Turkey to US: Audio and Video Recordings Indicate Saudis Killed Khashoggi

Disturbingly, Turkish officials indicate that they have audio and video recordings that indicate that Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and then dismembered.  Donald Trump's reaction so far?  A shrug of the shoulders and statements that be would not want to loose $100 billion in arms sales to the dictatorial kingdom.  Sadly, it is further proof that human rights have no importance under the Trump/Pence regime.  Lest we forget, the Trump/Pence regime voted against a UN resolution that condemned nations with death penalties for gay sex.  One can only hope that Republican members of the  Senate will finally  deem that Trump has gone too far and act to impose punishments on Saudi Arabia.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.

The audio recording in particular provides some of the most persuasive and gruesome evidence that the Saudi team is responsible for Khashoggi’s death, the officials said.

“The voice recording from inside the embassy lays out what happened to Jamal after he entered,” said one person with knowledge of the recording who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive intelligence.

“You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic,” this person said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.”

A second person briefed on the recording said men could be heard beating Khashoggi.
The existence of such evidence would explain why Turkish officials were quick to accuse Saudi Arabia of killing Khashoggi. But Turkish officials are wary of releasing the recordings, fearing they could divulge how the Turks spy on foreign entities in their country, the officials said.

It’s not clear that U.S. officials have seen the footage or listened to the audio, but Turkish officials have described their contents to their American counterparts.

[Jared] Kushner has tried to promote Mohammed to skeptical national security officials, who have long viewed him as an impetuous and ruthless leader who has an overly simplistic view of the complex challenges the United States faces in the Middle East. On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers were frustrated that the White House hadn’t disclosed more information about Khashoggi before and after he disappeared. Some lawmakers said the administration should consider curtailing sales of weapons to the kingdom. “Arms sales are certainly going to be, I think, a huge concern if there is responsibility that is irrefutable,” Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said of any potential evidence showing a Saudi role in Khashoggi’s suspected killing.

Gardner said that the Trump administration had left senators in the dark about intelligence pointing to Saudi Arabia and demanded that officials give lawmakers a fuller account of what they knew of possible threats to Khashoggi’s safety before he disappeared.

On Wednesday, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle wrote to Trump and asked him to impose sanctions against anyone found responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance, including Saudi leaders. The lawmakers invoked the Global Magnitsky Act, giving the president 120 days to make a decision.

While Trump dithers and indicates that he wants to look the other way, members of the business community are showing more moral fortitude and are moving to reduce ties to Saudi Arabia.  This also from the Post:

The growing number of Western companies distancing themselves from Saudi Arabia over the alleged killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi is undermining the kingdom’s push to diversify its economy beyond oil and provide more opportunities for its young and often restive population.

By Friday afternoon, nearly a dozen tech, media and entertainment companies had backed out of a Saudi investment conference to be held this month, as dismay over Saudi agents’ alleged murder of Khashoggi spread to companies that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has tried to woo.

One firm that was among the recipients of the $27 million the kingdom spent on U.S. lobbying last year announced that it would stop its representation. “We are terminating our relationship,” said Richard Mintz, managing director of the Harbor Group.

The companies and executives backing away from the kingdom, including Uber Technologies, Viacom and at least two prominent tech investors, are the very ones the crown prince has sought to cultivate over the past year as the kingdom attempts to modernize its economy and ensure jobs for its young population.

Let's hope the business community continues to cut ties to the Saudis who, in my view, have never been true allies to America.

What Happens if Assad Falls in Syria?

The news continues to be inundated with coverage of the military action that took out Bin Laden. But perhaps even more significant to the shape of politics and foreign affairs is the issue of what happens if Bashar al-Assad's regime follows the pattern of Tunisia and Egypt. Some say that the fall of Assad could trigger a civil war which could spread throughout the Middle East as minority Shiite governments are faced with an uprising of majority Sunni populations. Meanwhile, the violence continues and protesters do not appear willing to allow things to slide back to the old ways. I have long believed that once a population learns that things can be different - the Internet has made this far easier than in past decades - it is hard for dictators to put the genie back in the bottle. The USA definitely finds itself walking a tightrope. Here are highlights from a Washington Post story that looks at Syria and what might unfold:
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The toppling of the presidents in Tunisia and Egypt precipitated a tumult of revolutionary fervor that promises to transform the Middle East, but the potential collapse of the Syrian regime could wreak havoc of a very different kind.
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In Syria, the fall of President Bashar al-Assad would unleash a cataclysm of chaos, sectarian strife and extremism that spreads far beyond its borders, threatening not only the entrenched rulers already battling to hold at bay a clamor for democratic change but also the entire balance of power in the volatile region, analysts and experts say.
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“If the regime collapses you will have civil war and it will spread throughout the region,” engulfing Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and beyond, said Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. “A collapse of the Syrian regime is a doomsday scenario for the entire Middle East.”
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Many believe that is why the international community, including the United States, has offered such a tempered response to the bloodshed in Syria, the latest Arab country to be swept up in the unrest roiling the region. NATO warplanes are bombing Libya to protect civilians there, but there have been no calls even for Assad to step aside, despite an increasingly violent crackdown by the Syrian military in which at least 550 people have died.
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Part of the problem is that so little is known about what would come next should Assad be ousted. Egypt and Tunisia took great leaps into uncertainty when their regimes fell, but in each case the army, a known quantity, asserted its independence and seized power to oversee the transition.
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In Syria, the army is so tightly bound to Assad’s Alawite clan that the fall of the regime would almost certainly lead to its disintegration, setting the stage for an Iraq-style implosion in which the state collapses, a majority seeks to exact revenge on a minority and regional powers pile in to assert their own interests, said Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma, who writes the blog Syria Comment.
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“For the Obama administration, the last thing they want, just at the time they’re withdrawing from Iraq, is a destabilized Syria that would lead to open season for jihadis to cross the border into Iraq,” said David Lesch, professor of Middle East history at Trinity University in Texas.
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Iraq’s own Shiite government also views with alarm the upheaval across the border, mindful that the collapse of Syria’s Shiite minority government would almost certainly herald the rise of a Sunni state on its doorstep, and perhaps renewed support for Sunni insurgents still resisting the Shiite ascendancy in Baghdad.
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To the north, Turkey is concerned about the potential aspirations of Syria’s Kurds, who could seek to assert their identity and claims to statehood as Iraq’s Kurds did after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
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And the Persian Gulf states, though long on frosty terms with Damascus, also are nervous about the prospect of sectarian conflict, which could leach into Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. For Saudi Arabia, there is also the worry that the assertion of Sunni power in Syria could inspire restive domestic Sunni radicals to intensify their opposition to the monarchy.
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Syrian activists bristle at the suggestion that their movement is dominated by Islamists, and say their revolution is no different from the one in Egypt, in which ordinary people spontaneously took to the streets to vent their frustrations with corruption, nepotism and the ruthlessness of the security forces. “I feel disgusted by how the superpowers make these calculations based on their own interests, while my own people are dying on the streets,” said Mohammed Ali Atassi, a prominent journalist and filmmaker currently in Beirut.
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With its long record of sponsoring multiple, shadowy extremist groups in pursuit of foreign policy goals, the Syrian regime is also in a position to unleash considerable chaos across the region should it feel unduly threatened, analysts say. And that, according to Khashan, the American University of Beirut professor, makes it unlikely the Syrian regime will fall. “Because, to tell the truth, no one wants it to fall, including Israel, the U.S. and the gulf states,” he said.

U.S. and Allied Forces Fire Back on Gadhafi's Forces

After the Chimperator's fools errand in Iraq I will concede that I am a bit gun shy on more additional U.S. involvement in the Middle East or North Africa. That said, I have real problems with the use of military forces against civilians and unconscionable brutality by a tyrant who shows signs of insanity and a total disregard for the lives of his people. At this point in time, I therefore hesitantly support the actions of the USA and its allies to stop the slaughter of civilians by megalomaniac Moammar Gadhafi. I shudder at the needless loss of lives and damage to Libya's infrastructure. It speaks volumes when a so-called leader is willing to murder civilians and destroy his country in order to maintain personal dictatorial power. CNN has these developments on events in Libya:
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Explosions and anti-aircraft fire thundered in the skies above Tripoli early Sunday, but it was not clear whether they resulted from another round of cruise missile attacks by allies determined to stop Moammar Gadhafi's offensive against Libyan opposition forces.
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American, French and British military forces, convinced that Gadhafi was not adhering to a United Nations-mandated cease-fire, hammered Libyan military positions with missiles and fighter jets in the first phase of an operation that will include enforcement of a no-fly zone.

More than 110 Tomahawk missiles fired from American and British ships and submarines hit about 20 Libyan air and missile defense targets in western portions of the country, U.S. Vice Adm. William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing.
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The U.S. will conduct a damage assessment of the sites, which include SA-5 missiles and communications facilities. A senior U.S. military official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the cruise missiles, which fly close to the ground or sea at about 550 miles per hour, landed near Misrata and Tripoli.
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The salvo, in an operation dubbed "Odyssey Dawn," was meant "to deny the Libyan regime from using force against its own people," said Gortney.
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U.S. Navy photos showed flashes of light and smoke funnels as missiles soared from a destroyer into the night sky.
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Earlier, French fighter jets deployed over Libya fired at a military vehicle Saturday, the first strike against Gadhafi's military forces, which earlier attacked the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
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An eyewitness in Misrata said Gadhafi's forces are targeting fuel and power stations in an effort to make citizens believe the damage is being done by coalition forces. The eyewitness, who was not identified for security reasons, said people celebrated allied airstrikes on loyalist positions in the city. CNN could not verify the account.
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Shortly after the first missile attacks, U.S. President Barack Obama informed the American people of the efforts by a "broad coalition."
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"The use of force is not our first choice," the president said from Brasilia, Brazil. "It is not a choice I make lightly. But we cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his own people that there will be no mercy."
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I have little confidence in Obama. However, from the news reports I have seen to date, I believe that intervention in Libya is perhaps the right thing to do. I shudder to think what Gadhafi will to those deemed rebels should he prevail. Where it will all end is anyone's guess.

Saudi Arabia Sends Troops Into Bahrain

As most of the world sits transfixed watching the still unfolding disaster in Japan in horror, unsettling events are taking place in the Middle East. Namely, the Saudi autocrats sending troops into Bahrain to aid the Sunni monarchy in subduing the Shi'ite majority. Obviously, if things ignite further, the majority in Saudi Arabia may decide that a homegrown uprising is needed as well. Meanwhile, the USA, because of its own severe dependence on foreign oil and the need for bases to support Chimperator Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is left trying to walk a tight rope that may come back to bite it in the ass either way things play out in the longer term. Huffington Post looks at this development. It's a mess and the USA still has no longer term plan for energy independence. Here are some highlights:
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Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to help put down weeks of protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island called a declaration of war.
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Analysts saw the troop movement into Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, as a mark of concern in Saudi Arabia that concessions by the country's [Bahrain's] monarchy could inspire the conservative Sunni kingdom's own Shi'ite minority. . . .
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Saudi Arabia, which is worried about any spillover to restive Shi'ites in its own Eastern Province, the center of its oil industry.
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Bahraini opposition groups including the largest Shi'ite party Wefaq said the move was an attack on defenseless citizens. "We consider the entry of any soldier or military machinery into the Kingdom of Bahrain's air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation," they said in a statement.
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"This real threat about the entry of Saudi and other Gulf forces into Bahrain to confront the defenseless Bahraini people puts the Bahraini people in real danger and threatens them with an undeclared war by armed troops."
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Any intervention by Gulf Arab troops in Bahrain is highly sensitive on the island, where the Shi'ite Muslim majority complains of discrimination by the Sunni Muslim royal family. Most Gulf Arab ruling families are Sunni and intervention might encourage a response from non-Arab Iran, the main Shi'ite power in the region. Accusations already abound of Iranian backing for Shi'ite activists in Bahrain -- charges they deny.
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"The Bahraini unrest could potentially turn into regional sectarian violence that goes beyond the borders of the particular states concerned," said Ghanem Nuseibeh, partner at consultancy Cornerstone Global.
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Wefaq is calling for a new government and a constitutional monarchy that vests the judicial, executive and legislative authority with the people. A coalition of much smaller Shi'ite parties are calling for the overthrow of the monarchy -- demands that scare Sunnis who fear this would benefit Iran.
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Will the USA once again support brutal autocrats over rank and file citizens demanding a form of government based on the founding principles of America? Yes, principles such as freedom of speech, the right to free assembly - and maybe even freedom of religion.

The Arab Gdansk - An Autocracy Falls

Roger Cohen has a column in the New York Times that conjectures on where the popular overthrow of the despotic government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali (pictured at right) in Tunis might lead in the rest of the Arab world. A world, except for the dominance of Islam rather than Christianity, that mirrors the type of government the extreme Christianists in the USA favor with centralized dictatorial power and at least outward strict religious fundamentalism. If one wants to know what a theocracy in this country would look like if the Tony Perkins and James Dobsons had their way, Saudi Arabia is perhaps the best model, although I'm not sure who the Christianists would want to take the throne. My money would be on Dobson since he surely has a large enough ego and plenty of groveling sheep like followers. Getting back to the Arab world, dictators and religious fundamentalism have retarded progress and modernity for years. The question now is whether a desire for freedom and opportunity will cause other populations to mirror the events in Tunisia and demand an overthrow of the fossilized regimes that benefit few but the ruling class. Here are highlights from Cohen's column:
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Now, the Tunisian dictator of 23 years, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, has fled to the mother lode of regional absolutism, Saudi Arabia, driven out by new social media and old-fashioned rage. Protesters communicating on Facebook and irked by what WikiLeaks had revealed of the Ben Ali family’s Caligula-like indulgence were roused to shatter the security state of yet another Arab despot.

The unseating through popular revolt of an Arab strongman is something new: It has already caused ripples from Amman to Cairo, from the Gulf to Tripoli — and it will cause more.
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This signal event, of still uncertain outcome, is long overdue. Arab regimes, many of them U.S. allies, have lost touch with young populations. Their ossified, repressive, nepotistic, corrupt systems have proved blind to the awakening stirred by satellite TV networks, Facebook posts, tweets, Web videos and bloggers.
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They have proved skilled only at provoking guffaws at their regular “elections” and fostering the rise of extreme Islamism among populations left with no refuge but religion. Their “stability” has been sustained at the price of paralysis. It has depended on a readiness to terrorize and torture. These Arab holdovers, moribund as the waxworks at Madame Tussauds, are ripe for transformation, the anciens régimes of 2011.
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The U.S. responsibility for this Arab failure has been significant: America has preferred the stable despot to the Islamist risk of democracy (despite the fact that the only likely remedy to the seductive illusion of political Islamism is the responsibility of government). It is now imperative that the Obama administration and the European Union stand behind Tunisia’s democratic forces.
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Last month, after a visit to Beirut, I wrote a column called “The captive Arab mind” about the psychological cost of repression in the region: the reflex of blaming others, the perception of conspiracies everywhere and the paralyzing fear of acting or thinking for oneself. Tunis can be Act One in the liberation of the Arab mind.
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Western double-standards in the supposed interest of Arab stability have proved a recipe for radicalization. The West should honor Tunisian bravery with some of its own. Dynasties rusting on their thrones are not the answer to Arab disquiet.
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Dictators, corrupt monarchs, Popes, and religious extremists of all faith have a common denominator - they all seek to crush out independent thought and logic. I hope logic and independent thinking win the day in Tunisia.

Is Religion a Force for Good in the World? The Answer is No, in My View'

In Canada, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens debated the question of whether or not religion is a force for good in the world. Blair argued that it is while Hitchens - who won the debate based on the audience - argued that it was not. I'd go further and say that all too often, religion is a completely toxic force for downright evil with its most devote followers best identified by their complete intolerance and hatred toward those who do not subscribe to their particular belief system. Indeed, throughout history countless millions have died because of religion. A large 23 nation poll ironically showed Saudi Arabia - where religion is a particularly noxious force - as the nation where the population most said religion was a force for good. Laid back and tolerant Sweden had the lowest percentage of respondents that viewed religion favorably. Yes, there are good people in every religion, but overall, I see the world as a better place without religion or at least where religion is barred from intersecting with the civil laws. Here are highlights from the BBC on the debate and survey:
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Mr Blair, a Catholic convert, said faith was a force for good and it was "futile" to attempt to drive it out. But Mr Hitchens, who is terminally ill with cancer, argued religion forced people into doing terrible things. In a vote after the debate, the audience voted two-to-one in Mr Hitchens' favour.
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Mr Hitchens, who has previously described Christianity, Judaism and Islam as the "real axis of evil", said religion was "a cruel experiment whereby we are created sick and ordered to be well". Humans gained little, and compromised their freedom, by acting like sheep, said Mr Hitchens.
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He said religions created a "celestial dictatorship" which was "greedy for praise from dawn to dusk". He won a laugh from the audience and Mr Blair when he compared such an authority to the North Korean leadership. In the end, the audience seemed more impressed, and perhaps more entertained, by Mr Hitchens, says our correspondent, and he won the debate by a margin of two to one.
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The Ipsos poll, conducted in September, found that Europe was the region most doubtful about the benefits of religion, with just 19% in Sweden agreeing that it was a force for good. At the other end of the scale, in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, it was seen as a positive force by more than 90% of those questioned.
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Within North America, there was a pronounced divide. In Canada, only 36% agreed with the positive view of religion whereas 64% saw it as a negative force - figures almost exactly the reverse of those in the US.
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I find it noteworthy that far less religious Canada has a better social safety net for its citizens than does the far more religious USA. One would think that if Christians truly practiced what they claim to profess, it should be the exact opposite. This fact alone shows the falsity of the claim that religion is a force for good - especially since in the USA it's the conservative Christians who seem to most oppose government social programs for the poor and less fortunate.

Is Something Happening in Iran?

