahlavi, who has lived in the United States for more than two decades, spoke with Radio Farda's Mosaddegh Katouzian about the dynamics of democracy and his native Iran.
RFE/RL: Some political analysts and historians, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union, have said and written that the 21st century is the century in which democracy will triumph world over and is the time for the end of despotic and authoritarian regimes. But in the last year or two, many have shown doubts about whether intervention or outside pressure to establish democracy would bear fruit in all countries to the same extent. What do you think about this issue, considering the recent experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Reza Pahlavi: Let me remind everyone that Iran is one of the few countries -- if I dare say, the unique country -- in the region that in the span of...a century has witnessed two political revolutions. That's testimony to the fact that Iranians can -- and have, when their will is up to it -- change their systems. There's also a background to this. Iran is not a newly created nation. It's a nation that has existed for centuries. There's a clear sense of national identity; there has been a polity, [and] some degree of civil society, even though tremendously repressed today, but certainly existent and with some degree of previous experience in the past. At the turn of the century, when we had the constitutional revolution, often foreign parliamentarians would refer to Iran as a model of democracy in the early 20th century. That being said, I find it very odd that we could not repeat that a century later, particularly after having experienced a theocracy. In other words, I believe that my fellow compatriots are clearly at the end of that tunnel; and with the collective experiences, especially of the past century, they're certainly well poised and well placed to negotiate a democratic alternative. The question, therefore, is not whether or not they could be ready or capable of it. The only obstacle is the current regime, which needs to be replaced with a secular democracy, with a constitution that is based on the universal declaration of human rights.
RFE/RL: We can extend this issue by looking into a current debate regarding the desirability and viability of "regime change" in countries with undemocratic regimes. Supporters of an Iranian "regime change" are not few. Setting aside the accepted cliche, which says that "a nation's fate should be determined by that nation's people," do you think implementing regime change in Iran or any other country is viable and acceptable? Do you think a new regime established through foreign intervention and pressure would face a legitimation crisis, or do you believe the new world order has created new realities also in this regard?
Pahlavi: I suppose that if you were to ask this question of nations that once were behind the so-called Iron Curtain at the time of the Soviet Empire -- whether or not their current governments that came to power as a result of foreign assistance, but was done at their hands, whether or not they're legitimate -- I think the answer is clear. If it was based on the will and desire of those nations, whether or not it was helped from the outside is not the relevant point. The relevant point is whether it is what they desire. Because if people disagree with the outcome, no system can claim legitimacy if it goes against the will of the people. The issue is whether or not the people want it, not whether or not it was helped from outside or not. However, clearly I think that the best way that the free world can help is not to necessarily do the job for them, but do it through them. In other words, empower those people, empower those nations, help them in every way so they can achieve that goal. And endorse their desire for freedom. In that, I don't see any incompatibility or lack of legitimacy.
RFE/RL: Would this also translate into the viability of a military option?
Pahlavi: This is precisely why I have always opposed any kind of intervention of a military kind. Because I think there is a third way, which is much less costly and certainly more legitimate, and that is to invest in the people of Iran themselves. I've always stated that the world has as its best ally in place the people of Iran, who for years have been asking for freedom but who keep saying to the world for 28 years: "You've pretty much ignored us, you've only talked to our oppressors, you always try to negotiate or cut a deal with our oppressors. You've never bothered to talk to us directly. Isn't it time to engage with us? Isn't it time to invest in us? We'll do the fight. We'll go save ourselves and free ourselves, but we need your support in two ways: Help us and also put every pressure that you can on this regime. Let's force it to retreat and ultimately collapse." This is the least costly and most legitimate way of doing this, as opposed to exploring other avenues and options that are far more controversial and certainly less desirable.
RFE/RL: You are in a country that has coined the phrase "velvet revolution." Would the recent sensitivity of Iran's Islamic republic [that] its information ministry and its judiciary shows to this concept have an effect on the strategy of nonviolent peaceful resistance and civil disobedience -- the discourse you as an opposition leader have suggested?
Pahlavi: Again, let me emphasize why I believe it's important to have the basis of nonviolence and civil disobedience as the main strategy for our fight. Because you're hitting at the regime's vulnerability point. What will ultimately do this regime away is strong and very broad solidarity of the Iranian people, represented via different sectors of society and in their struggle to resist against this regime via demonstrations, labor strikes, and what have you. Workers, women, students, academics, writers, ethnic groups, and what have you can all play their part. But it's not only that. In my projection, one has to think of the future in maximizing the degree of people who can transition to the next system. There are many people who are "stuck in this system," who are working in different entities; they're not responsible. They would like to have some kind of survivability after this regime. I'm thinking of many elements of the military or paramilitary forces. What will become of them if the regime were to change? Do they have a place in the future? Of course they should. Should we not have a strategy based on the experience we saw successfully in South Africa of some kind of a reconciliation or amnesty project? Put an end to this cycle of violence by forever banning political executions. Should we not lay the grounds to end the cycle of violence and ask for reconciliation? This has to also be part of our strategy. And that lends itself much better in scenarios of nonviolence as opposed to any other scenarios that I know of.
RFE/RL: At Prague's Security & Democracy Conference, you reportedly expressed your view on the challenges of introducing Western-style democracy in countries in which religion and society, Islam and politics, are deeply intertwined. Could you expand on your analysis of Iran as far as this issue is concerned?
Pahlavi: You know, when I think of the very tenets of Shi'ism, I have been taught in the past that one of the principle foundations of Shi'ism is based on the fact that divine government on earth can only be possible until the time that the 12th imam would reappear -- and until then it is not the realm or the duty of the clerics to govern. What this regime is claiming goes against the very grain and the very principles of Shi'ism. As such, it is very clear that the majority of the clerics who have objected to this have been either eliminated or have been incarcerated or under house arrest and basically [are] being antagonized. The desire for separation of religion from government is not just an obvious prerequisite for democracy -- and it has been proven around the globe -- but it is even the desire of our traditional clergy, because they know that this is not only part of what they themselves believe in. But as a result of such a clerical regime, the biggest damage has been done to religion itself and to the interests of the clerical establishment. So not only will it serve the best purpose for the sake of democracy in our homeland, but I think it also represents the best interest of the clerical establishment itself. And therefore, again, I think we can have a solution for that in the future, which doesn't go against either of these interests.

Iraqi Kurds report Turkish, Iranian shelling

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-06-08-turkey-iran-kurds_N.htm

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Turkish and Iranian forces shelled Kurdish rebel positions across the border in northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurd officials reported Friday, amid fears that the conflict could open a new front in Iraq.
Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq, and its leaders are debating whether to stage a major incursion to pursue separatist rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq to attack Turkish targets. Such an operation could ignite a wider conflict involving Iraqi Kurds, and disrupt Turkey's ties with its NATO ally, the United States.
Iran has also clashed with Iranian Kurd fighters who have bases in remote, mountainous areas of northern Iraq.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, the party of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, reported the Turkish and Iranian shelling on its website. Turkish military authorities at the General Staff in Ankara were not immediately available for comment.
VIDEO: U.S. general doubts Iraqi government's abilities
Iranian officials in Tehran could not immediately be reached for comment late Friday. Iranian media contained no reports on any shelling, and usually wait several days to report such incidents.
The PU.K. said artillery shells overnight hit some areas in the Sidikan area in Irbil province, where the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq converge, and that nine villages were affected. It was unclear whether there was any degree of coordination among Turkish and Iranian gunners.
"Huge damage was inflicted on the area," the PU.K. said, citing what it described as an unidentified "source" in the area. "The source said that residents have left their houses, fearing for their lives."
Lt. Ahmed Karim of the Iraqi border guards force told The Associated Press that seven Turkish shells landed on a forest near Sakta village in the Batous area, but no casualties were reported.
A senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the party of the region's leader Massoud Barzani, confirmed there had been Turkish shelling of Iraqi territory, but declined to give details.
"The situation is unclear and we do not have details about the shelling," said the official, Sarbest Yazkin.
Turkey's military command on Friday declared its "unshakable determination" to defeat Kurdish rebels, and a fourth soldier died of injuries from a bomb in a new Turkish security zone north of the Iraq border.
The roadside bombing Thursday night, blamed on Kurdish separatists, came the day after Turkish security officials and an Iraqi Kurdish official said Turkish soldiers had crossed into Iraq in pursuit of rebels based there. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul denied such a raid took place.
VIOLENCE: Gunmen kill 14 at police chief's home; bombs kill 30
Turkish forces have sometimes conducted so-called hot pursuits of Kurdish rebels just across the border, but rarely announce such operations. Turkey has restricted access to large swathes of border territory where its force buildup is occurring. A major incursion would have greater political ramifications than a so-called hot pursuit, and Turkish leaders say it would require parliamentary approval.
The Turkish officials who spoke to The Associated Press about Wednesday's raid did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. One of them said the 600 commandos who took part in the hot pursuit returned to Turkey by the end of the day.
An Iraqi Kurd official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Turkish soldiers had crossed the border on Wednesday in pursuit of guerrillas hours after the military said rebels had fired from across the frontier near the Turkish border town of Cukurca.
Some Iraqi government officials also denied the report of the raid, and U.S. officials said they could not confirm it.
Turkish leaders say the guerrillas cross into Turkey to stage attacks in their recently escalated fight to win autonomy for southeastern Turkey, where ethnic Kurds make up much of the population.
In a statement on its website, the military's general staff vowed to fight the rebels and called on all Turks to stand together "to resist in the face of these terrorist actions."
"The Turkish Armed Forces have an unshakable determination in fighting terrorism and it is a solid truth that it will give the necessary answer to such attacks," it said.
U.S. officials have argued against a major Turkish incursion into northern Iraq, one of the few spots of relative stability in the country. Some think Turkey may hope its military buildup will push the United States and Iraqi Kurds to crack down on the separatists and head off a Turkish offensive.
The military on Wednesday announced new "temporary security zones" along the Iraq border. It said the zones would be in place until Sept. 9, but gave no other information.
Turkish media said the areas would be closed to civilian plane flights, and that additional security measures would be implemented in the zones and entry would be restricted.
Newspapers said the areas are in Sirnak, Siirt and Hakkari provinces. Sirnak and Hakkari are next to the border, while Siirt is north of the frontier.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Police, FBI Plan To Examine Iran Links in JFK Plot

http://www.nysun.com/article/55920

June 05, 2007

New York Sun Eli

Lake As New York police and the FBI interview suspects in an alleged plot to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport, one thread the ongoing investigation will explore is why one of the suspects was planning to go to Iran. A former Guyanese legislator, Abdul Kadir, was arrested in Trinidad on Friday on a plane bound for Caracas, Venezuela. According to Mr. Kadir's wife, Isha Kadir, he was in the island nation to pick up an Iranian visa so he could attend an Islamic conference in Tehran. Two of Mr. Kadir's children are studying in Iran, according to Mrs. Kadir. Trinidad's counterterrorism police are also investigating whether one of Mr. Kadir's alleged co-conspirators, a 56-year old Shiite imam in Trinidad named Kareem Ibrahim, had ties to Shiite organizations in southern Iraq and Iran through an Islamic discussion group he hosted, according to the Trinidad Express. In interviews in the Guyanese press, Mrs. Kadir said her husband's Iran connection was likely the reason the FBI was requesting his extradition. "We are shocked, we are not part of these things," she was quoted by Kaieteur News in Guyana. "To begin with, we are not Al Qaeda ... we are Shia. My husband is a decent, devoted, intelligent Muslim. Both of us have relatives in the United States. It would be nonsensical for him to plot something like this." An FBI spokesman in New York would not comment on the fact that Mr. Kadir was on his way to Iran when he was arrested, noting only that the investigation into the plot against New York's largest airport was ongoing. However, a law enforcement official who requested anonymity said the Iran connection was a lead the investigators would be following. If Iran's hand is found behind the JFK airport plot, it would raise an alarm about the Islamic Republic's recent alliances with America's hemispheric enemies. Since the 2005 ascendance of President Ahmadinejad in Iran, the Iranian regime has strengthened ties with such leaders as President Castro of Cuba, President Chavez of Venezuela, and even President Reagan's one-time foe, President Ortega of Nicaragua. Mr. Chavez, for example, has signed a series of cooperation agreements with Iran and allowed Iranian television producers to consult on Venezuela's plan to offer a Spanish-language satellite television station. The Venezuelans have also allowed the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which receives funds and guidance from Tehran, to operate openly in their country. A former FBI officer who until 2003 was in charge of the counterterrorism unit that monitored Iran and Hezbollah, Kenneth Piernick, said yesterday that he would not be surprised if the plotters had a connection to the Iranian regime. "The fact of the matter is that the Iranians are a bunch of sneaky bastards. They are going to take care of anyone who hurts us. I am not at all surprised that they might have been trying to provide him cover to get out of the region," he said in a telephone interview. While the New York police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, stressed Saturday that as far as he knew, the plot was not connected to Al Qaeda, the indictment says the plotters sought assistance from the Guyanese Islamist group known as Jaamat al Muslimeen, or the Muslim Group. In 1990, 100 members of Jaamat al Muslimeen attempted a coup in Guyana that resulted in widespread riots. The leader of the group is expected to face trial this month in Guyana's capital, Georgetown. According to an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C., Chris Zambelis, Jaamat al Muslimeen has never focused on international operations and was restricted primarily to organized crime. The organization also preaches a strict Sunni doctrine, wile Mr. Kadir is a Shiite, a branch of Islam that fundamentalist Sunnis regard as heretic. Mr. Piernick said it was not wise to make too much of the differences between the Muslim branches when it came to Iran's role in supporting anti-American terror. "Shia Hezbollah has trained Sunnis in military operations without concern for their sect in Islam. What is of concern is that they are able to engage in terrorist acts," he said. "Al Qaeda has found sanctuary in Iran. Is this guy in a payroll? I don't know. Are they willing to help him out, a fellow Muslim against the ‘Great Satan'? Yes, I think they would."

Three Finns held in Iran released

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/06/iran.finns/index.html?eref=rss_world

(CNN) -- Three Finnish men, detained over the weekend by Tehran for allegedly straying into Irainian waters during a fishing trip in the Persian Gulf, have been released, a Finland foreign ministry official says.
The three men were released unharmed and have contacted their families, according to Pasi Tuominen, deputy director of Finland's Foreign Ministry.
They are expected to return Thursday morning to the United Arab Emirates, where they work for Nokia Siemens in Dubai, Tuominen said.
The men were fishing Saturday near Abu Musa -- an island under disputed ownership by both Iran and the United Arab Emirates -- when they were seized by Iranian authorities, Finnish News Agency STT reported They were traveling without a guide.
"They (the men) have contacted us and said they will return to Dubai shortly," Nokia Siemens spokesman Barry French told the Associated Press.
"We certainly appreciate the support of the government of Finland in reaching out to the Iranian counterparts." He gave no other details.
The arrests came less than three months after Iranian forces seized a group of 15 British sailors and marines who were on an anti-smuggling patrol near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, on the border between Iraq and Iran.
Iran released the service members unharmed after holding them captive for almost two weeks.
CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.

Crown Prince Reza PAHLAVI and Czech Republic Conference

Democracy & Security ConferencePrague, Czech Republic

Ladies and Gentlemen:I have come to Prague to ask for your solidarity with the people of Iran against a common enemy: Islamist preachers of intolerance who turn young men and women into walking bombs, shouting death to America, death to Israel, death to whosoever resists their murderous ideology.To the realpolitik cynics who say Islamist theocracy is a reality we have to live with, I respond: funny – they never said they can live with YOU! To those who say the theocrats can reform if we are nice to them, I say you do not know the difference between Islamist revolution and secular ones. Those who believe they speak with the absolute authority of Allah demand absolute submission. As the Islamist regime of Iran develops nuclear weapons, to neutralize Western conventional superiority, to have a free hand to use low-intensity violence in support of exporting Islamist revolution, remember this: good strategy is not fighting the enemy’s strengths, at the nuclear negotiations table where they hold the cards, or on the streets of neighboring countries where they find sympathy. Good strategy aims at their weakness: Inside Iran, where the people know the theocrats' wretched reality, rather than neighbors who only hear their divine promise. Islamist theocrats' incompetence in delivering a minimal level of welfare and freedom is driving Iran's women, youth, teachers, workers, ethnic groups and many others to resist Hizbullahi stormtroopers in Iranian cities everyday. All those courageous Iranians want is to join the Free World. The Free World must respond. Four years of diplomatic jostling, of economic carrots and sticks, have proven the insensitivity of theocrats to external pressures. What has not been tried is tying external pressures to human rights in Iran, to boosting the morale of Iranians in their everyday resistance, to encouraging internal pressures that Islamists can feel.From Iran's different faiths, ethnic groups and social sectors, from the left to the right of the political spectrum, from my brave countrymen and women struggling for human dignity and freedom, this is the message I carry to you: As you face our oppressors, do not turn your back to us. We are your best friends in the struggle against a common enemy, the enemy of peace on earth.

Iranian people are saying no to bombing Iran

Dear Mr. Harris,

I had the opportunity to read your article in the Ottawa Citizen and had a few comments that I felt I should share with you.

I certainly agree with almost everything you said regarding the brutality of the Islamic Regime and its danger towards the Iranian People as well as the global community as a whole. However I strongly oppose a military attack even on the nuclear sites for a number of reasons. As you may very well know most of these nuclear sites are underground and in heavily populated areas and a military attack would only cause the death of many civilians, with no guarantee that these facilities may have been destroyed.

Second In your article you only spoke about the negative effect a military action in Iran would have on the West (ie the suicide bombings) but you failed to mention the effect it would have on the Iranian people. After the 8 year war with Iraq our countrys infrastructure was destroyed and we lost close to 1 million people, I strongly believe I speak for most Iranians when I say we do not need another war.

Further I have no doubt that the IRI would welcome a military attack since it would only serve to increase its popularity and at the same time create hatred towards the west, which is exactly what they want. Right now there is a very strong pro-democratic movement going on in Iran (although we do not hear about it much in the west) and that is the only viable solution to the dangers of the Islamic Regime.

I was dissapointed to see you did not mention anything regarding the strong anti regime movement inside Iran and focused only on a military invasion, which in the long term will not only have terrible consequences for Iranians but for the West as well.

As someone who is directly in touch with student and human rights activists in Iran I can assure you that Iranian people want change, and they are risking their very lives trying to achieve it. They need the support of Western Governments in order to accomplish this hard task, not a military invasion.

I find it troubling that Canada allows for many high ranked IRI officials to come to Canada and invest millions of dollars, and then they talk about a military attack on Iran. Why not atleast try helping the democratic movement in Iran first, by stopping to support the IRI officials, and if that does not work, then move towards a more drastic option?

Those are just a few thoughts I had which I wanted to share.

All the best


Dear Mr. David HARRIS:

I read your article for making “The case for bombing Iran ”. I found no valid evidence in your argument to drop bombs in Iran in order to destroy nuclear facilities in Iran . As a matter of fact, this pre-emptive action against the Islamic Republic of Iran {IRI} would become beneficial for the Mullahs in Iran and detrimental for the West.

