United States Central Command

The Iranian People, that is who

You are NOBODY to talk about solidarity with meehan.  My hands are clean of the blood of my people, as I fight for my people, against the fascists that you defend. Which is more than I can say for you.

No Major, YOU, not me,  said that the Basij supported the crackdown, to which I responded, they are commanded by IRGC, which you confirmed.  So stop trying to deflect blame from IRGC.  And the IRIPF played a role all right- it stood by and let the ansar and basij thugs in.  They don't dare intervene.  What does that tell you?  The police of a country stands by and lets a bunch of thugs attack a bunch of students, kill some, and take in hundreds to secret prisons and torture them.  What an important role....  It tells you volumes about who is actually in charge. 

So in this Islamic system of yours, how does a thug apply for a job of law enforcement with ansar brown shirts?  How exactly does he make an arrest and who does he hand the arrested person to?  Hint- don't look for any "uniforms".

Now, in such a system, when a thug can just show up, arrest your daughter, take her to a prison, sentence her to death, and rape her before she is executed, you claim that the WPO poll called people at home from outside the country, and asked "are you happy with your current form of government?" and 91% said yes.  What do you expect them to say?  No, I hate my government, Ahmadinejad stole the election, and you can rape my daughter"?  WHAT A JOKE.

Funny how you completely fail to mention the other finding of this very same poll: Over 60% favor resumption of diplomatic ties with the US, and unconditional discussions with the US.  Funny how such a population so happy with its government is in direct opposition to the central policy of the same government.  Or that only 14% said they voted for Mousavi, which is not even close to what the government says Mousavi got.

If this ridiculous assertion were true, and 91% of Iranians were indeed satisfied, then what is IRI afraid of?  What can a fringe 9% slim minority do?  Why cannot they come out and express their opinion freely, and why are so many of them put in prison and tortured?  Why are their newspapers banned?   Why does every top mullah come out in every opportunity saying that anybody demonstrating on such and such date will be met with divine fury, and openly threaten peaceful demonstrators?

So SS Major, you can bring as many polls obtained while holding a gun to people's head as you want.  Support a fascist system, and you are fighting your own people.  The Iranian people.

Why are you and your bosses so afraid of your own people?  After all, Saddam Hussein also got 99.9% of the vote in every election (he had elections too you know...)

-Fair

Whose people?

Fair you said the '99 unrest was brutally put down by IRGC and Basij thugs. Now you're saying it was Basij under the IRGC? Anyway, yes, the Basij is under the IRGC in a command flow chart. However, non-security activities of the Basij really don't fall under the jurisdiction of the IRGC, and direct overall command has only been recently instated.

Somehow, you completely fail to take into account the duties and responsibilities of the IRIPF. 

The WPO poll results show that 91% of Iranians inside Iran are satisfied with the current form of government. The same poll shows 81% view Ahmadinejad as Iran's legitimate president.

//www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/sep09/I...

Given this popular sentiment in Iran, whose people are you standing with? A vocal slim political minority? Or worse, an external faction of subversives?  

Obviously you're not standing in solidarity with the meehan. 

Basij is under IRGC

Nice try at plausible deniability Major- no "uniformed IRGC" involved? So were there any "nonuniformed IRGC" involved? Fact is, nothing moves on the streets of Tehran, especially around universities, unless permitted by IRGC and basij, which is controlled by IRGC. And they can choose whether or not to be in uniform, as they are accountable only to the Islamic Fuehrer and no law.

And no, your tit for tat torture comparison was not with me. But your comparisons mix up completely war zone and peacetime civilian operations. Al Jazeera reporter and other (unjustly, agreed) detained in Guantanamo were picked up in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan by US army and other military (in uniform I might add). Is Tehran university a war zone? Are the detained students combatants? Was there any military engagement from the students against the government forces? Or were they just protesting by chanting slogans?

