 |
|
|
Literature Discussion - Lit-Talk.com
Iran – Mecca of Mayhem & Murder - Part 1
Check our publications and book reviews at ReserveBooks.com
See Chris Cobar Article List at bottom of page.
Why We Should Expect Another 9/11
Article #18 –
Iran – Mecca of Mayhem & Murder - Part 1
By
Chris Cobar
Iran/Persia. For me, it evokes images of a royally regal chap sitting on the Peacock throne with Persian rugs and all the trappings of a 2,500 year old monarchy. Of course, I have never returned to Iran after the fall of the Shah.
Since the Shah fled on 16 January 1979 and Khomeini, returning from exile in Paris, assumed the throne on 11 February of that same year, nothing has ever been the same. It did not take him long to start rocking the regional boat.
Before we get into his dastardly deeds, we need to examine the numbers. Iran, a non-Arab country, has approximately 77 million people as compared to Iraq at 26 million, Kuwait at 3 million, Saudi Arabia at 26 million, Yemen at 23 million and Oman at 3 million. The average age in Iran is 26.3 years old. This means that the majority of Iranians were born after the Shah fell. Therefore, they have no memory or record of life before the Mullahs. Religious police roam the streets arresting couples for holding hands. As we have just sent recently, any protests against the government are dealt with bullets and riot paramilitary police. Freedom of the press is non-existent. It is either their way or the highway.
If you run the math, Iran has practically the same number of citizens as the balance of the entire region combined. If you remove Iraq from the game board, due to their own internal problems, Iran has a decided advantage.
Khomeini spent his few months on the throne consolidating his control as he definitively dismantled the remains of the Shah’s government. This process usually involved stone walls firing squads and a bunch of bullets. Once securely settled, he decided to take his show on the road. It was not pretty.
On 4 November 1979, the American embassy in Teheran was overrun and 66 internationally protected diplomats were taken hostage for 444 days. Roughly 2 weeks later, on 20 November 1979, his agents seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca. After a two week battle, the total tallied was 255 pilgrims dead and over 560 wounded.
Think about it. Converting this into Christian terms, it would be similar to a passel of pugnacious Protestants attacking and overrunning the Vatican. Actually, it’s worse because Jesus Christ is not buried under the Vatican. And this was ordered by a ‘cleric,’ the Muslim equivalent of a man-of-the-cloth?!
Most of us think of Iran’s number one export as oil. We may need to rethink this. Oil may be their number one ‘official’ export, but terrorism takes first place unofficially.
I will not list, item by item, all the attacks, successful or attempted, that were actively instigated by Teheran. It would take too much time. Instead I will give you a short synopsis:
Number of countries inflicted: 27
Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Austria, Spain, Italy, Kuwait, France, United Kingdom, United States, Tunisia, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Japan, Israel, Argentina, Egypt, Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Philippines, Venezuela, Panama, Sweden, Germany, Tajikistan, Greece and Congo-Brazzavile.
Please notice, every continent except Australia and Antartica were afflicted.
Number of Planes hijacked: 5
One Air France 747 was blown up at the end of the tarmac in Iran.
Number of Iranian diplomats expelled for terrorist activities: 16
From: Sweden, Panama, Venezuela, Germany, Turkey and Tajikistan
The release of Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” really irritated Teheran. In February, 1989, Khomeini issued a formal Fatwa ‘a religious decree’ calling for his immediate assassination. This particular Fatwa was taken seriously. In December, 1989, an attempt to blow up a London bookstore carrying ‘Satanic Verses’ was barely thwarted. On 3 July 1991, the Italian translator for the book was stabbed. His Iranian attacker said he was trying to track down Rushdie’s whereabouts and thought that his victim would know. Fortunately, this translator survived. The Japanese translator of ‘Satanic Verses’ was not so lucky. He was stabbed to death on 21 July 1991. A couple of years later, the Norwegian publisher of “Satanic Verses” was shot three times in the back. Thankfully, he also survived.
Teheran’s attempts at terrorism were and are extensive. On 25 April 1993, the New York Times reported that US$100,000 had been deposited in to the account of the prime suspects in the First World Trade Center bombing. The money came primarily from Iran. Why am I not surprized?!
Cutting to the chase, the total of Teheran’s terrorism is as follows. Please note that this only covers the period from 1979 to the end of 1999. I did not have it in me to do another decade. It is too damned depressing. You may be assured that they have not remained idle.
Dead – 1,119
Wounded – 2,250
Kidnapped – 66
If you add up the number of those victims, killed and/or wounded on mandates from the Mullahs, it surpasses the total number of victims of 9/11. As you will note, the number of those kidnapped totals only those American diplomats taken hostage from the embassy in Teheran. The other kidnapped victims were never returned alive. In one case, they hung an American officer serving with the United Nations, videotaped his hanging and then sent it to the international media.
In the next article I will address my own personal experiences with these murdering Mullahs. Sadly it was yet another case of Uncle Sam not giving a damn.
Until next time.
CC
Thanks for your comments, please keep them coming –
Chris Cobar: rajamuda001@aol.com
Please visit my new blog, www.terrorlog.com
P.S. For those of you who want more than a snappy synopsis of the whys and wherefores of 9/11, I refer you to www.intelwire.com. It is managed by a good friend, John Berger. He is a certified terrorist consultant, who documents his colons and commas. If it's there, you can take it to the bank.
