"Powerful cleric says Iran is in crisis; Demonstrators clash with police" by Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press | July 18, 2009
TEHRAN - In a sign of endurance for Iran’s protest movement, demonstrators clashed with police yesterday as one of the nation’s most powerful clerics challenged the supreme leader during Muslim prayers, saying the country was in crisis after a disputed election.
The turnout of tens of thousands of worshipers for former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s sermon at Tehran University and the battles with police outside represented the biggest opposition show of strength in weeks. Protesters faced fierce government suppression and hundreds were arrested after the June 12 presidential election.
Then why wasn't CNN all over it like before, huh?
Outside the university, protests grew from several hundred before the sermon to thousands afterward as worshipers joined in, chanting, “death to the dictator,’’ a reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
So they are as bad as he is, huh?
Protesters were confronted by riot police and a line of pro-government Basiji militiamen on motorcycles, who charged with batons. Plainclothes Basijis fired volleys of tear gas, and young protesters with green bandanas over their faces kicked the canisters across the pavement. Some set a bonfire in the street and waved their hands in victory signs. Dozens were arrested and taken away in trucks, witnesses said.
Protests, which flared after the election, had been stifled in recent weeks. The sometimes tearful sermon by Rafsanjani could be a significant boost to the movement’s staying power. It was an open challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, aired live on nationwide radio from one of the country’s most potent political stages....
Did you know he cried at his sermon. too?
"As he concluded his sermon, Khamenei invoked the names of Shiite saints and began weeping."
Rafsanjani denounced the government crackdown on protests and called for the release the hundreds detained. He reprimanded the clerical leadership for not listening to people’s complaints over the election, which was declared a victory for Ahmadinejad despite opposition accusations of fraud.
Could you send some of that our politicians' way?
“There is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts [about the election]. We need to take action to remove this doubt,’’ he said. “The trust that brought the people to vote in such large numbers is not there anymore. We need to return this trust.’’
You got us described to a T!
Rafsanjani avoided directly mentioning Khamenei or outright calling the vote fraudulent. He couched his sermon in calls for unity in support of Iran’s Islamic Republic. The cleric got tears in his eyes as he spoke of how Islam’s Prophet “respected the rights’’ of his people.
That's the second time they mentioned that while ignoring the other guy's tears!
He said the founder of Iran’s Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, “would always say that if the system is not backed by the people, nothing would stand.’’
Rafsanjani’s sermon lay bare to the broader public that the dispute was internal and even Iran’s ruling clerics are split. He directly referred to the divisions, saying the revered topmost theologians of Shia Islam, who have millions of followers, were not happy with the government.
"Secret US-Israeli meeting to focus on Iran Ria Novosti reported on Friday that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is planning to visit Tel Aviv within the next two weeks to discuss a whole range of international issues, including Tehran's nuclear case, in secret meetings with the Netanyahu government.
"Translation: the US is getting its marching orders from Tel Aviv on Iran. It appears that there may well be a military strike against Iran, sooner rather than later. And what is so mind-melting in this entire scenario is, Iran has done absolutely nothing wrong. As a signatory to the NPT (which Israel, which has nuclear weapons is not), Iran is perfectly within its right to use nuclear energy peacefully, as in the building of its power station.
The IAEA has found absolutely zero evidence that Iran is enriching uranium to the point of weapons-grade development; only to the level necessary to fuel a power plant, which is far lower than is necessary for a nuclear weapon. But just as in the case of Iraq and the IAEA (remember the hatchet job done on Hans Blix, when he declared that there were no nuclear weapons in Iraq?), the truth has absolutely nothing to do with the outcome which appears to be moving forward.
I would like to hope that some adults in the room in Tel Aviv, Washington, (and Moscow, as Iran is Russia's 7th largest trading partner)will see yet another military misadventure against Iran as the folly it truly is. Unfortunately, there are some in the corridors of power in DC who see yet another war the only way to get the American economy out of the tailspin it's in, and give the American people something else to focus on other than the economic misery this country's leadership has created in the handling of the US economy. -- Wake the Flock Up
TEHRAN - In a sign of endurance for Iran’s protest movement, demonstrators clashed with police yesterday as one of the nation’s most powerful clerics challenged the supreme leader during Muslim prayers, saying the country was in crisis after a disputed election.
