IMPRESSION

Jahanshah Javid, Hezbollah in Disguise!

Jahanshah Javid, Hezbollah in Disguise!
Hezbollah's Front Businesses in America!
Part one
//iranpoliticsclub.net/politics/shiite-season...
part two
//iranpoliticsclub.net/politics/shiite-season...

Ajam, in the same

Ajam, in the same dictionary, there are definitions for magic, unicorns and UFOs. None of them exist. Get my point? As far as India goes, I said that India was directly occupied by a foreign power for centuries and its wealth plundered by them. However, because of the fact that its not infected by a disease called “Islamic-Marxism” like we are, and because they work hard, and because they’re democratic, and because they don’t bash other countries and take advantage of others (i.e..U.S.A) investment and technology, they have become a world power. By the way, Egypt is part of the so called “Non-Aligned movement”, but they 2nd biggest receivers of U.S foreign donations.

Re neocolonialism...

Webster dictionary defines the word 'neocolonialism' as follows: "Neoclonioalism: the economic and political policies by which a great power indirectly maintains or extends its influence over the other areas or pople". I guess the "ultra leftist Iranians" have infiltrated the Webster headquarters too!!!

No wonder the "Islamists" suggest some of us should do more readings! In a post bellow (by Farhad Kashani) its also been claimed that India is where it is by being colonialized by the British (or something to that effect)! Whereas in contrary, India's recent developments have taken place in spite of the British colonialism! India has been a member of the non-alligned movent since its independance and has received help in its development projects from both east and the west -- due to its newly-found independance. Maybe a little beat reading can't hurt after all!!

***To Irandoost: my friend, In absence of logic and preponderance of virtue, lumpenist attitude can only resort to insult and vulgarity as witnessed all over this page. I guess the best rebuttal a lumpen's mind could come up with relates to anal and penile budily functions!

Shut it Nadine!

While I am very proud of the culture and the history of my country but at the same time I am aware of our problems and flaws. It is not relevant for me where she is from, I just cannot stand none sense comments like these! This lady and her comments about Tehran and NYC are good only for the theater that she is from! The last thing I want is copliments from ignorant people like her!

Re: Irandoust...

What an honor to be insulted by one such as you. God forbid, if you or your likes ever say anything positive about my comments, life itself will not be worth living anymore.

I take a "profound" honor in being insulted by the likes of yours. First it adds to my reputation in this site. Second, it gives more credit to my opinions, and third it gives me a "profound" pleasure to be a sharp thorn in your eyes.

P.S. The deceptive names you people use, eg, Daryush, Cyrus, IranDoost, etc.. does not deceive anyone in here. Actually, it's a dead give away...

Fart into your impaired brain jamshid!

Have you read the following comment on your comments asshole jamshid?

by aguy (not verified) on Fri Nov 16, 2007 02:56 PM PST

Jamshid says:
“It may help you to remember that conditions in Iran are no different than if Iran was occupied by say Pakistan or Saudi Arabia”

Mr. Jamshid, it may help you to remind you that the above statement might be the result of you not taking your medication. Even the most right wing US or Israeli politicians are decent enough not to make such an unfair statement."

You should take a look at the comments you receive in all forums you bissavad kallehpook and then make a deep fart from your impaired brain before laughing!
Stop writing in Iranian.com and go educate yourself a bit. you make everyone laugh. Let other aniranies write in your place! Aberou mibari bissavad!

Re: Irandoust...

"profound short essay...." I laughed so much that I released some gas! LOL!

What a good one!

Profound short essay Ajam!

I liked your writing Ajam, anyone reading your profound short essay and the childish replies by the 2 following 'aniranies' will realize how bissavad and kallehpook these vatanforoushs are!

Ajam, news flash, this is

Ajam, news flash, this is 2007, not 1850. India was occupied until the middle of 20th century, look at where they stand now, please explain how they got here and we can’t ,,are you telling me that what “Colonials” did to them was worse than what happened to us?…Colonialism does not exist anymore, and there is no such thing called Neo-Colonialism. I bet that term was invented by ultra leftist Iranians. If you call those countries who seek the interests of their nations and citizens through economic, cultural and social power, colonials, then, Iran, will always be under “Colonial power” if this victimization mentality continues to haunt us, and we will never ever advance. The biggest threats to Iran’s survival are the IRI and their ultra leftist allies.

Re: Ajam

Ajam, reread your own article again. But replace the word West with Akhoond/Islam.

No body wants "subjugations" to west or anyone else. The term "Subjugation to West" is just a tool Islamists use to "subjugate" and take hostage the people of Iran. IT DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE.

Threat!

The biggest threat to Iran has been and will be those who, in the name of mdernity, advocate Iran's capitulation to the west. History of our land (especially since the Ghajar era) is mired by treason of entities in highest echelon of power who at critical junctures of history served the interests of the colonialist powers under false pretences (modernity/progress).

While financial incentives playing a major part in such treasons, yet many cases emenate from a form of inferiority complex and illuision of such entities (e.g. many vezirs in Ghajar and Pahlavi era) towards the colonial powers (traditionally Great Britain and recently the U.S.) as they actually believe that subjugation to these powers would help development of the country -- in resource-based economy! This inferiority complex toward the west manifests itself in a sense of superiority toward the Iranian population as a whole and the more traditional segments in particular. Thus any resistance against such subordinations would be dismissed as "backward" and "reactionary" by the supporters of the Western supremacy.

In more extreme cases, such dismissals evolve into quasi-fascist tendencies to advocate "erradication of Islam" and/or "Persianization" of Iran...! What these advocates of the West do not realize is that the majority of Iranian people (their critical views of IRI not withstanding) consider themselves Moslims and while admiring the acheivements of the West and what it can offer them, will not submit to Western supremacy. The 1979 Islamic revolution was a direct reflection of such sentiments! Perhaps this could shed some light on the reason behind the inabilty of the IRI opposition (political bickerings aside) in providing a leadership that can earn our people's trust!

