ISLAM, JEWS & CHRISTIANS

Symposium: Ahmadinejad’s Armageddon (Best dissertation I have come across - MUST READ) - with occasional comments by me in red) By Jamie GlazovFrontPageMagazine.com September 4, 2006 The Iranian Mullahs either already have, or will very soon be in possession of, nuclear weapons. (The intelligence community knows Iran already has nuclear weapons and at least four operational nuclear warheads in Shahab 3 nose cones). This reality is horrifying in the context of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s verbalized fantasy of annihilating Israel. Part of this fantasy, and also the inspiration for it, is the apocalyptic world vision of Ahmadinejad -- and of many of his co-rulers. (Ahmadi-Nejad willingly invites Armageddon - contrary to other old guard ayatollahs, who have something to lose, but before dying for his beliefs, he wants the fame - notoriety - of going down in history as the man who destroyed the Jewish/Zionist State of Israel. Like his mentor Ayatollah Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, he is not completely sane ,by secular standards, and talks of the holy halo of light around his head when he first addressed the United Nations and how Allah made everyone speechless and put them in a trance when he spoke to the Assembly). This vision involves the Islamic Shiite belief in the return of the Hidden Imam, who, according to some, was supposed to have returned on August 22 -- which Ahmadinejad ominously referred to when speaking about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The date has passed, of course, and no Hidden Imam has yet, arguably, appeared; nor has an Apocalypse, in our literal understanding of it, transpired. By why did the Iranian president refer to August 22? And who exactly is the Hidden Imam? How and why does his supposed return inspire the nuclear Mullahs’ visions of annihilating Israel and, eventually, the rest of the non-Islamic world? Does Ahmadinejad believe that “speeding things up” in terms of the usage of nuclear weapons will hasten the return of the Hidden Imam? (For extra focus on the subject, the Hojatieh preach that preventing global misery, sorrow, oppression, suffering and death, delays the return of the 12th Imam Mehdi and is therefore heresy and anti-Islam deserving death as punishment). To discuss these and other questions with us today, we have assembled a distinguished panel of experts. Our guests today are: Timothy Furnish, a Ph.D in Islamic History (Ohio State), former U.S. Army Arabic interrogator, and college professor. He is the author of "Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, their Jihads and Osama bin Laden" (Praeger/Greenwood, 2005), as well as a number of articles on Islamic messianism and fundamentalism. Serge Trifkovic, a former BBC commentator and US NEWS and World Report reporter. His last book was The Sword of the Prophet. The sequel, Defeating Jihad, will be published by Regina Orthodox Press in April. Read his commentaries on ChroniclesMagazine.org. Robert Spencer, a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of six books, seven monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World’s Fastest Growing Faith and the New York Times Bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). His latest book, The Truth About Muhammad, is coming October 9 from Regnery Publishing. and Andrew Bostom, M.D., M.S. (Providence, RI), an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Renal Diseases of Rhode Island Hospital. He has published articles and commentary on Islam in the Washington Times, National Review, Revue Politique, FrontPage Magazine.com, The American Thinker, Investor’s Business Daily, and other print and online publications. He is the author of the book The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims. FP: Timothy Furnish, Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom and Serge Trifkovic, welcome to Frontpage Symposium. Dr. Furnish, let’s begin with you. Tell us in the simplest way you can please, who is the Hidden Imam and how does he fit with the Iranian Mullah’s nuclear visions? Furnish: The Hidden Imam is the Shi`i Muslim version of the Awaited Mahdi, one of two positive eschatological figures in Islamic thought, the other being Jesus. Al-Mahdi means "the rightly-guided one" and is described in many Sunni and Shi`i hadiths (or sayings allegedly going back to Muhammad himself) as coming before the end of time to make the entire world Muslim and establish global justice. Sunnis believe that the Mahdi will stride onto the world stage for the first time before The End, while Shi`is believe that he has already been here, in the person of one of the descendants of Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and thus the Muslim prophet's closest male relative). In the 10th c. CE the last Imam, or legitimate ruler of the Islamic community according to Shi`is (because of Alid descent) disappeared and, it is claimed, went into "ghaybah," or hiding whence he will return. So the major difference between Sunni and Shi`i belief in the Mahdi is that the former say he hasn't come yet, the latter that he'll return. In any event, the UnHidden Imam/Mahdi will create a global caliphate by conquest. As for 22 August that just passed: that is the date this year that corresponded to 27 Rajab, the traditional date in Islam of Muhammad's mi`raj, or miraculous night ascent to heaven from Jerusalem. Sunni Mahdism, to the best of my knowledge, attaches no special eschatological significance to this date. It would seem that Shi`i Mahdism does, however. I would be leery of imputing apocalpytic (in the sense of Armageddon-related) motives to the ayatollahs, for in both Shi`i and Sunni eschatology the Mahdi does not destroy the world but makes it right (i.e., Muslim). (This comment ignores that the influential Iranian ayatollahs are no longer the wealthy, old guard but the neo-Iran, Hojatieh version - under the spiritual leadership of fringe lunatic Ayatollah Taghi Mesbah Yazdi - (nicknamed the Crocodile) - whose fanatical 12th Imam tendencies and teachings were too much for even Ayatollah Rouhallah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Regime in Iran, to stomach and the Hojatieh were sent into hiding and underground activity). FP: Well the problem is that destroying the world might be the prerequisite for making it “right,” as the Nazis, Communists and Islamists believe. In other words, the world must be purified by human blood -- earthly paradise can only be built on the ashes of destruction and death. So does Ahmadinejad believe that he can “speed things up” so to speak in terms of annihilating Israel or whatever other evil lunacy is in his brain? In other words, he and the Mullahs want the Hidden Imam to come back so bad that they think they can hasten his return by perpetrating some kind of mass genocide? Robert Spencer? Spencer: Jamie, you're absolutely right that "destroying the world might be the prerequisite for making it 'right'" in this case. The Hidden Imam is, according to Islamic tradition, due to reappear after a period in which the Muslims suffer great persecution and calamity. Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, said that the Mahdi "will fill the earth will equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny" (Sunan Abu Dawud, book 36, no. 4272). The Mahdi will not appear until that oppression and tyranny have for Muslims reached levels unparalleled in human history: as Muhammad also says: "It will be a calamity which, in severity, shall be unprecedented. It will be so violent that the earth with injustice and corruption will shrivel for its inhabitants" (Ibn Hajar, al-Sawa'iq al-muharriqa, p. 161). It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Ahmadinejad is calculating that he can hasten the coming of the Imam Mahdi by bringing about an increase of what he would regard as oppression of the Muslims - "oppression" that would in reality be a defensive response to an Iranian attack. All this doesn't mean, of course, that the Iranian government has any such plans. (Not quite accurate. They have exactly such plans but until their current successful efforts and brinkmanship fail, they are not inthat great of a hurry. Remember, since August 15th, 2005 when Ahamdi-Nejad was "selected" President with the blessings of Supreme Ruler Ali Khamenei (much to his current regret), the government of the neo-Islamic Regime of Iran bears NO resemblance to what was there - good, bad or indifferent - prior to that date. No formulae, human assessments, political givens, common sense factors or any other method of evaluating any government or body of men, still holds water. Or bears resemblance to any accepted logic. Unless you can table Pol Pot's logic and behavior as "acceptable" instead of murderously insane). While Iranians and other Shi'ites doubtless caught the significance of his setting the date of August 22 to reply to the West's tribute offer, and of his refusal on that date to give up his nuclear program, there are still many ways in which he can act to hasten the coming of the Hidden Imam short of a nuclear attack. But in light of what pious Twelver Shi'ites believe about the Imam Mahdi, I do hope that American authorities will be monitoring events in Iran very closely over the coming months. FP: This is a bit confusing. On the one hand, the Koran instructs Muslims to spread Islam all over the world and there exists the overall premise that there cannot be peace until the whole world is submitted to Islam. Yet at the same time there is a prophecy that at the “end times” Muslims will be oppressed and persecuted. Does this mean that the Koran instructs Muslims to force Islam on the whole world but that it knows that this attempt will fail miserably? Do you get the apparent contradiction I am pointing to here? In other words, when the Koran propagates spreading Islam by force all over the world, is there a prophecy connected to this propagation (i.e. the assumption that the end times will see great persecution of Muslims) that this effort will fail? Dr. Trifkovic, can you answer this question while also dealing with who the Hidden Imam is? Trifkovic: A parallel with this apparent contradiction may be found in orthodox Marxism, testifying to the underlying similarity of these two gnostic creeds. On the one hand, the Party avant-guard was instructed to spread Communist ideology all over the world on the assumption that there could be no end to the misery, exploitation and "alienation" until the whole planet was converted. On the other hand the class struggle (i.e. "oppression and calamity") was supposed to become ever redder in tooth and claw, to intensify as the world revolution drew nearer, just as "imperialism as the final stage of capitalism" would become ever more aggressive, belligerent, and ridden with contradictions. In both cases the effort cannot be even imagined to fail, however, because any such notion would make life itself meaningless and therefore intolerable for the initiates. The price of its fruition will be horrendous, however, and the passage through this eschatological shortcut to the End of History unimaginably painful. The gloomy character of this vision is a strictly Shi'a phenomenon. In the Twelvers' melancholy Weltanschauung, the absence of the Hidden Imam from the world is a tragedy of the highest order for the world. As for who the Hidden Imam is, there are two answers. Conceptually, Muhammad al-Mahdi, "The Guided One" is the key theological tenet in Shi'a Islam and the cornerstone of its prophetic doctrine. He is mystically anointed to disseminate Muhammad's message to humanity and to redeem a fallen world. Historically, we need to start with the fourth Caliph, Ali, who in Shi'a tradition was the first legitimate successor to the "Prophet". Ali's position vis-à-vis Muhammad is comparable to that of Aaron vis-à-vis Moses or Peter's to Jesus. Shi'a hold that Ali and all subsequent 11 imams were infallible: they were neither prophets nor Allah's messengers - Muhammad was the last of those, of course - but they nevertheless had an essential function in keeping the world "whole". On the other hand, all three caliphs before Ali were usurpers who had strayed from the path of Islam and were seduced by power, money, and earthly delights. Their successors, ruling from Damascus, killed Ali's son and successor Husayn, revered as a martyr by all Shi'a Muslims. Those who regard the corrupt early caliphs as "rightly guided," i.e. the Sunni majority through the centuries and to this day, continue to stray. Eleven imams, in Shi'ite teaching, succeeded Ali on the basis of male primogeniture. The historical record on ten of them is sparse but devoid of overtly mystical elements. The tenth successor and eleventh imam, Hasan al-Askari, left no heir, however, causing Shi'ites to split into several sects. The dominant one holds that Hasan al-Askari did have a son after all, Abul-Qasim Muhammad (the same name as that of the "Prophet" himself). HE is supposedly al-Mahdi, the twelfth Imam who has been in hiding for the past 1132 years. He is being kept miraculously alive by Allah in a cave and he will return shortly before the Day of Final Judgment, waging war on the forces of evil, ushering in a period of perfect rule, and heralding the end-times. The believers in this tradition are known as Ithna-Ashari - i.e. "Twelver," or Imami Shi'a - and their sect is commonly treated as synonymous with Shi'ite Islam in general.For as long as the Imam remains hidden, the world is doomed to remain fallen. Shi'ites are fixated on the end-times and they are on the constant lookout for the signs of the pending return of the Hidden Imam; likewise the Communists saw their own "signs" in 1914, or 1936, or 1941... This obsession shapes not only Shi'as' philosophy of life and culture, but also their politics, and - as attested by Ahmadinejad's idiosyncrasies - their approach to world affairs. The difference between the upholders of Sunni orthodoxy in Saudi Arabia, say, and Ahmadinejad may be compared to that between Stalin and Trotsky 70 years ago. The Saudis are playing Moscow ca 1950: oppressively conservative at home, while exporting hard-line Party cadres and financing fifth columnists and fellow travelers abroad, in pursuit of a long-term geopolitical project: quiet conquest of Dar al-Harb from within. One could say that orthodox Sunni Islam is "optimistic," Realpolitik-based, and pragmatic. It expects that the "contradictions" of the West make it ready for quiet demographic and cultural conquest in the fulness