And even then, Guantanamo is a hot openly discussed issue in American society and press, and there is a lot of popular pressure to close it down, and it was an open important campaign issue. Not the case in Iran for Evin and other such dungeons. People's opinion matter not one bit in Iran. There are hearings, criticisms, rallies, books, debate on a national level about closing Guantanamo and what to do with detainees picked up in war zones, many of whom openly say they want to kill as many Americans as possible. The US is not fighting a central government with whom it can negotiate prisoner swaps,etc. By contrast, in Iran, the government doctor in Kahrizak who began to talk about the abuses was murdered and that was that. The torture and rape victims who came to Karroubi for help were immediately denied any acknowledgement in the Islamic parliament who whitewashed the whole issue, and their families were intimidated. There is no comparison.

At least we can agree that no system is perfect, and I never ever suggest that the US system is perfect. But the point of democracy (or "western liberalism" as you call it) is not to be perfect. It is to provide basic rights for people and opposition to speak and nonviolently oppose the government, to reduce the probability of abuses, and to make it easier to discover them and address them once they occur. You mention Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. All of them have large number of opposition events and activists out in the open, and it is all legal. Tell me Major, how many antiwar protests were allowed in Iran from 1982-1988, when many Iranians felt that the war should be not continued, but did not dare speak? The "multiple popular provisions" you mention that exist "within an Islamic system" expresses the core of the problem- IN IRAN THE ISLAMIC SYSTEM IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN POPULAR OPINION.

This is not only "far from perfect" like every other system on earth. It is just downright fascist and undemocratic, and has failed. It is time for it to go and the people to have their voices count first.

I invite you to stand with your people.

-Fair

This is great

I've always said, like many others have, that if there is a foreign military attack on Iran, it will be a very rude surprise for the attackers. Iranian are quite different than others they may have attacked in the past and this warrants substantial 'homework'.

So CENTCOM, I bet you didn't bargain for all that you've gotten when you decided to 'communicate' on IC, did ya? Back to the drawing board.

Ari and Marge, YOU ROCK!

Jayeh xpc khali!

CENTCOM and the IRGC again

Fair, in the '99 incident, there were no uniformed IRGC members involved. The prominent role in putting down the unreast fell to Ansar Hezbollah, with minor support from local Basidji centers. IRIPF wasn't even directly involved.

You ask for a US comparison. I refer you to the torture, mock executions and interminable incarceration (without any due process) of an al-Jazeera reporter (at Guantanimo), among many, many others. I think we've already gone through this tit-for-tat comparison of abuse, torture, killings (was that with you?, I don't remember). 

Regarding the references made to the IRI government, we can both agree that it is not an example of Western liberalism, and it never claims to be. My point is that it contains multiple popular provisions within an Islamic system of governance. Is it perfect? No. No system of governance is perfect. Otherwise how could you possibly explain the VietNam War? Or the Iraq War? Or the continuing war in Afghanistan? Or the fact that a foreign interest lobby group can effectively manipulate and control policy decisions for the Middle East and elsewhere? etc. etc. etc.

It's late for me, so excuse me if you find this reply in any way trite.

Dearest Centcom

Since some people had problem with some of the Farsi words that you used in this important and valuable message, ...., a new and more frank translation of this message can be found at:

//iranian.com/main/blog/jeesh-daram-0

A "biased anti IRI number" for you

In July 1999, Iranian students peacefully protested the closure of a newspaper called Salam.

It was brutally put down by IRGC and basij thugs. I will speak of two of the detainees:

One leader, Akbar Mohammadi, was given the death sentence, later reduced to 15 years. Mr. Mohammadi died 7 year later in prison after having been tortured extensively. There was no investigation.

Another student (not a leader) called Ahmad Batebi, held up the bloody shirt of a fellow student who was killed by the thugs. He was caught on camera doing this, and printed on the cover of the Economist. For this crime, he was caught and sentenced to death, then reduced also to 15 years. During his imprisonment, he was tortured, mock executed, his head was stuck in a toilet with raw sewage. Because he held up a bloody shirt. Mr. Batebi managed to escape the country and tell his story. He is still under death threat today.

Perhaps in your "honest comparison" you can include examples where the US military/centcom did this to peaceful student activists. Of any country.

-Fair

To: Sargord Please answer the following questions!

Major Pirouz: Are you a member of IRGC?? Are you in the IRI"s armed forces? What are you doing here in the US?

The Iranian Constitution is

The Iranian Constitution is a roadmap in which all roads lead to the Supreme Leader. It is a closed loope.

Elections for the Assembly of Experts are a rare occurrence — they are held every eight years and with minor pomp. As with other "elected bodies", all candidates must be approved by the "Guardian Council", with the additional requirement that they must also prove their mastery of Islamic law and jurisprudence. Very few fit the bill, even though the theological standards have been lowered a few times.

Who appoints the Guardian council? The Supreme Leader...lol

He is appointed to the position for life, and his power is tied to age-old traditions of leadership in Shiite Islam. And yet, a single constitutional body can theoretically exercise ultimate power over the position of the Leader. That body is the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member council trusted with the responsibility to elect, and even dismiss, the Supreme Leader. Elections for the Assembly of Experts are a rare occurrence — they are held every eight years and with minor pomp. As with other elected bodies, all candidates must be approved by the Guardian Council, with the additional requirement that they must also prove their mastery of Islamic law and jurisprudence. Very few fit the bill, even though the theological standards have been lowered a few times. Both Rafsanjani and Mesbah Yazdi tried to get as many loyal candidates as they could into the Assembly. When the results were announced, it seemed that victory was with the so-called “pragmatic” camp associated with Rafsanjani.  Rafsanjani’s success was confirmed a year later when Ayatollah Meshkini, the elderly, de-facto chairman of the Assembly passed away, and Rafsanjani nominated himself for the position. Mesbah nominated himself as well, but then withdrew in favor of Jannati, a more popular cleric who is also the head of the Guardian Council. Out of the 80 votes cast, Rafsanjani won 46, thus becoming the chairman. When the Assembly held its next board election two years later, Rafsanjani performed even better, gaining 51 votes, while two members abstained.

Honesty?

If this is a concept you are interested in, then you have a lot of work to do.

1-The Islamic Fuehrer is elected by the Assembly of Experts, which is elected by the people. However you conveniently fail to mention that to be in the Assembly of Experts you have to be vetted by the Guardian Council, which has 12 members, 6 of which are directly appointed by the Fuehrer, and other 6 must be nominated by a person appointed by the Fuehrer. So those who elect the Fuehrer cannot be against the liking of the Fuehrer. So Be Honest.

2-The powers of the Fuehrer include (source wikipedia)

-Delineation and supervision of general policies

-Dismissal of the President of the republic

-Decree for national referendum

-Declaration of war and peace

-appointment, dismissal of Guardian Council members, head of the radio and telvision network, head of the judiciary, and all military commanders

-pardoning criminals

I love it- "general policies". Blanket power. Fact is, the Islamic Fuehrer and his system is one of the most intrusive systems on this planet when it comes to people's daily lives. They control what you can think, believe, eat, dress, you name it.

So what is left for other members of the government? (ALL of whom by the way cannot be part of the government unless vetted by the Guardian Council which is controlled by the Islamic Fuehrer). All this power is concentrated in one person who is selected for that position for life. This person is in effect an absolute monarch.

This is a characteristic shared by every authoritarian system out there.

So BE HONEST.

3-I made no distinction between domestic and international abuses, but there is a difference between behavior in a war zone/occupation situation, and in a civilian political situation. The IRGC is a political police, the US military is not. The war was not declared by the military, but by Bush and neocons, which is another story. Furthermore, all US leaders, including Rumsfeld and Bush, publlcaily condemned the abuses you bring up and expressed their outrage. Has Khamenei condemned the abuses committed everyday against Iranian citizens by the IRGC and basij? He openly declared war on the Iranian people himself.

