Rafsanjani Cites LaRouche On Brzezinski, Kissinger Role in Sept. 11
Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian President and current Chairman of the Expediency Council of the Islamic Regime in Iran, and provisional Friday Prayer Imam, cited Lyndon LaRouche during the political section of his sermon speech on Friday, March 8, referring to LaRouche's statements on the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Rafsanjani's reference to LaRouche was published on Saturday in all Persian-language and Arabic-language dailies that have been monitored over the Internet. Oddly enough, no English-language daily, nor the English-language website of IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency), has published that reference. The reference to LaRouche was also omitted from the Reuters and Agence France Presse coverage of Rafsanjani's speech.
The following excerpts are taken from: Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Persian and Arabic section, Kayhan (Persian-language daily), Iran (Persian-language daily), Al-Vifagh (Arabic-language daily), Tehran March 8-9.
Hashemi Rafsanjani: War in the Region Will Serve Nobody's Interests
The Chairman of the Expediency Council Sheikh Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday: We are not in a war with America. We hope that the Americans will not commit the blunder and get their hands stained in the war, although it is very unlikely that they would be so ignorant.
In his Friday prayer speech, Hashemi Rafsanajani emphasized the importance of staying alert in the face of the plots that are being hatched by the enemies of the Islamic regime, and said: The outbreak of war in the region would not be of any benefit to the aggressor nor to the victim. The provisional Imam of the Friday prayer discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the American presence in the region, saying: All signs indicate that the Americans are intending to stay in Afghanistan for a long period, although it is very likely that they will soon prefer to flee from that country due to some problems.
Hashemi Rafsanjani referred to the efforts being made by the U.S. and its allies to expand their dominance in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, and indicated that if the intention is to protect the Afghani people and to save them from poverty and misery, that would be a desirable thing. But all available evidence indicates that there are other objectives behind this presence. He referred to the recent statements made by Lyndon LaRouche, who is one of the candidates in the American Presidential elections, on the Sept. 11 events, saying: "LaRouche has announced frankly that American figures, such as Brzezinski and Kissinger, were directly involved in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. And their objective is to pave the way for launching a war against Islam and Muslims." The Chairman of the Expediency Council added: "According to Western mass media reports, 120 Zionists were recently arrested in connection with the recent events."
He criticized the silence of the world states vis-a-vis the American air bombardment against civilian areas and the unarmed Afghani people, stating: "Our problem is that everyone has succumbed to the American presence in that country, and you'll find no one protesting against the violations the U.S. is committing there."
He further stated: "I tell the Americans and the world, in a well-intended way, that the current conditions will turn the struggle of the people of Afghanistan into a Jihad for liberation." He stressed that "this people will start its fight against the occupying forces, and it has indeed started this struggle." He emphasized that "Iran never wishes to see fighting and war breaking out in Afghanistan."
Without naming a specific state, the Imam of Friday prayer in Tehran indicated that they had created the atmosphere of terror, and that the world, which is suffering under the burden of an economic depression, and needs work, security, and investments, has no more energy to carry the burden of such idiocies.
In another section of his speech, Hashemi Rafsanjani referred to America's internal crises and Washington's attempts to find justifications for these crises. He said: "The U.S. is suffering from a budget deficit, and is trying to blackmail the others in order to cover the increase in the defense spending amounting to more than $100 billion." He considered the current "steel war" as resulting from the problems the U.S. is facing in its steel industry, saying that "America is ignoring international resolutions in order to save its steel industry."
Concluding his speech, Hashemi Rafsanajani stressed the importance of unity and solidarity among all the sectors of society, calling on all the different organs and groups to work together for the sake of the development of the country and its progress and prosperity.
Iran's Tehran Times On Lyndon LaRouche: "Senior U.S. Officials Behind Sept. 11 Attacks"
TEHRAN, March 9--A U.S. Presidential candidate in the 2000 election, Lyndon LaRouche, has said that senior security officials of the United States were behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and were aiming to use the incident to promote a war against Islam.
In an interview with the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, LaRouche said that the attacks were not organized by a foreign group or organization, but that senior U.S. officials, including Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, had been involved in the attacks, which claimed more than 3,000 lives.
Naming former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, "clash of civilizations" theory author Samuel Huntington, and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger as the masterminds of the attacks, LaRouche said the above-mentioned figures had been harboring the idea of "clash of civilizations" for years and had been trying to promote a war.
The former presidential candidate said that the U.S. administration was also aware that insiders were behind the attacks.
Referring to U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" remarks against Iran, Iraq and North Korea, LaRouche said Bush was not a thoughtful politician. He stated that the U.S. president was only following orders and that his recent remarks were dictated to him by others.
Elsewhere, he called the Zionist regime a dictatorial regime and said that Tel Aviv was prepared to commit Nazi-style crimes against the Palestinians. He said that when it is time for military operations, Israel will play a key role in the war against the Islamic world.
LaRouche added that officials such as Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of State Richard Armitage, and senior U.S. Defense Department advisor Richard Perle were seeking to create tension and instability in the Middle East.
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