Iran - Impact in the Middle East

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No thanks to the MEK bait. I had my fill after Chalabi of listening to people tell us that they were the man, that they knew what was going on, that they would be in charge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi

He successfully fooled all the neocons. Too bad for us. It started to get really obvious. No wonder we got screwed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/opinion/bay-of-goats.html?pagewanted=1

One diplomat from the region grimly cited an old Punjabi saying: ''It's very bad when grandma marries a crook, but it is even worse when she divorces the crook.''
 
Actually, Chalabi didn't REALLY fool all the neocons. They just had an agenda to fulfill. Chalabi......fit into what their world view was. After a while, it just became ridiculous.

Foreign policy by wishful thinking just gets a little weird sometimes, especially when people want to be fooled.
 
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2801.htm

Another proscribed foreign terrorist organization. Heaven forbid! Marxists! They also assisted SH in the 1991 crackdown on Shi'ites. I certainly hope we're not supporting some Marxist takeover? Oh yeah, I take it seriously when a group kills our people. Really seriously.

Description: Formed in the 1960s by the college-educated children of Iranian merchants, the MEK sought to counter what it perceived as excessive Western influence in the Shah's regime. Following a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam, has developed into the largest and most active armed Iranian dissident group. Its history is studded with anti-Western activity, and, most recently, attacks on the interests of the clerical regime in Iran and abroad.

Activities: Worldwide campaign against the Iranian Government stresses propaganda and occasionally uses terrorist violence. During the 1970s the MEK staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several US military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. Supported the takeover in 1979 of the US Embassy in Tehran. In April 1992 conducted attacks on Iranian embassies in 13 different countries, demonstrating the group's ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. Recent attacks in Iran include three explosions in Tehran in June 1998 that killed three persons and the assassination of Asadollah Lajevardi, the former director of the Evin Prison. Strength: Several thousand fighters based in Iraq with an extensive overseas support structure. Most of the fighters are organized in the MEK's National Liberation Army (NLA).
 
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Two items of note today.


1. Neda Soltan is named Times of London Person of the Year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6967927.ece

Neda_663960a.jpg

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and

2. this video, from the Green StudentsVoice4Iran, mostly of the events of the past year in review inside Iran


​
 
James48843 said:
Two items of note today.


1. Neda Soltan is named Times of London Person of the Year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6967927.ece

Neda_663960a.jpg



and

2. this video, from the Green StudentsVoice4Iran, mostly of the events of the past year in review inside Iran

​
Click to expand...
Just a matter of time before the Evil Iranian Government will be overthrown...even the police are starting to side with the Green movement...They are looking to the US to see if we support them..I do..I believe we have a strong Ali in the making with a NEW IRAN
 
The Mullahs will still be in charge in Iran, whatever comes next. Iran has over 95% literacy for both men and women...this was done AFTER the revolution. These guys aren't a bunch of yahoos. They're educated, and they've always controlled the agenda after the Shah was kicked out. Finally, they have some really tough guys working for them. Think of the Catholic church in the 16th century.....but with a lot more guile.

Most of the Iranians won't forget that the Shah was just a US puppet.
 
I read the article. Yes, they're punishing students for activism. That's plain to see. However, we're really not much different in our approach. The students are provided a free government education, as long as they toe the political line.

We're not so very different. Not in my experience. Our only difference is.....we have the opportunity to change it every 2 years, or 4 years for the executive.

coolhand said:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126222013953111071.html?mod=article-outset-box
Click to expand...
 
Heh, we aren't so different? I don't think so! We don't have a quasi-religious government, a special military government (Revolutionary Guard), and a President with a power base that is trying, and possibly can, make him President for Life.

Hyperbole does not a fact make. There may be three branches of the US Government but they are not the same as the ones in Iran.
 
I don't believe that President Ahmadinejad is as powerful an entity inside Iran as you think. He's not pulling the strings, the Mullahs are, particularly the Guardian Council.

