Iran: Prosecutor Najafabadi Shot in Shadegan

Iran Focus:

Tehran, Iran, Apr. 21 – The prosecutor in the Department of Justice in the southern town of Shadegan was shot and seriously wounded, a semi-official daily reported on Saturday.

The official, identified as Najafabadi, was shot in his car on his way from work by masked gunmen who made their escape on a motorbike, the hard-line daily Kayhan wrote.

Najafabadi sustained injuries in the face and foot, according to the report.

Shadegan is situated in the Arab-dominated province of Khuzestan. Ahwaz, the capital of oil-rich province, has been the scene of unremitting anti-government protests since early 2005.

Iran

Repulsive Republican Watch

Average Gay Joe at Gay Patriot:

Ah yes, another “Repulsive Republican” who raises the ol’ barnyard animals canard:

Ohio’s Secretary of State is coming out strong in support of Issue One, the measure that would ban same-sex marriage. Kenneth Blackwell spoke to an energized crowd at the Cathedral of Praise Tuesday night.

Blackwell said it’s time for people of God to take a stand. He even drew a comparison between same-sex couples and farm animals. “I don’t know how many of you have a farming background but I can tell you right now that notion even defies barnyard logic … the barnyard knows better,” said Blackwell referring to the idea of same-sex marriage.

... When will the Republicans free themselves of these people who treat faith as some cheap whore in order to curry favor and gain power?

Russia to Sell Weapons to Iran

Tammy Bruce:

Our Friends the Russians ...

Are selling missiles to the Iranians which will be used to kill Israelis and Americans. And this from a country that was simultaneously partly in charge of negotiating with Iran to get them to stop their nuclear research, and has said it will veto any action (including sanctions of course, because that would shut down their income stream) in the UN Security Council. Absolutely outrageous ...

Read the rest at the link.

Russia
Iran

The Manifesto of 1,400

Irshad Manji has an up-to-date list of readers who have signed the Manifesto of 12. From the Manifesto:

We -- writers, journalists and public intellectuals -- call for resistance to religious totalitarianism.

Instead, we call for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values worldwide.

The necessity of these universal values has been revealed by events since the publication of the Muhammad drawings in European newspapers. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the arena of ideas. What we are witnessing is not a clash of civilizations, nor an antagonism of West versus East, but a global struggle between democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The preachers of hate bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a world of inequality. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred.

Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of greater power imbalances: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all others.

To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed people. For that reason, we reject “cultural relativism,” which consists of accepting that Muslim men and women should be deprived of their right to equality and freedom in the name of their cultural traditions.

We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of “Islamophobia,” an unfortunate concept that confuses criticism of Islamic practices with the stigmatization of Muslims themselves.

We plead for the universality of free expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on every continent, against every abuse and dogma.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

Signed,

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Chahla Chafiq , Caroline Fourest, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Irshad Manji , Mehdi Mozaffari, Maryam Namazie, Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, Antoine Sfeir, Philippe Val, Ibn Warraq

More than 1,400 ordinary people have signed. Go to the link to see the list of names, and if your name isn't on there yet, you can follow Irshad's e-mail link to sign.

Fatah-Hamas Clashes Reported

Jerusalem Post:

Gunmen from Hamas and the Fatah engaged in a shootout at the Palestinian Health Ministry on Sunday, wounding three people in the latest internal clashes between the feuding groups.

The incident began when Fatah loyalists arrived at the ministry to talk with Health Minister Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official, and Naim called on Hamas militants to come protect him, ministry employees said.

When the Hamas gunmen arrived, a shootout broke out with the Fatah militants, witnesses said.

Our Resistance Was Spiritual

Via Jason at Countercolumn:

In all these 50 years we have been told that we didn't fight back. Against the most insane odds, perhaps, in the entire history of man, my two sisters and I escaped from the "death march," and though Hitler slaughtered most of our family, in some tragic, yet glorious way we won. Hitler perished and we lived, and today six beautiful human beings call us "mother." By only brother, who after surviving six concentration camps was shot in the leg in his attempt to escape is the father of two.

Our resistance, of course, was entirely spiritual. Made up perhaps only of love for each other. The mystery of it all still defies me.