The turnout of tens of thousands of worshipers for former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s sermon at Tehran University and the battles with police outside represented the biggest opposition show of strength in weeks. Protesters faced fierce government suppression and hundreds were arrested after the June 12 presidential election.
Then why wasn't CNN all over it like before, huh?
Outside the university, protests grew from several hundred before the sermon to thousands afterward as worshipers joined in, chanting, “death to the dictator,’’ a reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
So they are as bad as he is, huh?
Protesters were confronted by riot police and a line of pro-government Basiji militiamen on motorcycles, who charged with batons. Plainclothes Basijis fired volleys of tear gas, and young protesters with green bandanas over their faces kicked the canisters across the pavement. Some set a bonfire in the street and waved their hands in victory signs. Dozens were arrested and taken away in trucks, witnesses said.
Protests, which flared after the election, had been stifled in recent weeks. The sometimes tearful sermon by Rafsanjani could be a significant boost to the movement’s staying power. It was an open challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, aired live on nationwide radio from one of the country’s most potent political stages....
Did you know he cried at his sermon. too?
"As he concluded his sermon, Khamenei invoked the names of Shiite saints and began weeping."
Rafsanjani denounced the government crackdown on protests and called for the release the hundreds detained. He reprimanded the clerical leadership for not listening to people’s complaints over the election, which was declared a victory for Ahmadinejad despite opposition accusations of fraud.
Could you send some of that our politicians' way?
“There is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts [about the election]. We need to take action to remove this doubt,’’ he said. “The trust that brought the people to vote in such large numbers is not there anymore. We need to return this trust.’’
You got us described to a T!
Rafsanjani avoided directly mentioning Khamenei or outright calling the vote fraudulent. He couched his sermon in calls for unity in support of Iran’s Islamic Republic. The cleric got tears in his eyes as he spoke of how Islam’s Prophet “respected the rights’’ of his people.
That's the second time they mentioned that while ignoring the other guy's tears!
He said the founder of Iran’s Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, “would always say that if the system is not backed by the people, nothing would stand.’’
Rafsanjani’s sermon lay bare to the broader public that the dispute was internal and even Iran’s ruling clerics are split. He directly referred to the divisions, saying the revered topmost theologians of Shia Islam, who have millions of followers, were not happy with the government.
--more--"
So Rafsanjani is now working for us, huh?
Update:
"Secret US-Israeli meeting to focus on Iran Ria Novosti reported on Friday that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is planning to visit Tel Aviv within the next two weeks to discuss a whole range of international issues, including Tehran's nuclear case, in secret meetings with the Netanyahu government.
"Translation: the US is getting its marching orders from Tel Aviv on Iran. It appears that there may well be a military strike against Iran, sooner rather than later. And what is so mind-melting in this entire scenario is, Iran has done absolutely nothing wrong. As a signatory to the NPT (which Israel, which has nuclear weapons is not), Iran is perfectly within its right to use nuclear energy peacefully, as in the building of its power station.
The IAEA has found absolutely zero evidence that Iran is enriching uranium to the point of weapons-grade development; only to the level necessary to fuel a power plant, which is far lower than is necessary for a nuclear weapon. But just as in the case of Iraq and the IAEA (remember the hatchet job done on Hans Blix, when he declared that there were no nuclear weapons in Iraq?), the truth has absolutely nothing to do with the outcome which appears to be moving forward.
I would like to hope that some adults in the room in Tel Aviv, Washington, (and Moscow, as Iran is Russia's 7th largest trading partner)will see yet another military misadventure against Iran as the folly it truly is. Unfortunately, there are some in the corridors of power in DC who see yet another war the only way to get the American economy out of the tailspin it's in, and give the American people something else to focus on other than the economic misery this country's leadership has created in the handling of the US economy. -- Wake the Flock Up
Also see: Russia and China Warn USrael Over Starting WWIII