This is an AP article that appeared in several newspapers throughout the world :

Iran Group Signs Up Suicide Volunteers

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samadi said: "With this religious verdict, we don't need anybody's permission to fight an enemy that has occupied Muslim lands."

---

Associated Press reporter Nasser Karimi contributed to this report.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/I...ME&TEMPLATE =DEFAULT


Don Cardi

oh no, is this gonna be cause for the u.s. to fight yet another war?

We know who is next on Bush's list.

I'll respond to this in two types of language.

Regular Language:

So, Pat, do you think Bush is wrong to keep an eye on Iran or get rid of these guys? Bush is bad for having some sort of list of evil nations that send suicide bombers after the troops.

Patrick Language:

So Pat, you support the suicide bombers in Iran and want them to kill the troops?

I don't like wars unless they're absolutely necessary. Get off of my case and grow up. "Patrick language." You're unbelieveable.

I was mocking your ridiculous comments in the other thread about me being a racist and wanting poor people to die. Haha, I'm unbelievable. Now I'm an unbelievable racist who wants poor people to die.

Pat, you know what kills me with you? If America puts Iran on it's watch list, you are the first one to scream that Bush is now targeting another country. But if America and the Bush Administration ignores these warnings, and something major happens to us, you will scream that Bush was warned and did nothing with the intelligence to protect us! Let me ask you this, what SHOULD the administration do? What would you suggest to do if you were on The Presidents cabbinet and this type of intelligence was presented to you?


Don Cardi

It's not just a U.S. problem, but a world problem! Terrorism is a world problem that all civilized nations should be concerned about!


Don Cardi

My problem right now is that we're investigating Iran when we haven't even finished our job in Iraq yet. If we were out of Iraq, it'd be another story. I have no problem with them "investigating." My problem is if they find something, then I am (as I'm sure you too) are afraid of what Bush would do. I don't see any way we could continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, then pour more troops into Iran. -Pat

It's not just a U.S. problem, but a world problem! Terrorism is a world problem that all civilized nations should be concerned about!


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]I know this isn't addressed to me, but I have to reply. You say that terrorism is a world problem, which I agree, is. My problem with that is that you don't want to fight the wars on poverty, starvation, disease, which are also world problems. Why did terrorism all of a sudden get to be the number one priority? You, as many others have stated, terrorism wasn't always around. All of the things I mentioned have always been around. There has always been poverty. There has always been starvation. There has always been disease. Defeating poverty is my top priority. -Pat

^ I heard an interesting analogy this week for something like what Pat's talking about, in relation to fighting terrorism first and foremost over poverty and disease. I think it goes like this:

Say you're a soldier fighting on the battlefield, and you see you're friend get shot. You rush over to him, and he's going to die pretty soon unless he gets medical help. Fortunately, you know the way to fix his wound and save his life. You get out the First Aid kid and start working, but all of a sudden you realize that theres an enemy soldier rushing up behind you with a gun, and he's about to shoot. What do you do? Do you concentrate on your friend and keep fixing up the wound, or do you turn around to fight off the enemy?

If you keep working on your friend, you will be shot and then your friend will die because no one is there to fix him. If you turn to fight the enemy, you can end that threat and then get back to working on your friend.

Wait...I think this statement finally proves something -

- Pat agrees it's logistically stupid to send US troops onto another front when we're currently occupied on two, an idea I've suggested to him but he has apparently ignored.

Question: How come it's okay to do something with Sudan, which isn't an imminent threat to the US, but it's wrong for us to be concerned with Iran?

Question: How come it's okay to do something with Sudan, which isn't an imminent threat to the US, but it's wrong for us to be concerned with Iran? [/b][/quote]Because over 70,000 people have died in Sudan for no reason at all. It's not terrorism. It's cold blooded murder.

Funny, I seem to think they are synonymous, because I haven't heard of one act of "terrorism" that helped people, or didn't murder innocent people.
:rolleyes:

Funny, I seem to think they are synonymous, because I haven't heard of one act of "terrorism" that helped people, or didn't murder innocent people.
:rolleyes: [/b][/quote]Hitler murdered 12 million people in camps. Do you consider him a terrorist?

