[Mb-civic] FW: Iranian group guns for U.S.

[Golsorkhi]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Shahla Samii <shahla at thesamiis.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:17:21 -0500
Subject: Iranian group guns for U.S.

As long as there is the IRI in power, anything goes...
 

Monday, November 29, 2004

Iranian group guns for U.S.

  By Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Writer

  TEHRAN, Iran - The 300 men filling out forms in the offices of an
Iranian aid group were offered three choices: Train for suicide attacks
against U.S. troops in Iraq, for suicide attacks against Israelis or to
assassinate British author Salman Rushdie.

It looked at first glance like a gathering on the fringes of a society
divided between moderates who want better relations with the world and
hard-line Muslim militants hostile toward the United States and Israel.

  But the presence of two key figures - a prominent Iranian lawmaker and
a member of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards - lent the meeting
more legitimacy and was a clear indication of at least tacit support
from some within Iran's government.

Since that inaugural June meeting in a room decorated with photos of
Israeli soldiers' funerals, the registration forms for volunteer
suicide commandos have appeared on Tehran's streets and university
campuses, with no sign Iran's government is trying to stop the shadowy
movement.

On Nov. 12, the day Iranians traditionally hold pro-Palestinian
protests, a Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement
spokesman said at least 4,000 new volunteers enlisted.

Mohammad Ali Samadi, the spokesman, told The Associated Press the group
had no ties to the government.

And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters
recently that the group's campaign to sign up volunteers for suicide
attacks had "nothing to do with the ruling Islamic establishment."

"That some people do such a thing is the result of their sentiments. It
has nothing to do with the government and the system," Asefi said.

Yet despite the government's disavowal of the group and some of its
programs, there are indications the suicide attack campaign has at
least some legitimacy within the government.

The first meeting was held in the offices of the Martyrs Foundation, a
semiofficial organization that helps the families of those killed in
the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war or those killed fighting for the government
on other fronts. It drew hard-line lawmaker Mahdi Kouchakzadeh and Gen.
Hossein Salami of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

"This group spreads valuable ideas," Kouchakzadeh told AP.

"At a time when the U.S. is committing the crimes we see now, deprived
nations have no weapon other than martyrdom. It's evident that Iran's
foreign policy makers have to take the dignified opinions of this group
into consideration," said Kouchakzadeh, who also is a former member of
the Revolutionary Guards.

Iranian security officials did not return calls seeking comment about
whether they had tried to crack down on the group's training programs
or whether they believed any of Samadi's volunteers had crossed into
Iraq or into Israel.

In general, Iran portrays Israel as its main nemesis and backs
anti-Israeli groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah. It says it has no
interest in fomenting instability in Iraq and that it tries to block
any infiltration into Iraq by insurgents - while pleading that its
porous borders are hard to police.

In 1998, the Iranian government declared it would not support a 1989
fatwa against Rushdie issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of
the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But the government also said only the
person who issued the edict could rescind it. Khomeini, angered at
Rushdie's portrayal of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in "The Satanic
Verses," died in June 1989.

Samadi described the movement as independent, with no ties to groups
like al-Qaida.

Despite its very public canvassing for volunteers, the group can be
secretive. Samadi agreed only reluctantly to an interview and insisted
it be held in the basement of an unmarked building in central Tehran -
not the Martyrs Foundation offices.

Samadi refused to identify any of his volunteers or the wealthy
sympathizers who he says underwrote their efforts. Asked to describe
the training programs, he would say only that classes were sometimes
held "in open spaces outside cities" but more often inside, away from
prying eyes.

Samadi claimed 30,000 volunteers have signed up, and 20,000 of them
have been chosen for training. Volunteers had already carried out
suicide operations against military targets inside Israel, he said.

But he said discussing attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq "will cause
problems for the country's foreign policy. It will have grave
consequences for our country and our group. It's confidential."

As devoted Muslims, members of his group were simply fulfilling their
religious obligations as laid out by Khomeini, he said.

In his widely published book of religious directives, Khomeini says:
"If an enemy invades Muslim countries and borders, it's an obligation
for all Muslims to defend through any possible means: sacrificing life
and properties."

Samadi said: "With this religious verdict, we don't need anybody's
permission to fight an enemy that has occupied Muslim lands."
---
Associated Press reporter Nasser Karimi contributed to this report.

http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2004/11/29/news/news21.txt

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