What also defies me is the fact that it took six years for the world's mightiest forces to defeat the beast. I was unarmed, untrained in the business of killing, didn't even have a shoelace for a weapon, weighed about 40 pounds. Yet? I have always been told "didn't fight back." That accusation, too, falls within the insanity of Hitler's design to annihilate the Jews. Nonetheless, it hurts. It always did.

On VE Day, May 8th, 1945, the very day the war ended, the merchant marine ship, the SS Brand Whitlock, after nearly five weeks at sea, sailed into the sunlit harbor of Newport News, VA. Two days later, in Baltimore, MD, the ship discharged its never before seen cargo: The first survivors of Auschwitz. My two sisters and myself. In our battered being we carried the innocent, charred souls of millions of children, women and men. And we thank this best of all countries, America, for putting its healing arms around our weeping hearts.

Isabella Leitner

Isabella Leitner - Born Kisvarda, Hungary.

A survivor of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi death camp, where her mother and youngest sister were murdered immediately on their arrival; May 31,1944.

Transported six months later to Birnbaumel, another concentration camp, where she was compelled to dig anti-tank traps against the advancing Russian army.

Escaped in a blizzard with two sisters during a forced death march to Bergen-Belsen, where a third sister perished.
Liberated by the Russians on January 25, 1945. Arrived in USA on May 8, 1945 (VE Day), the very day the war in Europe ended, making her and her two sisters the first survivors of Auschwitz to set foot on American soil.

Married American-born Irving A. Leitner, a combat veteran of World War II, on August 18, 1956. Two sons, Peter (graduate of Princeton University) and Richard (graduate of Bennington College.) Considers them "her greatest victory over Hitler".

Iran Report

More on guard commander's assassination. SMCCDI via Marze Por Gohar:

Subject: Top Islamist Militia General Gunned Down by Exsaperated Soldier
Source: SMCCDI
Date 23-04-2006

Official sources of the Islamic republic regime are revealing the murder on, Wednesday, of a top Pasdaran Corp. (Islamic Revolutionary Guards) commander in the religious city of Ghom.

General Kamal Kazemi was gunned down, by a 'crazy' conscript soldier 'who will then commit suicide', according to the same official sources which have not revealed the name of the soldier.

Kazemi was a top Pasdaran Corp. instructor and the local commander of the repressive Bassiji elements who are dealing with what the Islamic regime qualifies as "immoral behavior" or “social corruption”.

Most Iranians reject the rule of the Islamic regime and radical signs of exasperation, against the symbols of the theocratic power, are increasing in Iran.

Amil Imani: Use frozen assets against regime. Also from MPG, Iranian activist Amil Imani writes:

Recently, Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice has requested $85 million to support pro-democracy elements inside Iran and also assist the Iranian opposition groups outside of Iran.

While I am grateful for this kind gesture from President George W. Bush’s administration, I have serious doubts that this amount can change anything in Iran. I doubt that the $85 million (if Secretary Rice indeed receives it) will be used effectively and wisely.

President Bush, in his 2005 state of union address, once again reiterated his support of the Iranian people. He said, “And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you.” A Tehran University student responded, “As long as President Bush stands with the Iranian people, the Iranian people will stand with him and with America."

Is it not totally ironic that the presidential race in the United States was won by a few percentage points, but in Iran, President Bush won by a landslide? What also remains irony is while President Bush is sinking in the polls in his home country, his popularity is climbing in Iran. Yes, the Persian speaking people have found a friend who says he cares about the Iranian plight. But, really, how serious is President Bush about the Iranian plight? Is it simply a lot of rhetoric with no action?

It has been 5 consecutive years that President Bush has adamantly supported the Iranian people in his state of the union address. What we have seen is too much carrot, but not enough stick or as they say in Texas all hat and no cattle. Mr. President, while I have supported your efforts to liberate Iraq and bring democracy to the region, I am afraid the key to peace in Iraq and the region is in the hands of the Iranian people. As long as the Islamic regime rules over the defenseless people in Iran, Iraq will never see the light of democracy. [Dreams Into Lightning has stressed this point often. - aa]

... So far Iranian-Americans have not given big money to the cause of liberating their fellow Iranians in Iran, nor has the U.S. government given any significant amount for the eradication of the mother of all terrorist groups in the world, the Islamic regime in Iran. Again, we are back to square one.

The United States still holds billions of dollars of the Iranian assets in U.S. banks. It only makes sense to utilize this fund for the regime change by the Iranian opposition abroad. This money must be returned to its legitimate heirs, the Iranian people.

Amil Imani homepage

Regime thugs continue harrassment of women. Iran Press Service::

Iran will increase police patrols to enforce women's skirt lengths, proper head scarves and even curtail dog-walking during the summer.
"In our campaign, we will confront women showing their bare legs in short pants", said Tehran's police chief, Morteza Tala’i.

"We are also going to combat women wearing skimpy headscarves, short and form-fitting coats, and the ones walking pets in parks and streets" he added.
Women who do not wear the veil can face 10 days to two months' imprisonment, or a fine.

Iran

Canadian LAV Convoy Takes Casualties in Afghanistan

Toronto Globe and Mail:

Kandahar, Afghanistan — Documentary filmmaker Rich Fitoussi never liked getting into the Canadian army's much-heralded, much-loved light armoured vehicle — LAV III — or its cousin the Bison armoured car.

Even though the largely windowless metal cocoon is meant to keep him and hundreds of dust-covered soldiers whose lives he chronicled safe, it was always a nerve-wracking, uncomfortable experience.

Never more so than Saturday, as the well-travelled Toronto-native found himself hunkered down inside a Bison when suspected Taliban militants unleashed their deadly fury on a Canadian convoy, killing four soldiers.

"I feel a little bit guilty," said Mr. Fitoussi, 32, in an interview Sunday, "because why them and not me? I'm told it's a natural reaction."

"I feel a great deal of dread for the families back home."

Mr. Fitoussi's lumbering, heavily-shielded vehicle was directly behind the lighter-weight G-Wagon, which struck an improvised explosive device on a remote, rock-strewn wadi, or dry river bed, just outside of Gumbad. His life was probably saved because he was in a Bison — a fact not lost on him. ...

Read the rest at the link.

Morning Report: April 23, 2006

Debka: US, France back down on Syria sanctions, set Lebanon back to "square one". Debka: 'When he visited the White House on April 18, Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora was shocked to discover that president George W. Bush had cooled to the campaign he launched with France against the Assad regime in February 2005, after the assassination of the Lebanese politician Rafiq Hariri. He saw that Bashar Assad and his clique were getting away scot-free from being brought to account as suspects in the crime. Siniora also learned, according to DEBKAfile’s Washington and Middle East sources, that the Americans had abandoned their drive to oust Lahoud, disarm the Hizballah, disband Palestinian militias in Lebanon, and impose on them the implementation of a key UN Security Council resolution. As he left the White House, the Lebanese prime minister remarked: “Lebanon is back to square one. We are left with the ruins of the American-French initiative.” Our sources in Beirut report that, scenting the new winds blowing from Washington and Paris, all the Lebanese militias, including those linked to al Qaeda, are re-arming and rebuilding their strength. ...' Read the rest at the link. (Debka)

Iran: Revolutionary Guards commander shot and killed in Qom. The Intelligence Summit, quoting Iran Focus: 'A commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was shot dead in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week by a conscript soldier, state-run Persian-language websites reported on Sunday. Seyyed Kamal Kazemi, an IRGC instructor from the 19th Training Garrison in Qom, was shot and killed by an unidentified soldier on Wednesday. The soldier then committed suicide by shooting himself. Kazemi was also a commander of the paramilitary Bassij forces in Qom and led “moral police” units who enforce Iran’s strict religious laws.' (Iran Focus via TIS)