You are the one who started by comparing the record on civilian war casualties:

Comparisons between the IRGC and the US Military for their respective responsibility in causing civilian war casualties is heavily tilted against the US Military. ... The IRGC is (wrongly) blamed for an attack in Argentina and various incidents in Lebanon and Palestine. Even if you tally up these (wrongly applied) incidents, you get a number in the low hundreds.

And then gave at the end this vague reference:

By comparison, if we tally all the allegations made by biased anti-IRI groups, the numbers of IRGC administered abuses is far lower than that which is fully documented against the US Military.

Where did you say DOMESTIC? You neglected completely to say anything about the IRGC abuses being domestic, or also what type of abuses by the IRGC - abuses in military prisons (which is what your are comparing to in the US)? No, these were in political prisons. The US military does not kill, rape, torture, and imprison domestic political dissidents. And furthermore, what numbers are you "tallying up"? There are no reliable numbers because once again, the IRGC is a fascist force with no transparency requirement and this number is hidden.

As far as "many news sources", there are MANY MORE news sources that have been banned and whose editors and reporters have been imprisoned for doing their job. Mowjcamp and sites like that are still open are also subject to intimidation and pressure from IRGC coup forces. The only reason sites like this can stay open is that there is open dispute between factions absolutely loyal to the system of the Islamic Fuehrer. None of these sites would be open for one second the moment they question Khomeini. So no, such things are not available since the IRGC will kill, intimidate and torture those who oppose them

Example- the commanding general head of the US military prison (General Karpinski) wrote a book about the abuses at Abu Ghraib very critical of her chain of command all the way to the top, what happened to her? Nothing, she is a bestselling author. Meanwhile Emadeddin Baghi and dozens of other journalists like him which are loyal to an Islamic system are in prison for just stating the facts.

So Waffen SS Major, you are the one who needs to be honest and stop telling half the story and standing up for a fascist system (which is number 175 out of 178 in the world for press freedom) and standing against your people. Shame on you and the disgrace you bring to your unifrom (unless you are an IRGC major in which case you are doing your job of defending fascism).

-FAIR

Fair, you're not being honest, or you're just flat wrong

Except for the 6 members of the Guardian Council who are directly appointed by the Supreme Leader, none of the mentioned political functions can be accessed without popular vote (including the head of the executive branch).

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution:
1. Is indirectly elected by the people.
2. Is responsible before the Assembly of Experts, itself elected by the people.
3. Does not have absolute powers, neither according to the constitution, nor in political practice.
4. Does not have much more control over aspects of citizen's lives than ordinary chiefs of the executive power in other states.

No authoritarian political system shares these characteristics.

Regarding the US Electoral College, you are flat wrong. There have been no less than 158 occasions where electors have cast their vote in a manner different from that proscribed by the legislature of the state they represented. (The last time was in 2000 when elector Barbara Lett Simmons of Washington, D.C. chose not to vote, rather than voting for Al Gore as she had pledged to do.)

Fair, be honest- you made the distinction between unjust activities and atrocities committed domestically or internationally, and by extension you are suggesting there is a relative difference between the two. I say there is no difference. I also added the alleged incidents of IRGC committed domestic injustices in making the comparison between the US Military and the IRGC, so I did not completely neglect this in my first post. Go ahead and reread it, you'll see you are flat wrong.

And there are YouTube clips and an untitled documentary which depict or support alleged claims of IRGC abuse, and there are many news sources, such as Tabnak and Mowjcamp, which are critical of certain aspects of IRGC law enforcement and the criminal justice system, so contrary to what you say, such things are available.

So right back atcha, Fair: be honest with yourself and everybody else.

Disingenuous comparison

of US president and Islamic Fuehrer. You conveniently neglect to mention that the parliament that accepts the other 6 members of the Guardian council is made up of members who cannot run unless they are approved by the Guardian council. And also, those 6 members are nominated by the head of the judiciary, who is also appointed by the Islamic Fuehrer. So no matter what, nobody gets into any of these bodies without the direct or indirect approval of the Islamic Fuehrer.

As far as the electoral college, it never votes contrary to the popular votes in the states represented, and it is just a formality. UNLIKE the Guardian Council, Assembly of Experts, or any of the watchdog bodies of the Islamic Republic whose job is to protect the government from the people.

So get your comparisons straight, and stop telling half the story.

And finally, I never said that an atrocity commited against other people is worse or better than an atrocity commited against your own people. I just stated a very basic fact- that the IRGC and basij have waged atrocities against their own people, and have tortured and raped and imprisoned without trial and murdered innocent citizens for asking for their most basic human rights. Something you completely and disingenuously neglected and ignored in your first post.

And no, I won't bother (and nobody should bother) looking for any comparative documentaries between US military and IRGC abuses, because one (the US military) is not allowed to suppress a free press which would (and does) document such abuses, and the other (IRGC) exists for the purpose of such suppression.

Stop misleading people, and try to be

FAIR

Not Fair or his neighbors, so any injustice means a lot less.

Well Fair, apparently it matters to you whether your nation's military is instructed to commit death and torture upon you or your neighbors, or innocents across the globe. To me, there is NO DIFFERENCE. And these innocents across the globe, they did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to have this injustice inflicted upon them, and it continues to this very day.

As for the POTUS / SL comparison, read what I said again. The US President (POTUS) is elected indirectly from a popular vote by an electoral college system of voting. The Supreme Leader is also elected indirectly by popular vote, through direct popular voting for the Assembly of Experts, which is charged with electing, supervising and removing the SL. Furthermore, the body you are referring to is the Guardian Council, which is made up of 6 members appointed by the Supreme Leader, and 6 members accepted by Parliament, which is elected directly by popular vote. Using your example, the Supreme Leader could be removed by the vote of the Assembly of Experts (which is popularly elected), in similar (but much more straightforward) fashion available to the US legislative branch of government.

Don't bother looking for comparative documentaries between US Military and IRGC abuses; the point was the scope and scale of documented and photographed US Military abuses and that alleged against the IRGC. 

Did you take the time to view the linked documentary? You should. If you pay US taxes, the money you have contributed is directly responsible for these human rights atrocities.

war zone vs own capitol

It is true that the US military has caused many more civilian casualties in the war zones that it operates than the IRGC ever has, just no comparison. And of course, the IRGC has not ever really controlled populated areas of any of its wartime enemies either, so it never had the chance or firepower to do so even if it wanted to.

But this comparison is completely reversed when it comes to casualties and atrocities against the respective arms' own people in their own capitol. The atrocities commited against the Iranian people whose only crime was to demand their most basic human rights by the IRGC and basij are well documented and undeniable. The US military has no such record against its own people, and the US military is a professional military which is controlled by civilian politicians, which is the opposite of Iran.

Furthermore, the commander in chief of the US military is a president who is elected by the people subject to no veto by any religious or other ideological body. The Islamic Fuehrer is not elected by the people, he is elected by a body whose makeup is completely controlled by the Islamic Fuehrer himself- he has veto power over who gets to serve on that body or on who gets to veto candidates that can serve on that body. So to compare the accountability of the US commander in chief to the IRGC's commander in chief as being similar is very disingenuous. If the US is involved in a war that became unpopular, the people can and will vote the president out as they did. In Iran, any such attempt will be met with a crushing oppression, as it did.

I would point you to documentaries and films and pictures about torture and rape and sodomy in Iranian prisons conducted on political prisioners, but unlike the United States, Iran would allow no such materials to ever made public, and would kill (not just censor) anybody in the country that did so.

-Fair

CENTCOM's comment about the IRGC

Apparently, IC belongs to JJ so it's his call (?) but I don't see any reason to bar CENTCOM from blogging, as long as they approach it as intended and are answerable to reasonable discussion.

Concerning CENTCOM's allegation that unlike the IRGC, CENTCOM is "a government institution that is accountable to the public", this statement is very much disingenuous. 

Like the US military which is led by a Commander-in-Chief (elected indirectly from a popular vote by an electoral college system of voting), the IRGC is commanded by the Supreme Leader, who is elected indirectly by popular vote, through direct popular voting for the Assembly of Experts, which is charged with electing, supervising and removing the SL, 

Comparisons between the IRGC and the US Military for their respective responsibility in causing civilian war casualties is heavily tilted against the US Military. Civilian casualties as a result of the First Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom exceed 100,000 and remain continuos. Another result is the exodus of millions of refugees, to live their lives in poverty. The IRGC is (wrongly) blamed for an attack in Argentina and various incidents in Lebanon and Palestine. Even if you tally up these (wrongly applied) incidents, you get a number in the low hundreds. Thus the US Military's record is far, far worse than that alleged against the IRGC.

And if you wish to compare detainee and prison conditions administered by the IRGC and the US Military, that's also tilts heavily against the US Military. The US Military has detained without dues process tens of thousands of mostly Iraqi and Afghani citizens, for interminable periods. There are documented incidents and photographic evidence of the US Military administering torture and sexual abuse to its detainees. This is indisputable.There is even a lot more photographic evidence of such activities available, but this evidence has been censored from the American public by no less a figure than the President of the United States. By comparison, if we tally all the allegations made by biased anti-IRI groups, the numbers of IRGC administered abuses is far lower than that which is fully documented against the US Military.

If anyone requires further convincing, simply view the following documentary:

//www.torturingdemocracy.org/

Fair

you are quite correct in saying:

 If the US Army was like the IRGC, this website would not exist and JJ would be tortured, raped, then executed, and his death would be blamed on foreigners.

And if I may add: if the US Army was like Al-Qaeda, JJ would have been car-bombed by now, and the US Army would have taken credit for it on some nut job website!

Talking is better than not talking

I think it is good that centcom does this outreach. I think it would be also good if IRGC, Basij, and IRI authorities could also do the same here and post their positions and take questions from Iranian and Iranian speaking communities.

It is good to listen to all sides, and let everyone decide their opinions for themselves. As long as someone does not publish outright lies and slander, they should not be prevented from speaking.

-Fair

Thank you Centcom

for posting this blog. I believe that you are doing the right thing by reaching out to the expatriate Iranian community which comprises the largest audience of this site.

Please keep on posting on this site. We like to hear all sides of the story.  And to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces: thank you for your sacrifice. 

Fair, I agree. It's not

Fair, I agree. It's not fair to compare IRGC and Basij with the American forces. It's down right insulting not to just them but to all Americans.

Isn't Major Pirouz a military member of the IRGC or the IRI's army?

Whats the big deal...

...why is it a problem for Centcom to communicate their statement from General McChrystal? There are so many IRI sympathizers here, so I don't see why centcom should not be allowed to post here. It is calle freedom of speech.

And yes, it is unfair to compare US and NATO forces to Al Qaeda and IRGC, two terrorist organizations who deliberately target civilians to send a message to their enemies, and are not accountable to any nation through any democratic process.

The US Army 10th mountain division does not go into Kabul and torture and rape people who question "where is my vote". They do not go and close down newspapers who criticize them and their government's policy. If the US Army was like the IRGC, this website would not exist and JJ would be tortured, raped, then executed, and his death would be blamed on foreigners.

Get Real.

-Fair

the drug problem

You point out the terrorism problem but WHAT ABOUT THE DRUG PROBLEM?

And you point out the coalition of nations involved. WHY NOT INCLUDE IRAN?

Okay, the second question is policy related and CENTCOM isn't directly responsible for that. But what about the first question? Is that a policy matter, too- to create the world's largest narco state?

If you're going to blog, its only right that you answer the questions raised by the comments, and not hide behind press releases and public relations announcements. 

سنتکام محترم

متن اصلی‌:

ما وظیفه داریم که در مقابل این اطلاعات نادرست را تصحیح کنیم

برگردانی‌ به لحن فارسی

ما دلیران و از جان گذشتگان سرزمین پهناور و قدرتمند آمریکا دست در دست و سینه به سینه در مقابل دشمنانی که بر ضد گفتار پاک و بی‌ انگیزه ما حرف چینی‌ میکنند چون قلعه ایی پولاد حصار ایستادگی می‌کنیم.

امیدوارم رنجشی ایجاد نشود؛ هدف فقط راهنمای بود. 

Wait, Centcom, let me see if I have this correct

You say you are not part of an intelligence operation (as if you would advertise that openly), but you know there is false information and you are spending tax payer money to do damage control on it?

Comparing us to Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Al Qaida is unfair.

If we rank these three groups in order of direct killing of innocent civilians, US Military (and even just Centcom's Iraq actions) comes out on top by a long long shot. So, you may have a point about unfair comparisons.

Since you specifically said you are here to answer questions. I have a few for you:

What is the budget for this operation? What is the budget for your particular office? How many of your are doing Persian postings?

Does the US Military have assets inside Iran?

Does the new secret prison discovered on the grounds of Bagram AFB in Afghanistan, which had been hidden from international observers, contain any Iranians?

How is it possible that low level Military recruits in charge of abused prisoners, who were pinted to as "bad apples" in the prisoner abuse scandal, were aware of high level interrogation techniques specifically targeted toward Muslim inmates, which were later proven to have been developed by professional psychologists working for US Intelligence?

If you can't answer these questions, I suggest you hit the road.

hi centcom: how about catching osama bin laden?

just wondering why you don't contract dog the bounty hunter instead of handing out bricks of taxpayer cash like you did to useless thieves at the start of afghan/iraq wars? the war would be over. 

i'd like to know why you let osama run away and waste time, money and lives. 

برای سلامتیه سنتکام یک سلوات بلند!

 الا ما صل الا محمد و ال محمد! حمد! مدّ! د!

Everything is sacred

جی جی و دیگر دوستان عزیز

جی جی و دیگر دوستان عزیز،  ما یک نهاد اطلاعاتی نیستیم و در باره هیچ کسی در هیچ فورمی الاعات جمع آوری نمی کنیم. ما روابط عمومی ستادفرماندهی مرکزی ارتش آمریکا (سنتکام) هستیم. هدف ما ایجاد گفتگو با گروهای اینترنتی برای پاسخ دادن به پرسشها و نگرانی آنها در مورد فعالیتهای سنتکام است.

 شما متوجه هستید که روزانه چندین نوشتار در مورد سنتکام و فعالیتهای آن چاپ میشود که همگی آنها درست نمی باشند،و ما وظیفه داریم که در مقابل این اطلاعات نادرست را تصحیح کنیم

 ما قطعأ این اطلاعات را در اخطیار رسانه ها قرار میدهیم ولی با شما موافق نیستیم که ما به جای رابطه مستقیم، باز و صادقانه  با مرردم  فقط خود را محدود به رسانه های مهم بکنیم. ما چنین ارتباط مستقیمی با مردم را برای خود یک مسئولیت میدانیم و تا به حال حاضر در چندین فورم اینترنتی مانند  حضور داریم.Facebook, Maktoob, Jazeera Talk, Iranclubs 

  مقایسه ما با سپاه پاسداران و القاعده بی انسافی است. القاعده یک گروه تروریستی است و بر خلاف آن دو گروه،ما یک نهاد دولتی و جوابگو در پیشگاه مردم هستیم.

 بیانیه ژنرال مک کریستال در اینجا چاپ شد زیرا آن در یک زمان بسیار مهمی از آغاز جنگ بر علیه ترور در افغانسان انتشار یافت. ما آگاهیم که اکثر خوانندگان ان سایت ایرنیانی هستند که در غرب زندگی میکنند،ولی از آنجایی که افغانستان در همسایگی اران است. در نتیجه شاید ایرانیان نیز  علاقه مند این موضوع باشند.  

 به هرصورت،اگر شما با گفتگوی ما با کاربرانتان در اینجا راضی نیستید، ما به خواست شما احترام میگذاریم.اگر کاربران محترم بخواهند گفتگوی ما با دیگران را ببینند میتوانند با کمال میل به این فورم مراجعه کنند:www.iranclubs.org

با سپاس

روابط عمومی ستاد فرماندهی مرکزی ارتش آمریکا

For the make benefit of CENTCOM (& Kazakhstan) a loud salavaat!

Lama saale-e alaa mohammad va aal-e mohammad! mamad! mad! ad! d! 

Everything is sacred.

to JJ and other friends

Dear JJ and other friends,

JJ, we are not an intelligence agency. We do not gather any information from any user in any group. We are the Public Affairs Team of CENTCOM. We seek to establish dialog with the Internet communities to answer their questions and concerns about CENTCOM's activities. You are aware that many writings are posted online everyday about CENTCOM and its operations, which are not always completely accurate, and we have an obligation to correct misinformation.

We certainly do provide this information to traditional news organizations, but we do not agree with your assertion that we must limit ourselves to communicating through those media, rather than directly with the public, in an open and honest manner. We view this form of direct communication as an obligation, and have established a presence on a number of online forums, such as Facebook, Maktoob, Al Jazeera Talk, and Iranclubs.

Comparing us to Islamic Revolutionary Guard and Al Qaida is unfair. Al qaeda is a terrorist group, and unlike both these groups, we are a government institution that is accountable to the public.

General McChrystal’s statement was posted here because it was in a very important period of time since the beginning of the war on terror in Afghanistan. We do know that bloggers and readers of this website are Iranians, mostly living the west. However, since Afghanistan is a neighbor of Iran, Iranians might be interested in it as well.

However, if you do not want us to post on your forum, we will respect your wishes.

If the readers want to hear from us in www.iranclubs.org they are welcome.

will centcom write comments or just use this as a platform?

i hate it when people here blog or write articles and never respond to the peanut gallery.

Thank You Troops!!

Dear Sir / Madam,

There are a lot of comments on this thread which criticize and question the U.S. military.  They certainly have the right to do so.  The beauty of our country is that anyone can criticize the government without fear of a reprisal. 

Since the creation of this great nation, the burden of protecting our constitutional rights has fallen on the shoulders of the brave men and women of our armed forces.  And when called upon, those men and women have put everything aside, family, jobs, homes and schools, and have gone to far away places to fight so that people like me, and others on this site, go to bed at night with the confidence that tomorrow we will wake up, safe and sound, in a country which is the longest lasting democracy in the history of human civilization.

As someone who lived less than two blocks away from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, I was eyewitness to a cowardly attack on our country.  I watched in horror as United Airlines flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.  I remember that the only thing that I could think about at that instant was how many innocent souls were pulverized on the plane and in the building at the moment of impact.  I can still feel the earthquake like trembling of my apartment when United 175 dissolved into the façade of the South Tower in a huge fireball. 

I also remember the kindness of strangers.  Strangers, like the man who gave my girlfriend and I a ride out of downtown Manhattan as we were running aimlessly down the Westside Highway when the North Tower was collapsing, and the volunteer police officers, fire fighters and ordinary citizens who had come all over the country to protect us, feed us and counsel us in those chaotic days.

Many people lost their lives on that day, people from all over the world, including my home country of Iran.  But while many suffered, the largest burden, once again, fell upon our men and women in uniform.  And, once again, they obliged, without asking a question, and without complaining or whining about putting their lives behind here and putting themselves in the line of fire in some foreign land--just to make sure that such a horrible thing does not happen to me and others who have commented on this thread.  And for that, they deserve our utmost gratitude.

I was personally against the war in Iraq, and thought from the beginning that it was a mistake.  But that decision was obviously not made by our troops.  The men and women of our military risk their lives for very little reward.  However, they can rest assured that people like me, who consider ourselves proud Americans regardless of our ethnic backgrounds, know and value their sacrifice.  We understand what they go through every single day in the scorching deserts of Iraq and the freezing mountains of Afghanistan, and we have them in our thoughts and prayers. 

So, in this holiday season, I want to thank our troops and wish them a happy holiday and I hope that each and every single one of them can come home soon and rejoin his / her family.