Bombs kill several in IRAN city

[DoYouEverWonder]

12 June, 2005

Three bombs have exploded in the southern Iranian town of Ahwaz, killing at least three people and wounding several others, officials say.

No group has said it carried out the attacks, which come five days before presidential elections.

<snip>

It is not clear whether Sunday's bombings are connected with the violence.

The Interior Ministry said one of the bombs exploded outside the governor general's headquarters and two more went off near government offices.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4084908.stm


I hope this isn't part of the Bu$hCo distraction that we've all been waiting for?

[allemand]

1. This happened in the province where most of Iran's oil is.

"Ahwaz city is the capital of the oil-rich province of Khuzestan."


:eyes:

[Lerkfish]

2. hmmm..what govt. is interested in Iran's oil?

what govt is skilled at black ops, has declared Iran an enemy, has already illegally invaded Iran's geographical neighbor on false and fabricated charges, and has publicly announced that Iran needs to be destabilized and the current govt. needs a "regime change"....

hmmmm....

anyone?


anyone?



beuhler?

[Rockholm]

3. Um....Let's see......Britain? Uh, No.......Australia?? Again, no.

I could name 300+ countries and they would all be no, except? OH, it's at the tippy top of tongue......Help??!!

Edit for spelling.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

12. Estados Unidos?

[Lochloosa]

13. Poland maybe...

:7

[Fleshdancer]

21. That's right. We shouldn't forget Poland.

:D

[pissed_American]

22. Ya, don`t forget about Poland !

[Sgt. Baker]

4. could just be

fed up citizens adopting terrorist tactics to attack their government.

[annabanana]

8. suuure... the neocons WISH...

[Judi Lynn]

11. They probably will all vote for Bush as a write-in in the next election,

too.

The world admires his sacrifice of so many helpless people trapped inside a country he's trying to destroy with nowhere to run. He's a brave, brave liar.

[sattahipdeep]

14. Rummy's flowers! 5,000 lbs. of DU

MORET:There are indications that the U.S. will go in June
and bomb the heck out of Iran. We’re monitoring the U.S. Army
ammunition factories. They have very large orders for those
huge bunker buster bombs that have 5,000 lbs. of DU in the
warhead.

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6232

THREE radioactive rockets capable of contaminating a
city centre were offered for sale last week to a Sunday
Times reporter posing as a middleman for Islamic
terrorists.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1602963,00.html

[TheWatcher]

15. Your Transparency Is Breathtaking

[Lerkfish]

23. true dat.

[Sgt. Baker]

36. whatever you want

to think. I was just offering a different reason. Something to think about instead of just going with the first thing that comes to mind. :hi:

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. You mean like Timothy McVeigh?

or David Koresh?

[Straight Shooter]

24. And what cute little timing those "fed up citizens" have.

You would think Iranians would want the world to concentrate as much as possible on the DSM which could bring bushco down, and thus get rid of their primary troublemaker.

Next thing you know, those "fed up citizens" will turn out to be al Qaeda operatives, and, well, ya know, we gotta fight them over there so we don't hafta fight them over here. :eyes:

[Yupster]

25. My guess is that

Iranian young people care a lot more about what's going on in their own government than what's going on in ours.

Americans are real good about thinking the whole world is thinking about them all the time. Sometimes they aren't. They're thinking about their own problems and solutions.

[annabanana]

26. Americans don't look past their noses...

It's one of the priviledges of Empire. I expect that there are lots and lots of young people in Iran who are paying plenty more attention to us than we are to them.

[Straight Shooter]

31. I agree, which is why I said what I did.

I think the Iranians have a clearly vested interest in making sure that bushco is reined in. To do so requires exposing him and his aggressive duplicitous agenda. Thus, why would Iranians want to create a distraction at such a sensitive time when bush has a scandal looming on the horizon.

I'm quite sure the rest of the world would just as soon they never had to give America a second thought. Unfortunately, TPTB make that very difficult for them.

[Sgt. Baker]

35. right

This is why I didn't find it completely out of the question that it could be the citizens getting fed up with their own government. They grew up with freedom that changed to oppression when Ayatolla Khomeini took power. They know what freedom is and had it taken away.

Imagine what you would/could do in that situation.

[Frederik]

37. "Freedom "

I don't think there's any reason to idealize the regime of the Shah which preceded the Islamic revolution of 1979. The CIA-created Savak was one of the most brutal secret police organizations in the world. The Islamic revolution was a popular revolution that happened for a reason, though it arguably became even more oppressive than the ancien régime had been.

The Iranians had a democratically elected, secular president once - his name was Mossadegh, and he was ousted in a CIA-organized coup in 1953 for having demanded higher royalties from British and American oil companies operating in Iran. That's when the Iranians lost their freedom.

[Sgt. Baker]

39. you're right

My point is still valid even though you owned me on Iranian history. I have actually read about him but just plain forgot.

[Walt Starr]

5. Wy hasn't the President condemned these acts of terrorism?

:shrug:

Just asking.

[NNN0LHI]

6. It appears that American style democracy is busting out all over n/t

[Roland99]

7. Bombs kill 5, hurt 89 in Iran oil town before poll

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8764341

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. The Popular Democratic Front of Ahvaz, which is campaigning for an independent Khuzestan, denied responsibility.

Shariati said the bombings were aimed at disrupting the election, in which opinion polls tip Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to regain the post he held from 1989-97.

[ugarte]

9. Some background:

At least 3 bombs went off near government buildings in Iranian Khuzestan capital of Ahwaz Sunday killing up to 5 people and injuring 30.

DEBKAfile adds: Since April separatist unrest in Iran’s richest oil region in south west is spreading with bomb attacks on mainline trains, banks and government buildings.

Tehran has just stopped Iranian pilgrimage to Iraqi Shiite shrines, virtually shutting its borders with Iraq. Iran accuses US and Iraqi intelligence of recruiting and training Khuzestani pilgrims as anti-government guerrillas.

On April 22, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 203 lead article explored Khuzestan Arab Spring offensive and its Kurdish Iraqi backing. On May 6, DNW 204 revealed Khuzestan Front’s No. 2 leader Said Taher Naama paid secret visit to White House April 23

[Teaser]

10. A note on Debkafile

Debkafile is an Israeli intelligence front operation. This is well known in the intelligence community. So when reading Debkafile, don't ask: "is this true?". That question is irrelevant. Ask "why does Israeli intelligence want me to think this is true?".

In this case Debka wants its readers (some of whom are American press types) to think or believe that there is a problem with spreading unrest in Iran.

Why might Israel want people to believe this? What could happen soon that might need an internal (inside Iran) justification.

just askin'.

[Igel]

18. If debkafile reported that the sun rose this morning in Arabia

and the sky was mostly clear, would we be contemplating our navels as to why, exactly, Israeli intelligence wants us to believe this to be true?

There was unrest in Khuzestan in April. But even then, dissent and dissatisfaction isn't new. It's a heavily Arab state, a clear minority in Iranian speaking Iran. (And by "Iranian" I don't mean "Persian", but the subset of Indo-European languages to which Persian belongs.)

It's also very strategically important to Iran, which has taken pains to make sure that it's not a problem.

Maybe the Badr brigades are acting up, but al-Hakim strikes me as a rather different fish from Sharon.

[Teaser]

33. Yes.

Because they would have a reason for reporting it when they report it.

[cal04]

17. US dismisses Iran election as rigged

US officials took no pains to hide their concern after Iran's hardline clerical regime barred more than 1,000 hopefuls from next Friday's poll and narrowed the field to a handful of mostly conservative candidates.

"There are questions about an election where it's the mullahs, the unelected few, who are really the ones that make the decision about who can actually run," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday.

Iran, a member of President George W. Bush's famous "axis of evil," has long been in the US cross-hairs for its alleged support of terrorism and suspected plans to develop nuclear weapons.

But US officials said they were moving quietly since late last year to provide some 4.5 million dollars in aid to opposition and pro-democracy groups outside Iran while boosting broadcasts into the country.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050611/pl_afp/usiranvote_050611182112

[Yupster]

20. Iran's problem is

they elect their leaders, but there's an unelected body of clerics which has veto power over anything the legislature passes.

More than half the Iranian people are under 30, and are quite fed up with electing lawmakers who have their work overturned by 80 year old religious fundies.

Last election just a few months ago, only 50 % of the people voted. The government is trying to get a bigger turnout this time by using nationalism and anti-Americanism to get people to vote.

We'll see if it works.

[Tempest]

19. If history is any indication

The CIA is behind the bombings.

Same tactics, different country.

[annabanana]

27. If we didn't have such a hamhanded administration in charge

right now, there is a genuine, pro-democracy movement in that country that would love some diplomatic and economic support. If Bushco goes in rampaging, it will dry up and blow away as the kids unite against an invasion.

[leQ]

28. it's june already, where's my israeli air strikes?? (eom)

[Zynx]

30. Unable to reach the country. (eom)

[Zhade]

29. Kick

Kick

[oblivious]

32. Remember the old days when terrorists used to claim credit for their deeds

The bad guys wanted attention to be paid to their cause to get a government to change policy or something.

I remember in the 90s still, terrorists ALWAYS claimed credit for their bombs. So yo knew who the enemy was.

Since 2001, all that seems to have changed. It's never clear now who did it.

Strange.

[StaggerLee]

34. There isn't anything about this on worldnews.com

Strange.

[sabra]

38. At Least 9 Iranians Killed in Pre-Election Violence

<<SNIP>>
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran13jun13,0,4954592.story?coll=la-home-headlines

At Least 9 Iranians Killed in Pre-Election Violence
By Nahid Siamdoust and John Daniszewski, Times Staff Writer


TEHRAN, Iran -- Four blasts in the Iranian city of Ahvaz and two more in the capital killed at least nine people and wounded more than 70 Sunday, just five days before the nation's presidential election.

The rare outbreak of violence caught the country by surprise, and Iranian officials alleged that bombers had come from Iraq to disrupt Friday's balloting. Voters will be deciding who will succeed President Mohammad Khatami and guide the nation through a series of difficult challenges.

In recent months, Iran has come under renewed international pressure over its nuclear program. And with U.S. forces fighting insurgents in neighboring Iraq, it fears that instability could seep across its border. With the presidential vote approaching, Iranian officials are concerned that low turnout could undermine the Islamic establishment at home and weaken its position in negotiations over its atomic program.

....

Sunday's deadliest bombs were aimed at government buildings in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province in the southwest of the country. The city is situated just 83 miles from Basra, Iraq, across the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
<</SNIP>>