SwiftVets.com

[SBD]

THE UNKNOWN KING OF TERROR and the Coming Lebanon Civil War
Behind The Lines
Printed from To The Point - http://www.tothepointnews.com
Dr. Jack Wheeler
Thursday, March 10, 2005

Last week, we discussed how there could be a light at the end of the terrorist tunnel. Now let’s talk about how that light could be an oncoming train.

One of the most famous quotes of America’s favorite philosopher, Yogi Berra, is: “It’s never over until it’s over.” We’ve all been swept away with democracy seeming to march ineluctably forward in the Middle East, thrilled by the sea of red and white Lebanese flags waved in Beirut’s Martyr’s Square, and confidant that the Cedar Revolution will be victorious over Syrian imperialism. We need to pause now, take a deep breath, and heed Yogi’s words.

I have a very bad feeling about Lebanon that this could turn out really ugly. Dispatch after dispatch, story after story, and all you read about is Syria’s getting its troops and spies out of its colony. Congressmen like Darryl Issa (R-CA) write newspaper op-eds entitled “Lebanon: Democracy’s Next Stop.” All without a word about Hezbollah. All without a word about Iran.

Hezbollah made the papers finally this week, when it staged a pro-Syria rally in Beirut that dwarfed in numbers the size of the Cedar Revolution’s. The size was fake but the threat was not. There are upwards of half a million Syrian workers together with many thousands of Syrian intelligence agents. Hezbollah’s rally was substantially composed of those Syrians, rather than native Lebanese. Nonetheless, the threat is very real, for Hezbollah has guns, and the Cedar Revolution democracy advocates do not.

Hezbollah – the Party of God – is a group of 25,000 Shiite terrorists armed to the teeth, and nobody is asking the most important question of all regarding Lebanon’s fate: who gets to take away Hezbollah’s guns? You simply cannot have a private terrorist army running around Lebanon and expect to create a peaceful democracy, even if every Syrian soldier and secret policeman leaves for Damascus.

Which brings us to the heart of the matter. I almost entitled this essay: What has Syria got to do with Lebanon?. Syria is a sideshow. It wasn’t when Hafez al-Assad was running the place, but his son Bashar is a chinless weakling who has kept his father’s dictatorship going through the support of the real terrorist power in the Middle East: Iran.

Bashar al-Assad is a puppet of the Mullacracy in Tehran. The people who give the orders to the Syrian troops in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley are Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Pasdaran. Hezbollah was founded in 1982 among Lebanon’s Shia Moslems with money and weapons from Iran. It is run by the world’s worst terrorist, who is most decidedly not Osama Bin Laden.

Osama is a Hollywood terrorist. He’s got the memorably euphonious name, the looks of the classic bearded/turbaned Moslem crazy, and staged the most horrifically Hollywood disaster movie attack imaginable. He makes the perfect Hollywood arch-villain. But he too has become a sideshow, a distraction. The most important and dangerous terrorist in the world is a man most everybody has never heard of. His name is Imad Mugniyeh. He is the true King of Terror.

Here is what he looks like:



Pretty ordinary, right? This is one of the few pictures ever taken of him. Bin Laden thrives on publicity. Mugniyeh shuns it. Here is a compendium of his terrorist highlights, all performed as Hezbollah’s chief of military operations:

*Organized the April 18, 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, including Robert Ames, the CIA’s top Middle East operations officer, and many of his best agents.

*Organized the October 23, 1983 twin suicide truck-bomb attacks on the Marine Barracks in Beirut that took the lives of 242 U.S. Marines and 58 French troops.

*Kidnapped dozens of Americans and French in Lebanon in the 1980s. In April 1984, kidnapped CIA station chief in Beirut William Buckley, personally torturing him to a horrible death.

*Conducted the June 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Beirut, where he held 39 Americans hostage for 17 days. Wearing a ski mask, Mugniyeh prowled the aisles of the aircraft looking for U.S. military personnel and discovered U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem. He tortured and shot Stethem, then dumped his body out on the runway in full view of international TV cameras. Later, the FBI was able to identify Mugniyeh’s fingerprints in the rear lavatory of the aircraft and indicted him for Stethem’s murder.

* Organized the March 17, 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 29 persons and wounding 242.

* Organized in 1996 an attempt to blow up an El Al jetliner in mid-air. The suicide bomber, Hussein Mohammad Mikdad, blew off the lower half of his body preparing the bomb in an East Jerusalem hotel room. Interrogated in the hospital, Mikdad fingered Mugniyeh.

* Organized a joint Hezbollah-Al Qaeda operation, the June 25, 1996 suicide truck-bombing of the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American soldiers and wounding 372.

* Organized a joint Hezbollah-Al Qaeda operation, the August 7, 1998 simultaneous bombing of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, resulting in 224 killed including 12 Americans, and over 5,000 wounded.

