WAR

Ms. Spahpour-Ulrich in this article is a master of sophism

 Ms. Sepahpour-Ulrich's article reminded of my logic class in Varjavan high school in Tehran and how sophism (aka safsateh) works.  I still remember the example, it went like this; "dar baz ast, baz parvaz mekonnad, therefore, dar parvaz mekonnad." In this  article Ms. Sepahpou-Ulrich asserts, Congresswoman Jackson Lee called Maryam Rajavi "sister," Congresswoman Jackson Lee is the co-chair of Senator Clinton's presidential campaign, "Are Hillary and Maryam 'sisters' too?" With all due respect to the writer, her mastery of sophism in this  article is uncanny!

There is a farsi proverb:

There is a farsi proverb: "Dast pish gherefteh ke pas nayofteh"
My take is she sees this as her last chance to win over Obama by winning Pro-Israel Lobby;

Once she gets in power, she will forget the guns and offer roses from back door!

To: Dariush

Well, I don't quite understand the point of your last point. But based on what I understand, democracy and dictatorship are relative terms. The unfairness of wealth distribution is also a relative thing. There can be more of it or less of it. We have to also keep in mind that nobody has been able to allow a country to grow with absolutely no difference in wealth distribution among people.

What I think is that if the original founders of the MEK had instead started a group to build fantastic monuments or amazing factories, or something along those lines, they would have benefited from support of the Shah and people and it would have been far more productive.

We can learn from Israel. You think there is no injustice in Israel? But its people don't pick up arms against their government. Instead they tear anybody who talks negatively against it to pieces! And internally, they solve their problems in a more civil manner. You can always exagerate things and claim that there is so much injustice that taking arms is justified. This is what is going on these days about IRI too. It is just intentional exageration, which is dishonest.

Mammad: re the MEK

Well, I don't know the whole history, and I am not sure if any one person does. But I compare an MEK member with Hoveyda, for example. Two educated people, one helping Shah, and the other picking up arms against him. Which one did more for Iranian population? Which one had a significantly more positive effect? We can sit here and complain about Hoveyda all we want. The fact is ANYBODY who is in charge can easily be criticized to no end. Those who are not in charge and have never been in charge, can always claim that they would have been a better leader. But there is no way to know for sure. But what the MEK did, along with the rest of the so-called revolutionary groups and individuals, only helped destroy Iran. We can justify it all we want but the fact is someone like Hoveyda didn't! And he ended up being a lot more valuable to Iranians than any revolutionary.

When I say these guys were somewhat educated, I mean they maybe had a degree and they maybe studied some other country's history or maybe they studied political sciences, etc. But their education ended up being a negative factor for Iranians. This is because, in my view, they did not understand the fight between Western Imperialism and the Eastern one. They did not have the complete picture.

You say Shah was a dictator. Well, democracy is relative, like almost anything else. When I say there was relative democracy back then, I mean compared to how dictatorial things could have been, or how dictotarial it became after the so-called revolution.

While the MEK made a lot of mistakes, my point is that their first was not taking up against IRI but taking arms against Shah. And if they could see that, they could then start correcting themselves. But closing eyes on the original mistake, because it is uncomfortable or whatever, makes it impossible for them to move forward.

In a way, the MEK never correctly identified the enemies of our people. It wasn't Shah or Savak, despoite the tortures or executions, etc. And that is what they need to realize. They have always targetted the wrong "enemy." And they are at it again. Collaborating with the most criminal forces in the world against a target that is not the right target, despite the appearances.

P.S. As far as I know, they did not take arms after 1979. They already had asssinated American citgizens in Iran under the justification that they represent imperialism.

Poor Hillary to appease her bosses at AIPAC......It's politics!

The whole US congress and presidents are in the jewish lobyist groups' pockets. So what did u expect her say, bomb Israel? It's all a dangerous game that unfortunately the poor american soldiers and iraqis are paying the ultimate price for! The wars in the mid east have been first about israel! oil second! US is sooooo used by Israel! They are costing the US trillions and they would not give anything in return!