I think he was asking how "cold-blooded murder" was worse than "terrorism."

Oh, boy, now you're going to spin the issue even further. Let's try sticking to the original point, shall we?

I thought that you were saying that anyone who kills innocent people is a terrorist.

My point is that you're saying that what is happening in Sudan is cold-blooded murder, yet acts of terrorism somehow are lesser evil. I say they are synonymous.

The insurgents in Iraq have killed civilians since the US has been there, but the number of casualties don't even compare to that of Sudan's. -Pat

Genocide has been going on in Iraq for decades under Saddam.

9/11 killed civilians, and was a terrorist attack.

Why are you trying to rationalize how one form of death, or one death, is more "significant" than another?

Becuase, in case you forgot, our country was attacked and 3000 people murdered 3 years ago!
And we FINALLY got a President with enough BALLS to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Terrorism was rampade against American interests ( along with other interests of course ) throughout the nineties, and NOTHING was done to try and push it back! So they kept coming at us more and more until eventually American soil was attacked in the manner that it was on Sept. 11th 2001! Do you think that in January of 2001 Usama and his coherts decided to hit the pentagon and the WTC? No, they saw what they got away with for 8
years, and they worked a plan for several years to eventually attack us in a big way, on our soil!
Know what Pat? If you don' stop terrorism in it's tracks, then eventually you will not have to worry about poverty, starvation, or any other plague, because thier will be no one left to worry about!


Don Cardi

PAT!!! You NEVER answered the original question that I asked above!


Don Cardi

Genocide has been going on in Iraq for decades under Saddam.[/b][/quote]..and then we had something called the 'Gulf War.' :p

Over 70,000 people have been killed in the country Sudan (in the last YEAR), which is on the continent with the highest level of AIDS, poverty levels, birth, death, and infant mortality rates. Iraq is no different then almost every other country in the Middle East. Since we're taking out Iraq, the next time the Middle East is in 'crisis,' if we don't help, they're going to say, "Well, what was so special about Iraq?" Don't give me any WMDs BS or 'Saddam committed genocide.' Try and use a better defense because the US has itself in a hole like it has never been in before. -Pat

Dudes, and dudesses, umm, theres a huge - ass list of people who are gonna get taken out by the US, with its vision of democracy. There gonna stomp out all arabic nations turn them into tools for them, to make them have to rely on the US. Basically, there gonna stomp out any one that opposes them, with any excuse. Dont be surprised if africa or brazil is next, or even canada.

PAT!!! You NEVER answered the original question that I asked above!


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]I would've passed a bill for more money into our intelligence (which the President voted against doing) and I would've monitored Iran, Iraq, and North Korea like there was no tomorrow. -Pat

Hey PAT, are you forgetting to count the number of civilians that were murdered, tortured and put in mass graves in Iraq BEFORE the US went in there? Compare those numbers, before, and after the US went into Iraq! Don't break down statistics to benefit your arguement! Show us the WHOLE OVERALL picture statistically! ANd again, this thread is about IRAN SPONSERING SUICIDE BOMBERS to attack your American brothers, and in all likelyhood you, an American citizen!
So let's stick to the ISSUE of this Topic: Iran's Recruitment Of Suicide Bombers!


Don Cardi

Oh boy, I give up! Jeez! So WHAT do you propose that the President of the USA do about it, now, at this moment!


Don Cardi

To that double-j person, what are you man?
Dude, america aint the great frree country it sells to you, for years it has been backing up massacres and sh** for eg, in cchile 1973, they were backing up the dictator Pinochet, and his murders 100000's of people killed by him. And another example is sadam, they sold him weapons to anhilliate the russians, back in the 1980's i think. They have supported the massacre and oppression of the mexican communities, but things bakfired, and the zapatistas fought back, and still hoold the power. America has too much power to itself. It needs an aenima.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:



Don Cardi