As regular readers know, I have some time been following the ongoing developments in Iran and I candidly hope that the growing grass roots opposition will ultimately succeed and over throw the Islamic dictatorship currently ruling Iran. Given the nation's fabulous history, it truly deserves something better than the current crop of religious extremists at the helm of the nation. Obviously, if the Islamic dictatorship - which has been supporting Islamic extremists throughout the Middle East - is overthrown, a major realignment of power and political activism will unfold across the Middle East, including in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan. While the USA seems to be doing nothing to support the opposition elements in Iran, one can only pray that these brave opponents to the current regime are successful in the long run. Here are some highlights from the Timesonline:

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Iran’s panicking regime is once again seeking to suppress the Green Movement by decapitating it. Just as it did after June’s hotly-disputed presidential election, it is arresting high-profile reformists, academics and journalists who support the opposition. It hesitates to detain Mir Hossein Mousavi lest millions of his supporters take to the streets, but it has locked up his brother-in-law and is widely suspected of killing his nephew. It cannot arrest Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate, as she is abroad, but it has imprisoned her sister.
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The tactic will prove as futile now as it did in June. Decapitation will not work because the opposition is a bottom-up movement run not by Mr Mousavi or Mehdi Karroubi, its nominal leaders, but by its grassroots members. It is a massive campaign of civil disobedience.
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“Ahmadinejad, Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards still don’t get it,” said one Iranian academic. “The Green Movement is a decentralised popular front run by local cells and local leaderships across the country. The main opposition figures do not control it. They are spiritual leaders, but do not provide any direction in regard to demonstrations or slogans.” . . . . Iranians are doing these things not because they are told to, but because they choose to. For a reviled regime that rules by diktat, that has to bus in supporters to fill its rallies, that must be a difficult concept to grasp.
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Protests are now common not just in Tehran, but in conservative cities such as Mashad and Qom. The regime’s use of violence during the holy month of Muharram, its lack of respect for Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri after his recent death, and other sacriligious acts have eroded its support among the pious poor.
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One activist said: “Do Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and the elite of the Revolutionary Guards really think that I, or anyone else, after being beaten by the police, witnessing the murder of Iranians on the streets, hearing stories of rape and murder in the prisons, and knowing of electoral cheating, will ever remain passive and quiet? None of us will ever accept the rule of Ahmadinejad and Khamenei after what they have done.”

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God/Allah speed to the protesters and I hope they can bring down the dictatorship and install a democratic government by the own efforts - not those of an occupying power such as the USA is trying to do in Iraq.

Is Iran Reaching the Tipping Point?

As a history major and avid reader on Middle Eastern history from the time of Alexander the Great and earlier, I have followed current events in Iran with great interest just as I did the 1979 overthrow of the Shah of Iran - a huge mistake, given the brutal regime that replaced his rule. The 1979 revolution also had a person connection since my uncle for whom I am named was heading up an engineering project in Iran when the Shah fell. Fortunately, he and other Americans with him were able to flee on foot across the border to escape capture by the Islamic revolutionaries. Things seem to be nearing a boiling point in Iran and now some are saying that the Islamic dictatorship is worse than the regime of the Shah. One of those saying this is Mehdi Karroubi - an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections. Via a YouTube clip, Karroubi stated today as follows:
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It's now seven months since they so shamelessly violated the Constitution, principles of the Republic and Ayatollah Khomeini's repeated mantra of: "the people's vote is the last word" on the day of the election. During these months they responded to the peaceful protests of our nation by illegal mass arrests, show trials, horrific violence in custody and killings. [...] Sadly these illegal actions were repeated in the last 10 days.
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Last night, they attacked the very spot Ayatollah Khomeini gave his speeches from for years when former President Khatami was giving a speech. And today from early in the morning, on the day of Ashura of all days, they acted with devastating violence, injuring many and killing a few of our fellow citizens.
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Those who were at the forefront of the struggle against Shah's regime, vividly remember the days of Ashoura in 1963, when even the Shah respected the sanctity of the holy day and only arrested the leaders of the opposition in the following days.
How is it that a regime born out of Ashura protests [like that of 1963] is now sending bunches of thugs to the streets and shedding people's blood on the day of Ashura? ...
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I can only cry out Imam Hossein's cry [killed in the day of Ashura in 7th century]: "Even if you don't have faith at least respect other's freedom!"
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More on the continuing unrest, possible defection by at least some of the dictatorships and Karroubi's statement can be found here.

Iran Protests Spread in Heartland

As far too many Americans seem to be embracing the dumbing down of the populace favored by the Christianists - who need an ignorant populace to further their theocratic goals - and focus on moronic reality TV, Tiger Woods' moral lapse, what same sex couples do in the privacy of their bedrooms, etc., rather than significant current events and basis knowledge such as geography, critical developments continue to be playing out in Iran. Depending upon which side wins in the continuing protests, the entire calculus of the Middle East could change radically. Personally, I do not understand the mind set or the narrow world view that allows citizens to be so oblivious of important events overseas. While many Americans view Iran as a backward nation of religious extremists, the reality is that the nation has a long cultural history that is more than 10 times the age of that of the USA. I hope the protests lead to a succesful overthrow of the current government and a true democracy. The Los Angeles Times has a story on the continuing protests in Iran which I hope in time may topple the theocratic dictatorship that currently rules that nation. Here are some highlights:

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Large-scale protests spread in central Iranian cities Wednesday, offering the starkest evidence yet that the opposition movement that emerged from the disputed June presidential election has expanded beyond its base of mostly young, educated Tehran residents to at least some segments of the country's pious heartland.
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Demonstrations took place in Esfahan, a provincial capital and Iran's cultural center, and nearby Najafabad, the birthplace and hometown of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, whose death Saturday triggered the latest round of confrontations between the opposition movement and the government.
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Iranian authorities are clearly alarmed by the spread of the protests. Mojtaba Zolnour, a mid-ranking cleric serving as supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative to the elite and powerful Revolutionary Guard, acknowledged widespread unrest around the country.
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There were also reports Wednesday of protests breaking out on university campuses in Tehran and the eastern city of Mashhad, Iran's second largest, and a violent clash broke out in the southern city of Sirjan over the execution of two men accused of criminal activity. Tehran's mass postelection protests, which were crushed by authorities, drew Iranians from all walks of life.
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"What has happened was a religious reaction out of devotion and conviction" to Montazeri, he said. "While on the surface the unrest has no relation with the political agenda of the green [opposition] movement, more deeply it is part and parcel of the same social, political and economic dissatisfaction, and if it continues, it will become more a political than merely a religious backlash." "The limitation imposed on the reform movement by the government made it into a social movement which has become viable and gained momentum," he said.

Islamic Government in Iran Continues Barbaric Crackdown

I have not posted recently about Iran, but I continue to be sickened by news reports that the Islamic extremist government - with the help of its murderous thugs, far right clerics and kangaroo courts - is continuing to execute protesters, gays and minors. If these actions are the handiwork of religious individuals, then the world would be a far better place free of religion all together. Andrew Sullivan continues to be ahead of the curve in keeping focus on the horrific deeds being done in the name of the so-called Islamic republic in Iran. Murderers and butchers would better describe these foul, unholy monsters. The whole world needs to witness the barbarity that flows from unrestrained fundamentalist religious belief and pay head. Here are some highlights which are very disturbing:

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Iran's post-election turmoil and the ensuing human rights crisis entered a new phase this week, after authorities announced death sentences for four defendants following the mass trials held for more than a hundred people accused of fomenting unrest and challenging the election results. It has raised the specter of further political executions in Iran. Most ominously, the death sentences were announced on October 10th, the International Day Against the Death Penalty. On the same day, Iran put to death Behnoud Shojaii [pictured above], a juvenile offender, continuing Iran's distinction as the only country to execute juvenile offenders since 2008.

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The four defendants sentenced to death are not guilty of any violent actions and their indictments clearly state that the Intelligence Ministry arrested them "before they could engage in any action." Even under the existing laws, they could not be sentenced to death in fair trials. However, by using them as a front in a public relations ploy to justify death sentences in post-election trials, the government is pursuing two goals. First, the government is aiming to instill fear among reform-oriented Iranians, and raising the cost of participation in further protests, by signaling its power and determination to apply the death penalty at will. The second intent is to lay the groundwork for further political executions by desensitizing the broader population to state-sponsored violence.

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Behnoud Shojai, who was due to be hanged today, was just 17 when he stabbed a a boy with a shard of glass three years ago and sentenced to death. But charity Amnesty International say the killing was in self defence after Shojai, now 20, intervened to stop a fight between a friend and another boy and was threatened with a knife.

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I truly hope that LGBT citizens in the USA do not lose sight of the atrocities occurring in Iran and Iraq where gays are murdered and tortured at will due to religious based bigotry and hatred. It truly makes me sick - but we need to make sure that the world understands the evil being done in the name of religion. This is what happens when fundamentalist religion is allowed to run wild free of legal constraints. This is the type of theocracy that Pat Robertson, Bob McDonnell and other Christianist want to put in place in America.