* Organized a joint Hezbollah-Al Qaeda operation, the October 12, 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 US Navy sailors and wounding 39.

All of these terrorist operations of Mugniyeh’s were paid for by Iran. Mugniyeh first met Osama Bin Laden in Khartoum in June 1994. The meeting was arranged by Iranian intelligence. Whether or not Mugniyeh helped Bin Laden plan and carry out the Attack of September 11 is unclear. What is clear is that Mugniyeh and Hezbollah are cooperating hand-in-glove with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Al Qaeda in conducting the terrorist “insurgency” in Iraq.

Shuttling back and forth between Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, Mugniyeh is the principal director of terrorism in Iraq. He and his paymasters in Tehran will do anything to prevent losing his power base in the Bekaa Valley and the disarming of Hezbollah. So we come to the grim conclusion:

Imad Mugniyeh and the Hezbollah, at the direction of Iran, will ignite another civil war in Lebanon, destroying that country’s chances for democracy and freedom from Syrian colonial control – and halting thereby George Bush’s Middle East Freedom March right in its tracks.

The campaign of intimidation and death threats against the Cedar Revolution leaders has already begun. The pro-Syrian puppet government has been re-installed. Peaceful Ukraine-like demonstrations won’t do the trick now. The only option is military force against Hezbollah.

It sure can’t be by the Israelis. Hezbollah is widely admired in Lebanon, and especially by the Shia one-third of Lebanese (1.3 out of 3.9 million), for ending the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000.

It sure can’t be by the Lebanese military, riddled with Syrian agents and Hezbollah members.

And in any regard, by whose authority? Hezbollah has 12 seats in the Lebanese Parliament, the Speaker of which is a Shiite ally, Nabih Berri. It is quite unlikely that any collection of folks in power sufficient to authorize foreign military protection will do so – for if they did, Hezbollah would quickly kill them.

US covert operations seem incapable of stopping the Cedar Revolution’s impending doom. Perhaps a Delta Force decapitation of key Hezbollah leaders, including Mugniyeh, could work. But the King of Terror has escaped dozens of attempts to capture or kill him, and is better hidden and protected than ever.

Thus the solution is the same as it has always been regarding the War on Moslem Terror: Regime change in Iran. This is the main event. George Bush needs to look beyond the Syrian and Lebanese side shows and focus on terrorism’s fundamental source. Iran’s Mullacracy is funding and supporting Hezbollah, the terrorist movement in Iraq – as well as providing sanctuary for Osama Bin Laden (no – he’s not in some remote cave along the Afghan-Pak border, he’s in Iran, most likely in or around Mashad in the east).

GW’s bottom line has finally arrived. Either effect regime change in Iran by fomenting the Triple U (uncontrollable urban unrest) and a democratic revolution thereby. Or watch as a terrorist Hezbollah government is established in Lebanon and his dream of democracy in the Middle East vanishes like a desert mirage.

Oh, just one more thing. The reason Saddam’s WMD were never found is that Mugniyeh made a deal with Saddam to spirit them out of Iraq before the US invasion, truck them across the border into Syria, then into Hezbollah’s Bekaa Valley stronghold. It is the King of Terror who has Saddam Hussein’s missing weapons of mass destruction.

© Copyright 2004 To The Point, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


SBD

[kate]

good summary by Wheeler, his conclusion to effect regime change in Iran gets to the heart of it.
This Mugniyeh makes BinLadin look like an amateur.

[PhantomSgt]

Eliminate the Islamic Regime in Iran and 99 percent of terror support stops in the world. These bad actors support terrorists globally with funds, training and logistical support.

CUT OFF THE HEAD OF TERROR PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE BODY WILL DIE!

Doc Wheeler is Right On with his story and the statements he makes.

President Bush should have went after the Mullahs of Iran in the first place and then invade Iraq if Saddam didn't run after Iran fell. Believe me when I say the Iranian people would have given us the welcome we expected in Iraq. The leftover Bath party members in Iraq would have no support if Iran fell first.

The time is now to have some purple fingers in Iran. Come on Mr. President don't let the Euros decide the future of Iran when the stakes are so high. The Euros, Russia and China are driven by greed and jealousy of the USA and would sell a nuke or nuke technology to an Middle Eastern six year old for the right price.

Leopards, Frenchmen and Communists do not change their spots, they just take advantage of weakness and exploit it for their own personal gain.






_________________
Retired AF E-8

Independent that leans right of center.

[SBD]

Maybe President Bush is playing the Euro's game for the time being while we try to unseat Iran from within. Let the Euro's continue to play diplomat with the condition that Iran keep the situation in Lebanon peaceful and call off their terrorist thugs. If violence erupts in Lebanon, then all bets are off and the Euro's can put their tail between their legs and go back to being their useless selves. In the meantie, the US will continue to foster unrest in Iran to overthrow the Mullahs.

Here's an interesting insight into the Iranian Political System. It looks like Iran may have their own version of the New York Times on their hands, only their version is really printing the truth instead of making up stuff against their government like our does.

Could the Bush Administration be using the tactics of the New York Times for something good in this world?? After all, the New York Times is best at creating unrest and discontent in our country!!

BBC Monitoring International Reports
March 11, 2005

IRAN PRESS REPORTS 8 MAR MAJLIS SESSION

Jomhuri-ye Eslami, 9/3/2005, p 14

The Majlis Allocated 85 Billion Rials for Combating the Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currencies

News Desk -- The Majlis required the government to buy green leaf tea and dried tea at guaranteed prices.

At yesterday's open session presided over by Mr Haddad-Adel, the Majlis continued the consideration of notes of the budget bill for next year (2005-06) and allocated 85 billion dollars for combating the smuggling of goods and foreign currencies.

Upon the approval of the Majlis at this session, the government shall provide after-sale services for imported automobiles in accordance with internationally accepted standards.

The Majlis also required the government to pay its debts to insurance organizations and funds in the next year.

Haddad-Adel: Defaming the Seventh Majlis Is a Part of Election Campaigns

The Majlis speaker said: "Defamation of he Seventh Majlis is a planned attempt and a part of election campaigns and will not stop with warnings of the Majlis representatives."

At the beginning of yesterday's open session, in response to the warning of a Majlis representative against the publication of reports on payments to members of parliament, Haddad-Adel said: "Those who have decided to defame the Seventh Majlis use any excuse." He added: "I defend all payments to the Majlis representatives that were approved by me." Regarding the Majlis representatives' New Year bonus and benefits that amounted to 1,100,000 tumans, the Majlis speaker said: "The payments to the Majlis representatives are even less than the payments in other terms of the Majlis and are also based on certain reasons." Haddad-Adel insisted on the need to protect the dignity and status of the Majlis and also public properties, and keeping the people's hopes alive, and added: "The government pays a New Year bonus of 150,000 tumans to the government employees, but the people expect the Majlis representatives to work more, and the Majlis representatives also must give a New Year bonus to the persons who work in the Majlis representatives' offices but are not government employees." He said: "Payments to the Majlis representatives are proportional to their status and office, and what is paid in the Seventh Majlis is much less than what was paid in the past. However, I don't want to draw a comparison between the seventh, sixth, and fifth terms of the Majlis and enter into this unfriendly dispute." Haddad-Adel added: "I ask the people and the Majlis representatives not to fall into the traps laid in the way of the Seventh Majlis." He said the Majlis representatives must not busy themselves with these disputes and quarrels, and should react to these slanderous efforts solemnly.

At yesterday's open session, Mohammad Hassan Jamshidi-Ardeshiri, the Majlis representative from Behshahr, pointed to some articles of the Majlis bylaw and protested against some materials published in newspapers on the New Year bonus and benefits paid to the Majlis representatives. Stating that he has been a member of parliament in three terms and has presented the list of his properties to the ulema (specialists in Islamic sacred law and theology), he said: "Frequently, persons tried to lure us by paying 50,000,000-tuman checks, but we refused these checks." Jamshidi-Ardeshiri added: "I ask the presiding board not to let the reputation of the Majlis representatives be injured, because the Majlis representatives welcome criticism, but not defamation." The Majlis representative from Behshahr pointed to the New Year bonus and the benefit that amounted to 1,100,000 tumans and said: "This is a negligible sum, and the Iranian nation must know that some are decisive to defame the Majlis, and the people must know that we have never committed financial offenses." He added: "Have you ever seen these Majlis representatives try to receive a licensing agreement (to establish a business)? If we go to people to receive financial aid, we aim only to put this aid at the disposal of the poor." Pointing to long queues of people seeking help in front of houses of the Majlis representatives, he said: "We have sold our cars to help the poor. Why does the presiding board not defend the Majlis representatives against the materials published in the press?"

Reading Out the Message of Mr Jannati in the Majlis

The message of Ahmad Jannati, the secretary of the Council of Guardians, on his sermons in the Tehran Friday prayer was read out at the beginning of yesterday's open session.

This message was read out by the Majlis speaker, Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel.

Haddad-Adel added: "Statements of Ayatollah Jannati raised complaints among the Majlis representatives and caused them to make procedural warnings. In connection with these statements, he has made some explanation in his message. Mr Jannati has written in his message: 'Everybody knows how much I respect this Majlis. I regard this Majlis as an institute loyal to values, Islam, the revolution, the Islamic system, and Velayat-e Faqih (the guardianship of the supreme jurisconsult).' The secretary of the Council of Guardians has added: 'Secondly, the Majlis' performance has been satisfactory and acceptable until now, and thirdly, I believe friendly relations between the Majlis and the Council of Guardians must continue to let us serve Islam, the Islamic system, and the people in an atmosphere of bilateral understanding.' Ayatollah Jannati has said: 'Based on this introduction, can I have a malevolent attitude toward the Majlis? What caused me to make those statements in sermons of the Friday prayer were signs of greed in the Majlis in connection with some natural persons and legal entities. If this situation persists it may lead to the people's discontent, the revolutionary forces' disappointment, and the presentation of a bad image of the Majlis, and, more important, will cause God's dissatisfaction.' The secretary of the Council of Guardians has stated that he has only made a benevolent warning to prevent a greater problem, and his purpose is to save the honor of the Majlis, and I hope my explanation will remove the misunderstanding."

Seven Majlis Representatives' Sharp Criticism of Recent Statements of Ramazanzadeh

At the beginning of yesterday's open session, seven Majlis representatives protested against recent statements of Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, the administration spokesman, on Kurds.

In their written notification to the president that was read out by Majlis Speaker Haddad-Adel, these Majlis representatives described Ramazanzadeh's statements as "words provoking division."

This notification was presented by Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, Asadollah Tab'e, Seyed Ahmad Hosseini, Ahmad Bozorgian, Javad Jahangirzadeh, Rashdi Jalali-Jafari, and Mohammad Ali Hayati, the Majlis representatives from Tabriz, Miandoab and Shahindezh and Takab, Sirjan, Sabzevar, Orumiyeh, Karaj, and Lamerd, respectively.

Mohammad Abbaspour, the Majlis representative from Orumiyeh, notified the president of the head of the Environment Protection Organization's abstention from cooperating with members of the Seventh Majlis and her unnecessary visits to other countries.

In his written notification to the president, he asked the president to investigate the issue and requested Ms Masoumeh Ebtekar to allow environmental projects to be executed, especially in Orumiyeh. In this notification, Abbaspour asked the head of the Environment Protection Organization to revise her decision on the appointment of the new director of the environment protection department of West Azarbayjan.

On the other hand, Vali Maleki, the Majlis representative from Meshkinshahr, gave notification of the minister of commerce of the government's disregard of the Stabilization of Prices Law, and recent increase in prices. He protested against the increase in prices of fruits, foodstuff, and some other goods and asked for the strict implementation of the Stabilization of Prices Law by the Ministry of Commerce.

Mesbahi-Moqadam: The 1384 (2005-06) Budget Bill Is Inflationary

Gholam Reza Mesbahi-Moqadam, a member of the majority faction, said: "The inflation rate resulting from the 1384 (2005-06) budget bill will be higher than the inflation rate caused by the 1383 (2004-05) budget bill." In his constitutional warning at yesterday's open session, the Majlis representative from Tehran pointed to a danger stemming from not setting the exchange rate of the rial versus foreign currencies in the budget bill, and he added: "Not approving the proposal on the exchange rate of the rial has made this budget bill more inflationary than last year's budget bill." He added: "The budget has increased by 34.5 percent as compared to last year's budget. While the 1383 budget objectives have not been realized, and its fund allocated for development activities was not spent, the budget bill of 1384 will produce even worse consequences." Mesbahi-Moqadam addressed the Majlis representatives and said: "Didn't you say you would reduce the inflation rate? However, by your decision this budget bill will be more inflationary. How will you answer protests?" Haddad-Adel refused the warning of Mesbahi-Moqadam and turned off his microphone.

The Majlis speaker said: "This warning must be made when the single article is presented." He added: "Viewing economic matters as either absolutely good or absolutely bad is not right. However, you can deliver lectures and write articles on this issue."

Jabbarzadeh: Taking Back the Majlis' Decision Is a Violation of the Bylaw

Esmail Jabbarzadeh, a member of the minority faction of the Majlis, said: "There is no article in the bylaw to allow the refusal of what was once approved by the Majlis representatives." In a procedural warning, he said: "The Majlis approved the allocation of 500 million dollars for the renovation of the transportation sector and 150 million dollars for controlling the waters flowing out of the country. In both cases, the Majlis representatives intended to forward warnings and express their opinions, but Mr Bahonar, the then president of the session, refused all warnings, and the two proposals were approved in this way." Jabbarzadeh said: "Mr Hassan Sobhani, the Majlis representative from Damghan, made a procedural warning and said the decisions are violations of the Fourth Development Plan and the Majlis bylaw and should be returned, but Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi, the then president of the session, refused his warning." The member of the Majlis Planning, Budget, and Auditing Committee said: "In the Majlis bylaw you cannot find any article allowing reconsideration of a decision that has approved. None of the Majlis' decisions can be reviewed." Jabbarzadeh said: "Only the Council of Guardians' refusal of the Majlis' decisions for their inconformity with the Constitution or Sharia (Islamic code of religious law) makes possible reviewing the decisions." Haddad-Adel replied: "I am fully aware of the processes and approve your warning. The presiding board will make a decision on this matter."