of time, and prefers to avoid any overt adventurism that may force the issue before the fruit is fully ripe. Ahmadinejad, by contrast, shares with Trotsky an apocalyptic world outlook. He favors direct action in pursuit of a permanent Islamic revolution that will pave the way for the return of the Hidden Imam, pave it with blood, sweat and tears. Indeed he'd like to speed things up, as you point out, and implicitly he hopes to achieve this by twisting the arm of the Almighty - no less so than the cloners of red heifers and would-be re-builders of the Temple hope to do as a means of speeding up the Rapture. The fact that he is more sincere in his beliefs and more earnest in his endeavors than the kleptocrats of the House of Saud are in theirs, is alarming but unsurprising. He is a visionary; they are Machiavellian cynics.To the other two panelists' comments, with which I agree, I'd add that for us kufr the two faces of the same beast are equally dangerous, albeit in different ways. A slow but deadly cancer and a galloping but potentially equally lethal infection demand different therapies. I don't think anything horrendous will happen next week, but in both cases Knowing One's Enemy is essential for a viable defense strategy. Bostom: My colleagues Tim Furnish, Bob Spencer, and Serge Trifkovic—spurred by Jamie Glazov’s insightful queries and comments—have presented the overall complexity of the theological framework for Sunni/Shi’a eschatology, and its potential relationship to an Iranian nuclear doomsday scenario. Allow me to highlight a relevant area of emphasis not yet discussed: the centrality of the Jews to Muslim eschatology. Georges Vajda—in a seminal 1937 essay (Juifs et Musulmans selon le hadit [Jews and Muslims according to the hadith]. Journal Asiatique, 1937, Vol. 229, pp. 57-129.)—provides an overall assessment of the portrayal of the Jews in the hadith collections (the putative words and deeds of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, as recorded by pious transmitters), complemented by Koranic verses, and observations from the earliest Muslim biographies [or “sira”] of Muhammad. Vajda’s research demonstrates how in Muslim eschatology Jews are described as adherents of the Dajjal—the Muslim equivalent of the Anti-Christ—and as per another tradition, the Dajjal is in fact Jewish. At his appearance, other traditions state that the Dajjal will be accompanied by 70,000 Jews from Isfahan wrapped in their robes, and armed with polished sabers, their heads covered with a sort of veil. When the Dajjal is defeated, his Jewish companions will be slaughtered— everything will deliver them up except for the so-called gharkad tree. Thus, according to a canonical hadith, (Sahih Muslim, Book 40, Number 6985), if a Jew seeks refuge under a tree or a stone, these objects will be able to speak to tell a Muslim: “There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him!” As Vajda observes, not only are the Jews vanquished in the eschatological war, but they will serve as ransom for the Muslims in the fires of hell. The sins of certain Muslims will weigh on them like mountains, but on the day of resurrection, these sins will be lifted and laid upon the Jews. Hence one can better understand the obsessive fixation on the Jews in both Shi’ite and Sunni eschatology, and the obvious connection to the ongoing jihad being waged to destroy Israel. FP: This is fascinating. Then what exactly are people talking about when they say that there is no anti-Semitism in Islamic theology? In terms of what is being demonstrated in this conversation, it appears Jew-Hate is a central core of Islam, no? Furnish: Anyone who says that "there is no anti-Semitism in Islamic theology" is frankly ignorant, on a par with someone who claims that "Islam is (solely) a religion of peace". As Andrew Bostom just succinctly pointed out, Muslim eschatology has as its main antagonist the Jewish Dajjal and his minions. David Cook points out in his book on Muslim apocalyptic that for Muslims who take their eschatology seriously (and that seems to be a growing number today), "the Jew" is the metahistorical foe, whereas "the Christian" is (merely) the historical one. So whereas tactical alliances are possible with the latter, they NEVER are with the former. Also, don't forget, not just traditions and beliefs but Islamic history reflects anti-Jewish activity; Muhammad had the Jewish Banu Qurayzah tribe of Medina liquidated (the men killed, the women and children given away as spoils of war) for allegedly plotting against him. So the pattern of violence against Jews was set by the prophet of Islam himself.I'm not sure that Serge Trifkovic's analogy of the Sunni-Shi`ia split over establishing a global caliphate to the one between Stalin and Trotsky really holds up all that well. By asserting that "Ahmadinejad...shares with Trotsky an apocalyptic world outlook," and contraposing that to the "optimistic, Realpolitik-based, and pragmatic" view of The Endtimes allegedly held by the Sunni Saudis, Serge leaves out of the equation the fact that many, if not most, of the openly declared and reified Mahdist movements over the last millennium were Sunni ones (Ibn Tumart, Ahmad Barelwi, Sayyid Jawnpuri, Muhammad Ahmad, etc.). And in fact, the last overt Mahdist movement was the 1979 attempt by Juhayman al-`Utaybi and a cadre of followers to overthrow the KSA government in the name of the Mahdi, his brother-in-law Muhammad al-Qahtani. Now while the Saudi regime of course condemned and repressed this attempted coup, note that a revolutionary Mahdist movement erupted in the heart of Wahhabi Sunnism! Ahmadinejad may be "visionary," but not all Sunnis are "Machiavellian cynics," as is the Saudi ruling house. Serge seems convinced that Sunni Mahdism can never be as spasmodic or volcanic as that of the Shi`is--but with all due respect, I simply disagree. Robert Spencer agrees with the analyst Reuven Paz that Ahmadinejad is attempting to "hotwire" the apocalypse. I'm just not convinced of that, perhaps because my research focuses on Sunni movements which, historically, have not ascribed to the doctrine that "destroying the world might be the prerequisite for making it right." From what I can gather in Arabic books and websites, the Sunni world at least is already convinced the ummah (Islamic community) is already at its absolute historical nadir--so there's no need to increase the oppression of Muslims. What I am more concerned about is the possibility that Sunni and Shi`i views of the dire straits of the ummah, and the need for the Mahdi/UnHidden Imam to appear, will increasingly converge such that sizable factions of each branch of Islam would be willing to accept a charismatic leader as the Mahdi. And since I'm convinced that Usama bin Ladin (and several of his sons and a number of senior Al Qaeda operatives), the most charismatic leader in the Islamic world (still outshining Nasrallah), are in Iran being protected by the ayatollahs, there is a very real possibility that UBL could emerge in the near future as the "ecumenical" leader of the jihadist world, both Sunni and Shi`i. And if Tehran has nuclear weapons by then.... FP: Osama in Iran? Yes I have seen some evidence suggesting that. A truly frightening thought of the combination here. In any case, Robert