Meanwhile, More Gruesome News from Iran

It has been a while since I last posted on events in Iran, but my heart is still with those who seek democracy and an overthrow of the Islamic dictatorship that still controls the country. Disturbing stories of the brutality of the dictatorship officials and their thugs continue to seep out of Iran and - one can hope - will perhaps in time lead to the overthrow of these foul rulers. Stories like this one from niacINsight make me sick and remind me that it is critical to keep the stories of the victims alive:

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New information is emerging about another victim of the Basij’s post-election violence. Saeedeh Pouraghaei was arrested because of her chants of Allahu-Akbar on the roof of her house in Dowlat Ave, in north of Tehran. Saeedeh was the only child of Abbas Pouraghaei who died two years ago of injuries sustained during the Iran-Iraq war. Saeedeh was arrested by the plain-clothed agents, and about 2o days after her arrest her mother was summoned to identify her body. Saeedeh’s mother says that the body was partially burned, and she recognized her daughter with difficulty. She was asked to announce “kidney failure” as the cause of death.

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According the Saeedeh’s family it seems that the body was intentionally burned to hide the evidence of rape and torture. Her body was not even handed over to her family, and they were just notified that she was secretly buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery in one of the unknown graves in section 309. Mir Hossein Mousavi attended Saeedeh’s funeral ceremony on Saturday in a mosque in Dowlat Ave.

Religious Based Inhumanity

My heart continues to go out to those in Iran who have been killed or who are currently jailed under God knows what conditions as the Islamic dictatorship uses brutality to hold onto control. I truly hope that if nothing else Americans come to learn that the Iranian people are not synonymous with the Islamic dictatorship that currently rules the country. Fortunately, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is getting the truth out so that both the outside world and many within Iran will know the true story of what has been done allegedly in the name of Allah and Islam. One example is the sad story of Sohrab Aarabi, age 19 (pictured at left), who was likely murdered by the henchmen of the governing regime. Here are some highlights from a press release of the Tehran Bureau:

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(12 July 2009) Iranian authorities have informed the family of Sohrab Aarabi, 19, that he died of gunshot wounds to his heart, 26 days after he disappeared during a demonstration on 15 June, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

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Aarabi’s mother, Parvin Fahimi, a member of the Mothers for Peace organization, made numerous attempts to obtain information about his situation, taking his photograph to prisons, courts and other addresses. Finally, on 11 July, after the protests commemorating the “18 Tir” student demonstrations in 1999, the family was summoned by the Revolutionary Court and referred to the Investigatory Bureau (Agahi), and asked to identify Sohrab from among several photographs of corpses. According to family members interviewed by the Campaign, his body had arrived at the coroner’s office on 19 June, five days after his disappearance. Sohrab Aarabi was due to begin his university studies this year.

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The lack of transparency and calculated delay in releasing the information about Aarabi’s unexplained death only raises anxieties about scores of others who are among the disappeared as well as those who have been held in incommunicado detention, with no contact to family members or lawyers, many for almost a month. Approximately 190 people were arrested following the most recent demonstrations on 9 July.

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“Many families fear they will also be told their loved ones were killed in the demonstrations, and will be left to wonder if it is the truth, “ Ghaemi said. “Indeed, the families of the disappeared are suffering from a form of torture because of the absence of credible information.”

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For the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign’s website at www.iranhumanrights.org

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I hate to say it, but I continue to believe religion - at least institutional religion - causes much more evil than good.

Leading Iranian Clerics Defy Ayatollah

I continue to follow events in Iran with the hope that ultimately the reformists will prevail. The Islamic extremist government has shown it self to be not only dishonest but also incredible brutal. All too typically, the forces of brutality are the ones who claim to have God/Allah on their side when in fact it's the exact opposite. Fortunately, some leading clerics are gaining some backbone and resisting the stealing of the election. It is hard to say where this will lead, but it is nonetheless encouraging. The motivation for this move is unclear, although it may be a simple recognition that siding with the people is the safer approach in the longer term. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

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The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

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A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult — if not impossible.

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“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

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The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals.

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The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site, accused supporters of the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.

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The clerics’ decision to speak up again is not itself a turning point and could fizzle under pressure from the state, which has continued to threaten its critics. Some seminaries in Qum rely on the government for funds, and Ayatollah Khamenei and the man he has declared the winner of the election, incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have powerful backers there.

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But the association’s latest statement does help Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Khatami and a former speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, who have been the most vocal in calling the election illegitimate and who, in their attempts to force change, have been hindered by the jailing of influential backers.

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Perhaps more threatening to the supreme leader, the committee called on other clerics to join the fight against the government’s refusal to adequately reconsider the charges of voter fraud. The committee invoked powerful imagery, comparing the 20 protesters killed during demonstrations with the martyrs who died in the early days of the revolution and the war with Iraq, asking other clerics to save what it called “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.”

