|
Opinion
Clinton & the Constitution By Guive Mirfendereski In deciding whether President Clinton should be impeached for offenses alleged in the Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's report to the U.S. House of Representatives in connection with the Jones-Lewinsky affair, the members must bear in mind that the House is under no constitutional or other legal compulsion to institute impeachment proceedings. For whatever reason, should the majority of members resolve to impeach Clinton, then the matter will transcend his personal circumstance and inveigh the Constitution's delicate balance itself. The Constitution is a fragile document; the violence done to its intents and purposes on this occasion will visit the generations until such time as the Supreme Court or a constitutional amendment would halt future abuses of the impeachment process. Under article 2, section 4 of the Constitution, impeachable offenses consist of "Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Constitution itself is silent on the definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors." In deciding whether to impeach the president, therefore, each House member should ask whether each offense alleged by Mr. Starr rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor, as intended by the framers of the Constitution... GO TO FEATURE
Cover story Afghan survey: Comments Two samples: * Ideal situation for conservatives I don't think the situation in Afghanistan should be reduced to a Shi'ite and Sunni conflict. My heart goes to all people of Afghanistan. The gravity of the situation is highlighted by the fact that compared to the Taliban, the Islamic Repbulic does not look that bad. At the same time I hate seeing people like (Revolutionary Gaurds Commander) Raheem Safavi flexing their muscels (this is the ideal situation for their faction in the power struggle). * A few surgical strikes No war is a good one, an in the end, one nation looses a bit more than the other. There is no such thing as a winnable war anymore. In Iran vs Afghanistan, I truely believe a few surgical strikes should teach those barbarians a lesson they will not forget for a long time. To hell with their twisted ideology... GO TO FEATURE
Emigrant
The little emigre Yasmine Rafii Since, in American geography, Iran was not discovered until... oh, about 1979, nobody had a clue where I was from. It could have been Mars. My penchant for invention got the better of me, and the stories I told included not one, but several magic carpets. One for each of my father's wives. For the sixth graders of LaSalle Public School, magic carpets became a viable means of locomotion, intended for the truly discerning traveler. Mr. Ayres, our teacher, poor fellow, was of the horse-and-buggy era himself. Making sense out of the conundrum that I presented, was very taxing to his system. He sighed a lot. That first week, it was imperative that I stand up and make a name for myself. The class bully, a giant of a girl named Ginger, spent most of her time picking on us geeks. Her favorite target at the time was the smartest kid in the class, a Chinese girl named Mai-lin. Mai-lin's problem was not just being smart, she was also tiny and very skinny. So skinny in fact, that if you turned her sideways, she disappeared. As my first heroic act in support of underdogs, I publicly announced my intention to defend Mai-lin's honor. I challenged Ginger to a fight in the alley after school... GO TO FEATURE
Afghanistan
Prepare for the worst By Siamak Namazi I just got back from Iran this Saturday. The Iranian press has been very active in crying out against war. For example, well before the fate of the Iranian diplomats was known, and even before the massing of 70,000 Revolutionary Guards on the Afghan border, a well-known Iranian political scientist, Sadeq Zibakalam, cried foul in an excellent article published in Tous. Zibakalam's piece was only one of the many written against mounting tensions and critical of Iran's policy on Afghanistan. Perhaps we can help by adding to the anti-war chorus. Judging from talking to people on the streets and in shared taxis in Tehran, the mood among the population is quite against war... GO TO FEATURE
Cover story
Afghan survey: Comments Iranians have achieved too much and have come too far in the past few years to fall in another costly and deadly conflict. A military conflict would certainly deliver another unnecessary blow to Iran's already ailing economy and make times even worse for the people of Iran. Furthermore, such a military conflict is precisely what the hardliners in Iran need to kill the emerging glimmer of free speech, media and s\political activism. Finally, Iran's recent efforts to mend its relationship with the outside world and certainly with the Arab world would fall a victim to this irresponsible adventurism. It is true that on an official and governmental measure, Iran possesses a considerably more significant military capability than the Taleban authority. But, please try to remember what the mountanous terrain of Afghanistan and the flood of Arab and American assistance did to the Soviet effort in that country. As the famous modern American proverb goes (often used to refer to an unwinnable situation), "this could be Iran's Afghanistan!... SEE MORE COMMENTS & FULL STATS Opinion National interests come first By Hooshang Amirahmadi
|
Cover Story
Gol Aqa
* Cover stories |
Copyright © 1997 Abadan Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved. May not be duplicated or distributed in any form
Web Site Design by |
Internet server by |