Spencer? Spencer: Jamie, I'd just like to interject at this point an additional note about Islamic eschatology: I don't think it's quite accurate to say, as Dr. Furnish does, that "for Muslims who take their eschatology seriously 'the Jew' is the metahistorical foe, whereas 'the Christian' is (merely) the historical one. So whereas tactical alliances are possible with the latter, they NEVER are with the former." If I understand this correctly to suggest that Muslim enmity toward Jews is theologically driven and rooted in the Islamic texts, while Muslim enmity toward Christians is only an accident of history without roots in the Islamic texts, it is only half correct. A hadith amplifies all this while describing both Christians and Jews as renegades from the truth faith, which is of course Islam: On the Day of Resurrection, a call-maker will announce, "Let every nation follow that which they used to worship." Then none of those who used to worship anything other than Allah like idols and other deities but will fall in Hell (Fire), till there will remain none but those who used to worship Allah, both those who were obedient (i.e. good) and those who were disobedient (i.e. bad) and the remaining party of the people of the Scripture. Then the Jews will be called upon and it will be said to them, 'Who do you use to worship?' They will say, 'We used to worship Ezra, the son of Allah.' It will be said to them, 'You are liars, for Allah has never taken anyone as a wife or a son. What do you want now?' They will say, 'O our Lord! We are thirsty, so give us something to drink.' They will be directed and addressed thus, 'Will you drink,' whereupon they will be gathered unto Hell (Fire) which will look like a mirage whose different sides will be destroying each other. Then they will fall into the Fire. Afterwards the Christians will be called upon and it will be said to them, 'Who do you use to worship?' They will say, 'We used to worship Jesus, the son of Allah.' It will be said to them, 'You are liars, for Allah has never taken anyone as a wife or a son,' Then it will be said to them, 'What do you want?' They will say what the former people have said. Then, when there remain (in the gathering) none but those who used to worship Allah (Alone, the real Lord of the Worlds) whether they were obedient or disobedient. (Bukhari, vol. 6, book 65, no. 4581) In Islamic eschatology, Jesus will set things right at the end of the world. He will return to end the second-class dhimmi status of non-Muslims in Islamic societies - not by initiating a new era of equality and harmony, but by abolishing Christianity and imposing Islam upon everyone. As Muhammad explained: "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, surely (Jesus) the son of Mary will soon descend amongst you and will judge mankind justly (as a Just Ruler); he will break the Cross and kill the pigs and there will be no Jizya (i.e. taxation taken from non Muslims)" (Bukhari, vol. 4, book 60, no. 3448). Another tradition puts it this way: "He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish all religions except Islam" (Sunan Abu Dawud, bk. 37, no. 4310). And yet another hadith has Muhammad saying: "How will you be when the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you and he will judge people by the Law of the Qur'an and not by the law of Gospel" (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 60, no. 3449). All that said, it is true that Christians are not portrayed in the Qur'an as the crafty, invidious, and inveterate enemies of the Muslims that the Jews are, so Cook and Furnish are generally correct that Muslims may consider tactical alliances with Christians possible - and there are many historical instances of this - but not with Jews. But there is a "metahistorical" element to the Islamic critique of Christians and Christianity, and thus such accords when they are made will always be temporary, and will never replace Islamic triumphalism and supremacism. This is a fact that the leaders of Western states, which are still thought of as Christian in the Islamic world, would do well to bear in mind. Trifkovic: My analogy to Stalin vs. Trotsky re. Uncle Joe was clearly related to the KSA "Wahhabism Central," which right now is indeed Machiavellian and "optimistic," and not to Sunni Mahdism, which is apocalyptic. The Meccan fifth column in the West -- thousands of KSA- financed mosques and Islamic centers -- are busy spreading the message that there must be no terrorism and no threats, lest the hosts belatedly wake up to what's going on.Of course many of the Mahdist movements have been Sunni, but they are temperamentally and ideologically opposed to the royal kleptocrats' approach, and -- many theological differences notwithstanding -- inherently sympathetic to Ahmadinejad's mindset. Far from being "convinced" that Sunni Mahdism can never be as spasmodic or volcanic as that of the Shi'is, I can see it forging an alliance with the Armageddonists in Tehran. Hence I agree with Furnish's conclusion that the two may converge, and I wouldn't find UBL's presence in Iran shocking at all. On Islam's anti-Semitism, the Nazi connection is important. My article Islam’s Nazi Connections is interesting because in both cases "the Jew" is an essential ingredient of an initiate's self-definition. Historically, however, Jews were often treated more favorably than Christians (notably in Ottoman Turkey) because they did not have an external source of hope, inspiration and potential support -- and back then "Christendom" still had some meaning. But back to our topic. Ahmadinejad's millenarianism notwithstanding, in the short term I don't expect anything spectacular because he is holding a strong geopolitical hand. The de facto Hizballah victory, embodied in UNSC1701, has made it clear that Iran has the wherewithal to make a very tangible impact on events in the greater Middle East, including Iraq, where Iranian agents have been long infiltrated into the security services, and most notably the Interior Ministry. If the US is serious about pursuing sanctions, the Iranians may press a few buttons that would make an already difficult situation in Iraq totally unmanageable. Iran has no incentive to comply right now, because if it did, it would not obtain what it really wants: direct negotiations with the U.S. that would result in some kind of security guarantee. A serious package of sanctions would have to include sanctions on Iranian oil exports and on Western investments into the Iranian oil industry. If there was no Iranian production on line, we'll see $100+ a barrel within days, which could trigger off a global economic recession. (Left out of the oil equation is the financial weapon of Iran's attempt to unhook oil from the Dollar to crash it. Nobody believes that the Iranian Oil Exchange being set up by Ahmadi-Nejad could succeed, but analysts fail to realize that success (profit) in terms understood by the West are not the measure of Ahamadi-Nejad. His success comes with crashing the global economy and causing apocalyptic distress, hunger and misery. After all, he owns little or nothing, never has, can always continue to have his morning bread, cheese and tea for breakfast and his daily stew dish for lunch or dinner, regardless if the rest of the world