Date

OPINION

Mujahedin's fate in Iraq

The vast majority of Camp Ashraf residents are not so much members of a terrorist cult as they are victims of it

06-Oct-2008 (53 comments)
The Bush administration inherited many of Iraq's problems when it invaded that country, including an Iranian terrorist organization funded and armed by Saddam Hussein, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO). Though in the midst of a war on terror, the Bush administration chose in 2003 to protect 3,000 of the organization's militants and house them in a camp given to the group by Saddam — Camp Ashraf just north of Baghdad. Ever since, the fate of this State Department-listed terrorist organization has been unclear. Hated by Iraqis for its involvement in Saddam's crimes against the Iraqi people, the Baghdad government wants to expel the group. But no country is willing to take them>>>

TRAVELER

The Hollow Hills of Nain

An ancient way of life is fast passing away

06-Oct-2008 (5 comments)
If you travel a hundred miles or so eastwards out of Isfahan, through a landscape of pink-coloured mountains and desert wastes inhabited by strange willowy trees and clumps of yellow grass, you come inexorably to the ancient city of Nain. Situated on the very edge of the great Kavir desert, Nain was once an important station on the Silk Road. Today, however, the concrete cubes of Modernity have lent it an air of apathy and neglect. Only the magnificent fortress of Nareen Ghaleh, towering over the city like a broken tooth, still speaks proudly of a rich and illustrious past. But Nain has secrets not disclosed to the casual visitor. On the main road leading to the centre is a low sandy hillside, honey-combed with countless caverns>>>

FICTION

The Newlyweds (2)

The wedding was a grand ballroom affair at some fancy hotel in downtown Toronto

06-Oct-2008 (11 comments)
Hi Dear Brother, First, I apologize for this tardy response to your letter. What with the wedding, honeymoon trip and our return to Toronto, getting acquainted with my new life, I have not really had the time to digest all of it myself, let alone write you an account of it. The wedding can best be described as a circus. The successive faces of various amoos, khalehs, dokhtar-dayees, friends, business associates etc. whirled around me like we were all on some sort of a giant merry go round, until they all started blending and blurring together. As the wedding guests lunged towards me, with their wide, grimacing mouths and teeth as sharp as their designer suits, I could not tell whether they were going to kiss me or bite me >>>

MUSLIM NATION?

«ملت مسلمان ايران» وجود خارجی ندارد!

از نخستين روزهای انقلاب 57، صفت «اسلامی» تبديل به اسلحه ای در دست دشمنان «ملت منتشر و رنگارنگ ايران» بوده

06-Oct-2008 (7 comments)
از آنجا که ـ بر اساس قوانين و معاهدات بين المللی ـ دولتمردان يک حکومت مدرن حاکمان مجموعه ای از مردمان ساکن، يا تحت حمايت، يک کشور محصور در مرزهائی شناخته شده بوسيلهء کشورهای ديگر هستند، و در هيچ کجای عالم نمی توان، در داخل مرزهای يک کشور، ملتی را يافت که دارای فقط يک مذهب باشد، و همواره ملت ها به اقشار دينی مختلفی تقسيم می شوند، خطاب کردن «ملت ايران» به عنوان «ملت مسلمان ايران» يک غلط فاحش حقوقی و سياسی است. چرا که در درون ملت ايران هم، همچون ملت های ديگر جهان، معتقدان به مذاهب گوناگون وجود دارند، همچنانکه در ميانشان منکران مذهب و دين هم فراوانند. در ايران مردمان مسيحی و مسلمان و يهودی و زرتشتی و بهائی و هندو و هزار مذهب و نحلهء ديگر، و همچنين بی دينان و منکران خدا و پيامبر و ائمه و دهری مذهبان و غيره، در کنار هم زندگی می کنند و همگی جزئی از «ملت ايران» هستند. در نتيجه، می توان به ضرس قاطع گفت که چيزی به نام «ملت مسلمان ايران» وجود خارجی ندارد در حاليکه «مسلمانان ايرانی» و يا «مسلمانان ملت ايران» موجوداتی حقيقی اند.>>>

POETRY

قصیده ای برای رزهای صورتی
06-Oct-2008 (2 comments)

... امروز می خوام یه قصیده بریزم
به پای این رزهای رنگ پریده
که فقط یه تقلیدن
این خوشگلای بی
                       عطر و بو
که امروز از یه مرد سفید
با دهنی خشک شده خریدم؛
مردی حتی لاغرتر از ساقه ی پرخون این گلها
که خودشونو بین برگهای مرده پیچیدن

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