Month: September 2009

Update: Photo above is old:

Iranian journalist Omid Memarian posted this image of a turbanless Mr. Khatami on his blog in the immediate aftermath of the June 12 election — so clearly the person who uploaded it to iReport today was misinformed or attempting to mislead us. This continues to be a problem for news organizations forced to rely on anonymous bloggers who are frequently also partisan activists for information from countries that close their doors to independent reporters. We appreciate the crowd-sourcing help from readers very much.

Below are tweets coming out of Iran today. As always, they should be read with caution until confirmed:

Actual khatami being attacked today 

People chanting: if Karoubi gets arrested, Iran will turn into shambles.

Some claims Tehran TV showing pics of Qods day from other years as can't get shots with no Sea of Green.

Reports: Clashes in Qum, Kermanshah and Rasht. Dozens of protesters arrested

More than 100,000 ppl Gathered at Vali Asr Sq. Shouting Death to the Dictator.

Reports: Heavy Clashes Near Vali Asr Cr.

Protesters coming to the Streets in Isfehan and Shiraz

Hearing reports of clashes and arrests of protesters at Quds Day rally in Tehran

There is no Qods day reports on the TV anymore. For me, this means the clash have begun.

TV only shows closed shots from the Enghelab sqr :D Other places (specially 7 tir) should be FULL of Greens :D

Iran Translator reports worst scenes of clashes was Fatimi Avenue in Tehran.

I have reports Azadi was bad

Montazeri grandchildren arrested today, I hve unconfirmed reports more Children of a Grand Ayat arrested also today

hiraz: Dozens of people have been injured in clashes

RT Mashhad: Clashes between Greens n sec forces in different parts of the city Tear gas was extensively used 

Mirdamadi’s Son Arrested

Only a coward would target the children of his opponents. Ahmadinejad, you are a disgrace to the Iranian ppl

Today the population of Green million, not tens of thousands of ppl, I wonder why some media say that

Internet Connection inside Iran had been severely limited or cut off in some parts hours before protests

Iran security forces clashed with supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi and arrested at least 10 of them

Ahmadinejad calls Holocaust a myth during Quds Day rally

My source in Tehran: Basij dispatched to prevent protests during Quds Day

Heavy Clashes in Tbariz, Gunshut heard, Police also used Tear and Pepper Gas

A reader writes:

I just learned yesterday of the death of a friend’s 33 year-old daughter. She was married with two young daughters. The cause of death was listed as a Tylenol overdose, but she had lupus and that was considered to be a contributing factor since her liver was very compromised. After ingesting an unknown (to me at least) quantity of Tylenol, she slipped into a coma. She was rushed to the hospital, and while the doctors and nurses worked on her, her stepfather tried several times to give the staff her insurance card. Rightfully so, the staff was less interested in getting the insurance information than they were in saving this young woman, so he proceeded to simply wait.

After several hours, the doctor came out and told the family that she was in dire need of a liver transplant, but unfortunately he told them, her insurance did not cover liver transplants. 

Turns out during the treatment one of the staff did look up her name in the hospital files and got what they thought was her current insurance information. Unfortunately, the information was old. It was from a few years earlier, and since then, the woman’s family had changed insurance when she changed jobs. Not realizing the information being accessed was old, the family asked how long she would last without the transplant and were told….2 days at most.

They frantically tried to find alternatives, but to no avail. She died 3 hours later. No one thought to double check the information being used, and it wasn’t until after her death it was discovered that her current insurance did in fact fully cover liver transplants. Yes, in this case it was a matter of several critical mistakes being made. By the staff, and the frantic family who didn’t realize the insurance information was old. The hospital could have checked to make sure the information was current. The family could have insisted they use the card for reference. The hospital or the family could have confirmed with the old insurance company whether or not the woman was still enrolled in the same plan.

But, if there was a universal healthcare plan in place, all of that would have been unnecessary. This woman’s condition and treatment wouldn’t have been contingent on just what was and was not covered by her particular plan, and the simple fact she had recently changed jobs would not have confused what options were available, and a bureaucracy would not have come between her and her doctor.

She would have simply been treated by whatever means were necessary to save her life.

The Washington Post demands that the US put torture of prisoners on the agenda in talks with Iran! No, seriously. No irony. Just pure denialism:

The cases of torture and rape of prisoners courageously documented by opposition presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi should be as worthy of discussion as the non-nuclear subjects that Iran wants to bring up.

Has it occurred to Fred Hiatt that the days in which America could lecture any other country on torture of prisoners are over. Does he believe his own paper's cowardly refusal to call it what it is has any resonance outside the U.S.? Until president Bush takes full responsibility or the architects of the torture program are brought to justice – the US has scant moral or legal standing to challenge any abuse of prisoners in other regimes. Greenwald:

I don't think this is a case of conscious exceptionalism-based double standards.  I think The Washington Post Editors have brains which tell them that the U.S. continues to be the world's leader in human rights, due process, and accountability for abuses, and that it's perfectly natural that we would go around demanding reform from other nations in these areas and do so with moral credibility.  As bizarre as it is, that really seems to be the mental world they occupy.  And they're far from alone there.

This is my formulation of the point:

America is exceptional not because it banished evil, not because Americans are somehow more moral than anyone else, not because its founding somehow changed human nature—but because it recognized the indelibility of human nature and our permanent capacity for evil. It set up a rule of law to guard against such evil. It pitted branches of government against each other and enshrined a free press so that evil could be flushed out and countered even when perpetrated by good men.

The belief that when America tortures, the act is somehow not torture, or that when Americans torture, they are somehow immune from its moral and spiritual cancer, is not an American belief. It is as great a distortion of American exceptionalism as jihadism is of Islam.

The coup can use violence and it can use torture and it can use propaganda; but it cannot stop a massive public uprising swamping an unavoidable public ritual. And it can force the foreign media out, and threaten the media within, but it cannot prevent photographs and videos being disseminated from public events throughout the world. This was a brilliant stroke by the revolution. After the jump are three pictures of Khatami being attacked by the Basij, and protected by the crowd:

 

Enduring America is live-blogging:

[T]here is a photograph which claims to be of Mir Hossein Mousavi at the Qods Day rally today. There is a great deal of confusion, as the photograph has been posted by the Facebook site run by supporters of Mousavi and by Mehr News, which claims it shows Mousavi supporting a pro-Government rally. For now, we’re treating the picture as suspect and a possible weapon in a war of information/disinformation, as there has been no other indication that Mousavi made it to the rally today.

Mackey thinks the photo is genuine:

The scene in the background — with a Palestinian flag, people holding the same signs seen in other images of today’s rally reading “Down With U.S.A.” and what looks to be the same sort of weather — suggest that the photograph was shot during a Quds Day rally, so if it is not a fake, or shot during a previous year’s rally, it seems likely that it was shot today.

Also, bearing in mind that Mr. Moussavi had been retired from politics for many years before returning to run in this year’s presidential election, the man pointing at him in the photograph suggests that the image is unlikely to have been taken at a previous year’s rally.

Do these crowds seem beaten to you? This has got to unnerve the coup leaders. Meanwhile, the mother of a young protestor murdered by Tehran’s illegitimate regime marched proudly today. These people have courage. More courage than most of us will ever know. I remain of the belief that what is happening in Iran is the frontline of civilization’s battle with unhinged politico-religious fundamentalism. Their struggle is also ours – although we do not face tyranny they do, and we risk little for speaking out.

"I don't have a problem with it. But it should not be used for wrong purposes," – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, responding to a question about Twitter.

Robert Mackey has many more videos from this morning.

Some more detail of what the opposition says happened today:

at one of the several opposition rallies around the city, a group of hard-liners pushed through the crowd and attacked former President Mohamad Khatami, a cleric who is one of the most prominent pro-reform figures, according to a reformist Web site. The report cited witnesses as saying the opposition activists rescued Khatami and quickly repelled the assailants. Another reformist Webs site said Khatami's turban was disheveled and he was forced to leave the march.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/18/ahmadinejad-denies-holoca_n_291056.html

Hard-liners tried to attack the main opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, when he joined another protest elsewhere in the city, a witness said.

Supporters rushed Mousavi into his car when the hard-liners approached, and the vehicle sped away as his supporters pushed the hard-liners back, the witness said. He and other witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation.

In one of the main Tehran squares, Haft-e Tir, baton-toting security forces tried to break up one of the opposition marched, and were met with protesters throwing stones and bricks, witnesses said. Several policemen were seen being taken away with light injuries. At least 10 protesters were seized by plainclothes security agents in marches around the city, witnesses said.

Tehran Bureau has some essential background to today's unrest in Iran:

All the important reformist leaders, including Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and former president Mohammad Khatami, have called on people to participate in the demonstrations, as has Rafsanjani. Formally, they have invited people to show up for the demonstrations to protest the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel, but it is clear that they have something else on their mind: To demonstrate once and for all the overwhelming strength of the reform/Green Movement not only the hardliners, but to the entire world.

All the reformists groups and political parties, including the leftist Association of Combatant Clerics, the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin Organization, and Islamic Iran Participation Front, have asked people to participate in the demonstrations under the guise of the Quds Day protests. Other important clerics who support the reformists, including Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sanaei, the outspoken critic of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have also called on the people to come out for the demonstrations. Perhaps the strongest call for participation in Quds day came from Hojatolleslam Sayyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini.

In a thinly disguised rebuke of the hardliners, he announced that “Quds Day is International; it is not exclusive to Quds. It is a day for the oppressed to resist against the oppressors,” implying that it is also a day of protest against repression and oppression in Iran. In effect, he was responding to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who, during his sermons in last Friday’s prayer, declared that, “Quds Day is only for Quds [Jerusalem].”

The possibility of a great show of strength by the Green Movement has terrified the hardliners. The show would debunk their claim that the 85% of the eligible voters who voted in the rigged presidential election of June 12 did so to express their support for the political system, not as a peaceful way of making deep and lasting changes in Iran, as the reformists claim.