disappears into the abbyss of starving millions. Plus he has a valuable barter commodity to use when money no longer has a value). In extremis he may even close the Straits of Hormuz, but he won't do it for as long as his diplomatic arsenal remains unexhausted. The question is whether it is at all possible to include Iran in a long-term, constructively devised new architecture of the greater Middle East, on view of Ahmadinejad's messianic perception of himself; but in the short term he's proven himself to be a remarkably "rational" player in the diplomatic game. Bostom: I just wanted to follow-up on Serge Trifkovic's discussion. The paradigm Serge outlined wherein Jewish dhimmis may have faired somewhat better than their Christian dhimmi counterparts (i.e., in the Ottoman Empire) clearly did not, and does not hold in Shi'ite Persia/Iran. An ethos of Jew-hatred, including paroxysms of annihilationist fanaticism, has pervaded Persian/Iranian society, almost without interruption (i.e., the two major exceptions being the period of Sunni Afghan invasion and rule from 1722-1794, and Pahlavi reign, with its Pre-Islamic revivalist efforts, from 1925-1979), since the founding of the Shi’ite theocracy in 1502 under Shah Ismail, through its present Khomeini-inspired restoration, since 1979 (reviewed here). Having returned their small remnant Jewish community to a state of obsequious dhimmitude, Iran’s current theocratic rulers focus most of their obsessive anti-Jewish bigotry on the free-living Jews of neighboring Israel. Holocaust scholar Daniel Jonah Goldhagen has argued persuasively that the Nazis melded centuries of annihilationist Jew hatred to a state machinery capable of implementing the systematic, mass murder of Jews. Former Iranian President Rafsanjani’s December 2001 “Al Quds Day” sermon threatened, explicitly, the nuclear annihilation of this largest concentration of autonomous Jews in history—the Jewish State of Israel. Ahmadinejad has reiterated these threats repeatedly as Iran’s nuclear ambitions near fulfillment. Four centuries of Jew hatred in Shi'ite Iran, inspired by "najis" and other Islamic motifs, accompanied by pogroms, forced conversions, and other less violent, but continuous forms of social and religious persecution, surely meets Goldhagen's Nazi standard of an established "annihilationist" mentality. Iran must not be permitted to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, certainly now, under the current apocalyptic Shi’ite religious fanatic Ahmadinejad, and into the foreseeable future. Furnish: Robert Spencer is of course totally correct that Islamic animus towards Christians has deep roots in the theology. But that was historically tempered by the different experience the expanding Islamic state had with its Christian rivals, most formatively the Byzantine Empire, and that influence is still evident in Mahdist writings today (at least in the Sunni Arab ones). For example, some modern works on Mahdism posit a global alliance between the Christian West and the Islamic world--even perhaps between the West and the Mahdi's forces, once he arrives on the scene!--against Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog), often envisioned as the Chinese (and sometimes Russians) and/or against the forces of the Dajjal! In such scenarios, it is only after the evil forces of the East are defeated that the West then turns against the Mahdi and his Muslim followers, whereupon he (of course) defeats the disloyal Christian world. So hudna, or even temporary alliance, with Western Christian powers is a possibility, whereas Jews are always seen (as Robert acknowledges) as misguided at best and evil at worst. I discovered a fiendishly original reinterpretation of Daniel 11 in some modern Mahdist books (the "king of the south" passages, describing an evil ruler who will "desecrate the Temple" and "set up the abomination that causes desolation"). Mahdists today (at least the Sunni ones) refer to this figure as "the Zionist Mahdi" (mahdi al-Sahyuni), actually the Dajjal whom Jews will follow instead of the true Mahdi. Dislike of "the Jews" of course includes, in Islamist and Mahdist circles, Ataturk for his dissolution of the Ottoman caliphate. Ataturk is often accused of being a "Donme," a descendant of those Jews who followed the 17th c. Jewish leader Sabbatai Sevi from Jewish messianism into Islam. Also, the "Zionists" are excoriated for (until recently) their de facto alliance with Turkey, and for their undermining of Islam by way of allowing the world headquarters of Baha'ism sanctuary in Israel. Sunni Mahdists seem to be conflicted about how to view Iran, especially since the Islamic Republic was established there. On one hand, the revolution there is seen as a beacon of hope for Islamists everywhere; on the other hand, it has inspired false mahdis (like the al-`Utaybi uprising of 1979 in KSA) and, more importantly, it's suspect because it represents but the latest Shi`i resurgence going back to the Safavids and their wars with the Sunni Ottomans. But as I remarked earlier, I think that this jaundiced view of Iran and it's Shi`ism is being overshadowed today by the ecumenical tendency within Islam that sees the Sunni-Shi`i divide as far less important than uniting against the common enemy: the West in general and the U.S. in particular. Serge Trifovic is totally correct that Mahdist movements "are temperamentally and ideologically opposed to the royal [Sa`udi] kleptocrats' approach...." The al-`Utaybi coup d'Mahdi had as its gravamen the allegedly non-Muslim behavior and rule of the Saudis. He and I are in total agreement that eschatologists there could overcome their Wahhabi distaste for Iranian Shi`ism and heed a Mahdist call coming from there. (Needs a mention here that there is a sizeable contingent of Shia Moslems in Saudi Arabia, who have recently become vocal and activist against the Wahhabi dictates of the country. In an almost unbelievable fashion, they have come out into the streets with sizeable anti-government rallies). To back up what Andrew Bostom says about the strong anti-Jewish strain of Iranian Shi`ia thought: even Sunni Mahdist works in recent decades have described the Islamic Revolution in Iran as necessary to save Iran from the nefarious influence of "Jews and foreigners." In terms of how the Iranians at the highest levels take the belief in the return of Awaited Mahdi, a conference taking place next week in Tehran is an excellent example. Spencer: Dr. Furnish is correct about the possibility of a Muslim/Christian hudna compatible with Shi'ite eschatology and based on the theological foundations that have been explained here. Christians tempted by such offers should examine that eschatology in its fullness, and beware. Trifkovic: In its English-language "call for papers," the aforementioned conference in Tehran calls Durkheim "Durkim," Marx is "Marks," Augustine is "Egustin," Rene Guenon became "Geneon," and Hans Kueng is "Hance Koung". That level of the knowledge of, and respect for, the Western intellectual and spiritual tradition among Iran's contemporary ideologues and "theoreticians" of Mahdism is telling. FP: Timothy Furnish, Robert Spencer, Andrew Bostom and Serge Trifkovic, thank you for joining Frontpage Symposium. Click Here to support Frontpagemag.com.

