Dealing with Iran: Learn from the catastrophe of Iraq, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

Dealing with Iran: Learn from the catastrophe of Iraq

BY DILIP HIRO (World View)

8 August 2008

As the debate on Iran rages in the United States, the hawks need to examine the 2003 Iraq War and its aftermath, pondering the wisdom of George Santayana - "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Defeating Saddam Hussein's army was the easy part; what followed proved catastrophic for both the United States and Iraq.

Now, the Pentagon's two aircraft carriers stationed in the Arabian Gulf have the coordinates for the Iranian targets. So too has the Israeli Air Force. As for the timing, some hawks see a window of opportunity for US President George Bush to strike Iran between the US presidential election on November 4 and the inauguration of his successor on January 20, 2009.

But, no matter when the US or Israel accomplishes its self-appointed mission, the key question remains: What then? The short answer is Iran's response will be intense and all-encompassing.

The warnings about Tehran's all-out backlash have come from high officials in the US and outside. "I think everybody recognises what the consequences of any kind of conflict [in Iran] would be," said US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

http://newageislam.com/dealing-with-iran--learn-from-the-catastrophe-of-iraq/islam-and-the-west/d/458

Sunni-Shia Unity and Shaykh Ahmad Deedat's visit to Iran, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Sunni-Shia Unity and Shaykh Ahmad Deedat's visit to Iran

A lecture by Shaykh Ahmad Deedat

A few years ago one could not recognize a single leading edge in the Islamic movement. This was the bleak outlook which faced the ummah as history moved into the final decade of the 14th century Hijra. But the world was unaware of the Islamic movement in Iran. Iran under the ex-shah was beyond the pale of Islam. Iran was a blind spot. We were Sunni and our age old ignorance was deep and total, and thus when the Islamic revolution in Iran began to make headlines in early 1978. The bulk of Muslims, who called themselves Sunni, were caught unaware. The Shah's propaganda had then blamed the Islamic masters. The western media, and the Muslim media manipulated by the west, and the alienated regimes of Muslim countries had then dismissed the events in Iran as insignificant. All of us were slow in recognizing the new reality in Iran. There has been a systematic attempt at smearing Islamic Iran. And the western media deliberately promoted false accounts of the events of the Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini who was indeed the founder of the revolution, and the leader of the Islamic republic of Iran.

http://newageislam.com/sunni-shia-unity-and-shaykh-ahmad-deedat-s-visit-to-iran/islam-and-pluralism/d/630

Rice admits US policy shift on Iran, Islam and the West, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam and the West

Rice admits US policy shift on Iran

No permanent enemies: “The United States doesn’t have any permanent enemies,” Rice said in response to a reporter’s question on the unexpected move to send a diplomat to meet directly with Iran’s negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva on Saturday.

“And we hope this signal we’re sending, that we fully support the track that Iran could take for a better relationship with the international community, is one the United States stands fully behind.”

“We have been very clear that any country can change course,” Rice added. “This decision to send Undersecretary (William) Burns is an affirmation of the policy that we have been pursuing with our European allies... for some time now.”

Rice called the move “a strong signal to the entire world that we have been very serious about this diplomacy and we will remain very serious about this diplomacy.”

Rice pointed out that she had endorsed the proposal from the so-called P5 plus one - the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany - on incentives to advance talks with Iran on halting its nuclear program.

http://newageislam.com/rice-admits-us-policy-shift-on-iran/islam-and-the-west/d/265

Terrorism is a complex issue’ - Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Terrorism is a complex issue’ - Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf

Talking to an Iranian delegation led by Syed Mehdi Heshemi, acting interior minister of Iran, on Tuesday evening, President Musharraf said that Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and is key ally in the fight against terror. He said the neighbouring countries are needed to join hands to eliminate terrorism and extremism from the region and also from the world.

Reflecting on the importance of interaction between Iran and Pakistan, the President said that the existing relations between the two countries must be enhanced as greater economic activity would result in further improving Iran-Pakistan relations.

Mr Heshemi said that Pakistan and Iran should enhance economic cooperation in the fields of trade and industry. He said the present trade of $600 million can be enhanced manifold if serious efforts are made. Mr Heshemi added that to achieve these objectives tourism should be promoted between the two countries.

http://newageislam.com/terrorism-is-a-complex-issue%E2%80%99---pakistan%E2%80%99s-president-pervez-musharraf/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/289

325 Pakistanis deported from Turkey: Human trafficking continues unabated, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

325 Pakistanis deported from Turkey: Human trafficking continues unabated

By Ali Raza

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Senior FIA officials said gangs were continuously sending people to Turkey from where they were pushed into the Greece using different land and river routes in a very miserable state of affairs.

The officials said the rackets were sending innocent people to Europe using land routes of Iran, Turkey and the Central Asian Republics. They said the FIA had busted many such gangs.

A senior FIA official said the rackets used to allure the jobless youth by offering a bright future in Europe from across the country. Mostly, they operated in the remote areas like the districts of Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad, Narowal, Gujarat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Khanewal, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan, etc, he said. The rackets also operate in the big cities.

The traffickers managed to arrange genuine visas of Turkey for their clients by portraying them as young businessmen or students to deceive the immigration authorities of both Pakistan and Turkey, he said, adding many immigration consultants were also involved in sending people to Greece on a job visa.

After reaching Turkey and Cyprus, the victims were kept in dingy houses and basements and later the racket transported them to Greece through different routes including crossing of river Evros, he said. He further said the rackets had also hired local residents who facilitated then in transporting people in local public transport of closed vans.

http://newageislam.com/325-pakistanis-deported-from-turkey--human-trafficking-continues-unabated/islamic-society/d/350

Iran deports 490,000 Afghans, Islam and Human Rights, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Human Rights

Iran deports 490,000 Afghans

KABUL—About 490,000 Afghans have been deported from Iran over the past 18 months, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and afghan Ministry of Refugees and Returnees (MoRR) told IRIN. “One hundred and forty thousand undocumented Afghans have been deported so far in 2008, and some 350,000 were deported in 2007,” said Salvatore Lombardo, the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, adding that most of the deportees were “single males” who had gone to Iran in search of work. Abdul Qadir Zazai, chief adviser to the MoRR in Kabul, told IRIN Tehran was continuing to deport Afghans who are not refugees.

http://newageislam.com/iran-deports-490,000-afghans/islam-and-human-rights/d/158