Re: Islamists....

Have you noticed how Islamists tell you "you need to do more reading"????

As though if you do some reading, you will suddenly find yourself saying: "yaaftam! yaaftam!" and you will say "oh my god! they (Islamists) were correct all along!" LOL! Yeah right!

Or it is as though "they" have done all the reading that they ask us to do! Again, yeah right! They have read only the "hoozeye jahlieye ghom" type of books and now think that they have done, oh so much reading!

Funny bunch you Islamists are.

The biggest threat to the

The biggest threat to the Iranian civilization comes from the IRI regime and their leftist Iranian allies living in the west. The question that comes to mind is why they never relocated to North Korea or Cuba, and freely chose to live where they will be “oppressed by the imperialist system”? The ones who justify IRIs actions, the ones who call every opposition view a “member of the $75 million club”, the ones who have absolutely no knowledge of reality and modernism. And in fact, no knowledge of Iranian culture and history. They actually think if you’re not physically in Iran, you’re not able to comprehend the situation. First of all, how do they know who’s been and who hasn’t been to Iran? Maybe their part of the “$100 million Castro supporters club” who spy on us. Second. In the age of internet, blogs, website and you tube, how could they claim that physical presence is the only way to catch the truth? I think they still live in the cold war era, where they think Communism actually has a chance and it’s a legitimate and successful ideology. The same people who call anyone who self criticizes (which is the 1st step in progress of self and society) a Vatanforoush, anyone who disagrees with tier backward undemocratic regressive beliefs a Zionist, anyone who recognizes the undeniable achievements of the U.S as pro-Neocon, and anyone who bashes the IRI, the most brutal and barbaric regime on the face of the planet, a spy? Those two undemocratic and fascist movements have destroyed our country.

Thanks for your observations Nadine, but ....

Nadine,
Thanks for your observations from your trip to Iran. In fact, it is true that Iranians in particular appreciate the scientific community (of any nationality). But generall they are very hospitable.
As for the comments you see here in response to your article, please be advised that some of them are written by Israelies who pretend to be Iranisn and they generally write garbage, and some are iranian members of "USA Government's $75 M Club" and therefore are not accountable. Generally, we are good people.

Dariush

You are way too confifdent for little that you know.

As far as I am concerned - you have not exhibited any knowledge on any of the fields be it economics, history, politics, science, etc..... All I see from you is baseless cheerleading for those whom you think supports your agenda.  

I have news for you my Hezbollahi hamzaboon - times have changed !! The age of herding mobs of laats into the streets and getting your way is gone.  Khali-bandi has no values - especilay on a web forum.    So be careful what you write - and stop looking like a fool.

Finaly - to those of you who truely are not Hezbollahis - but are being praised by the Hezbollahis..........

What does that tell you ? 

Defining vatan forush

I have said it many times in my comments, the biggest threat to Iran today are these guys who are free but not willing to study Iran. They don't know history, they don't read Iranian intellectuals and their views and don't know inside Iran. All they do (maybe) listen to Western media that is one sided and get their current affairs and "news', form their openions then come and attack anyone who tells them something other than CNN or Fox. That's how people become Vatan Furush, when they just are not aware about their history and culture because they don't read enough. Those who value the west in such high standards that are willing to have the west interfere in the Iranians Internal Affairs...wow I mean come on, how stupid is that. If you see someone like Italian, Chinese or American talk the way these guys do, you right away think treason, traitor and khod furukhteh. But I guess that's why we can't be democratic, as long as we have khod furukhteh va vatan furush. Again with Iranians like this who needs an enemy. Damet garm Arezu.

To: Farhad Kashani - you have a lot of reading to do

If you honestly think I am going to spend my time educating you on how this Administration has destroyed the U.S. Constitution, and the rights of U.S. citizens through various Acts, like the U.S. Patriots Act, taking advantage of FISA, destroying Habeus Corpus, implemented illegal wire tapping, you must think I have nothing better to do than sit here and do your reading for you. I have already educated myself. It is time for you to start reading to find out the rights you no longer have in this country. Even easier just do a simple google search as a preliminary step to get some information.

By the way, I said secret prisons outside of the U.S., not inside. We have thousands of innocent people held in prisons in this country as well.

What has Israel done? Are you kidding me. Israel has been iching for the U.S. to take out Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc.. FYI - in 2002 when the U.S. was planning to invade Iraq, the then President of Israel Ariel Sharon and his defense minister paid a visit to Bush and Cheney respectively. They indicated if you plan to take out Iraq, finish the job and take out Iran. Iran is more of a threat to us than Iraq. At that time Bush was too busy with Iraq and did not listen to Israel. However, over and over again, Israel has been at the forefront of taking on Iran. So you wonder why the animosity towards Israel. What has the U.S. done to Iran. God, you don't know your history, if you are asking me these most simple questions.

Again, maybe over the week-end if you still have not accomplished your reading, I will send you the web-sites on all of the topics that you think I am making up. I promise!! I have no need to lie and distort information. I definitely do my homework before I open my mouth or put pen to paper!!

Just to start you off here is some light reading:

Orwellian Legislation: Stop the Unconstitutional "Protect America" Act
by Michael Boldin

//www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&...

Support the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007
by Rep. Ron Paul
//frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi...

The Unitary King George
Homeland Security Presidential Directive: an Unconstitutional Bombshell
by Prof. Marjorie Cohn
//www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&...