The Warning of a Majlis Representative Concerning Statements of a Member of the Minority Faction

Hassan Seyedabadi, the Majlis representative from Sabzevar and a member of the majority faction, made a warning concerning statements of Esmail Gerami-Moqadam, the Majlis representative from Bojnurd and a member of the minority faction.

At the beginning of yesterday's open session, the Majlis representative from Sabzevar made a procedural warning and said: "It is not right to say that the Seventh Majlis must apologize to the Sixth Majlis." When Seyedabadi intended to continue his speech, Haddad-Adel asked him not to continue speaking on such issues.

Following the warning of the Majlis representative from Sabzevar, some members of the majority faction including Mohammad Dehqan, the Majlis representative from Torqabeh and Chenaran, and Shokrollah Attarzadeh, the Majlis representative from Bushehr, addressed Gerami-Moqadam with a loud voice and protested against his statements.

Gerami-Moqadam had recently said that the Seventh Majlis must apologize to the Sixth Majlis for accusing members of the Sixth Majlis of pursuing only their own convenience.

The Majlis Representative From Kermanshah Protested Against Not Announcing the Names of Majlis Representatives Who Were Absent From Thursday's Session

Jahanbakhsh Amini, the Majlis representative from Kermanshah, protested against not announcing the names of Majlis representatives who were absent from Thursday's session.

At yesterday's open session, he said: "Mr Haddad-Adel! You said you don't know how you must treat the Majlis representatives who leave the floor without punching cards, but you must discuss this problem in the presiding board." Amini added: "On Thursday, because of the absence of some Majlis representatives, the Majlis session could not be held. Mr Bahonar said only 36 members were on leave and five had taken sick leave. Therefore, the members who did not attend Thursday's session without having a leave of absence numbered 55." Amini said: "Mr Bahonar said he would announce names of the absent Majlis representatives, but he did do so. Therefore, it must be concluded that the presiding board has given leave of absence to 100 Majlis representatives!" He added: "By announcing the names of absent Majlis representatives, the presiding board must defend the prestige of the Majlis representatives who attended sessions."

In response to Amini, Majlis Speaker Haddad-Adel said: "I hope we will do our job with your cooperation, God willing."

Debates on the Budget Notes Continued

The Majlis representatives required the government to buy green tea leaves and dried tea at guaranteed rates in order to settle the problem facing tea planters.

At yesterday morning's open session, the Majlis continued the consideration of the budget bill of 1384 and discussed paragraph B of note 7 of the bill. A number of the Majlis representatives proposed adding a rider to this paragraph, which was approved by 168 votes.

According to this decision the government shall buy green leaves of tea and dried tea at guaranteed rates that will be determined by the Economic Council.

Paragraph B of note 7 of the budget bill states: "Changes in tariffs and balances to be paid to the Organization for Supporting Consumers and Producers from the beginning of 1384 for the import of each kilogram of tea and other agricultural products in bulk and animal and poultry foods shall be determined, with the observance of hygienic regulations and after calculations to distinguish imported goods from domestic products, in a manner that prevents special persons including state or private legal entities and natural persons from obtaining special privileges and causes meeting domestic needs through the importation of goods."

At the 18th session held on the budget bill, the Majlis representatives began debates on budget expenditures in note 7 on the interaction with the world economy. Based on this, up to 81.908 billon rials will be spent for the acquisition of capital assets and providing public services in border markets. This fund will be put at the disposal of provinces. In the next year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be permitted to expend 10 billion rials for studies on improving productivity and interaction with the world economy.

The Majlis representatives continued the budget debate by discussing paragraph G of note 7.

Based on a status that will be approved by the council of ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will expend the fund to encourage studies for the purpose of improving the ministry's activities for expanding Iran's presence in the world market and increasing Iran's share of world trade in the field of trading goods and technical and engineering services, and also attracting foreign resources and investments, and also increasing productivity for the purpose of having a better interaction with the world economy.

According to part 5 of paragraph C of note 7, 85 billion rials will be allocated to the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Currencies to buy equipment and facilities needed for combating smugglers of goods and foreign currencies. Twenty percent of this fund shall be spent for making advertisements and educational notices (chiefly through the Voice and Vision (state-run radio and TV)), and the press and cinema deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance), education, and research.

The Majlis representatives also considered the paragraph added to note 7.

Based on the part of the note on expenditures, the government shall only import new automobiles that meet nationally and internationally accepted standards and also provide after-sale services for these automobiles.

In the next year, the government shall pay its debts to organizations and funds by selling the government's movable and immovable properties, the government's stocks in corporations, and the stocks of parent companies and their affiliate companies and subsidiaries.