Iran election: Faces of the Dead and Detained

I continue to hope that with time the Islamic fundamentalist dictatorship in Iran will be overthrow. Not only is the current regime the enemy of democracy, but it is also the enemy of LGBT individuals worldwide and is responsible for the execution of countless gays in Iran. Meanwhile, the stories of brutality and inhumanity on the part of the ruling dictatorship and its thugs continue to trickle out to the world. The UK's Guardian is endeavoring to bring forth the stories of those killed and detained through an interactive page. As the Guardian notes:

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We want to put a face to each of those hundreds - possibly thousands - killed or arrested since the Iranian election.

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On its website, the Guardian is working to identify the victims of the regime's brutality and is posting photos where available of the dead and detained and biographical information if known. it is very moving and it sickens me to see the faces of young, vibrant Iranians who gave their lives and appear to be the exact opposite of what the Bush/Cheney regime and their Christianist allies would have the public believe.

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All of us need to keep alive the stories of these brave individuals who risked their lives - and lost them in many cases - so that change could occur.

Iran Bans Election Protest Soccer Players

In a demonstration of just how petty and childishly vindictive the current Iranian Islamic government can be, the Telegraph is reporting that four members of Iran's World Cup players – Ali Karimi, 31 (pictured above), Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture against the rigged election in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul. I sincerely hope that these men remain safe in to Iran, although personally, I might have thought twice about returning at least at the present time. Here are some highlights:

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Their gesture attracted worldwide comment and drew the attention of football fans to Iran's political turmoil. Now the country's authorities have taken revenge by imposing life bans on players who sported green wristbands in a recent World Cup match in protest against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

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According to the pro-government newspaper Iran, four players – Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 – have been "retired" from the sport after their gesture in last Wednesday's match against South Korea in Seoul.

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Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain's armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews.

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The fate of the other two players who wore the wristbands is unknown. None of the team members were given back their passports upon returning to Tehran after the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw – a result that ended Iran's hopes of qualifying for next year's tournament.

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Iran's hardline media have since linked the protest to the arrest on Saturday of Mohsen Safayi Farahani, who headed the country's football governing body under the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. He is one of several dozen opposition politicians, intellectuals and journalists to have been detained.

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My thoughts and prayers will be with these brave men who dared to tell the world their views.

More Thoughts on Iran

It is truly difficult to know what is really happening in Iran, but it truly appears that the Islamic dictatorship has unleashed much more than it bargained for in the apparent shameless rigging of the vote the week before last. Where it all will lead no one knows either here in the USA or in Iran. My thoughts and prayers go out to those demonstrating and demanding true democracy as opposed to what Iran has suffered under since 1979. Some of the best coverage is via Andrew Sullivan's blog which is demonstrating daily how the old media formula cannot deliver constantly updated information and analysis. As Andrew notes via a New Yorker article that quotes his blog, the big question is when and if the military begins to shift it's support to those in the streets:

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The footage from Tehran today looks like urban warfare. Gone are the massive crowds. Instead we see bands of civilians under attack from bands of thugs, gunshots, flames, thin crowds chased through side streets. If the authorities succeed in keeping demonstrators dispersed and on the run, they could swiftly seize the upper hand. The Web site Tehran Bureau is reporting forty dead and more than two hundred wounded. The victims are seeking aid in foreign embassies rather than hospitals, according to Twitter reports from Tehran.

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There are reports that those demonstrators who came out today planned, via the Internet, to bring Korans onto the streets, and to sit and read from them when attacked by militiamen. Such tactics are in keeping with these demonstrators’ use of slogans and imagery taken from religion and from the Islamic Revolution of 1979—shouting “Allahu Akbar” from the rooftops, organizing demonstrations as public memorials for the dead, refusing (for the most part, at least until today) to attack Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by name or to call for an end to theocratic rule. In effect, they are saying, We are not against the revolution or against the Islamic Republic. We are its defenders from desecration. Having the former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi for a leader helps in this regard, because of his close historic association with the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

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I think there is still a battle being waged for the hearts and minds of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij. Successful nonviolent movements in other countries have depended on the cooptation of the rank and file in the armed forces; . . . It is one thing to unleash brutal force on crowds that insult the Leader or Islam. That was how the members of the Revolutionary Guards and Basij could defend their assault on demonstrators at Tehran University in 1999. But now, in the name of Ahmadinejad’s controversial presidency, they are being asked to violently disperse fellow Iranians who are chanting religious slogans, carrying Korans, and calling for the lawful counting of their votes. Whether or not the rumors of splits at the top of the Revolutionary Guards’ hierarchy are true, the rank and file is not necessarily monolithic.

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If the opposition does indeed hope to appeal to the common humanity of its attackers, however, today’s events have not been particularly encouraging. Reports on Andrew Sullivan’s indispensable blog show unremitting violence, and a turn toward more frankly oppositional slogans on the part of the demonstrators.