Torture, Paramilitarism, Occupation and Genocide
Torture as Policy under George Bush

by Stephen Lendman

October 25, 2007

On October 5, George Bush confronted a public uproar and defended his administration claiming "This government does not torture people." Again he lied. Once secret US Department of Justice (DOJ) legal opinions confirm the Bush administration condones torture by endorsing "the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency." It also condones paramilitary thuggery, oppressive occupation, and genocide. This unholy combination is the ugly face of an imperial nation run by war criminals. That's the state of things today. First, the practice of torture.
Torture as Policy under George Bush
In a hollow posturing gesture, DOJ publicly declared torture "abhorrent" in a December, 2004 legal opinion. That secretly changed after Alberto Gonzales became Attorney General in February, 2005 and authorized physical and psychological brutality as official administration policy. This continues unabated in violation of international and US laws that include fifth and eighth amendment prohibitions against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in all forms for any reason. These practices been long-standing US official policy, nonetheless, but the mask came off post-9/11 when former CIA Counterterrorism Center chief Cofer Black (now Blackwater USA's vice-chairman) told a joint House-Senate intelligence committee hearing September 26, 2002: "There was a before-9/11 and an after-9/11(on the use of torture). After 9/11, the gloves came off" and "old" standards no longer apply. They never did, and Congress knows and condones it.
Further, George Bush signed a secret September 17, 2001 "finding" authorizing CIA to kill, capture and detain "Al Qaeda" members anywhere in the world and rendition them to secret black site torture prisons for interrogation presumed to include torture.
As White House Counsel, Alberto Gonzales then wrote a sweeping memorandum to George Bush January 25, 2002 calling the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and "obsolete" and claimed the administration could ignore Geneva international law in interrogating prisoners henceforth. He also outlined plans to try prisoners in military "commissions" and deny them all protections under international law including due process and habeas rights. DOD Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was on board as well. In December, 2002, he approved a menu of banned interrogation practices that allowed most anything short of what would cause organ failure.
A new book called "Administration of Torture," by two ACLU attorneys, contains evidence (from FOIA requests) from over 100,000 newly released government documents. It reveals how US military interrogators carried out abuse and torture orders from their superiors on scores of prisoners. The book quotes Major General Michael Dunlavey who had DOD responsibility for interrogations of "suspected terrorists." He and Guantanamo commander General Geoffrey Miller both told the FBI they got their "marching orders" from Donald Rumsfeld to use harsh methods at Guantanamo that presumably were meant for all other US-run torture prisons as well. It was also revealed that Rumsfeld was "personally involved" in overseeing the torture-interrogation of Mohammed al Qahtani. He was falsely accused of being the 20th 9/11 hijacker, confessed under torture, and then retracted his testimony later as completely untrue.
Torture violates international law. The (non-binding) Universal Declaration of Human Rights outlawed it in 1948. The four 1949 Geneva Conventions then banned any form of "physical or mental coercion" and affirmed detainees must at all times be treated humanely. Its first two conventions protect sick and wounded forces in battle. The third one defines who is a prisoner of war and establishes "minimum standards" for POW treatment. The fourth convention applies to civilians and affords them protections during war that require they be treated humanely. All four conventions have a common thread called Common Article Three. It requires non-combatants be treated humanely at all times. There are no exceptions for any reasons and violations are grave breaches under Geneva and other international law that constitute crimes of war and against humanity.
The European Convention followed Geneva in 1950. Then in 1984, the UN Convention Against Torture became the first binding international instrument dealing exclusively with the issue of banning torture in any form for any reason. These are sacred international laws all signatories, that include the US, are bound by. No longer under George Bush's unconstitutional "unitary executive" authority power grab Chalmers Johnson calls a "bald-faced assertion of presidential supremacy....dressed up in legalistic mumbo jumbo." Condoning torture as official policy under it is Exhibit A.
In her important new book, "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Defied the law," law professor and current National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn calls torture abhorrent and violates at least two US laws - the 1996 War Crimes Act and 1994 Torture Statute. The US is also party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that guarantees the right to life and prohibits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
The 1996 War Crimes Act provides up to life imprisonment or the death penalty for persons convicted of committing war crimes within or outside the US. Administration memos from Gonzales, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and David Addington supported dictatorial powers for the president and advised Al Qaeda and Taliban interrogators were exempt from torture laws under George Bush's "commander-in-chief powers." Cohn, in her book, explained "the Torture Convention permits no such exemption, even during wartime."
Yoo and Bybee also distorted what constitutes torture by claiming psychological harm must last "months or even years." Otherwise, it's just harsh "enhanced interrogation" of the secret kinds George Bush authorized in a July, 2006 executive order. They reportedly include sleep deprivation, simulated drowning, stress positions, prolonged isolation, sensory deprivation and/or overload, beatings, induced hypothermia, and more that can cause irreversible physical and psychological harm including psychoses.
The October, 2006 Military Commissions Act followed, appropriately called the "torture authorization act." It gives the administration extraordinary unconstitutional powers to detain, interrogate and prosecute alleged terror suspects and anyone thought to be their supporters. The law lets the president designate anyone in the world an "unlawful enemy combatant," without corroborating evidence, and order they be arrested and incarcerated indefinitely in military prisons outside the criminal justice system without habeas and due process rights. US citizens aren't exempt. We're all "enemy combatants" under this law. Anyone charged under it loses all constitutionally protected rights and can be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment including torture.
Ironically, on the one year anniversary of the Military Commissions Act enactment, Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly were both sentenced to five months in federal prison for opposing torture. They also oppose teaching it at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and tried to deliver a letter with their views to the base commander, Major General Barbara Fast, former head of military intelligence in Iraq. Both priests were arrested for trespassing while kneeling in prayer on the base driveway in November, 2006. In an appalling miscarriage of justice, the presiding judge refused to allow any evidence of torture to be introduced. He also ruled out discussion of the illegality of the Iraq war and all references to international law.
Relief from these type abuses are nowhere in sight as leading Democrats condone them and now assure extremist Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey's nomination won't be challenged. He promises business as usual that's bad news for supporters of the law. He earned his bona fides as a US District Court Southern District of New York judge by ruling Jose Padilla, a US citizen, could be imprisoned without trial and held indefinitely by the military.