IRAN & AYATOLLAH BOROUJERDI UPDATE

Sorry for the delay in this but I have been preoccupied with a few matters that have been developing. You have all heard by now that at 4 a.m. on Sunday, the Islamic Regime sent in various law and security enforcement agencies backed by armored vehicles, water cannon trucks spouting boiling water and even firing live rounds on the demonstrators to finally arrest Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Publicly treating him in a shameful and degrading manner after they had their hands on him. Several aspects and questions came to light: 1. To what extent were outside forces involved in this quite significant event? 2. Was this showdown forced by the Islamic regime as a test case? a) Would people rise up to support this comparatively young Ayatollah (or others like him)? They failed to rally to his call, so one result now portends that the Islamic regime will have even less hesitation and compunction in dealing harshly with any future clerical opposition. Even members of the populace, tired of the Islamic regime, stayed home when the call was from one cleric against his own kind in what they perceived to be a purely Mullah power struggle. b) How difficult would it be to suppress and control this situation or one similar to it? As a practise run, the events provided a real life tactical training for various law enforcement units, including one which in Farsi is called the "Pressure Group" (gorouheh feshaar). It also gave a "live fire", so to speak, training for new reinforcement recruits for the Paasdaars (IRGC - Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and mercenary (now mostly Arabs and Sunni Pashtu from Pakistan) Basiji (vicious anti-riot and demonstration suppression forces). The Islamic Regime has partially gone back to the philosophy used when the original Basiji and Paasdaars were organized as bodyguards and "palace guards" by Khomeini, who recruited ignorant village peasants for these paramilitary services. His idea was that these would be the least educated, most superstitious, most religious (or open to religious pressure) and the least knowledgeable of real life beyond their village settings and would thus be devoid of any political ideology and be the most open to doing his bidding blindly. Some of these newly recruited simpletons were among those tasked with maintaining a cordon around Ayatollah Boroujerdi's residence and when approached by opponents of the Islamic Regime, showed little hostility. When asked why they were opposed to Boroujerdi, they said they had been told he claimed to be the representative on earth of Imam Mehdi, the 12th Imam - most sacred to the Hojatieh sect - to which President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad belongs and is led by candidate for future Supreme Ruler of Iran, Ayatollah Taghi Mesba Yazdi (also nicknamed the crocodile). The recruits stated they were ready to arrest or kill Boroujerdi for his act of heresy. Some admitted they had no proof he had made such claims. 3. The Regime wanted to find out which other Ayatollahs or high level supporters would openly rally to support Boroujerdi.

Only one, Mehdi Haeri (not Kazem, who is the ally of Moghtada Al-Sadr and his Shia militia in Iraq) came on the air and called for people to rise up. Though cautioning them not to destroy property, specifically gasoline stations, as suggested by some callers to KRSI (Voice of Iran Radio in Los Angeles - www.krsi.com), which was broadcasting events live. 4. The Islamic Regime has apparently used this uprising to begin disarming the regular Armed Forces, which since the 1979 Khomeini revolt, had been increasingly less trusted and became orphan children to the Paasdaran (IRGC), who got all the best military equipment and most of the budgets. 5. Concurrently with all this, Al Qaeda, which has several hundred senior leaders and fighters residing in Iran, including several Ossama bin Laden sons, began threatening the Swiss Embassy for representing American interests and a possibility for a take over, per the USA Tehran Hostage Crisis, exists even now. 6. Finally, for now at least, rumors were floating that Al Qaeda was preparing an attack inside the USA for today, October 9th, 2006, to coincide with Columbus Day and the discovery of America day would also become the destruction of America Day. Instead, North Korea tested their very dirty nuclear bomb and sucked out the news oxygen desired by other harmful events.

Note: if you want to know where Iran is heading , check what North Korea is doing.

a) When the long range missile test by NK was scheduled recently, there were over 20 senior Iranian scientists and physicists present.

Obviously, since the test was to provide operational proof of the missiles NK was selling to Iran but for which they would not be paid, beyond any down payment, till they proved the missiles worked.

Iran has, repeat has, at least four - possibly six to eight - nuclear war heads, with four already in nose cones on mid-range Shahab 3 missiles.

While capable of reaching Israel and Eastern parts of Europe, the Shahab 3 and the still being developed Shahab 5 fail to provide long range capability Iran wants to have right away.

b) Today's North Korean test also had Islamic Iran scientists and physicists present. The exact number is hard to quantify since Iran has had hundreds of their nuclear program staff trained and still training in NK.

The purpose of this test might serve to draw attention to NK and force a bilateral meeting between Kim Jong IL and the USA as a side effect but the primary thrust is a test paid for by Iran.

As mentioned above, Iran holds a quantity of fissionable material, some of it from the early 90's and potentially greatly degraded for weapon use - but not for an underground explosion - with which Ahamdi-Nejad can announce Iran has become a nuclear power and thus ward off - as too late - any UN sanctions etc.

The fly in the Islamic Regime's ointment was that they have no idea whether what they have will detonate impressively or be a big burp.

So NK, which has a more abundant supply of similar fissionable material was hired to run a test. If it "burped" Iran would hold off doing a similar underground test and announcing their joining the nuclear family - from the Shrine of Imam Reza (saint of miracles) in Mashhad.

If there were a big enough bang, Ahmadi-Nejad would follow suit and in addition to offering an apparent "fait accompli" to the world, would then cowe his neighbors into more rapid submission to his political plans.

And incidentally start a regional nuclear arms race.

BREAKING NEWS - AYATOLLAH REVOLTS IN IRAN

Breaking news - Saturday (PST) - After Midnight Sunday - Tehran time (TT)

LATEST UPDATE - all phones in the area of the Ayatollah's house have been disconnected and his numbers, which worked till just now have a recording saying "they never existed".