Whether he becomes President for life or not is largely irrelevant, because he's irrelevant.

Yeah, there was probably some issues with the last election. We can just have Katherine Harris go certify it. Then there'll be no questions.

About our own institutions:

The executive branch holds most of the power in the US. Congress basically have emasculated themselves over the years. See Gulf of Tonkin and Iraq War. Our SC has changed from activism to simple jurisprudence since about 15 years ago.

Congress has the right to "ask questions". They only fail to ask the right questions.
 
I don't think so, ask about the Health Care bill, the Climate Change bill, the Executive can say whatever they want but it's the Legislature that gets to pass the laws - and add whatever fun and games they want to it. Oh, and the Exec can say whatever he wants about "Open government", the Legislature can and will make deals and forget the Open stuff - they don't post on Recovery.gov. :cheesy:

The Judiciary has a mixed record on independence, but they go against the Administration of the time as often as not.

Viet Nam was the last war with a Draft, things have changed.

Ahmadinejad has spoken against the Clergy on more than one occaision, the Mullahs don't all like him, but he has the support of the military.
 
I respectfully disagree, but we each have our own opinion. I believe that the Congress had the most precious power in the world which they willingly gave away, the power to commit US forces in a foreign war. They did it for political expediency. They didn't want to know the truth. They chose not to make a hard decision, to listen to the evidence.

They failed. Now they can put all the responsibility on the Executive. That's wrong too.

What a lot of people are finally figuring out is that we really really need Iran to do what we need to do in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's why we see such pressure on Iran these days. With friends like Pakistan...
 
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Er...we need Iran like a hole in the head. The only good thing about that government is they are very clear about their views and don't bandy about. Rather like their ally Russia. I'd rather have Pakistan, though I disagree that they are a friend - traditionally we are closer to India, and I don't even see India as an especially friendly government.
 
There's an old saying: South Asia is a zero sum game. Whatever you do for Pakistan is against India, whatever you do for India is against Pakistan.

Amb. Holbrooke has PakAf, but it's beyond any solution without bringing India and Iran in the equation. Afghanistan really isn't a country, as far as I can tell, not in how we see what a nation should be. It's a collection of interest groups and tribes that have little faith and loyalty to the central government. That's how their neighbors can influence them so easily. There's no civil society, no center. That was all destroyed 20 years ago.

We've only seen Afghanistan from the Pakistan eyeglasses....for over 30 years now. We have to make Iran part of the answer at some point. The solutions have always involved Pakistan. Look where that got us.

Did you know that over 90% of the books in Dari are actually produced in Iran? Strangely, we always saw the Iranians as the moderates, as opposed to the Taliban, who were busy burning books, destroying art. The Deobandi school is very restrictive.

This is all just stuff. Do I have any answer? Not really. Then again, sometimes answers don't exist. The current idea is to arm up and create an Afghan army, then leave. That might work. It's AN answer, and it gets us out. We won't be hemmhoraging money any more.
 
Iranian opposition leader posts on his Facebook account this photo and message:

View attachment 7818
Mir Hossein Mousavi:"It is interesting that in some of these footages, people were seeing their brothers behind the faces of the oppressive police and Basij forces and in that critical situation and on that deafening and hateful day (Bloody Ashura, Dec 27th) they were trying to protect them from any harm. If the state-run television and radio had the slightest bit of fairness, in order to calm the atmosphere and bring people closer together, it would have shown a little of these scenes."



Link: http://www.facebook.com/mousavi?ref=search&sid=1272256275.229945374..1#/mousavi?v=wall&ref=search

Mousavi calls for laws to provide free and fair elections, for a free press in Iran, for the right to demonstrate, for the release of political prisoners, and to hold the current government of Iran accountable:

Link: http://www.facebook.com/mousavi?ref...hp?note_id=231350482605&id=45061919453&ref=mf

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