Iranian cleric: British Embassy staff to be tried

redrumloa

redrumloa

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090703/ap_ ... n_election

Jannati, a powerful hard-liner who is close to Iran's supreme leader, told worshippers during a Friday prayer sermon at Tehran University that the detained staffers "made confessions."

"In these events, their embassy had a presence," he said, referring to the post-election turmoil. "Some people were arrested. Well, inevitably, they will be put on trial."
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Confessions = torture
 
It's a bit ridiculous. All they're doing is re-enforcing the belief that they are nothing more then a totalitarian regime clinging to the fists of power. If Iran wants to give Westerners good reason to not trust Iran and to be more sympathetic to an Israeli/US attack, then they're doing everything they can to make that so. The CIA/MOSAD could never have planned it this good.
 
You really think I'm trying to defend the CIA/MOSAD?

Look, last Winter people rioted in the streets of Athens. The Greek democratic government didn't crack down, didn't arrest reporters and didn't blame foreign involvement even though many rioters arrested weren't Greek. Iran does the complete opposite, yet despite this, there are people out there who still call the Greek government a pack of murderers while blaming Iran's unrest on the CIA. I think some people need a reality check.
 
Glaucus said:
Look, last Winter people rioted in the streets of Athens. The Greek democratic government didn't crack down, didn't arrest reporters and didn't blame foreign involvement even though many rioters arrested weren't Greek. Iran does the complete opposite, yet despite this, there are people out there who still call the Greek government a pack of murderers while blaming Iran's unrest on the CIA. I think some people need a reality check.
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Ding, ding, ding, ding! Give that man a cigar!
 
In May, 2007 Bush authorized covert operations to destabilize Iran. Congress approved about $400 million for this. There is probably more money that has been made available through other means (like Afghan poppies for a start).

Yet Obama declared that the US had nothing to do with Iranian political unrest. Is it reasonable to assume that the CIA just forgot to use the money it was authorized to use to destabilize Iran as it was directed to do?
 
redrumloa said:
Confessions = torture
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quick! get cheney on this!

he KNOWS torture gets reliable intell!!





:roflmao:
 
I'm sure the CIA is hard at work to destabilize Iran. However, I think what we saw in Iran was more of a grass roots effort involving people from a very wide range of demographic groups. Another difference from the Greek riots is that in Greece it was mostly young males who rioted, where as in Iran it was men, women, young and old and only the Iranian government would really consider then to be rioters. I didn't see videos of banks or schools burned down - which I'd expect if a foreign power was trying to use this to destabilize the country. See, protests and strikes in and of themselves aren't that destabilizing to a regime - especially a totalitarian one. Causing massive damage to the infrastructure is and I didn't see much of that. So if this was a CIA plot, I'd give them an F.
 
Glaucus said:
Another difference from the Greek riots is that in Greece it was mostly young males who rioted, where as in Iran it was men, women, young and old and only the Iranian government would really consider then to be rioters.
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So the people throwing molotovs and burning cars and buses and attacking a basij armery weren't rioters?
I didn't see videos of banks or schools burned down - which I'd expect if a foreign power was trying to use this to destabilize the country.
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Not schools and banks - the people use those and would preserve them (provided they weren't already broken like the Iceland banks) - but there was stuff burning but I guess you have to watch Al Jazeera to see that sort of thing. We are getting the media that is intended. This is an operation to delegitimize the Government of Iran in Western eyes. It causes trouble for the Iranian politicians (who are fine with creating their own trouble just like all politicians) but mostly it is intended to make it easier to push for stronger international action and prepare the western populations for possible "strong" actions against Iran. Certainly it is also intended to rile up internal opinion. Mousavi is a great partner to have as he has plenty of the right sort of connections. While, on the one hand, he was the one behind the blowing up of the US barracks in Beirut during the Reagan regime, he had previously been helpful in the negotiations with Robert Gates and senior Bush to prevent the release of the US hostages until after Ronnie was sworn in.
The CIA friendly media had all the news channels looking at an election in someone else's country (how dull, can you imagine) instead of the usual dead celebrities or missing interns they prefer to cover - they never seem to get too excited about other peoples' elections unless there's a colour involved.