Padilla spent three and a half years uncharged in a 9 by 7-foot isolated South Carolina Navy brig cell where he underwent alternating sensory deprivation and overload and was denied the right to counsel for two years. Months of beatings, mind-altering drugs, and denial of medical treatment destroyed his mind, turned him to mush, and him easy pickings to convict on all charges without evidence he broke any law. Under Bush administration justice, we're all potential Jose Padillas in a nation where the rule of law affords no protection, and torture is the preferred means of social control.
Administration Outsourced Paramilitarism
The Bush administration believes anything government can do private business does better, so let it. And that applies to the military as well with Blackwater USA's powerful emergence Exhibit A. Author Jeremy Scahill portrays the company as "the world's most powerful mercenary army" in his frightening new book about it. It describes a "shadowy mercenary company (employing) some of the most feared professional killers in the world....accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences....largely off the congressional radar." It has "remarkable power and protection within the US war apparatus" with unaccountable license to practice street violence with impunity that includes cold-blooded murder.
A congressional report indicates Blackwater received more than $1 billion in mostly State Department no-bid contracts since 2001. It's to provide security services for US diplomats, officials and others once assigned to the military at around six times the cost and can be up to $1200 per man-day. With Bush administration backing, it operates outside the law and Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and is immune from civil lawsuits like the military. Scahill calls the company the "Bush administration's Praetorian Guard" with "immunity and impunity" to do as it pleases.
Today, around 200,000 private contractors operate in Iraq. Up to 100,000 of them are paramilitary mercenaries from companies like Blackwater, DynCorp, ArmorGroup, Erinys, Triple Canopy and others like the Australian-owned Unity Resources that murdered two Iraqi women October 9. Blackwater is the largest, is close to the Bush administration, and is cashing in big as a war profiteer from huge continuing no-bid contracts.
The company was founded in 1996 by former Navy SEAL Eric Prince who's also closely allied to the extremist Christian Right. Blackwater came into its own post-9/11 and is now the world's best connected, largest paramilitary army. It employs 2300 personnel in nine countries with 20,000 or more others on call as needed. The company also has its own 20 aircraft fleet that includes helicopter gunships as well as a private intelligence division and a 7000 acre Moyock, North Carolina headquarters Scahill calls "the world's largest private military base."
Controversary surrounding Blackwater made headlines after its mercenaries killed as many as 28 Iraqis in al-Nisour September 16 by some accounts and wounded dozens more. It was only the latest incident involving the company that has a disturbing history of instigating unprovoked violence and then falsely claim it acted in self-defense as Eric Prince told Congress saying his men act "appropriately at all times."
A new congressional account from State Department and company documents reveals otherwise. It shows the company has been involved in at least 195 "escalation of force" incidents since early 2005 that include previously unreported Iraqi civilian killings. In at least one of them, evidence proved Blackwater personnel tried covering up what happened with a falsified report, and the State Department made no effort to hold them accountable or order the company to pay compensation to the families of the victims.
Agence France-Presse reported on September 16 Blackwater personnel shot recklessly "at everything that moved with a machine gun and even with a grenade launcher (as well as from two hovering helicopters). There was panic. Everyone tried to flee. Vehicles tried to make U-turns to escape. There were dead bodies and wounded people everywhere. The road was full of blood. A bus was also hit and several of its occupants were wounded." Among the dead were women and children. A daughter witnessing her mother shot in the head and killed said: "They are killers. I swear to God, not one bullet was shot at them. Why did they shoot us?"
Following the incident, investigations were launched that are little more than damage control cover-up. The FBI is involved as well as a joint American-Iraqi inquiry. Iraqi prime minister al-Maliki has gone back and forth on this one. At first, he demanded Blackwater personnel leave Iraq. He then backed down under pressure. He'll likely await the inquiry's findings that are out in part from Iraqi investigators, but again said he wants Washington to sever all Blackwater ties, remove the company from Iraq in six months, and have it pay each family $8 million in compensation.
It won't ever happen, even though early findings conclude Blackwater's actions were unprovoked, the al-Nisour massacre was a deliberate crime, those involved in it should be charged, put on trial, and the families of victims fairly compensated. The findings are similar to an initial US military report that one Pentagon official confirmed saying Blackwater's actions were "obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong. The civilians....didn't have any weapons (and) none of the IP (Iraqi police) or any local security forces fired (on Blackwater)."
Investigations are still continuing, the State Department is in damage control mode, and an October 4 House-passed bill (not retroactive) just made US contractors accountable for felony crimes under the 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA). In addition, new operating procedures have been instituted to paper over the whole affair. Nothing, in fact, will change, however. Blackwater personnel will stay in place, none of them will face criminal charges, and things are again business as usual with the company's paramilitaries back on Iraqi streets after being banned from operating there by an impotent prime minister.
A sign of things to come came a day ahead of the October House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Blackwater hearing. It was revealed the company's Presidential Airways subsidiary got a new government contract to supply aircraft, crew and equipment for flight operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Blackwater personnel may likely show up anywhere and currently patrol New Orleans streets for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) post-hurricane Katrina. Their presence is menacing everywhere, and they may show up soon in a neighborhood near you as the "war on terrorism" touches down at home.
Imperial Conquest and Occupation
Current rhetoric aside, even Alan Greenspan's new book admitted what's "politically inconvenient to acknowledge (but) everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil" and it was "essential" Saddam be removed to control it. Unmentioned was Iraq's importance that explains why Washington plans permanent occupation of the country. The Middle East has two-thirds of the world's proved oil reserves; Iraq has the most untapped amounts of it; and it's the easiest gotten, cheap to refine light sweet kind Big Oil covets. The country is also strategically located between Saudi Arabia and Iran at the top of the Persian Gulf. That makes it a perfect site for military bases sitting atop an ocean of oil worth trillions of dollars and surrounded by lots more of it.
The strategy to seize it was simply conceived but hopelessly flawed - replace the "cradle of civilization" with a newly created free market paradise with all that oil as grand prize pickings. It's still up for grabs, but a huge supportive infrastructure is in place and still being built for permanent occupation.
By May, 2005, US forces were operating out of 106 bases around the country from an original 120 number of sites. They range in size from the huge Main Operating Base (MOB) Camp Victory complex near Baghdad airport with thousands of US troops to others for fewer numbers called Forward Operation Sites (FOS) that are still major installations. There are also many smaller Cooperative Security Locations (CSL) as well as prisons and detention facilities throughout the country plus others for Iraqi military and police units.