Let's call it "democracy promotion" so we don't scare the Europeans. The US and UK are working on a strategy to support regime change democracy promotion in Iran and Syria, according to the Financial Times: 'The US and UK are working on a strategy to promote democratic change in Iran, according to officials who see the joint effort as the start of a new phase in the diplomatic campaign to counter the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme without resorting to military intervention. A newly created Iran Syria Operations Group inside the State Department is co-ordinating the work and reporting to Elizabeth Cheney, the senior US official leading democracy promotion in the broader Middle East. “Democracy promotion is a rubric to get the Europeans behind a more robust policy without calling it regime change,” a former Bush administration official commented. The new direction, the former official said, reflected a growing belief in the US and UK that diplomacy through the United Nations and partial sanctions were unlikely to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. In the absence of a credible military solution, the argument went that international diplomacy could try to slow down the nuclear programme while more “robust” efforts continued towards the ultimate solution of regime change, he said. US officials said the British input was important because of the Bush administration’s lack of experts on Iran, the legacy of 25 years of frozen diplomatic relations. ... Seeking to fill the US knowledge gap, the State Department last month set up the Iranian Affairs Office in Washington and announced new diplomatic posts for Farsi speakers. Barbara Leaf, an Arabist [Morning Report rolls its eyes], is expected to head the office. At the same time, the separate Iran Syria Operations Group was established to plot a more aggressive democracy promotion strategy for those two “rogue” states. Funding is to come from $75m that Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, announced in February she was requesting from Congress this year, plus some $10m already in the budget.' (Financial Times)

Bolton: Iran to test UN. Knight Ridder via Iran Focus: 'The U.N. Security Council's impending showdown over Iran's nuclear ambitions is a critical test of the effectiveness of the world body, United Nations Ambassador John R. Bolton said yesterday. "If the Security Council can't deal with that threat, then you have to ask yourself what utility the Security Council would be in dealing with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction," Bolton said at a midday appearance before the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.' (Iran Focus)

Egyptians protest for judicial independence. FFE: 'For the fourth day, the Egyptian judges’ sit-in is continuing in protest to the regime’s attempts to stifle the judges’ endeavors to separate the judiciary from the strong iron grip of the Egyptian regime and the executive power. In the latest escalation to foil attempts to liberate Egypt’s judiciary, the Minister of Justice referred judges Hisham Bastawesy and Mahmoud Mekky (cassation court) to a disciplinary council while threatening to oust them from their positions. Head of the cassation court who is also the head of the higher council for judiciary Fathy Khalifa has started looking into the case filed against Bastawesy and Mekky. Some of the procedures were described by the press as illegitimate. ...' Full post, with photos, at the link. (FFE)

Dreams Into Lightning Celebrates Two Years

April 21, 2006 marks my second anniversary of blogging here at Dreams Into Lightning.

Gretchen doesn't want a cell phone.

Via the magic that is ORblogs, Gretchen speaks out:

"Please help me understand. You are a 36 year old woman and you do not want a cell phone?" Clearly he was straying from the Sprint approved script. "That's right" I said, "I have never had a cell phone and I don't really want one."

Heh. Go read the rest at the link.

You know, for about two or three years (circa 1999-2001) when EVERYBODY WAS GETTING INTERNET, I closed my AOL account and went netless. Just as a lifestyle choice, for the same reason I don't watch TV. I'd get the strangest, most incredulous looks and questions. "You mean you don't have internet yet?" "Anymore," I corrected.

Nowadays, as you can see, I have internet access and spend quite a bit of time online. I had good reasons for choosing not to have internet service then, and I have good reasons for choosing to have it now. But I'll always admire people who have the nerve to make their own choices about technology.

And who knows? The day may yet come when I might give up internet again.

What Tammy said!

Tammy Bruce has a great new post linking to the Carnival of the Feminists at Daily Troll and making some important points:

While we tend to stick with blogs or news sites that we feel reflect out POV, consider the fact that you probably have disagreed with a number of my posts, but perhaps find the variety and the debate fun and informative. Take a look at Daily Troll, after all, they included my post knowing that they would be sending their readers to a conservative feminist site. Usually when liberals or lefties link to Tammy Blog it's in an attack post. Their linking here is an indication that they, too, have an open mind, and promote material they agree with even when it's from someone with whom they probably disagree with a whole lot of the time.

Oh, and don't miss her post on Sharon Stone. It's worth a visit for the pictures anyway, but read what Tammy has to say about the sexist double standard around older women vs. older men.



feminism