Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Wednesday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 9.6.2006:

The opposition to Khatami's visit to the US heats up.
  • Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner reported that Governor Mitt Romney today ordered all Massachusetts state government agencies to decline support, if asked, for former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami’s September 10 visit to the Boston area saying: State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual who supports violent jihad and the destruction of Israel.”
  • A Press briefing will take place in Washington D.C. September 7th on the visit of former President Khatami. Led by torture victims of the Islamic Regime, former political prisoners and opposition figures to the Islamic regime.
  • Sardar Haddad reported that Thursday, September 7, 2006 - 6:00pm a protest of Khatami's speech will take place outside of the Washington National Cathedral. Join them if you can.
  • Joseph Puder, FrontPageMagazine.com reported on Khatami's academic enablers.
Bush: America will not bow down to Iranian tyrants.
  • President Bush, The White House in a major speech at the Capital Hilton Hotel outlined the National Strategy For Combating Terrorism and said "America will not bow down to tyrants."
Ahmadinejad keeps talking tougher.
  • Bloomberg reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his government plans to purge liberal and secular faculty members from Iran's universities.
  • International Herald Tribune reported that Iran said that it successfully tested laser-guided bombs during recent large-scale military exercises.
  • The Jerusalem Post reported that the Iranian parliament took the first step toward requiring the government to block international inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions.
  • USA Today reported that as Iran hurtles toward a confrontation with the United States over its nuclear program, the nation's economy remains a dysfunctional wreck.
  • Yahoo News reported that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani will probably meet Wednesday in Vienna.
But is Ahmadinejad popular in Iran... really?
Here are a few other news items you may have missed.
  • Amir Taheri, Gulf News argued that as the midterm Congressional election campaign gets under way in the United States, Iraq may prove the key factor in deciding who will control the next legislature in Washington. A must read.
  • Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun Blog reported that Hezbollah published a photo on its website claiming to be the sinking of an Israeli warship. But the photo is exposed to be the decommissioned Australian destroyer-escort HMAS Torrens off the coast of Western Australia in 1998.
  • YNet News reported that Benjamin Netanyahu met with 15 American senators, and said he was surprised by the level of their distress and worry over the developments in Iran.
  • Iran Press News, World Politics Watch reported that 33 days after the death of activist Akbar Mohammadi, another political prisoner dies in Iranian prison, Valiollah Fayz-Mahdavi.
  • Cox & Forkum published a cartoon: Purging 101.