A sign of permanency are four to six or more super-bases built and planned, the largest of which is the huge Balad one. It's the major Air Force facility in the country with its state of the art "Kingpin" air traffic control center (called the Common Grid Reference System) that divides the country's airspace into "kill boxes." The Army's largest logistical support center and secret Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) are also there as well as well as thousands of civilian contractors in neighborhoods charmingly called "KBR-land."
Balad and other major bases are enormous in size and on the order of small towns. They encompass 15 - 20 square miles with double runways as long as 12,000 feet, and Balad's air traffic operates round the clock and is comparable in number of takeoffs and landings to Chicago's O'Hare that along with Atlanta's Hartsfield are the world's two busiest airports.
In addition, they have their own neighborhoods and kinds of amenities found back home. They include department store-sized post exchanges, fast food outlets, movie theaters with the latest films, swimming pools, miniature golf courses, elaborate gymnasium and sports facilities, satellite internet access, cable TV, air-conditioning, international phone service and more. All the comforts of home including takeout pizza and Monday night football in the middle of a war zone.
Other major facilities are at al-Talil near Nasiriya in the South; the largest Marine base at al-Asad in Western Anbar province; al-Qayyara, 50 miles southeast of Mosul in the North; the US military command HQ at Camp Victory/Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport; Camp Marez near Mosul Airport; Camp Cook north of Baghdad; and a new base near Irbil in the North. In addition, another new Forward Operating base is being built near Zurbatiya near the Iranian border to be completed in November. It's location is provocative as the centerpiece of a new border control surveillance, monitoring and logistical support strategy called "Combat Outpost Shocker."
Then, there's what critics call "Fortress Baghdad" or the "ultimate gated community" inside the city's four square mile fortress-like Green Zone. It's surrounded by thick blast-proof concrete walls, and to enter visitors must pass through up to eight checkpoints. Inside, security is intense and includes full body searches, electronic scanners, explosive-sniffing dogs and every other human and high-tech measure imaginable for security.
The US embassy compound is there as well that when finished will be the largest in the world. It's Vatican-sized in dimensions and hugely fortified atop 104 acres, or six times larger than the UN complex in New York. Reports vary on whether 21 or 27 buildings are planned but their cost plus all facilities and perimeter security will top $1 billion. Construction is continuing, far behind schedule, it's reported to be shoddy, and it's already way over budget as predicted so the final cost remains uncertain but will be plenty.
The compound has everything - its own water, electricity, sewers, apartment buildings, swimming pool, shops, Marine barracks and will house more than 1000 civilian staff plus a large private and military security contingent. For the Iraqi people, it's a hated symbol of imperial occupation Washington intends to be permanent, but it may in the end go the way of the Saigon embassy in 1975. That's where the last US Vietnam remnants were frenetically rooftop-helicoptered out of the country in humiliating drawdown defeat. It ended visions of permanence then the way history may one day repeat in Iraq.
Imperial Genocide in Iraq
By any estimate, the human toll in Iraq is horrific from all that happened after Saddam's August 2, 1990 Kuwait invasion. Four days later, Operation Desert Shield was launched. It began with US-led UN-imposed economic sanctions, large US and other troop deployments to the region, and a sweeping Kuwait-funded PR campaign to win public support for Operation Desert Storm that began January 17, 1991.
Before it ended six weeks later on February 28, US forces committed grievous war crime violations of the Hague and Geneva Conventions and UN and Nuremberg Charters. They included gratuitous mass killings as well as bombing and destroying essential to life facilities that included:
-- power generating stations;
-- dams;
-- water purification capabilities;
-- sewage treatment and disposal systems;
-- telephone and other communications;
-- hospitals;
-- mosques;
-- residential areas affecting 10-20,000 homes, apartments and other dwellings;
-- irrigation sites;
-- food processing, storage and distribution facilities;
-- hotels and retail establishments;
-- transportation infrastructure;
-- oil wells, pipelines, refineries and storage tanks;
-- chemical plants;
-- civilian shelters like Al Ameriyya that was attacked February 13, 1991 by two laser-guided "smart bombs" killing around 400 civilians including 142 children;
-- factories and other commercial operations;
-- government offices;
-- historical sites; and more in a willful malicious effort to return the country to a pre-industrial age and punish its people horrifically.
Lost was power, clean water, sanitation, fuel, transportation, medical facilities and medications, adequate food, schools, private dwellings and places of employment. Early post-war estimates placed the number of civilians killed at 113,000 (mostly children) according to the Red Crescent Society of Jordan. In addition, US CENTCOM commander, General Schwarzkopf and others, estimated 100,000 or more Iraqi military deaths plus thousands more killed gratuitously as they were retreating in disarray.
What then followed was 12 years of the most comprehensive genocidal sanctions ever imposed on a country as an act of vengeance and US-imposed imperial arrogance. They were first adopted in UN Resolution 661 four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait. They included a full trade embargo that crippled the country economically but initially allowed in food, medical and other essential humanitarian needs. UN Resolution 670 followed in September, 1990 that imposed an air blockade and measures to enforce it.
After the war in April, 1991, UN Resolution 687 was adopted. It required Saddam accept cease fire terms and comply with Geneva protocols banning biological and chemical weapons. It also affirmed Kuwait's sovereignty, but it wasn't good enough for US officials who wanted sanctions to remain in force until Saddam was removed.
Later on, the oil for food and medicine program was adopted under UN Resolution 986 in 1995 but was hopelessly inadequate by design. An internal UN report in 1999 revealed it delivered only $74 of food per annum per person (about 21 cents a day) and $15 worth of medicines (about 4 cents a day) with vitally needed items banned or in short supply like syringes, anesthetics, vaccines, antibiotics and other drugs. Everything with potential "dual use" was blocked - chlorine to purify water, vital medical equipment, chemotherapy and pain-killing drugs, ambulances, and anything Washington wished to deny the country punitively with horrific consequences.
Further complicating things, all Iraqi funds were frozen and administered through a US-controlled Development Fund for Iraq. In addition, UN Resolution 661 stipulated all goods entering the country had to be approved by a 15 member committee that included the five permanent Security Council members. Approval had to be unanimous with every member having veto power. The US representative abused his authority by blocking items or causing long delays in importing others. The practice became so extreme, on one occasion baby food was denied on the grounds adults might consume it. At other times, items on the World Health Organization (WHO) humanitarian priority list were blocked such as rice, school books, paper, agricultural pesticides, medical journals and catheters for babies.
The results were predictable and devastating. Normal life was impossible and became a daily struggle to survive. It became apparent by the mid-1990s many didn't or wouldn't:
-- the UN World Food Program (WFP) reported 2.4 million Iraqi children were severely at nutritional risk in September, 1995;
-- in December, 1995, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said 12% of Baghdad children were "wasted, 28% stunted and 29% under weight;"
-- by year end 1995, FAO reported 567,000 Iraqi children sanction-related deaths;
-- by March, 1996, WHO noted a six-fold mortality rate increase among children under five;
-- in October, 1996 UNICEF reported 4500 monthly Iraqi children deaths from sanction-caused starvation and disease;
