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[PhantomSgt]

THE MIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Special Dispatch Series - No. 958
August 17, 2005 No.958

"The Seekers of Martyrdom Command": Another State-Inspired Organization of Suicide Attackers in Iran (Official Website Based in U.S. and Germany)

The new Iranian regime, headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, is promoting martyrdom (Shehada). In his second TV appearance following his election, Ahmadi-Nejad praised "the art of martyrdom." [1] (To view this clip, visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=782.)

The call to enlist and carry out suicide attacks was sounded also by Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Misbah-e Yazdi (who is Ahmadi-Nejad's religious mentor and one of the most prominent religious figures in conservative circles, especially among Iran's security forces) in his weekly Partow-e Sokhan. [2]

Mohammad-Reza Ja'afari, commander of the "Seekers of Martyrdom Command," stressed the origins of Shehada in Shi'ite tradition and what he called its vital role today in the confrontation with Iran's enemies, in a speech cited in Partow-e Sokhan in early August. [3] Following Ayatollah Misbah-e Yazdi's recruiting call for martyrs – a call that aroused criticism in Iran and beyond its borders – Partow-e Sokhan published an extensive interview with Ja'afari, titled "Establishing Quick Response [Martyrdom] Forces to Deal with the American and Israeli Threat." [4]

Ja'afari stressed that "the yearning for martyrdom has been and will remain part of our tactics… In order to cope with [the Israeli] danger, there is a need for a culture, and an epic [of martyrdom]." He undertook to "cooperate with anyone who helps us create and strengthen this culture, and to use all the potential of the Islamic world to implement this spirit [of martyrdom]." He quoted Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei saying that, "Martyrdom operations are the pinnacle of a people's strength and the pinnacle of an epic' and wanted Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini saying that "Israel – that suppurating tumor – must be eradicated from the pages of history." Ja'afari added that "to deal with [American and Israeli] threats, we have created quick response forces, in order to use them against every possible enemy threat. Forces like these are established in other countries, and even in America, and in NATO [countries]. What will put this potential into action is the spirit of martyrdom. The enemy fears this culture turning into a world culture…. So far, forces have been formed in several provinces…nearly 50,000 people have been registered and organized… The first blow we strike at the enemy will be the final blow, that will obliterate it."

Partow-e Sokhan is published in the city of Qom, which is a religious center, and is registered in the name of the "Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute," which is headed by Ayatollah Misbah-e Yazdi. It is noteworthy that the weekly's internet site is hosted in the U.S. and Germany. [5]

LINK: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD95805

Time to shut their sites down, unless we are monitoring them.




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Retired AF E-8

Independent that leans right of center.

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[PhantomSgt]