Monitored from live communication with Iran and the Ayatollah Boroujerdi himself by Voice of Iran Radio (KRSI) and local citizens calling in from Tehran to KRSI. Shots were being fired around the Ayatollah's home at Sard (cold) Park, Avesta Avenue, Sard Street #9 close to Freedom Square. Fires are springing up in the region at major intersections. Ambulance sirens scream futiley as Tehran citizens pour toward that address blocking streets to prevent Security forces from getting close but also blocking the paramedics and ambulances. Distress calls from wounded men and women fill the air waves as what they describe as total war is erupting. KRSI, which covers all of Iran, constantly broadcasts calls for the populace to rise up, urging them to make the most of this opportunity. Said Ghayem-Maghami, the announcer of KRSI repeatedly urges all provinces, cities, professions to revolt against the current regime. He also broadcasts live all suggestions provided by Tehran citizens to wake everyone up and let them know something is up. Ayatollah Boroujerdi, blockaded on the roof of his home, has used the phone contact broadcast with KRSI to declare that anyone in the Security forces who respects him as their spiritual source should lay down their arms and not harm anyone. Other Ayatollahs like Mehdi Haeri have come on live to urge the people not to set gas stations on fire or do other damage as these sugestions phoned into KRSI come from the Security forces agents. Ayatollah Haeri added that fasting during this crisis in the month of Ramadan is not required, giving the example of the urgency of a house catching on fire compared to a lower urgency of fasting. He insisted that religion and politics has to be separate and that the populace should support the brve efforts of Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Meanwhile Mohssein Ejai, Minister of Information and Security (MOIS), has promised Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he will bring him Ayatollah Boroujerdi's severed head before dawn. In the first serious clash with the old guard Mullahs, the Hojatieh fringe sect of the Ahmadi-Nejad administration sent security forces around 10 a.m. (Tehran time) Saturday, to arrest Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazeymeni Boroujerdi, son of the Ayatollah of the same name, killed by the Khomeini Islamic regime. His father was so respected by the late Shah of Iran that when questions about religion arose for which the Shah wanted advice, the monarch would drive down to the holy city of Qom to speak to the Ayatollah instead of ordering him to Tehran. The younger Ayatollah Boroujerdi recently declared that the national Administrative Government of Iran should be separated from the Clerics and become purely secular. Religion and Politics must be separated he said, live on KRSI. The current Islamic regime's reaction was to issue death warrant for him falsely claiming apostasy by him because he was said by them to have claimed to be the 12th Imam, who disappeared down a well 1300 years ago and will return to redeem the world. His followers resisted the efforts of the Security Agents sent during the afternoon to capture the Ayatollah and the on-going confrontation has resulted with multiple arrests, estimated by the Ayatollah himself in a live phone interview as being several thousand people. His people, who rushed to protect him also took several security agents hostage, finding bottles of acid in their pockets, intended to disfigure demonstrators. The mostly foreign, generally Arab national, Bassiji paramilitary forces, whose total role is to suppress any street demonstration and have been recently equipped with over $500 million of equipment and weaponry and appear in both civilian clothes and uniforms, attacked on motorcycles but were repulsed and several of their motorcycles set on fire. They brought in eight tanker trucks that propel boiling water onto demonstrators but streets were soon blocked and their efforts curtailed. Currently, regime forces have surrounded the area and blocked major access. Clashes at crossroads initially drove security forces back but reinforcements managed to set up a cordon and hold it. One panicked caller to KRSI at around 2:15 a.m. (TT) screamed that he had been spotted by the regime mercenaries and had been given refuge inside a nearby house but that the agents were kicking in the door. He pleaded with KRSI to give out his name and remind people that he was about to be arrested and might never be seen again. Several of those wounded and finding refuge in Ayatollah Boroujerdi's house were women. One an Armenian woman, not a Moslem, called on minorities and specially Armenians, to rush to the Ayatollah's support and to come into the streets. Another woman, a baby in her arms, a club in her hand was seen standing guard at Ayatollah Boroujerdi's ready to face anything the regime would throw at her. Including confiscating the bread and food that those at the residence required to break their Ramadan fast. Calls by Tehranis demanded Ahmad Hossein Khomeini, the Islamic regime founder's grandson and Ayatollah Montazeri, should join in the resistance and defend Ayatollah Boroujerdi. Other calls wanted the late Shah's son Reza Pahlavi to join the fray and call on the West to provide tangible support to his countrymen in their time of need at this moment of opportunity. Another caller mentioned that every single one of about 300,000 Bahais in Iran had been recently identified and listed, including their addresses, and wondered if this was an indicator that a slaughter of these thorns in the side of the Hojatieh as about to happen. Bahais claim to follow their spiritual leader is the 12th Imam, who has already returned. Meanwhile, in a dramatic gesture of defiance, Ayatollah Boroujerdi carrying his burial shroud and a sword paces the roof of his home.

Observers and analysts hope that if the resistance can survive through the night, in the morning, people who sleep unaware of what is going on will join the uprising. Some of those woken up at random by phone calls showed very little interest, responding that replacing one Mullah with another gets them nowhere, so why risk their lives.