-- by 1999, the under five child mortality rate rose three-fold from 1989, malnutrition doubled, and the entire young child population was affected;
-- UN Secretary-General Boutras-Boutras-Ghali noted how health conditions deteriorated dramatically by the mid-1990s, and by 1997 the WHO Director General said Iraq's health care system was systemically broken; in addition, malaria, typhoid, cholera and other life-threatening and communicable diseases were rampant.
These actions were committed willfully and are war crimes under relevant Geneva Conventions and other international law. They also constitute genocide under provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide that "means any (acts like those listed above) committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the national, ethnical, racial or religious group (by) killing (its) members; causing (them) serious bodily or mental harm; (or) deliberately inflicting (on them) conditions (that may destroy them in whole or in part)."
US administrations under GHW Bush, Bill Clinton and GW Bush are criminally liable under "the genocide convention" and other relevant international law. Up to the March, 2003 attack and invasion, more than 1.5 million Iraqis, including over one million children, likely died from the combination of war and economic sanctions. Two UN heads of Iraqi humanitarian relief resigned under them in anger and frustration with Dennis Halliday saying in 1998 he did so because he "had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that has effectively killed well over one million individuals, children and adults" including 5000 Iraqi children monthly in his judgment.
To date, most members of Congress are mute on the Iraq genocide and continue funding it with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Yet on October 10, the House Foreign Relations Committee hypocritically passed a non-binding resolution calling the 1915 - 1923 Armenian holocaust (taking 1.0 to 1.5 million lives) genocide with a full House vote on the measure still scheduled for November in spite of waning support for it and uncertainty where it will go in the Senate.
Speaker Pelosi still backs the measure and in 2006 as Minority Leader pledged to support legislation "that would properly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that the United States recognize this atrocity and move to renew our commitment to eliminate genocide whenever and wherever it exists." Today, Speaker Pelosi is mute on Iraq, Afghanistan and fully supports AIPAC's agenda and its top priority of war with Iran. She's not bothered by her own government's genocide that far exceeds the Ottoman and post-Ottoman Turkish Armenian slaughter during and after WW I. The data below estimates as many as four million Iraqis have perished from 1990 - 2007, but speaker Pelosi's condemnation of it is nowhere in sight.
Dr. Gideon Polya is a well-published biological scientist who's book, "Body Count: Global avoidable mortality since 1950," came out this year. It "documents....non-reported (worldwide) avoidable death(s) of 1.3 billion people since 1950" including in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also published his data on millions of violent and non-violent deaths under the three most recent US administrations in articles like his October 7 one on Countercurrents.org. In it, he cites data on Iraq from the Lancet, UN and British polling firm ORB. His "Asian Wars" totals in Iraq, Afghanistan, Occupied Palestine and Lebanon are horrific, and, if correct, exceed any others published to date. A summary of his data follows.
-- Eight million total violent and non-violent deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon breaking down as follows:
-- 70,000 "US-backed" Israeli-caused deaths in Lebanon from 1978 - 2006, 10,000 of which were violent killings "by Israelis" or their "surrogates;"
-- 300,000 1967-2007 Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) deaths plus another 10,000 violent deaths;
-- 200,000 violent 1990-91 Gulf war deaths;
-- 1.7 million 1990-2003 Iraqi sanctions-caused deaths including 1.2 million children under age five;
-- 3.2 million 2001-2007 US Afghanistan war deaths including UN Population Division data totaling 2.5 million plus 700,000 children under age five;
-- 2.0 million 2003-07 US Iraq war deaths including 1.2 million UK polling firm ORB violence-related estimates plus 800,000 children under age five from UNICEF data; and
-- 500,000 2001-07 opiate drug-related deaths resulting from the resurgent Afghan opium industry under US-UK occupation; the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates its output at 93% of world production.
Polya cites the failure of occupying powers to supply essential "life-sustaining requisites" as a major cause of preventable deaths. He also notes his eight million estimate exceeds the Nazi-inflicted Jewish holocaust total of about six million. And he rightly observes that major media misreporting, denying or "ignoring of this horrendous, ongoing mass" slaughter is the equivalent of Jewish holocaust denial and doing it endangers security for "both....victims and....perpetrators."
There's no denying the toll on victims, but consider the cost at home post-9/11:
-- a nation with no outside enemies permanently at war and claims the right to wage preventive wars under the doctrine of "anticipatory self-defense" using first strike nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear states;
-- world stability and peace further threatened by the administration's abandoning NPT, ending Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty protection, rescinding and subverting the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention, deploying so-called "missile defense" for offense, and plans to weaponize space toward the goal of "full-spectrum (unchallengeable) dominance" of all land, surface and sub-surface sea, air, space, electromagnetic spectrum and information systems plus as much of the world's energy resources as possible;
-- a military budget hugely exceeding the rest of the world combined; The Independent Institute analyst Robert Higgs estimates the true FY 2007 budget exceeds $1 trillion with all defense-related items included;
-- a rogue government operating outside constitutional and international laws and norms with the Congress and courts criminally complicit;
-- an unprecedented wealth disparity in an omnipotent corporatist state;
-- growing social decay and poverty in the richest country in the world;
-- a secretive, intrusive, repressive administration under a president who disdains the public interest and is a serial liar and war criminal;
-- condoning and operating secret torture-prisons around the world as a weapon of cruelty, vengeance and social control; and
-- a cesspool of corruption stemming from incestuous business-govenment ties that defile democracy and mock any notion of government of, for and by the people.
The toll in Israel is evident as well. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein is an Israeli Jew, based in Jerusalem, and the Action Advocacy Officer with the Israeli Committee Against (Palestinian) House Demolitions (ICAHD). On August 30, 2007, she delivered an address at the UN Conference at the EU Parliament in Brussels commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Occupied Palestine. In it, she noted part of the toll on Israeli society caused by 40 years of Palestinian repression:
-- around one million Israeli Jews "voted with their feet and left the country;"
-- an estimate by some that up to 50% of Israeli youths refuse mandatory Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) service plus a "grey" Air Force refusal rate of around 30%;
-- a significant recent observation from John Pilger that "something (around the world) is changing. (There's a) swell of a boycott....growing inexorably....an important marker (may have) been passed, reminiscent of the boycotts (preceding) sanctions against apartheid South Africa" that led to the fall of its white-supremicist government; and
-- her experience working with "diplomats, politicians and aid workers in Israel and Palestine (shows) that, on an individual basis, there's enormous personal support and empathy for the Palestinian cause" because decades of abuse against them are intolerable and must end.
Push eventually will come to shove. We better hope it arrives soon. The world can't wait much longer.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) He is based in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US central time.

