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| International |
| Iranians urged to unite against US |
| 2002-02-01 |
During a Friday prayers sermon in Tabriz, Ayatollah Mohsen Mojtahed-Shabastari appealed to political factions loyal to the Islamic republic to stop fighting each other. "The enemy will exploit these differences of opinion and try to strike a blow to the Islamic system," Iran's IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Another influential cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, called Bush a "bloodthirsty maniac" in his own sermon at the Tehran prayers. "America thinks it can threaten and attack other countries by making terrorism charges. He thinks he can do what he did in Afghanistan to other countries," the hard-line ayatollah said. Actually, that's exactly what we think, mainly because we've proven it. Americans, at least some of us, can still remember what happened to our embassy in Tehran. We regard people who call us "The Great Satan" as - how can we put this delicately? - asking for a poke in the tenders. But I'd bet that right now Iran isn't at the top of the list. Bush's words were a diversion. The Philippines are providing a bit of a sideshow, and Somalia may in the next couple weeks, but the real action is probably in Washington, where people are going over all those hard drives in detail. There'll be a bit of action at Club Fed as the gunnies there are interrogated. Most of the dismantling of al-Qaeda will take place behind the scenes, in banks. Poor Iran. They'll just be allowed to stew. They can either decide on their own to straighten up, or they can wait their turn. With a pro-American Afghanistan on one side, and a pro-American Iraq on the other, they might think about what their attitude should be toward us Great Satans. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |