Iran behind alleged terrorist plot, U.S. says 11OCT11

TERRORIST pariah Iran is showing it's desperation with factions of the Iranian government being involved in this plot. It reminds me of the deadly plot carried out by Cuban dissidents contracted by the government of Chilean dictator Pinochet who killed the former Chilean ambassador to the U.S. with a car bomb in D.C. There are a lot of conspiracy theorist out there who are doubting the American government's claims, and honestly, who can blame them? Look at how we were lied to about the reasons "justifying" the Iraq war, "justifying" the excesses of the Patriot Act, and how we have been lied to about the Afghanistan war, and we are getting into the 2012 campaign season so the Obama administration is going to want to look tough on national security. But I do believe our government about this because of the evidence presented and because the Iranian government is an embodiment of evil, much on the same level as hitler's Third Reich. My fear is this will be used as justification for more war, and if it happens it will be another war we can not win, and will probably involve nuclear weapons. From the Washington Post

By Jason Ukman

U.S. officials on Tuesday said that they had foiled an elaborate terrorist plot backed by factions of the Iranian government aimed at assassinating the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
At a news conference, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said two Iranians have been charged with conspiracy to murder a foreign official and conspiracy to commit an act of international terrorism, among other charges. One of the suspects, an Iranian with U.S. citizenship, was arrested in New York last month; the other, an Iranian, remains at large.
“The United States is committed to holding Iran accountable for its actions,” Holder said.
The suspects were identified as Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old from Texas, and Gholam Shakuri, an Iran-based member of Iran’s Quds Force, an elite division of that country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for foreign operations.
In addition to killing the Saudi ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir, officials said, the plot envisioned later striking other targets. The officials said that the plan to kill the ambassador was directed by Tehran, and that Arbabsiar has acknowledged that he was recruited and funded by men he understood to be senior officers in the Quds Force.
Shortly after the announcement, the Obama administration said it was imposing financial sanctions on five Iranians, including the two suspects, connected to the plot. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration would consider more actions to further isolate the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian government immediately denied the accusations, calling them a new round of “American propaganda,” according to state news agency IRNA.
“The U.S. government and the CIA have very good experience in making up film scripts,” Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in Tehran. “It appears that this new scenario is for diverting the U.S. public opinion from internal crises.
Officials described the details of the plot as chilling, saying that the conspirators considered blowing up a restaurant frequented by the ambassador.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, Arbabsiar met with a DEA informant — who was posing as a representative of a Mexican drug cartel — to arrange the killing. At one point, the complaint says, Arbabsiar told the informant that he would need four men to carry out the ambassador’s murder and that he would pay $1.5 million for the operation.
As a down payment, Arbabsiar allegedly later arranged for $100,000 to be wired to an account that was secretly overseen by the FBI.
“Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real and many lives would have been lost,” said FBI Director Robert Mueller.
According to the Justice Department, Arbabsiar was arrested by federal agents Sept. 29 after he had been under surveillance or investigation for more than four months. His arrest came eight days after two U.S. hikers who had spent more than two years in Iranian custody on suspicion of spying were released from prison and allowed to leave the country.
A spokesman for the National Security Council said President Obama had been briefed on the case in June.
The United States has listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984. The government in Tehran has long denied accusations that it backs terrorism.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitter political enemies in a long-running Middle Eastern conflict fueled largely by sectarian rivalries. Saudi Arabia, a monarchy with a predominantly Sunni Muslim population, has felt threatened by the Shiite leadership of Iran ever since the 1979 revolution toppled Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and replaced him with a theocratic government.
Jubeir, 49, is one of the best-known Saudi figures in the West and among the most powerful foreign policymakers outside the royal family. The son of a Saudi diplomat, he speaks fluent German and virtually unaccented American English. A political science and economic graduate from the University of North Texas, he also holds a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University.
He first appeared as a spokesman for the Saudi government during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, and quickly became known as a foreign policy adviser to then-Crown Prince Abdullah, with particular influence on policy toward the United States. When it became known that the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks were carried out by Saudi citizens, Jubeir was dispatched to Washington to represent the kingdom’s interests before the American public and policymakers. He became ambassador the the United States in 2007.
His extensive contacts within the administration and among lawmakers, policy experts and journalists — and his closeness to the most senior figures of the Saudi government — have helped Jubeir work to strengthen U.S.-Saudi ties.
Staff writers Jerry Markon, William Branigin, Craig Whitlock, Karen DeYoung and Scott Wilson, correspondent Thomas Erdbrink in Tehran and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

PROTECT STUDENT'S RIGHTS IN IRAN! FREE MAJID TAVAKKOLI from AI 7APR11

IRAN continues to brutally repress the human rights of it's citizens, punishment for political activism is either execution or long prison sentences guaranteeing physical and mental torture. Please participate in this call to action for Majid Tavakkoli......

Iranian authorities are threatening to tack outrageous charges onto Majid Tavokkoli's eight and a half year prison sentence because he supported student activism. Protect students' rights in Iran! Free Majid Tavakkoli!

		In 2009, hundreds of thousands of people in Iran took to the streets to protest disputed presidential election results. Majid Tavakkoli, a student leader, was one of the thousands who exercised his right to peaceful protest. He is now serving more than 8 years in prison for a speech that criticized the government. Now that protest movements calling for accountability and respect for human rights are sweeping through Tunisia, Egypt, and much of the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, we should remember the brave activists, like Majid Tavakkoli, who continue to speak out in Iran regardless of the potential consequences. Authorities may tack outrageous charges onto Majid's sentence for a letter he co-wrote while in prison praising fellow students for their peaceful activism. There are two very important steps we can take right now to help Majid and to ensure that students' rights to freedom of expression and association in Iran are protected:
		Send an email to the Head of the Judiciary in Iran: Urge him to free Majid Tavakkoli! Stand in solidarity with Majid and other prisoners of conscience during our virtual protest in Azadi Square in June by uploading a picture of yourself to Flickr. Without action, Iranian students will continue to face egregious forms of repression and human rights abuses. Iranian authorities will clamp down on students like Majid, who are opposed to their policies. Those who dare speak out will do so at great risk and with devastating consequences. But in Azadi Square, there's hope. Azadi Square holds a special place in Iran's history. It has been the site of countless demonstrations, including the largest post-election protest which was organized by students. In fact, 'Azadi' means freedom in Persian. That's why in June we're again turning Azadi Square into the main stage for both freedom and students' rights. Your actions are simple, but the effect can be incredible. Join us in Azadi Square. Speak out for Majid. Stand up for human rights. In Solidarity, Michael O' Reilly Senior Campaign Director, Individuals at Risk Amnesty International USA Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Anti-government protests spread to Iran 14FEB11

PROTEST for freedom and democracy are spreading across the Maghreb, the Middle East and the Gulf. The protesters have been peaceful and non-violent, the governments they seek to replace respond with violence. This from the Washington Post on today's protest in Tehran, Iran...where the repressive theocracy encouraged protest in Egypt and Tunisia but attacked non-violent marchers in Iran with tear gas, beatings and arrest. The rest of the Islamic world is witness to the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime and their "religious" leadership.....
By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, February 14, 2011; 12:22 PM


TEHRAN - Crowds of demonstrators battled security forces armed with tear gas and batons during a surprisingly large anti-government protest in the Iranian capital Monday that drew inspiration from the recent popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
Dodging clouds of tear gas fired by police and pro-government militiamen, the protesters marched down a central boulevard and shouted slogans such as "Death to the dictator," "We are all together" and "Down with Taliban, in Cairo and Tehran."
Witnesses at several positions along the route said vast throngs of people could be seen marching from Enghelab (Revolution) Square toward Azadi (Freedom) Square, overwhelming police efforts to stop them.
Dozens of protesters were arrested for participating in the banned rally, an opposition Web site reported. A similar demonstration, clashes and arrests were reported in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
The gathering in Tehran appeared to be the most significant anti-government protest here since security forces cracked down on a series of massive demonstrations in 2009. The size of the crowd was difficult to estimate. Some witnesses said they believed it exceeded 200,000. The Associated Press said tens of thousands of people demonstrated.
In any case, the government seemed to have been taken by surprise by the large numbers of protesters. Security forces shot dozens of tear gas grenades at demonstrators who at times attacked members of the pro-government paramilitary Basij forces.
Police, who seemed to be mobilized in smaller numbers than usual, tried to disperse the protesters using batons and tear gas. A man was seen coming to the rescue of his wife after a helmeted officer hit her on the legs.
In the afternoon, as the crowds grew, the police were seen retreating in some areas. By evening, the protesters seemed ready to disperse. Internet service had been disrupted in Tehran, so it was difficult to ascertain the next steps for organizers, who had relied on Web sites and social media to launch Monday's rally.
The roads near Tohid Square in western Tehran were lined with rocks, and steel street barriers were erected blockades against groups of Basij members.
After sunset, trash cans were set on fire as members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps drove past on their signature motorcycles and shot some bystanders with tear gas and paint guns. Some people in the crowd handed out masks that offered some protection from the stinging fumes. Others lit small fires that also provided relief.
Some demonstrators held green ribbons, the color of the opposition movement that sprang to life after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory in 2009.
After the election, the movement staged widespread protests. Those protests were eventually stifled by security forces, including the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia, which are fiercely loyal to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two people were hanged and scores of opposition supporters jailed. The last mass demonstration was in December 2009.
The 2009 protests were led in part by presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi, whose defeat by Ahmadinejad at the polls was widely questioned.
Mousavi also called for Monday's demonstration, saying people should rally in support of the protesters in Egypt and Tunisia who had succeeded in toppling their governments.
Although Iran's government has praised the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings, officials refused to grant a permit for a gathering in Iran.
A statement on a Mousavi-affiliated Web site in advance of the rally warned that any violence directed at the protesters by security forces would be an international "disgrace" and would undermine the government's public support for the Egyptian and Tunisian protesters.
"Do not allow the infiltrating agents of those seeking violence to derail the demonstrations with their aggressive behavior under any circumstances," the statement posted on Kalameh.com said. "The noble people of Iran should participate in the peaceful demonstration, with calm and resolve."
On Saturday, the White House called on the Iranian government to allow its people to assemble.
"The Iranian government has declared illegal for Iranians what it claimed was noble for Egyptians," national security adviser Thomas E. Donilon said in a statement.