I am afraid of politicians

Yes, I am afraid of them all... I simply watch my words and my actions to make sure I don't get involved in politics--

Crossing the line can easily cause one to be picked in the street for no reason and then beat the crap out of him and then perhaps complete disappearance ...no mentioning the soldiers or marines at any minutee who could come find you out to boot you out of your holes...

I have said this before... I am saying it again--dear iranians stay out of American politics or else you pay huge for being stupid and out of line!

Simply said: None of my business!

Dariush

How naive you are to think the U.S. is using the MEK. In may 2006, The New Yorker exposed this group. Connie Brock wrote: "Israel is said to have had a relationship with the M.E.K at least since the late nineties, and to have supplied a satellite signal for N.C.RI. broadcasts from Paris into Iran. When I asked an Israeli diplomat about Israel’s relationship with the M.E.K, he said, "The M.E.K is useful," but declined to elaborate. The MEK work for Israel and Israel rule America.

Mehdi

I think for the most part, if there is justice in government, that will eliminates most of oppositions except the ones that have different agenda than justice and equality and human rights. I do not think Rezais and others who were tortured and killed by Savak wanted anything else, but justice and etc. Whether in Shah's regime or now there is no need to jail, torture or execute people because they do not agree with government. But when one pulls gun and bombs that is not freedom of expression.
There is this saying. Where there is a Castle built, there are ten homes destroyed. This is one of the things MEK and others saw wrong with Shah and Shah brought it up to himself. Also the dictatorship and lake of other aspects of freedom.
Some say Shah deserved it. If Shah deserved so much for the coup and his dictatorship and serving the west, then what does Mossadegh and Fatemi and others deserve for nationalizing the oil and serving the country and what did they get?
It seems to me it is the lack of justice in domestic policies that is creating all these problems weather is Shah or IRI. But this is our business and none of the criminal states in West or East!

KHODA GASAM!

On Behalf on the entire Basij organization May Allah Curse this woman and her advisors that are telling her to say such garbage. The minute the step foot into Iran is the day they will face the fire and wrath of Allah. We are not a nation that has patience for such rhetoric. We will stand our ground til the very last drop of our blood. Hillary should visit Behesht Zahra before she talks some more jibberish. YA ALI MADAD!

The 12 million Basiji are

The 12 million Basiji are obliterating Iran and IRanina heritage. THey are not even Iranain. They are Muslims who don't care about Iran or their nationality...We need to take our country back from the Islamic thugs who have hijacked our Iran. The Basiji are the Iranian version of "Rednecks" right-wingnuts lunatics who want to impose their psychosis and extreme bigotry on others...

It Must Be asked....

Why is it that so many Iranian-Americans who enjoy the privilege of voting in the primaries as well as the November general elections have voted for her or are going to cast their vote for her?

Her words are just rhetoric, the political name for bullshit. But if this is the kind of bullshit she is about, why in the world would any self-respecting Iranian vote for her?

Mehdi: Regarding MEK

The three original founders of the MEK, Ali Asghar Badi'zadegan, Saeed Mohsen, and Mohammad Hanifnezhad, were not "somewhat" educated, but highly educated, at least by the standards of their time, namely, the early to mid 1960s. They all had received university education. Badi'zadegan was, in fact, a lecturer in chemical engineering at Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran.

The fight with - or better said, the opposition to - the Shah was not wrong. All three had tried peaceful opposition in the National Front and the Freedom Movement, but the Shah jailed their leaders. As Bazargan said during his military "trial," " we are the last group that talk to you and demand reforms peacefully." The Shah did not listen and we know what the result was.

They, in fact, knew exactly what was going on in the world. They had been influenced by the leftist armed movements of Central and South America, the Vietnam war with France (and later the US), the Cuban revolution, and Algeria's war of independence. In all of these, it was the West that was supporting corrupt dictatorial regimes. They saw something similar in Iran.

There was no democracy during the Shah. I do not know what democtracy you are talking about. The MEK was established in 1965, almost at the peak of the Shah's dictatorial rule.

Where the MEK went wrong were:

(1) Taking up arms, when there was no social movement to support it.

(2) Trying to develop a Marxist interpretation of Ghoran. This led to the split in the MEK in 1975, whereby the Marxist minority took over the MEK, and killed several members of the Islamic faction, including Majid Sharif Vaghefi and Morteza Samadiyeh Labbaf. The Marxist leaders - Taghi Shahram, Vahid Afrakhteh, Mohsen Khamoushi, Bahram Aaraam, and Hossein Rouhani, were either killed by the Shah or the IRI. Some members of that faction, including Torab Haghshenas (who acted as the link between the MEK and Ayatollah Khomeini in Najaf) are still living in Europe (Haghshenas was in Europe at that time).

(3) Adapting the so-called "democratic centralism," meaning that the group chooses its leaders, but then obeys it blindly. This was a Stalinist manner. The result was that a fascist faction led by Masoud Rajavi took over.

(4) The MEK was never interested in anything other than taking control of Iran. They supported Ayatollah Khomeini after the Revolution, so long as they thought they could use him to reach power. Once they realized that it was impossible, they turned against him.

(5) Because of the thirst for power, the cult-ike leadership of the MEK is willing to make a pact with even Satan. Just see what they have done with Saddam Hussein, Israel, ...

Are the Basij not Iranian; who do you think is fighting for Iran

It's amazing that certain people believe that the Basij are worth dying. What twisted and perverted minds some have.

They are Iranians fighting for Iran? What are those who condemn this group doing on behalf of Iran? I bet you not a thing let alone a willingness to sacrifice their life for their country.

As such, those who fight for our country, are by far more Iranian than anyone of us!! They die while others reap the benefit. It was the Basij who fought to keep the territorial integrity of Iran during the Iran-Iraq war; it was they who were bombed with chemical and biological weapons and hundreds and thousands are sick with cancer today; it was they who had to walk through mine fields on behalf of our country.

They deserve our admiration, and our gratitude as opposed to insults!

I have never seen a more ungrateful people filled with so much hatred than some Iranians.

While I am on this topic I wonder if Reza Pahlavi has dared condemn Hillary Clinton for her statement, this is the least he can do? After all isn't he one of those who hopes to reap the benefit from the sacrifices of the Basiij?

What did Hillary say ,

//latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/04...

I don't see how she is any different than Ahmadinejad really

10 million have to die?

just because the 12 million basij forces in Iran dont' think like you doesn't mean they should get "obliterated"

Dariush: Re the MEK

Personally, I think where the MEK went wrong was actually long before 1979. In fact they went wrong when they initiated their group. They started a fight with Shah, which was wrong. These were somewhat educated people but not educated enough to know what was going on in the world and how the outside forces were affecting Iran. They had become exposed to some one-sided information from Russia and its supporters and didn't really have a complete picture. If they did, they should have stood by Shah instead of destroying the basic democracy that existed. And today they cannot correct themselves, mainly because they are assuming that they went wrong in 1979. But they went wrong from the very start. And if they realized that, they could probably correct themselves.

To: irannostalgia do you know what the meaning of Obliterate is?

I guess you don't have a clue what the word "we will obliterate them" means.

Obviously spelling it out didn't work, so maybe a visual description will.

This is what Obliteration look like!!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=63h_v6uf0Ao

VOTE OBAMA 2008

irannostalgia.com: The Two-Face

"I hope theres no war. But it looks like nothing changes in iran, if we have to wait for iranians to do anything." Does that mean anything else than you hope 70 million people will be incinerated by Israel's nuclear bombs?