Then, the Majlis representatives considered paragraph G of note 8 of the bill.

According to this paragraph, the government's debts to the State Retirement Organization, Social Security Organization, and the Astan-e Qods-e Razavi (institute managing endowments of the Shrine of Imam Reza)are 9,350 billion rials, 9,350 billion rials, and 1,150 billion rials, respectively.

Furthermore, the government's debts to municipalities, the Medical Services Insurance Organization, Basijis Reserve Fund, and the Social Security Fund of the Armed Forces amount to 500 billion rials, 2,000 billion rials, 300 billion rials, and 2,000 billion rials, respectively.

The government was also permitted to allocate 1,100 billion rials out of the stocks referred to in this paragraph to the Fund for the Restoration and Utilization of Historical and Cultural Buildings and Places. The stocks mentioned in this paragraph include the government's shares corporations, specialized parent companies and their affiliates and subsidiaries, and 20 percent of the stocks of the Petrochemical Company, the Oil Products Refinement and Distribution Company, and cement and steel companies.

Hambastegi, 9/3/2005, p 2

The Reaction of the Minority Faction to the Allegations Made by Two Fundamentalist Newspapers Against a Lobby Correspondent

The publication of the pay slips of members of the Seventh Majlis and reports on payments to the Majlis representatives in newspapers met with protests of some fundamentalists and the Majlis speaker.

According to the lobby correspondent of Hambastegi, following the publication of reports on the payment of 3.5 million tumans by the Majlis speaker to the Majlis representatives to pay aid to natural persons and legal entities and the payment of the New Year bonus and benefits amounting to 11 million rials, some fundamentalist figures of the Seventh Majlis protested against the press for publishing their salaries, and on the other hand, the press close to these Majlis representatives, in an unprofessional and immoral attempt, accused the lobby correspondent of ILNA (Iranian Labor News Agency) and Hambastegi of stealing the pay slips of the Majlis representatives from their boxes. Therefore, the story of payments to the Majlis representatives and recent efforts of the conservative press were the pivot of yesterday's warnings and expressions of opinion on the floor and lobbies of the Majlis.

Imani: Some Fundamentalists Are Worried About the Attitude Adopted by Keyhan and Resalat

A fundamentalist member of the Majlis said: "Keyhan's and Resalat's allegations against the correspondent of ILNA and Hambastegi and accusing him of stealing the pay slip of a Majlis representative is a sign of these dailies' monopolistic behavior." The Majlis representative from Khorramabad said: "When Resalat denies the travel of the Majlis representatives to Kish and writes they went on a trip to Qeshm instead, we can expect nothing else." He added: "These dailies have gone too far, so that instead of acting as the wakeful eye of the nation they have turned into speakers of a certain group of the Majlis representatives, and instead of regretting the Majlis' failure to hold a budget session because of the lack of a quorum, they try to ignore the problem and attribute the cause of the problem to something else and write: 'the Majlis session was adjourned not because of the Majlis representatives' trip to Kish Island, because they have gone to Qeshm!' What difference does it make? It is important that some Majlis representatives have preferred spending time on a beautiful island instead of participating in fiery debates on the floor." Imani said: "Some fundamentalists are worried about the attitude adopted by Keyhan and Resalat, but we have no choice..." He said: "A number of the Majlis representatives are dissatisfied with some expenditures in the Majlis, and correspondents are free to reflect opinions of these Majlis representatives."

The Minority Faction's Protest Against the Presiding Board

Following the protest of two fundamentalist Majlis representatives against the publication of their pay slip and the Majlis speaker describing the publication of the pay slip by the press as an attempt to discredit the Majlis, a number of members of the minority faction submitted a notice to the Majlis speaker by going to the presiding board to express their protest against the present trend. Mohammad Reza Tabesh, Valiollah Sojapourian, Hadi Haqshenas, and Nouroddin Pirmoazen were the Majlis representatives that went to the presiding board and protested against the behavior of some members of the majority faction and the press close to them toward the publication of the pay slips of the Majlis representatives. The presence of these Majlis representatives at the tribunal of the presiding board led to a dispute between members of the minority faction and members of the presiding board that plunged the floor into unrest for some minutes. It should be added that the minority faction, in a notice to the presiding board, had protested against the allegations made by the conservative press against a lobby correspondent and accusing him of stealing the pay slip of a Majlis representative from his personal box. After the dispute between the minority faction's members and the presiding board, Shojapourian, a member of the minority faction, told correspondents: "As a Majlis representative who criticizes slogans and performance of the Seventh Majlis, I put my pay slip at the disposal of ILNA. If the Majlis representatives think their salary and benefits are compatible with their slogans in election campaigns, they must not fear the publication of their pay slip in the press." He also disproved the allegation made by the conservative press about the quality of a correspondent's access to the pay slip and described it as an instance of completely unprofessional behavior. He said: "These unprofessional behaviors do not surprise us, but the presiding board is expected to react in favor of free circulation of information and against the creation of an insecure atmosphere for the correspondents in the Majlis."

Kamran: There Are Objections to Some Expenditures

Hassan Kamran, a fundamentalist Majlis representative from Isfahan and a member of the supervisory board of the press, told correspondents: "I will investigate the allegation made by Resalat against a correspondent."

Resalat, 9/3/2005, p 3

On the Sidelines of the Majlis

A Majlis Representative Protested Against the New Year Bonus and Benefits for Members of the Cabinet

A Majlis representative asked for the publication of clear information about the New Year bonus and benefits paid to members of the cabinet. Following organized attempts of some reformist press against the Seventh Majlis and their aggrandizement of the New Year bonus paid to the Majlis representatives, yesterday a Majlis representative, who was talking to correspondents, asked for the publication of clear information about payments to members of the cabinet. This Majlis representative said: "Last Shahrivar (August-September), the cabinet approved the distribution of 100 million tumans as a reward among its members, and each member of the cabinet received about 3.5 million tumans, but this report was censored by the reformist press." He said: "Last week, a fund of 110 million tumans to be spent for urgent expenditures of members of the cabinet was approved again, and this fund will be paid as the New Year bonus of the cabinet members. My question is, why is the press that has concentrated their efforts to discredit the Majlis nowadays silent about these reports?" It should be added that Mohsen Kuhkan, the spokesman of the presiding board, in an interview with the news program of Channel 2, pointed to this issue and asked for the publication of clear information about the sums paid to members of the cabinet.

I Both Receive the New Year Bonus and Am Opposed To It!

A Majlis representative who is also a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front confessed to his cooperation with a correspondent by the name of .... (ellipses as published) to discredit the Seventh Majlis! Three days after the unauthorized access of a correspondent to the personal boxes of the Majlis representatives to obtain their pay slip and failed attempts to persuade members of the minority faction that such an offense has been committed, suddenly Shojapourian, the Majlis representative from Behbahan and a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, assumed the responsibility for putting the pay slip (containing the payment for the New Year bonus) at the disposal of a correspondent. He said his discontent with the Seventh Majlis had caused him to do so. He did not say if he criticized the Sixth Majlis when it paid enormous sums as the New Year bonus to its members. Furthermore, he did not say why he has received these funds in the last four years that he has been a member of parliament if he is really opposed to such payments.

While the Majlis representative from Behbahan has assumed the responsibility for giving the pay slip to the press, it was heard that another member of the minority faction decided to make such a claim. Interestingly, the given correspondent had claimed he had found the pay slip on the ground!!

The Minority Faction Became a Supporter of Freedom Overnight!

In an astonishing attempt, the minority faction asked for guaranteeing the security of the correspondents doing their jobs!! Yesterday, ILNA, whose correspondent has taken the immoral action of stealing the pay slip of a Majlis representative to provide grounds for making destructive propaganda against the Majlis, published a report according to which members of the minority faction have written a notice to the presiding board and have asked for stopping the creation of an insecure atmosphere for lobby correspondents. The report does not say how members of the minority faction have become concerned about an atmosphere of insecurity for correspondents, and if members of the minority faction are so liberal and support the freedom of correspondents why they were silent when the presiding board of the Sixth Majlis imposed various restrictions on correspondents, and why they did not make such poses in those days. Thanking the minority faction that has become a supporter of the freedom of lobby correspondents after the four-year term of the Sixth Majlis, here we point to some efforts made by the presiding board of the Sixth Majlis to impose restrictions on the correspondents who were critical of the Sixth Majlis:

1 -- Cameras of the Voice and Vision that freely covered sessions for 20 years and filmed events on the floor and lobbies faced restrictions in the Sixth Majlis.

2 -- Keyhan daily was insulted more than 150 times, explicitly or implicitly, in speeches and procedural warnings.

3 -- In the first year of the Sixth Majlis, the correspondent of Resalat was not admitted onto the floor and he could attend sessions only after a month of quarreling, and finally the extremists agreed to let the correspondent in only with the intervention of the then Majlis speaker and some senior government officials. We wish members of the minority faction -- who have become standard-bearers of freedom of correspondents nowadays -- had criticized the undemocratic behavior of their Islamic Iran Participation Front friends in the Sixth Majlis!

Organized Propaganda To Discredit the Seventh Majlis

The Majlis speaker said propaganda to discredit the Seventh Majlis continues.

