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Jewish World Review August 19, 2004 / 2 Elul 5764 Iranian talk of an attack on America By Steven Stalinsky
It's out in the open and they aren't joking
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
There are growing indications that Iran may be planning an attack on American soil. These indicators are not secret — they appear in speeches, newspaper articles, TV programs, and sermons in Iran by figures linked to the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other government officials, all discussing potential Iranian attacks on America, which will subsequently lead to its destruction. A report on May 28 in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that an Iranian intelligence unit has established a center called "The Brigades of the Shahids of the Global Islamic Awakening."The paper claimed that it had obtained a tape with a speech by Hassan Abbassi, a Revolutionary Guards intelligence theoretician who teaches at Al-Hussein University. In the tape, Mr. Abbassi spoke of Tehran's secret plans, which include "a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." In order to accomplish this, he explained, "There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them." It was reported that America expelled two Iranian security guards employed by Tehran's U.N. offices on June 29, after the mission was repeatedly warned against allowing its guards to videotape bridges, the Statue of Liberty, and New York's subway system.This was the third time the Iranians have been caught in such activities, which could be connected to the sites mentioned in potential plans to attack America. Mr. Abbassi's speech further detailed that "[Iran's] missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from Leader [Ali Khamenei], we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations." In fact over the past few months, Mr. Khamenei has been vocal about the impending "destruction of the U.S." In May, he was quoted in the Iranian paper Jomhouri-Ye Eslami as saying that "the world will witness the annihilation of this arrogant regime." On July 5, in front of a crowd chanting, "Woe to the enemy if Khamenei commands me to wage jihad," Mr. Khamenei said, "If someone harms our people and invades our country, we will endanger his interests anywhere in the world." "Time bombs within America" is how Iranian lawmaker Hamid-Reza Katoziyan described Muslims within America, who could be behind future terrorist attacks here. Speaking on Iranian TV channel Jaam-E-Jam 2 on July 27, Mr. Katoziyan warned: "The whole group of people belonging to the Arab community and…Muslims living in the U.S. are currently, in my opinion, in a special situation. Perhaps they do not walk the streets with weapons in their hands or attach bombs to themselves in order to carry out a suicide operation, but the thought is there." Just as statements from Iranian religious and political leaders, as well as TV programs, have focused on attacking America, so has the print press. An editorial in the July 6 edition of the Iranian daily Kayhan, the conservative paper affiliated with Mr. Khamenei, issued another warning for the future: "…the White House's 80 years of exclusive rule are likely to become 80 seconds of hell that will burn to ashes…That very day, those who resist [Iran] will be struck from directions they never expected. The heartbeat of the crisis is undoubtedly [dictated by] the hand of Iran." The report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States asks: "September 11 was a day of unprecedented shock…The nation was unprepared…How can we avoid such tragedy again? "Taking seriously Iran's threatening words and actions is an important first step.
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Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of The Middle East Media Research Institute (www.memri.org). Click here to comment on this column.
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