You say there are bout "10 million" non-innocents among them? How exactly did you come up with that number? So you are saying one out of every 7 Iranian in Iran deserves to be fried by Israel's nuclear bombs? Do you have a percentage for such evil people in Israel? One out of how many Israelis do you figure deserves to be blown up to pieces by rocket attacks or suicide bombers?

You are a disgrace to humanity - never mind Iran.

!

Those of you who question the fact that MEK is not a terrorist group probably don't have a relative that was blown up by them. I'm not sure what else would qualify a group of stupid people as terrorist, but going into a place of worship and bombing the unsuspecting women and children and Innocent men, is in my opinion a terrorist act. Not only that , they assisted the Saddam regime in attacking Iran and killing the people who fought for every inch of Iran.

Those people who assume that it would be ok for Americans to attack Iran and remove a regime, then all I can say is THINK. Why would they then hand back the control of the country to the Iranian people? it is none of their business to begin with, If we don't like our government we as Iranians should be the ones that would fight and change the government. It is also very wrong to "assume" that the majority of Iranians want to change the government. Until there is a referendum that proves majority of Iranians are in favor of a different government then all you say is just based on an assumption. And I don't think America should attack my people and kill them because we assumed something.

MEK Patriotic which planet are you coming from?

My, my, my I wonder where are you coming from? MEK nationalist! This is the first.

Either you are one of them, or brainwashed by this cult, or vatanforoosh or nokar-e-doshmanan-e-Iran?

FYI this is the same MEK which worked hand in hand with Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war, killing Iranians both civilians and its military mind you with chemical and biological weapons. They killed the young youth of our country who were fighting for their country, the true nationalists!!

This is also the same MEK which was part of Saddam's military apparatus and was directly involved in the massacre of Dujail; again with the use of chemical and biological weapons.

If Saddam was executed for such crimes then instead of protecting this terrorist cult in Camp Ashraf, this group which also killed Americans should have had the same destiny as Saddam.

It is so hypocritical of individuals like you, and the Americans who blame Iran for destabilizing Iraq and having killed American soldiers, mind you with no proof (just the same usual propaganda), and waging a "war against terrorism", while at the same time, they support a terrorist group, the MEK, and its affiliates NCRI.

The Americans know full well that the MEK has killed Americans, this is the reason why they were placed on the terrorist list to begin with.

So all of this just shows, there is no war on "terror". The U.S. is just using this as a great pretext for invading countries in the Middle East which do not kiss its ass, lick its boots, and kowtow to its demands.

After all who funded and supported, and established Al-Qaeda/OBL, the Talibans, the Mujahedeens, the madrassas in Pakistan -the U.S.,with support and funds from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. They have also funded the MEK, and other terrorist organizations.

You consider the MEK liberator? This is the joke of the century.

Their members are segregated; men and women can't be together, they have to have total obediance to their founder (Maryam and Massoud Rajavi), this means doing anything that their masters tell them, even if it means putting themselves on fire; they are brain washed, manipulated, kept in a camp where they are not allowed to speak to outsiders; have been separated from their families and children, because this is a distraction. You call this freedom, and democracy?

This sick group simply want to replace the Mullahs with Sister Maryam and Brother Massoud as head of state; or should I say King and Queen Rajavi.

I would rather have the Mullah's in Iran than the MEK (a Marxist/Islamic cult group) anyday!!

Call me whatever the hell you want, I don't give a damn. But don't think you are speaking to a bunch of idiots!

And while you are criticizing the author for writing about Hillary Clinton, where have you been for the past week, when every single topic on iranian.com has been about "Hillary Clinton and her statement". Or do you simply hate it when Soraya writes and provides us with information that we were not aware; i.e. the connection of MEK with the Hillary campaign.

This must be what is bothering you! If this is the case then we know where you are coming from.

The first paragraph was enough..

The first paragraph of this article contains this line:

 "She announced her readiness to reduce 70 million innocent Iranian lives to ashes so that she could imagine her picture in the White House"

 Really?  I never heard her say that! Sounds more like something you are putting in her mouth!   She did say she would consider going to war ....but reducing 70 millon inocent iranians... she didnt say.  Actually all 70 millon arent innocent. There are about 10 millon M***** F***ers in their as well.   I don't think people in the US are necessarily favoring a president that would seak future wars. Therefore if Clinton said what she said, it was based on ideology and not necessarily because she thinks her response was going to help her get elected.

I hope theres no war.  But it looks like nothing changes in iran, if we have to wait for iranians to do anything.

//www.irannostalgia.com

irannostalgia.com

I hate to see

I hate to see MEK in this situations. They were mostly honest, hard working, lower and middle class Iranians. This started with some injustice from IRI by not giving them seat in government as they deserved and followed by wrong decisions by MEK leadership in taking arms and bombings that resulted in arrest and execution of their members. Further they took side with Saddam against Iranians and now this. MEK today is not the MEK in 1970's. Then the goal was freedom and justice for Iranians, today is about power and ruling Iran regardless of how.
They are digging themselves a deeper hole. U.S. will never trust MEK. They will use MEK and will destroy MEK once there is no use.

"America is in a State of Amnesia"

The politicians in the U.S. have used the media as their tool to brainwash and manipulate the masses by providing disinformation.

Unfortunately the American people don't know the truth; because the U.S. media is not providing them with the truth, the news papers in this country don't publish the truth; so you have to read foreign news and watch foreign TV; or get your hands dirty and dig for information.

The U.S. wants us to believe one thing "This is the land of Democracy, and Freedom, and Equality and Justice for All"

They don't like to discuss or hear any criticism about all of the abuses of power and the injustices committed by various U.S. Admin. in the name of the American people.

Rather, the U.S. and its number one ally Israel like to depict the rest of the world (especially the Middle East) as evil, "pariah", "rogue", while under our own very eyes the most brutal regimes are in power right here in the U.S. and in Israel.

In the words of Gore Vidal: "America is in a State of Amnesia".

See how they vilified Rev. Wright when they took his passages out of context for political reasons in order to damage Obama.

The Following is the interview of Rev. Wright with Bill Moyers on PBS. Everything the Rev. is saying is the truth. However, as far as Freedom of speech goes it does not mean telling the truth about the U.S. or Israel.

//www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.h...

Race to Kill

Thank you Soraya for your valued and important articles.
There seems to be a race to kill going on in this administration and some democrats.
I learned that Bush and Chaney have passed a law called executive order. This will allow to this president(Bush) stay in power in case of chaos and disturbance in the country. Perhaps the food shortage and high gas prices, war with Iran and Syria will create such conditions for them and the election will be halted and bush will stay in power.
Other wise I am sure that Obama will be assassinated by Zionists/Neocons. I hope I am wrong, but I can see this worry more and more in Obama's face these days!

Hillary McCain

Yet another piece of "intelligent" article by one knwon Iran-Lover who is shedding real (not crocodile) tears for the people of Iran knowing full well that Iranian people are sick and tired of this IRI, the God Father of International Terrorism.

Our "Sister Sorayya," like her male counter parts ( a bunch of parasites who live a comforatable life in the West) is quite apprehensive of the possibility of the American recognition of the Iranian opposition and especially of the Mojahedin, the arch enemy of the IRI. That is why we hear the same idiotic mantra: USA, instead of trying to get along with our beloved Ayatollah-Mashangs in Iran, is trying to use a "terrorist" (!!??) group, the MEK, to get rid of the IRI; if this is done, then Iran will disintegrate, 70 millions of Iranians will perish over night, Iran will become no-existent!! Damn the MEK that is forcing USA to bomb Iran.

This is really bad because by attacking these mullahs, the end result will be disasterous for Iran (aka: the likes of those who has nothing better than living in the West going back and forth between the USA and Iran, seeing their billinoaire mullah-connected families every six months for the love of their parasitic lives). Oh the soul of that accursed Imam Khomeini, help us to get rid of this MEK and then we could all opt for another half a century of good life in the West while our mullahs are raping and killing our people.

Sister Sorayya, is also upset with Ms. Clinton because she seems to have realised that there is another option based on the rcognition of the fact that this damn cult is being looked as an alternative for the IRI. clinton has recognized that MEK is a vaiable alternative that she could "utilize" to get rid of these mullahs, and heck! Sorayya doesn't like it because she is very concerned about "Iranian People." (And my name is Queen Elisabeth III).

However, the same Sister Sorayya, like her male counterparts, is always silent when it comes to a daily and recurring ccycles of crime and terrorism that IRI is involved in its propegation, internally, or externally. When the IRI hangs multitudes of our youths in public for alleged bogus crimes, she keeps her mouth shut because it is not her place to raise objections against the abuse of the Iranian people.
However, it is her place to be hystrionic about a "eligious cult" that has the audacity of challenging the EU and the USA through their court systems that it is not a terrorist orgnaization.

The funny thing is that we have high courts' ruling in England ordering the British government to remove the name of this damn "cult" from its list of terrorist organizations. These documents are not good for Sister Sorya because she is marching to the tunes of a different logic formed by those who are a "billion" times more patriotic than the avergae Iranians; those who run the affairs of our beloeved IRI in Iran.

Sister Sorayya is our model of patriotism in diaspora giving morality lessons to the likes of Maryam Rajvi, a woman whose death warrents has been signed in Tehran to be carried out by whomever could get close to her in Europe, the bastion of democracy and human rights. When and if that terroristic plot were to be carried against Maryam Rajavi, do you think our Sister Sorayya would be upset? I don't think so.

Illuminati tools of the establishment

Both Hillary and her husband are tools of the establishment, trained for power from an early age. The establishment that controls through bodies such as the CFR uses the facade of democracy to fool the public.

They control both sides and they thrive on creating chaos and maintaining divisions to keep hold of the control they have over the world. Globalisation is a loaded dice controlled by them to increase their hegemony.

They pick off their enemies one by one; creating a 'problem', to produce a 'reaction' from the masses which allows them to bring in  their preconceieved 'solutions' which they call 'order' out of 'chaos' - their motto. Their 'order' out of the 'chaos' they create on purpose.

The only solution is for mankind to wake up and realise that politics is a joke. They divide people and maintain their rule.

This awakening is actually a spiritual one; away from the world dominated by greed and materialism. The world controlled by the 'elite' who are corrupt.

Food 4 Thought 

Fighting for peace is like f**ing for virginity...........

"Fighting for peace is like f**ing for virginity..........."

Hillary is worse than I thought!!

Thank you for a very informative article. Now we know what is really behind her foreign policy strategy and who she keeps as friends; terrorist organizations.

This would be good for Obama to know that her co-Chairman supports a terrorist organization, the MEK!

Obama got a beating for what Rev. Wright has said, it is about time that Hillary gets a real beating.

This woman is absolutely unfit to run for office. And we can't let her get off the hook with her statement "we will obliterate them". We have to do whatever is in our power, whether it is sending e-mails and letters to her campaign office, the media, or directly to the Senator herself and let her and the Americans know that we Iranians are pretty alive,
and will not stand for this type of rhetoric.

If she is afraid of the Israeli Lobby, she should know that we can also do harm. We may be disunited in our views, but one thing which unites us (hopefully) is love for our mother land and our people.

Please view this video and pass it around.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T7F36dUNYA

Not only phony but dangerous too

Thanks for your intelligent articles.

You are right, this woman would do anything and say anything to get to the power she is craving.

She should have been a part of GW's criminal Cult. I am sure she would have benefited from them.