All nuclear facilities, in Iran, are built under grounds, and located in highly populated areas; such as; city of Esfehon, and this city has 2500 years of history with outstanding historical artifacts, and countless historical sceneries. For example, in 17 century Safavid Kings ruled Iran Zamin from city of Esfehon , and this Monarchy Dynasty contributed to Iran Zamin’s Arts. Thus, a pre-emptive military strike would claim innocent people’s life, plus environmental degradation would be part of it, and Iran and Iranian people would lose their love one, plus they would lose their ancestors’ heirlooms. Consequently, there is no absolute assurance that pre-emptive or air strike would be fruitful.
In case of under ground explosion, soil would become radioactive, and farmers would not be able to continue their work. Moreover, next Iranian generation will be born deform. Thus, the West is given reason for Iranian people to support the IRI to built nuclear facilities in Iran because now the nuclear facilities are taboo, and when it is taboo, there is an urge to have nuclear facilities.
Pre-emptive military strike against Iran is absolutely wrong because according to recent historical fact, on summer of 2006, Israel attacked at Lebanon to save Israeli soldiers from hands of Hezbollah. Consequently, Hezbollah became a national hero in the region, and Shiite and Sunni sects amalgamated for their common cause.
Once, West launches pre-emptive military strike against Iran, and after dust settles, the clerics in Iran will rely on the sixth pillar of Islam which is Jihad and will unite Iranian people to wage holy war against the West because, in this case, the West was an aggressor against Iran, and Iran was the victim of the West’s colonization, and is not allowing Iran to flourish technologically. The theology state in Iran is spreading propaganda that “peaceful” nuclear technology is Iran’s legal right, and no one can stop Iran from reaching to its final goal. According to Khameine it is written with red line to have nuclear facilities.
The theology state in Iran has countless mouthpieces in influential places and most of the mouthpieces are working at universities; such as, Dr. Shirin EBADI, who is working at McGill University and is working for cause of the theology state in Iran . How the West is planning to stop the mouthpieces of the IRI as they are roaming from one lecture to another lecture and showing heartbreaking pictures that how bombs have killed innocent babies? Thus, the threat is not just the suicide entity in the West, the threat begins when the West allowed the mouthpieces to enter in the West and the West begins to enter in the Trojan Horse Era by making backroom deals with the IRI. At the same time, the West allowed killers come to their soils. Thus, the West is doom by its own miscalculation.
The West is playing on two grounds, from one hand is trying to make sweet financial gains, at the same time; it is trying to hold on the IRI in the region so the neighboring nations of the IRI to purchase deadly arsenal from the West. Perhaps, now the West has realized that the IRI is very close to fulfill its fanatic vision of destroying the West, and it is about time to do something about it.

Pragmatic solution:
There is no need to launch military strike against the theology state in Iran . The IRI does not have consent of Iranian people to govern them, and Iranian people are defying the theology state in Iran whenever they can. It is now time for the West to assist Iranian people by peaceful means to topple this illegitimate theology state in Iran . For example, the West renders tools to the Iranian outside of Iran to isolate the IRI in the West. For example, there are elements of the IRI in the West, and such a person is Hossien Derakhshan who is residing in TO ON, who is holding conference at University of Toronto for the mouthpieces of the IRI. Toss him out of Canada , what is holding Canada back from ensuring safety of Canadians? It is time to be firm.
Last week, several killers of the IRI were given permission to come to Canada and to give speech at University of Waterloo on matter of Islam and Christianity. Prior of their arrival to Canada , I asked PMO not to allow any of them to come to Canada . However, Canada ignored my adviced. The IRI entity came to Canada and Iranian-Canadian engaged in peaceful demonstration and did not allow the IRI entity to continue their speech. When Canada is allowing such activities to take place, Canada is sending a message to everyone that it means it is OK for the IRI to violate human rights in Iran . Thus, the West needs to send a clear message to the IRI that it is not OK to violate human rights in Iran . And no major media outlets cover the above event. It was big news because Toronto Police Service and Fire Fighters were involved too.
All in all, Iran’s history shows that Iran had many up and down during course of history, and this theology state in Iran will be eradicate sometimes in close future, it is imperative that this theology state to be remove with intention of building Iran because at the end of the day once there is an absent of theology state in Iran, how the West is planning to work with Iranian people? Because the West is going to work with Iranian people; such as, economical trade or environmental issues and so on…
There is no short-cut to this Pandora box, only deep thinking which will result to progressive result and outcome would be beneficial for everyone.
I wish best for everyone.

Thank you,




The case for bombing Iran

The U.S. and its allies face terrible consequences from a military attack on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nuclear facilities, but the alternative is worse

David Harris
Ottawa Citizen Special
Monday, June 04, 2007
CREDIT: The Associated Press
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's apocalyptic fixations make the country's nuclear capacity, including Bushehr nuclear power plant, a risk to the existence of Canada and the entire world.
When the United States strikes Iran -- as it will -- the result will be a disaster, but a disaster that cannot be avoided.
Today, Iran's radical Islamist military, security and intelligence machine reflects the extremism of its history and entrenched masters. It has made Iran an engine of global instability and menace. For Iran today is on the verge of grasping the nuclear club, even as it remains an ungovernable influence in the international community.
Iran's extremist and uncontrollable nature has been well defined through action.
Start with reports of early post-revolutionary Iran. Massacres of Baha'is and other minorities. Razor-blade removal of lipsticked lips. Thumbtacks affixing veils to reluctant women. Adolescent gays hanged from construction cranes. Human waves of nine-year-olds attacking Iraqi forces.
The performance abroad has been as shocking.
For years, Iranian dissidents around the world have been hunted down and butchered by joint teams from Iran's foreign intelligence service and the country's other virulent creation, Hezbollah. By the late 1990s, German prosecutors stated that the highest Iranian officials authorized assassinations abroad through a "Committee for Special Affairs."
The Germans went on to prove that the Islamic Republic murdered people in its notorious "Mykonos" operation in Berlin. South American investigators fix the mullahs with responsibility for a mass-casualty bombing in Argentina. And, of course, writer Salman Rushdie lives under the multimillion-dollar bounty offered by a quasi-governmental Iranian foundation.
Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, Iran's religious supremacists call for the destruction of Jews, Christians, Israel, the United States, the West. No surprise, considering founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's helpful elaboration of the "11 things which are impure" -- everything from "urine, excrement," "the sweat of the excrement-eating camel," to "dogs, pigs, (and) non-Muslim men and women."
So hatreds like anti-Semitism blend comfortably with the regime's racist threats to capture "a nice bunch of blue-eyed blond-haired officers" and "feed them to our fighting cocks." And this, before the recent detention of British naval service personnel.
Unfortunately, such virulence is nothing compared to the frightening nuclear implications of this regime's delusional and apocalyptic fixations. Mr. Ahmadinejad is convinced a green halo hovered above his head while he addressed the United Nations -- and that his words paralysed all delegates for the duration of his speech. He assures anyone who will listen that he is Allah's handyman.
In this spirit, Mr. Ahmadinejad writes letters to the Twelfth Imam, who is said to have inhabited a well for the past few centuries. The president believes he can bring back the long-lost imam -- the Mahdi -- by precipitating the apocalypse, something his doctrine tells him will trigger a Second Coming, and paradise. Mojtaba Samare Hashemi, Mr. Ahmadinejad's eminence grise and suitably fanatic former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps intelligence agent, helps his boss place fellow Mahdi-cultists in security, defence and other powerful positions.
All of this means that an Iranian bomb would be under control of nuclear triggermen who regards atomic annihilation as an incentive, rather than a deterrent. In short order, Canada and the rest of the world would face the mullahs' diktat.
The alternative? Nuclear catastrophe through either Shahab missiles, or warheads smuggled into our countries by sympathetic terrorists. This is why the United States and its allies have no choice but to act militarily against Iranian nuclear facilities.
But the price will be steep and long lasting.
After the attack, Iran's Hezbollah agents, its foreign-intelligence sleepers -- known in Farsi as "submarines" -- and suicide-corps infiltrators will likely go into action throughout the West. President Ahmadinejad has told us as much. The suicide corps alone is so aggressive that a commander of Iran's regular armed forces has complained about its uncontrollable nature -- if not about its ultimate aims and purpose.
With or without a nuclear warhead, the atomic program's longstanding nature means Iranians must hold vast stocks of radiological material. This is the feedstock of dirty bombs whose contamination can bar use of target zones for generations. As the clock ticks down to the inevitable airstrikes, all countries must have civil defence plans ready to do what they can against the radiological threat -- and chemical and biological ones, too.
Political leadership, security intelligence and our armed forces must be aggressive in preparing our defence. Pressure must be put on Germany, Russia and other of Iran's commercial, technological and military suppliers to embargo the atomic ayatollahs. Russia's shameless exports of anti-defence missiles to the mullahs, and similar behaviour by China, must draw economic penalties.
At a time when Iran is installing sleeper agents and combatants abroad, only those Iranians demonstrably fleeing the regime can be allowed to enter Canada.
Above all, citizens of the west must be realistic. Retribution inflicted upon us by Mr. Ahmadinejad and other Islamic extremists -- including disruptive oil prices -- must not cause us to buy enemy propagandists' continuing attempts to divide us from the United States and other allies. We must steadfastly recognize that the cost of attacks on Iran is the price we must pay to forestall the advent of a new form of slavery -- and many millions of nuclear dead, besides.
David Harris is a lawyer, senior fellow for national security at the Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) and former Canadian Security Intelligence Service chief of strategic planning. He is counsel to the CCD, which is intervening in the Air India Inquiry.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.


For additional information, please contact:

David Harris
Senior Fellow for National Security, Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD)
Legal Counsel for CCD as intervenor at Iacobucci Commission of Inquiry
Legal Counsel for CCD as intervenor at Air India Inquiry
613-233-1220

It is important what ordinary people think about world and not what technocrat want to see about world. Today, world is going no where because of technocrat who is trying to give political direction and deciding on matters bease on their own narrow vision of what world should be, and has lost touch with reality.

VERY GOOD!

At one time this country had the wisdom and the good spirits to realize our need of a friendly power in SW & Central Asia. A strong Iran, once again allied to the US, would act as a check and a balance not only to Russian expansionism, but also to an unstable Pakistan, the Arab states and --the nation who I truly believe is going to become the biggest threat to Western civilization in the future-- China. The US needs to do some catch up reading on the history and politics of this region. We are bogged down over there and still we haven't a clue! An independent Baluchi state will further destabilize Pakistan. I can even see a war breaking out between Iran and Pakistan over something like this. As for Russia itself, America needs to remember that the Russians haven't changed a bit. They OFFICIALLY might have allowed their former Central Asian republics to declare independence; however, those counties are still well within the Russian sphere of influence, and it has been an old Russian ambition to have easy access to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Look at how much territory Russia has already chopped off of Iran over the centuries: Azerbaijan, Georgia (once a Persian tributary), Armenia (for centuries under Persian cultural influence and an ancient flashpoint between the Sassanian and Roman empires), parts of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that were once Persian. Does the US truly believe that any tiny republics formed out of northern Iran will be ignored by Russia? The problem with my country is that it is proudly ignorant of geography, history and geopolitics. We stumbled along blindly in Southeast Asia, and we continue to play the fool in the Middle East/Southwest Asia.Once again, I like this piece. You should also submit it to http://www.townhall.com/ (a huge Right Wing/Republican website), http://www.michaelmedved.com/ (he is one of the few conservative Republican mouthpieces who is sympathetic to the Iranian situation).

Dear Mr. Timmerman, Kenneth:

Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran {IRI} is an actual mastermind for creating unsafe and insecure world, and this matter of global safety and security cannot be ignored by any rational person and needs to be resolve, as soon as, possible in order to create a safe and secure environment for everyone. So, everyone can live in happy state of mind, and not to fear for their safety and security.

There are some think tanks in United State of America and in United Kingdom that they think by dividing Iran among different ethnic groups; it is plausible to diffuse the IRI threat completely and permanently. However, they are absolutely wrong about their philosophy of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups, there is a fact of reality that dividing Iran among different ethnic groups in Iran would not be beneficial for interest of US and UK, as a matter of fact, this policy of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups would be detrimental for the US and UK international and internal politics because Communist Russia is still alive, and wants to dominate the world with its communist ideology. Perhaps at this time, it appears that Russia is not interested to spread its fanatic ideas globally. However, recently Russia flexed its military muscles that still alive and still it has mighty military power and preparing itself to launch military strike against other nations outside of its Asian continent. Moreover, there is need to use extreme caution because Russia is supplying the clerics in Iran with nuclear arsenal so one day the theology state in Iran will use the nuclear arsenal against the West. Plus, Communist China is providing all kinds of support to the theology state in Iran in order to develop nuclear facility with intention of proliferating nuclear bombs and China is assisting the IRI to avoid United Nations sanctions. As a result, the US and UK have not win the cold war so far, and this idea of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups means, the US and UK will have to fight with different ethnic groups in their own soils because they are sleeper cells in the US and UK, as well as, the US and UK must confront enemies at their soils. Today, the US and UK cannot win the war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, how the US and UK are planning in case of eventuality to wage war against several terrorist and or rouge states? It is absolutely impossible.

All in all, it is a best policy and only policy to unit all Iranian people for one common just cause which is removal of the theology state in Iran which will lead to peace and prosperity for everyone. In case, there are think tanks that they think of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups without any doubt it will lead to total destruction of the US and UK because Russia and China will provide all kinds of mean to these fanatic groups to wage holy war against the US and UK. Consequently, the US and UK did not resolve matter of global peace, as a matter of fact, the US and UK contributed to its own destruction by their own miscalculation, and making poor policy for their own good.

What is so significant here that during Constitutional Revolution, in early 1900s, Morgan Shuster and Howard Baskerville plus other American citizens came to Iran to built Iran, and today there is need for same kind of mind frame in order to deal with the theology state in Iran.

The case for bombing Iran

Dear Mr. David HARRIS:

I read your article for making “The case for bombing Iran”. I found no valid evidence in your argument to drop bombs in Iran in order to destroy nuclear facilities in Iran. As a matter of fact, this pre-emptive action against the Islamic Republic of Iran {IRI} would become beneficial for the Mullahs in Iran and detrimental for the West.

All nuclear facilities, in Iran, are built under grounds, and located in highly populated areas; such as; city of Esfehon, and this city has 2500 years of history with outstanding historical artifacts, and countless historical sceneries. For example, in 17 century Safavid Kings ruled Iran Zamin from city of Esfehon, and this Monarchy Dynasty contributed to Iran Zamin’s Arts. Thus, a pre-emptive military strike would claim innocent people’s life, plus environmental degradation would be part of it, and Iran and Iranian people would lose their love one, plus they would lose their ancestors’ heirlooms. Consequently, there is no absolute assurance that pre-emptive or air strike would be fruitful.
In case of under ground explosion, soil would become radioactive, and farmers would not be able to continue their work. Moreover, next Iranian generation will be born deform. Thus, the West is given reason for Iranian people to support the IRI to built nuclear facilities in Iran because now the nuclear facilities are taboo, and when it is taboo, there is an urge to have nuclear facilities.
Pre-emptive military strike against Iran is absolutely wrong because according to recent historical fact, on summer of 2006, Israel attacked at Lebanon to save Israeli soldiers from hands of Hezbollah. Consequently, Hezbollah became a national hero in the region, and Shiite and Sunni sects amalgamated for their common cause.
Once, West launches pre-emptive military strike against Iran, and after dust settles, the clerics in Iran will rely on the sixth pillar of Islam which is Jihad and will unite Iranian people to wage holy war against the West because, in this case, the West was an aggressor against Iran, and Iran was the victim of the West’s colonization, and is not allowing Iran to flourish technologically. The theology state in Iran is spreading propaganda that “peaceful” nuclear technology is Iran’s legal right, and no one can stop Iran from reaching to its final goal. According to Khameine it is written with red line to have nuclear facilities.
The theology state in Iran has countless mouthpieces in influential places and most of the mouthpieces are working at universities; such as, Dr. Shirin EBADI, who is working at McGill University and is working for cause of the theology state in Iran. How the West is planning to stop the mouthpieces of the IRI as they are roaming from one lecture to another lecture and showing heartbreaking pictures that how bombs have killed innocent babies? Thus, the threat is not just the suicide entity in the West, the threat begins when the West allowed the mouthpieces to enter in the West and the West begins to enter in the Trojan Horse Era by making backroom deals with the IRI. At the same time, the West allowed killers come to their soils. Thus, the West is doom by its own miscalculation.
The West is playing on two grounds, from one hand is trying to make sweet financial gains, at the same time; it is trying to hold on the IRI in the region so the neighboring nations of the IRI to purchase deadly arsenal from the West. Perhaps, now the West has realized that the IRI is very close to fulfill its fanatic vision of destroying the West, and it is about time to do something about it.

Pragmatic solution:
There is no need to launch military strike against the theology state in Iran. The IRI does not have consent of Iranian people to govern them, and Iranian people are defying the theology state in Iran whenever they can. It is now time for the West to assist Iranian people by peaceful means to topple this illegitimate theology state in Iran. For example, the West renders tools to the Iranian outside of Iran to isolate the IRI in the West. For example, there are elements of the IRI in the West, and such a person is Hossien Derakhshan who is residing in TO ON, who is holding conference at University of Toronto for the mouthpieces of the IRI. Toss him out of Canada, what is holding Canada back from ensuring safety of Canadians? It is time to be firm.
Last week, several killers of the IRI were given permission to come to Canada and to give speech at University of Waterloo on matter of Islam and Christianity. Prior of their arrival to Canada, I asked PMO not to allow any of them to come to Canada. However, Canada ignored my adviced. The IRI entity came to Canada and Iranian-Canadian engaged in peaceful demonstration and did not allow the IRI entity to continue their speech. When Canada is allowing such activities to take place, Canada is sending a message to everyone that it means it is OK for the IRI to violate human rights in Iran. Thus, the West needs to send a clear message to the IRI that it is not OK to violate human rights in Iran. And no major media outlets cover the above event. It was big news because Toronto Police Service and Fire Fighters were involved too.
All in all, Iran’s history shows that Iran had many up and down during course of history, and this theology state in Iran will be eradicate sometimes in close future, it is imperative that this theology state to be remove with intention of building Iran because at the end of the day once there is an absent of theology state in Iran, how the West is planning to work with Iranian people? Because the West is going to work with Iranian people; such as, economical trade or environmental issues and so on…
There is no short-cut to this Pandora box, only deep thinking which will result to progressive result and outcome would be beneficial for everyone.

Above is response to below paper.

The U.S. and its allies face terrible consequences from a military attack on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nuclear facilities, but the alternative is worse

David Harris
Ottawa Citizen Special
Monday, June 04, 2007
CREDIT: The Associated Press
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's apocalyptic fixations make the country's nuclear capacity, including Bushehr nuclear power plant, a risk to the existence of Canada and the entire world.
When the United States strikes Iran -- as it will -- the result will be a disaster, but a disaster that cannot be avoided.
Today, Iran's radical Islamist military, security and intelligence machine reflects the extremism of its history and entrenched masters. It has made Iran an engine of global instability and menace. For Iran today is on the verge of grasping the nuclear club, even as it remains an ungovernable influence in the international community.
Iran's extremist and uncontrollable nature has been well defined through action.
Start with reports of early post-revolutionary Iran. Massacres of Baha'is and other minorities. Razor-blade removal of lipsticked lips. Thumbtacks affixing veils to reluctant women. Adolescent gays hanged from construction cranes. Human waves of nine-year-olds attacking Iraqi forces.
The performance abroad has been as shocking.
For years, Iranian dissidents around the world have been hunted down and butchered by joint teams from Iran's foreign intelligence service and the country's other virulent creation, Hezbollah. By the late 1990s, German prosecutors stated that the highest Iranian officials authorized assassinations abroad through a "Committee for Special Affairs."
The Germans went on to prove that the Islamic Republic murdered people in its notorious "Mykonos" operation in Berlin. South American investigators fix the mullahs with responsibility for a mass-casualty bombing in Argentina. And, of course, writer Salman Rushdie lives under the multimillion-dollar bounty offered by a quasi-governmental Iranian foundation.
Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, Iran's religious supremacists call for the destruction of Jews, Christians, Israel, the United States, the West. No surprise, considering founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's helpful elaboration of the "11 things which are impure" -- everything from "urine, excrement," "the sweat of the excrement-eating camel," to "dogs, pigs, (and) non-Muslim men and women."
So hatreds like anti-Semitism blend comfortably with the regime's racist threats to capture "a nice bunch of blue-eyed blond-haired officers" and "feed them to our fighting cocks." And this, before the recent detention of British naval service personnel.
Unfortunately, such virulence is nothing compared to the frightening nuclear implications of this regime's delusional and apocalyptic fixations. Mr. Ahmadinejad is convinced a green halo hovered above his head while he addressed the United Nations -- and that his words paralysed all delegates for the duration of his speech. He assures anyone who will listen that he is Allah's handyman.
In this spirit, Mr. Ahmadinejad writes letters to the Twelfth Imam, who is said to have inhabited a well for the past few centuries. The president believes he can bring back the long-lost imam -- the Mahdi -- by precipitating the apocalypse, something his doctrine tells him will trigger a Second Coming, and paradise. Mojtaba Samare Hashemi, Mr. Ahmadinejad's eminence grise and suitably fanatic former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps intelligence agent, helps his boss place fellow Mahdi-cultists in security, defence and other powerful positions.
All of this means that an Iranian bomb would be under control of nuclear triggermen who regards atomic annihilation as an incentive, rather than a deterrent. In short order, Canada and the rest of the world would face the mullahs' diktat.
The alternative? Nuclear catastrophe through either Shahab missiles, or warheads smuggled into our countries by sympathetic terrorists. This is why the United States and its allies have no choice but to act militarily against Iranian nuclear facilities.
But the price will be steep and long lasting.
After the attack, Iran's Hezbollah agents, its foreign-intelligence sleepers -- known in Farsi as "submarines" -- and suicide-corps infiltrators will likely go into action throughout the West. President Ahmadinejad has told us as much. The suicide corps alone is so aggressive that a commander of Iran's regular armed forces has complained about its uncontrollable nature -- if not about its ultimate aims and purpose.
With or without a nuclear warhead, the atomic program's longstanding nature means Iranians must hold vast stocks of radiological material. This is the feedstock of dirty bombs whose contamination can bar use of target zones for generations. As the clock ticks down to the inevitable airstrikes, all countries must have civil defence plans ready to do what they can against the radiological threat -- and chemical and biological ones, too.
Political leadership, security intelligence and our armed forces must be aggressive in preparing our defence. Pressure must be put on Germany, Russia and other of Iran's commercial, technological and military suppliers to embargo the atomic ayatollahs. Russia's shameless exports of anti-defence missiles to the mullahs, and similar behaviour by China, must draw economic penalties.
At a time when Iran is installing sleeper agents and combatants abroad, only those Iranians demonstrably fleeing the regime can be allowed to enter Canada.
Above all, citizens of the west must be realistic. Retribution inflicted upon us by Mr. Ahmadinejad and other Islamic extremists -- including disruptive oil prices -- must not cause us to buy enemy propagandists' continuing attempts to divide us from the United States and other allies. We must steadfastly recognize that the cost of attacks on Iran is the price we must pay to forestall the advent of a new form of slavery -- and many millions of nuclear dead, besides.
David Harris is a lawyer, senior fellow for national security at the Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) and former Canadian Security Intelligence Service chief of strategic planning. He is counsel to the CCD, which is intervening in the Air India Inquiry.
? The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Copyright ? 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.


For additional information, please contact:

David Harris
Senior Fellow for National Security, Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD)
Legal Counsel for CCD as intervenor at Iacobucci Commission of Inquiry
Legal Counsel for CCD as intervenor at Air India Inquiry
613-233-1220

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A Rational Path Out of the Iranian Crisis

Le FigaroReza PahlaviWednesday, May 30th, 2007These past four years have witnessed IAEA reports and UN Security Council resolutions, one after another, come and go with little result other than the net worsening of the Iranian nuclear crisis. The only gain from this "dialogue of the deaf" – between two differing operating systems: one democratic, the other theocratic – has in fact been the latter’s progression and intensification of its suspect uranium enrichment activities.Why such overtly defiant position towards the international community? Simply because, so long as the international community follows the wrong road map, the clerical dictatorship of Iran will legitimately find itself protected from the fatal blow: one that would hold it accountable for its neglect and systematic violations of Human Rights, bringing it face to face with its worst enemy, the people of Iran.In a regional context, a growing crisis is threatening to spread its roots: from the Palestinian territories to the mountain ranges of Afghanistan, and throughout Lebanon and Iraq, radical and insurrection flash points multiply; Hezbollah replenishes its ammunition stockpile; sophisticated weaponries continuously flows through Tehran and Damascus; sabre rattling is amplified by the expansion of the US fleet in the Persian Gulf; and all the while jihadist metastases, as if by enchantment, surface one after the other.In this free for all, different players blindly pursue their own narrow interests, often overlooking their ideals and fundamental values: some, the eulogists of the so-called “Oriental complexities,” preach an endless dialogue with the repetitive offenders of Tehran; others seem nervously ready to draw swords! Meanwhile, the clerical regime’s uranium continues to get enriched without producing a single kilowatt of electricity; Iranians get poorer and the region sinks deeper into crisis.Is all lost in such a sterile dichotomy?In this dialectic of wills, beginning as far back as 1979 with the coming to power of political Islam and its Marxist allies, and reiterated since with the 1980 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis, the 1982 creation of the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah, the 1989 fatwa against British author Salman Rushdi, and the initiation of the nuclear standoff in 2003, should the rational throw the towel in its battle against the irrational? Is hope vain?Certainly not!All this while, there has been an unexplored path. Beyond the very real issues of terrorism and nuclear proliferation, never has the clerical regime of Iran been held accountable, in any real and measurable way, for its systematic violations of human rights!In fact, our very real and present danger is that brought about by Failed States. Fuelled by a pathological propensity of grandeur, as fallacious as it is dangerous, the theocratic regime ruling Iran is the quintessential symbol of Failed States. Those seeking proof only need to have a cursory review of the regime’s calamitous mismanagement of nearly all its affairs, this in spite of more than 700 billion in oil revenues. Nothing, in its entire thirty-year balance sheet suggests it to be a reliable and trustworthy partner. For such a failed State, Man is but a tool, Rights just mere favours, dialogue really a foxhole, and war a providential gift. To counter such a state, the sole effective and legitimate weapon happens to be the will and power of the people.Being a culturally complex society, the Iranian nation’s contemporary memory is rich with historical milestones; beginning with the 1906 Constitutionalist Movement; the Nationalization of Iran’s oil in the early 1950s; the1960s obscurantist insurrection against modernization and reforms; the Marxist-Islamic surge which led to the cataclysmic advent of clerical rule in 1979; and finally the resounding failure of a theocratic reform movement at the turn of our current century. Demographically speaking, however, our nation today has given birth to an entirely new generation that has come to light, emerging as an immunized counter force and an antidote to the ills ravaging our homeland. Not a single day goes by without the vanguard of ethnic, civil and urban movements defiantly expressing their thirst and desires for liberty and a better life. It is to them that the future of Iran belongs. They have continuously reached out to the free world. It is their call that the world must heed. In this dialectic of wills, Europe plays a critical role. From its bosom, France illuminates our world with her longstanding spirit and wisdom. Conscious of this invaluable role in resolving this crisis, the Iranian democratic opposition increasingly places Europe, and France in particular, at the heart the equation. It is from here, which was once headquarters to a certain Khomeini, that we can and must mobilize the energies for the liberation of all political prisoners, journalists and academics held against their will in Iran. From here, we can and must legitimately call for the solidarity of international Labour Unions with Iranian workers. From here, we can sensitize and call upon women of Europe to support their Iranian counterpart in their fight to recover their dignity and natural rights. From here, we must call upon the international judicial establishments to spearhead a shift from immunity to accountability especially over the numerous political murders and assassinations that have bloodied European capitals.As proclaimed by President Sarkozy, upholding Human Rights is «France’s diplomatic priority throughout the world ». History will corroborate this stance, for it has been demonstrated that, from the collapse of apartheid to that of the former communist bloc, no oppressed nation has been able to assert its sovereignty without tacit assistance offered by the international community.Therefore, I call upon France’s political will: for peace, for stability, and in the interest of all, let us engage in this third path, the least costly and the most promising of all options, in order to resolve the Iranian crisis, the keystone of the regional crisis; together let us carry, by keeping them alive, these universal values we so deeply cherish.

Nice Iranian Dance

Iran is a true Multicultural country. Please click on below weblink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSMA7eWZN74

Dividing Iran

Dear Mr. Timmerman, Kenneth:

Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran {IRI} is an actual mastermind for creating unsafe and insecure world, and this matter of global safety and security cannot be ignored by any rational person and needs to be resolve, as soon as, possible in order to create a safe and secure environment for everyone. So, everyone can live in happy state of mind, and not to fear for their safety and security.

There are some think tanks in United State of America and in United Kingdom that they think by dividing Iran among different ethnic groups; it is plausible to diffuse the IRI threat completely and permanently. However, they are absolutely wrong about their philosophy of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups, there is a fact of reality that dividing Iran among different ethnic groups in Iran would not be beneficial for interest of US and UK, as a matter of fact, this policy of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups would be detrimental for the US and UK international and internal politics because Communist Russia is still alive, and wants to dominate the world with its communist ideology. Perhaps at this time, it appears that Russia is not interested to spread its fanatic ideas globally. However, recently Russia flexed its military muscles that still alive and still it has mighty military power and preparing itself to launch military strike against other nations outside of its Asian continent. Moreover, there is need to use extreme caution because Russia is supplying the clerics in Iran with nuclear arsenal so one day the theology state in Iran will use the nuclear arsenal against the West. Plus, Communist China is providing all kinds of support to the theology state in Iran in order to develop nuclear facility with intention of proliferating nuclear bombs and China is assisting the IRI to avoid United Nations sanctions. As a result, the US and UK have not win the cold war so far, and this idea of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups means, the US and UK will have to fight with different ethnic groups in their own soils because they are sleeper cells in the US and UK, as well as, the US and UK must confront enemies at their soils. Today, the US and UK cannot win the war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, how the US and UK are planning in case of eventuality to wage war against several terrorist and or rouge states? It is absolutely impossible.

All in all, it is a best policy and only policy to unit all Iranian people for one common just cause which is removal of the theology state in Iran which will lead to peace and prosperity for everyone. In case, there are think tanks that they think of dividing Iran among different ethnic groups without any doubt it will lead to total destruction of the US and UK because Russia and China will provide all kinds of mean to these fanatic groups to wage holy war against the US and UK. Consequently, the US and UK did not resolve matter of global peace, as a matter of fact, the US and UK contributed to its own destruction by their own miscalculation, and making poor policy for their own good.

What is so significant here that during Constitutional Revolution, in early 1900s, Morgan Shuster and Howard Baskerville plus other American citizens came to Iran to built Iran, and today there is need for same kind of mind frame in order to deal with the theology state in Iran.

Who is Dr. Shirin EBADI?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/30/opinion/edebadi.php

On Wednesday May 30th, 2007 Dr. EBADI and Dr. Muhammad SAHIMI published an article in International Herald Tribute with title of “The Follies of Bush’s Iran Policy”.

In this paper, Dr. EBADI blames diabolic plan of the IRI on President George BUSH because President’s office decided to promote democracy in Iran. Dr. EBADI was expecting US not to do anything against the IRI which is contemplating to destroy world civilization! Interestingly, Dr. EBADI was praising Reform Movement in Iran and as a way of closing Pandora box. However, Dr. EBADI contradicts herself in her book “Iran Awakening” 2006, Dr. EBADI stated in her book that the IRI could not contain young generation in Iran and invented Reform Movement in Iran, and when student defended their rights during summer of 1999, former reformist selected president Khatami called students as an outlaw. Eventually, student movement was crushed in Iran. However, spirit of student movement remained high and mighty.

When former reformist president Khatami was leaving presidential office, and during farewell party, he went to University of Tehran, and students gathered in an assembly room, and were asking Khatami what did happen to promises that he made during election time? Khatami in front of camera said that he came to office to prolong the theology state in Iran, and had no plan to alter political dynamic of the theology state in Iran.

Dr. EBADI praised RAFSANJANI as a real force in Iran that RAFSANJANI could bring positive changes globally. According to current situation, RAFSANJANI has been on wanted list by Argentine authority due his criminal involvement of 1994 explosion in Argentine. How is it possible to be a cold blooded murderer like RAFSANJANI to become a nice guy at the same time? It just does not add up.

All in all, DR. EBADI is residing in Canada, and teaching at McGill University in Province of Québec has no credibility. In her book she is trying to sell her books, she is exposing beastly nature of the IRI, and pretending to be champion of Human Rights in Iran. Now, she is trying to prolong the IRI. Hence, the longevity of the IRI is kind of profitable business for her, and has nothing to do with humanity, Iran and Iranian people.