In response to the warning of Mohammad Hassan Jamshidi, the Majlis representative from Behshahr, Dr Haddad-Adel said: "Those who have decided to discredit the Seventh Majlis use any excuse to set in motion their plan." The Majlis speaker said: "The payments to the Majlis representatives are even less than the payments in other terms of the Majlis, and are also based on certain reasons." He added: "The people expect the Majlis representatives to work more, and the Majlis representatives also must give a New Year bonus to the persons who work in the Majlis representatives' offices but are not government employees." Haddad-Adel added: "I ask the people and the Majlis representatives not to fall into the traps laid in the way of the Seventh Majlis." He said the Majlis representatives must not busy themselves with these disputes.

Yesterday, Mohammad Hassan Jamshidi, the Majlis representative from Behshahr, concerning propaganda of the press against the Seventh Majlis, said: "I have been a member of the Majlis in three terms, and everybody is aware of my properties." He added: "Frequently, persons tried to lure us by paying several million-tuman checks, but we refused these checks." He asked the presiding board to stop attempts to defame the Majlis representatives.

Make an Apology to Which Majlis?!

The Majlis representative from Sabzevar protested against insulting statements of the Majlis representative from Bojnurd. Yesterday Hassan Seyedabadi, the Majlis representative from Sabzevar, made a procedural warning in which he pointed to statements of the Majlis representative from Bojnurd who had said that the Seventh Majlis must apologize to the Sixth Majlis, and said: "It is not right to say that the Seventh Majlis must apologize to the Sixth Majlis." The Majlis representative from Sabzevar said: "In the Sixth Majlis I witnessed that some Majlis representatives really supported the domestic opposition." Approving the concerns of the Majlis representative from Sabzevar, Dr Haddad-Adel said: "The Seventh Majlis is much more dignified than to be compared with the Sixth Majlis." The Majlis speaker said: "I was in the Sixth Majlis too, and was aware of these matters, and the people know these matters well." The Majlis speaker asked the Majlis representative from Sabzevar not to continue his warning.

Some Majlis representatives also criticized Gerami-Moqadam and asked him to apologize for his recent statements.

The Majlis representative from Bojnurd had asked for the Seventh Majlis to apologize to the Sixth Majlis, while the Sixth Majlis during its four-year term had become a shelter for opponents of the Islamic system and the source of tension and conflict with other institutions of the Islamic system, and these policies of the Sixth Majlis only led to the mistrust of committed forces and pleased foreign media and the opposition.

Source: Iran press review from BBC Monitoring in Persian 9 Mar 05

) BBC Monitoring


SBD

[PhantomSgt]

[SBD]

While I agree with everything you are saying, the situation is a bit more complicated than what most of us have been told or even taught for that matter. Have you ever wondered how the United States can run such high deficets without becoming bankrupt??

Before the war in Iraq started, I wondered about that exact thing. I wanted to find out why France and Germany were so against us regarding the situation in Iraq and I came to the conclusion that it had something to do with money and power. Needless to say, I was shocked when I found out the truth.

Ever since President Nixon officially removed the US dollar from the Gold Standard, the dollar was floated on the currency market. Under normal circumstances, the dollar would fluctuate in value based on the GNP of our country in comparison to our debt. This is not the case with the US dollar because the US Dollar is the defacto Reserve Currency of every nation in the world because Oil sales are denominated in US Dollars. What this means is that every country in the world has US dollars in reserve to purchase oil for their country and every country needs oil for production.

This little known/taught economic fact gives the US the ability to issue IOU's to other countries which can be redeemed for Oil purchases allowing the US to run huge deficits with no real consequence. That is as long as the dollar remains the Reserve Currency for oil.

Around November 2000, Saddam demanded that the all transactions in the Oil for Food program be sold in the Euro rather than the dollar and be deposited in PBR Bank of France. At the time, everyone thought Saddam was just making a small protest against the US and ultimately Iraq was going to lose money since the Euro was only worth about 80 cents. That is until September 11, 2001 when the dollar and the stock market went on a freefall after the terrorist attack. It is believed Saddam made off like a bandit with over 10 Billion in Euro's in the French Bank that helped the value of the Euro climb.

At this point, France and Grmany have their opportunity to send the US economy down a hole that no one would be able to crawl out of and appoint the EU as the new super power. All they had to do was convince OPEC to switch the Reserve Currency from the US dollar to the Euro. Europe trades more with the Middle East than the US and Saddam had already been on board, Iran wouldn't need any convincing to make the switch. The only stumbling block would be Saudi Arabia. Therefore their policy became to support the terrorist and their regimes by opposing everything the US was trying to do.

To put this a little more in perspective, if OPEC switched the Reserve Currency to the Euro, every country in the world would have to return their dollars to the US and exchange them for the Euro. That would include all those IOU's which could no longer be used in exchange for Oil. America would become a third world country overnight.

I thank God for giving us President George Bush to see us through this because I don't believe anyone else would have done what needed to be done to protect us from our "so-called" European Allies.


SBD

More information on the Petro Dollar:
SADDAM?S LAST LAUGH

The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War With Iraq:
A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth