On CNN: Al Qaeda strikes with bus bomb in IRAN

[itsmesgd]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/14/iran.bombing/index.html

WTF... I thought that Iran was sponsoring Al Qaeda according to "unnamed senior US government officials". This goes against everything that the shrub is trying to say about Iran being behind the terror in Iraq.

[justiceischeap]

1. You know how the admin is going to spin this don't you?

They're going to say it was an inside job to deflect US claims that Iran is working in concert with Al Qaeda

[Supersedeas]

17. Al-Caca are Sunni and Iranians are mostly Shia -- tho Dimson probably doesn't know that

[htuttle]

2. Pretty much the only al Queda in Iran are in Iranian jails...

...except for the ones that just blew up this bus, of course.

And the ones who the US are paying (MEK). Who are probably the same ones who blew up the bus.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. MEK is linked to al Qaeda?

I hadn't heard that before.

[htuttle]

13. Before and shortly after the invasion of Iraq, BushCo claimed they were

(cf http://www.nationalreview.com/babbin/babbin042203.asp , etc...)

...and then after the invasion, they said they weren't anymore. MEK began to get labeled an 'Iranian opposition group.'

Here's why:

After the camps were bombed, the U.S. military arranged a cease-fire with the group, infuriating the Iranians. Some Pentagon officials, impressed by the military discipline and equipment of the thousands of MEK troops, began to envision them as a potential military force for use against Tehran, much like the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0525-01.htm

[cool user name]

14. I'm wondering about that too.

From a quick glance at Wikipedia:

Ideology: before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Ideologically, the MKO is difficult to describe. Originally being based on a syncretic amalgamation of Marxist and Islamic ideas, the MKO was subject to a number of rapid ideological shifts (each allegedly accompanied by severe internal purges <citation needed>) and has developed a strong sense of veneration for its leading couple, Masoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi, which some have described as a personality cult. Although its leaders presents themselves as Muslims, the MKO describes itself as a secular organization: "The National Council of Resistance believes in the separation of Church and State." <16>

According to the U.S. Department of State' presentation of the MEK, the philosophy of the MEK is a combination of Marxism, Nationalism and Islam.<17>

In more recent years under the guidance of Maryam Rajavi the organisation has adopted strong feminist principles. Women have now assumed the most senior positions of responsibility within the ranks of the MKO and although women make up only a third of fighters, two-thirds of its commanders are women. Rajavi ultimately believes that women should exert hegemony and dominance over men.<18>

To bring the opposition to the regime under one umbrella organization, the PMOI formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The MEK claims that in the past 25 years, the NCRI has evolved into a 540-member parliament-in-exile, with a specific platform that emphasizes free elections, gender equality and equal rights for ethnic and religious minorities. The MEK claims that it also advocates a free-market economy and supported peace in the Middle East. The FBI claims that the NCRI "is not a separate organization, but is instead, and has been, an integral part of the MEK at all relevant times" and that the NCRI is "the political branch" of the MEK, rather than vice versa. Although the OMPI is today the main organization of the NCRI, the latter hosted before others organizations, such as the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran. <1>

(snipped)

More at Wikipedia

[mmonk]

3. By the way,

what side are we on?

[ShortnFiery]

4. They'll change the story and reframe the attackers as Saddam Loyalists ...

But but Saddam is dead! What to do?
OK, it was a Sunni Terrorist group! No, that will piss off our best buds in Saudi Arabia (Sunnis).
Hum? <right wing heads explode> :rofl:

[jannyk]

5. The bus was on it's way to Iraq and blew up too soon. n/t

[originalpckelly]

6. Jondollah did it, where did you get al-Qaeda from?

:shrug:

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Reuters: "a shadowy Sunni Muslim group Iran has linked to al Qaeda"

The semi-official Fars News Agency said Jundollah (God's soldiers), a shadowy Sunni Muslim group Iran has linked to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility. The group has been blamed for past kidnappings and killings in the area.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-02-14T145306Z_01_BLA419280_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAN-BOMB.xml

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Did CNN change the report?

I see nothing about al Qaeda. I see that Jondollah has claimed responsibility. They have a beef with the Iranian regime in general and the Revolutionary Guard in particular, but I don't know that they've ever claimed to be linked to al Qaeda in any way. Their complaints are mostly about tratment of ethnic and religious minorities in Baluchistan by the Iranian regime.

[itsmesgd]

9. They originally reported that Al Qaeda had bombed a bus load of Iranian republican guard troops

I guess someone got a call from the shrub and was told that this story needed to be changed.

Either that or CNN overreacted again. I am getting tired of being burned by posting "news" that CNN reports only to look like an ass about five minutes later when the opposite usually happens.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. They probably made the same mistake...

..that half of the people on this board appear to make, which is assuming that all terrorists are al Qaeda.

[ContraBass Black]

15. Aren't they called the Revolutionary Guard?

[itsmesgd]

16. sorry, typo

[ewagner]

8. Just heard on NPR

that a Sunni group was claiming responsibility..

In a way that makes sense. It's widely believed that Iran is supporting the Shiia and the Shiia militia (which makes the claims of Iranian weapons killing our troops ludicrous) in Iraq against the Sunni, so Sunni retaliation isn't that hard to believe.

The other possibility is that this is some kind of "false flag" operation by either the Iranian government as stated above or possibly by a US funded surrogate group....

who knows? :shrug:

[cool user name]

12. Please see also:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x207201

The two threads may need to be merged.

[MilesColtrane]

19. Special Ops n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

20. ding ding ding!

Let's scare the shit out of the Iranian people and have them protesting in the streets against the regime. Civil unrest creating an environment ripe for toppling.