Arezu, it is amazing that

Arezu, it is amazing that after 30 years of continues murder by the Islamofacist in Tehran, you are asking us to tell you what Islamo facist is. Simply amazing! I will explain to you what islamo facist is, and yes, just like Jamshid, I am a double agent of CIA and Moussad. I believe you are employed by Castro or China? Islamo fascism is the idea that all Muslims have a duty to spread the religion of Islam in the world, unite all Muslims to establish a caliphate (Even if it means the disintegration of established nations, please see Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, Philippines… where Islamist are in the verge of claiming independent territories) and convert every single human being to Islam. So far, doesn’t seem harmful. Here is the twist; any action and every action is justified in order to obtain those mentioned goals. Those actions include, but not limited to: killing innocent women children and elderly in non-combat military operations (See the casualty report of every suicide attack done in the name of Islam in the last 30 years) and combat ,military operations (Iran-Iraq war), applying middle ages, fundamentalist laws in the society using force (Such as bigotry, inheritance law for women , applying Islamic laws to non Muslims, ), taking away basic human rights of citizens as stated in the universal declaration of human rights (Such as imposing Hijab, the right to free speech, right to prosperity, right to criticize power, right to chose government , right to free elections, right to free media, right to education like the Taliban did to women and Iran did and is doing to its citizens such as Bahais and using tactics such as university entrance interview called Gozinesh), denouncing any other ideology, culture, religion, way of life, system of laws other than Islamic fundamentalism , terrorizing and committing murders of citizens using systematic inhumane and barbaric methods such as stoning, execution of opposition groups , homosexuals, and underage children, taking back economic achievements, total disregard for human life , initiating a clash of civilizations between East and West (The biggest threat to world security), and these are just to name a few.

Arezou, why resorting to

Arezou, why resorting to fabrication when trying to assert an argument? There are no proofs of secret U.S prisons inside U.S; Bush’s stepping on the constitution, or illegal wiretapping. Please name me one secret prison inside the U.S and please explain how the wiretapping is not within legal frames. Do not just throw things at us. Secret prisons outside the U.S are a disgrace not to U.S, but to the countries that hold them. Also, please explain how you, as an Iranian, have been profiled by the FBI. You carry enormous hate towards the U.S and yet live here and try to trash it on every single article you write on this site. Please tell us if the FBI ever came to your house and “profiled” you or bothered you about these articles. If not, your argument is false.. Please view C-SPAN sometimes and watch some of the anti-U.S rallies held in America mostly attended by young Middle Eastern (Statistically the number one demographic group involved in suicide bombing in the world). If you’re claiming they are all arrested or hassled, you are simply avoiding facts and reality, or lying. Illegal prisons and profiling are the makes of fascist regimes such as Stalin, China. Cuba and others which you guys support and idealize without any regard for the innocent lives of hundreds of millions of Russians, Chinese, Eastern Europeans and others who lived under their brutal oppression and with the help of the U.S, got their freedom. Your double standard and hypocrites is unseen throughout the history. In order to serve your hateful fascist socialist propaganda, you are willing to destroy Iran, not once, but a million times. Your hate towards Israel and the U.S is not only a mental delusion and disorder, but unexplainable, for the last 60 years you people have been trashing those two,, and till today, none of you was able to come up with a single, just one, example on how Israel has ever, ever, acted against Iranian interest; and the reason that people like me are upset about this, is , that IRI and you as their allies, have used this U.S and Israel bashing tool as one of the mainframes of your propaganda and ideology and one of the biggest excuses to oppress the Iranian people, and if we have any chance ever to be able to make a difference and free our beautiful country from the terror of Mullahs and their leftist allies, we need to take this tool away from you. This has absolutely nothing to do with whether U.S or Israel’s actions are just or unjust. If the IRI halts the US-Israel bashing machine for one, and only one day, the next day we will see a difference. But that will never happen. And it has never happened for the last 30 years outside of Iran because of the fact that you fascists have hijacked our intellectual movement for the interest of your communist masters in Moscow and Beijing. The silent majority of Iranian has spoken and will take back all the tools that you used to destroy our country, tools such as Hijab, U.S-Israel bashing and promoting fundamental ideas