Mousavi's announcement of his win an hour or more BEFORE the official count was announced was a ploy to delegitimize the result. The crowds of people that protested (both for and against him) were real, but that is not terribly relevant as you must know how easily people are swayed to do such things - both for and against remember.

See, protests and strikes in and of themselves aren't that destabilizing to a regime - especially a totalitarian one. Causing massive damage to the infrastructure is and I didn't see much of that. So if this was a CIA plot, I'd give them an F.
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Luckily you are not the one who is grading them. Nor are you the one who is naming their objectives.

As for infrastructure damage, that is not done with crowds of Iranians. They would have to be bonkers to dismantle their own infrastructure. They depend on it. No, for destroying things such as oil facilities (where it hurts) and such the CIA uses groups like MEK (still listed as a terrorist organization in the US but delisted in Europe in January of this year).
 
FluffyMcDeath said:
you have to watch Al Jazeera to see that sort of thing.
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Oh yeah, Al Jazeera has no bias :roll:
 
redrumloa said:
FluffyMcDeath said:
you have to watch Al Jazeera to see that sort of thing.
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Oh yeah, Al Jazeera has no bias :roll:
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Did I say that it didn't? I just said that to see that part of the news you have to get it on channels that have a different bias from Western channels. Things that AREN'T on the news is a sign of bias too.
 
They estimated 500,000 "rioters" in Tehran and less then 5000 at a time in Athens, yet it was Athens that was charred out. In Athens banks, schools, police stations and anything that could be associated with the government, authority and wealth was targeted. And it wasn't just burning things, the Eurobank in Thessaloniki was partially blown up and other bombing attempts were foiled. Now you're telling me they wouldn't attack their infrastructure. Why, because Iranian mobs have a higher collective IQ then Greek ones? Well, here's a nice article of Iranians rioting and burning things. But oh wait, that was from 2007 when they were rationing fuel. You'd think burning gas stations wouldn't really help a fuel shortage, but they did it anyway. Those wacky Iranians - just as dumb as those Greeks. You can't expect mobs like that to act responsibly Fluffy.
 
redrumloa said:
FluffyMcDeath said:
you have to watch Al Jazeera to see that sort of thing.
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Oh yeah, Al Jazeera has no bias :roll:
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So you get your news from unbiased sources?

:roll:
 
redrumloa said:
Robert said:
So you get your news from unbiased sources?

:roll:
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In comparison, yes.
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And, apart from your own bias, what evidence do you base this rather dubious assertion on?
 
redrumloa said:
FluffyMcDeath said:
you have to watch Al Jazeera to see that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, Al Jazeera has no bias :roll:
Click to expand...
I'd say al-Jazeera isn't as biased as you might think. They obviously cater to Middle East interests but I wouldn't expect them to offer any special favors to the Iranian government these days. Here's an example:

Mousavi and the Masses

Following the results of a disputed presidential election Iranians poured onto the streets in their tens of thousands to protest the re-election of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The demonstrations were unprecedented both in their scale and nature and the largest of their kind since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The figurehead of the protesters, defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, has not been seen in public since the demonstrations began and the authorities violently repressed opposition protests.

Although Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has declared there will be no re-run of the elections and dozens of opposition so-called reformists have been detained, Mousavi has urged his supporters to maintain their protests through peaceful means.

In a special documentary Al Jazeera charts the political trajectory of Mir Hossein Mousavi.

A former prime minister, now billed as a leading reformist, we discover his more hardline roots, and ask whether he is really the desired leader of the reform-hungry masses or merely an accidental hero in the right place at the right time as frustrations of Iranians from diverse camps reach boiling point.

Interestingly, Al-Jazeera doesn't say anything about riots, just peaceful protests. Haven't seen the video yet though, maybe it's in there. Anyway, that last paragraph is probably the most interesting and I think raises a good question. Fluffy seems to think Mousavi is a US stoog, but there are those who think he's not as West friendly as some might like to think. Perhaps we're focusing too much on Mousavi, perhaps we should be looking more closely at Rafsanjani.
 
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