I just don’t seem to

I just don’t seem to understand why whenever we talk about any aspect of Iranian society, whether government, economy, army, culture and other things…..we always, and instantly, compare it to the U.S? Why such sick obsession? All my leftist friends, if according to you, the U.S is scum of the earth, why do you always, without an exception, compare Iranian society to it? Isn’t that, again according to you guys, where we DON’T want to be like?

Re: Arezu, Daryush, Irandoost... traitors to the bones....

You are all the ones who are anti-Iranians. While the people of Iran are being raped, murdered, tortured and destroyed by IRI, you traitors are loafing off in the streets of a foreign country enjoying your miserable worthless lives on the plundered wealth of Iran and on the suffering of Iranians.

Long and hard punishment awaits you traitors.

'Aniranies' well exposed!

I am glad to see how this article separates 'aniranies' from iranians. Just take a look at comments by aniranies and see how rude, illogical, vatanforoush and oghdeyi they are.
On the other hand take a look at comments by true iranians like Arezu and see how logical, educated, brave and educated they are.
It is time for those in between to wake up and leave their half-hatred for their country and people and start thinking and educating themselves about their native country.

PS: 'anirani' is a persian word from Shahnameh, the national book of IRan, meaning 'enemy or IRan', but in our case it well entails the second meaning coming to your mind too!

To: Daryush and Piruz Parsi

Dear Daryush:

You are too kind. Unfortunately, as you have seen on this web-site many are anti-Iranian and have no interest in hearing the truth. As opposed to having a civilized discourse the name calling, and the abusive words take over the writer’s article. We just witnessed this with respect to Nadine's article. An article from a visitor to Iran turned into a political name bashing! This demonstrates many don't have the capacity for a forum where we can debate and discuss issues even if we may not agree with one another. There is much room for all of us to learn from one another if we truly have the best interest of Iran and the Iranian people in mind.

As to Piruz Parsi - yes definitely Dorood bar Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq. Unfortunately the U.S.A. and the British took down the democratic government of Dr. Mossadeq. This is one of the greatest crimes committed by these so called "democratic countries" against the people of Iran!! Never again, is our motto. No foreign entity/country will be allowed to interfere in the affairs of Iran and make decisions for the Iranian people, but the Iranian people!!

Thank God, we have both a history, culture and civilization that has taught the world what "democracy is" as well as a people who are exceptionally intelligent, smart and dynamic; with patience and perseverance they will bring about change for the betterment of Iran.

Long live Iran and the Iranian people!

I like to see Arezu's artilce

You are a logical thinker and it is obvious that you have read plenty. You can offer insite to many Iranians. Please write an article or blog.

Boycot

Boycot IRI and don't go to IRan!!
Real persian must kill the mullahs and their supporters just like they did with imam omar and abubakr muahaha.
sorry arezu & co, but the IRI era is ending.

"I can forgive those who want to kill me or those who want to harm my wife and children, but I can never forgive those who betray the country"

M.R. Shah Pahlavi.

Derud bar Mossadegh, marg bar jomhuriye eslami!

go arezu i think your

go arezu
i think your logical argument make some people angry.
i think there are some exiled iranian can not accept
some iranian like iranian government, well i did not like iran government a lot, but i like ahmadinejad and i support him.he make me proud to be iranian, there is sombody who stand up to west and say back off. i am happy to see the end of reformers and thives. you see all you traitors can swear but you can not change the reality that your only hope of regime change by america is fading. vagfti shoma avziyae zed iran name minvisan hamoon goh ahkundam beshoma vatanforush miarze. ona momkene dozd bashan shoma faghat badi iran mikhaid. by the way time is not on your side. we will get the nuke and that is it.

hmmmm -Islamofascist

Those of you who are continuously using this terminology "Islamofascit" can you please define and explain in detail what you exactly mean by this term "Islamofascist".

This is a terminology used by liberal neocons and Zionists - David Horowitz, Ann Coulter, Podhoretz etc. to incite hatred against the religion of Islam and Muslims. I am confident if a similar terminology was used against Jews and Israel how many people would be burned at the stake and called anti-Semitic, put into prison, or wars waged against countries who use such racist, bigoted terminology.

The writer has not......

Please note that there're foreign visitors visiting Iarn and most of them do like Iranian people. The writer of this artice has not said anything in favour of the islamo-fascist regime. She's just a visitor. Blame the EU diplomats that kept the IRI in power, they're the ones to be blamed.

Dear Xerxes II

Kire asab haye arab be kose omat shahid parvar.

Dear Xerxes

Kire khakham shufet tuye kose nane jende Imam Hossien. Kire Olmert be kose Fatemeh Zahra. Kire khare ghebresi be kose nane bache siyed ha ke tokhom va tarake arab ha hastand.....

Kire bush laye kose Batul khanum.

Kire Chenney be kose Faezeh Rafsanjani.