Supporters of the Mullahs Coming Out of Their Closets

READ AND NOTE the names listed below, who in my opinion started to panic when Iran's Ahmadi-Nejad became more and more intransigent and invited the wrath of the West, specially the USA, onto the heads of his fellow countrymen. As a fervent adherent of the Hojatieh sect currently dominating Iran, he could not care less what happens to the Mullahs there. But the other clerics do care about themselves and have reached out to anyone and everyone. Specially academics far removed from reality outside their often unusual mindsets in so many instances. Just read the news. I believe many of those named below are liberal, left wing political simpletons - their mentioned academic prowess does not indicate their ability to evaluate political reality - or even real life outside their campus environment - but many among those have to be ardent supporters of the Mullahs and fear for them rather than for the populace of Iran. Not so? Then why do they not protest the horrific treatment of this same populace by the very Mullahs being defended here? Why do they ignore that the Iranian Mullahs persuaded El Baradei head of the IAEA (with only a minimal effort and no resistance by the former military General of an Islamic country, who is married to one of the womenfolk of an Iranian ayatollah) to remove Chris Charlier, the chief nuclear arms inspector, when Charlier sounded the warning that Iran is in fact attaining nuclear weapons under the guise of the"soft" dual techonology appellation used by the signatories and their supporters. Some of them may be naive but most seeem to hope that we are - or do not follow details such as El Baradei himself carefully instructing the Iranian Mullahs on how to evade sanctions and navigate through the regulations of the IAEA and non-proliferation treaty and where best to obtain the technology and information they require. I have a list of torturers and a small rogues gallery up on this site for which I have plenty more names but not enough time. They are the obvious ones. Those named here seem to be the "fifth column" the outwardly "clean" (though not in all cases) whose main focus has become to disinform, mislead and try to achieve the Mullah aims surreptitiously as wolves in sheep's clothing. Make a note of who they are and give their apologia for the Mullahs, under whatever guise they present it, no credence. In their own way they are as big a danger as Ghazi Khankan and are the kind of people he uses to achieve his ends, too. ********* We the signatories of this letter (and a list of their supporters)............. write to strongly oppose and warn against the military option in Iran. (We much prefer to let the Mullahs kill, kill, kill the populace than for anyone else to kill while trying to save them from a "much nicer Mullah death"!? Get real folks! As the International Atomic Energy Agency has found no evidence of research or diversion of materials toward atomic weapons in Iran, concerns about future dual use of nuclear technology ought to be addressed in face to face negotiations. (Apart from delaying harmful action against themselves have the negotiators of the Islamic regime provided any progress to the other side? No. Not even empty promises). Such alternative venues as coercive diplomacy and military action will lead to further militarization and pressures on civil society at the expense of the democratic movement in Iran. (The cruelty and repression by the Mullahs, including by their latest emissary, former Islamic "reformist" president Mohammad Khatami has not been sourced in the actions of the West but in finally driving students, journalists and intellectuals past the point of no return, where even the bravest no longer dare come out in support for their fellows, let alone for "freedom" or politics. A request, not long ago, to a student leader to bring others into the streets to help save the lives of several women condemned to death, received the response that savage repression by Ahmadi-Nejad's government had reached such heights that being close to a small group of people invited arrrest, disappearance - sometimes forever - and incredible heights of torture. What we hear and see in this respect inside Iraq is no more widespread than in Iran, just more public and visible. In Islamic Iran, if you get caught eating during the fasting hours of Ramadan, the least standard punishment is to dig graves. Why do they need so many graves that they have to "conscript" people to get the job done? Have any of the signatories or supporters shown below stopped to ask themselves even simple questions that point to execution, torture and death on a scale matching the daily events in Iraq? So many graves for whom? For those of us who have not sold out our minds, consciences and common sense and have enough knowledge about the people who hide in groups like the one below, let us sound the warning and expose the closeted enemy among us. Signatories: Ahmad Sadri, Professor of Sociology, Lake Forest College. Hamid Zangeneh, Professor of Economics, Widener University. Ervand Abrahamian, Distinguished Professor of History, City University of New York. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Professor of Economics, Virginia Tech. Chris Toensing, Editor, Middle East Report, Washington, DC. Kaveh Ehsani, editorial board of Middle East Report. Sohrab Behdad, Professor and John E. Harris Chair in Economics, Department of Economics, Denison University. Ali Akbar Mahdi, Professor of Sociology, Ohio Wesleyan University. Guity Nashat, Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago. Mansour Farhang, Catharine Osgood Foster Chair, Bennington College. Mahmoud Sadri, Associate Professor of Sociology, Texas Woman’s University. Nader Hashemi, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Northwestern University. Joel Beinin, Professor of Middle East History, Department of History, Stanford University. Said A. Arjomand, Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Sociology, State University of New York. Abdulaziz Sachedina, Frances Myers Ball Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Religious Studies University of Virginia. Binesh Hassanpour, Dept. of Political Science, University of Toronto. Farideh Farhi, Adjunct Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University. Nikki Keddie, Professor Emerita of History, UCLA. William O. Beeman, Professor, Anthropology; and Theatre, Speech and Dance Former Director, Middle East Studies, Brown University. Ted Swedenburg, Professor of Anthropology, University of Arkansas. Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Director, Middle Eastern Studies Program Syracuse University. Maziar Behrooz, Assistant Professor of History, San Francisco State University. Niloofar Haeri, Professor of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University. Deborah J. Gerner, Professor of Political Science and Co-director, Center for international Political Analysis. Mark Gasiorowski, Professor, Director, International Studies Program, Louisiana State University. Nayereh Tohidi, Professor of Women's Studies, California State University at Northridge. Dr. Richard H. Beal, research associate, Hittitology, University of Chicago. Kazem Alamdari, Department of Sociology, California State University, Los Angeles. Norma Claire Moruzzi, Associate Professor, Political Science and Gender and Women's Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago. Goudarz Eghtedari, Voices of the Middle East. James E. Akins, US Ambassador, Ret. Laleh Khalili, Dept. of Politics and International Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies - London. Kamran Rastegar, Assistant Professor of Arabic & Persian Literatures School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh. Andrew J Newman, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies University of Edinburgh. John Walbridge, Chair, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Director, Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, Indiana University. Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor, of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Majid Mohammadi, Classical and Near Eastern Studies Department, SUNY Binghamton. Kamran Talattof, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies, The University of Arizona. Mary Ann Tetreault, Una Chapman Cox Distinguished Professor of International Affairs, Trinity University, San Antonio TX. Christine Dykgraaf, Adjunct Lecturer of Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona. Nader Entessar, Professor & Chair, Dept. of Political Science & Law, Spring Hill College. Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Associate Professor of Legal Studies, Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Behad Nakhai, Nuclear Engineer, Entergy Corporation. Joel Walker, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Washington. Charles E. Butterworth, Department of Government & Politics, University of Maryland. William A. Dorman, Professor of Government and Journalism, California State University, Sacramento. David Yaghoubian, Assistant Professor of History , California State University, San Bernardino. Shahrough Akhavi, Professor of Political Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia. Edward D. Martin, Director, Central and Southern Asia Program Mennonite Central Committee. Charles D. Smith, Professor of Middle East History, Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona. Farhang Rajaee, Professor, Political Science & Humanities, Carleton University. Hooshang Pazaki, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Sattareh Farman Farmaian, President Emeritus, College of Social Work, Tehran. Majid Tehranian, Professor & Director, Toda Center for Globar Peace and Policy. Darius Rejali, Professor of Political Science, Reed College. Mona El-Ghobashy, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University. Sussan Siavoshi, Professor of Political Science, Trinity University. Jeffrey A. VanDenBerg, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Middle East Studies, Drury University. Masoud Kheirabadi, Ph.D., International Studies Program, Portland State University. Narges Erami, Dept. of Anthropology, Columbia University. Farzaneh Milani, Professor of Persian Literature and Women Studies and Director of Studies in Women and Gender at the University of Virginia. Ali R. Abootalebi, Professor of Middle Eastern and Global Studies, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. Mohsen Mobasher, Associate Professor of Anthropology & Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, University of Houston. Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, Departments of History & Sociology, University of Illinois. Sherry Vatter, Department of History, California State University, Long Beach. Hassan Mohamadi Nejad, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Antioch College, Antioch University. Reza Afshari, Professor of History and Human Rights, Pace University. Ali Mostashari, Ph.D., Editor, Iran Analysis Quarterly, Co-Founder, Iranian Studies Group at MIT. David Filipi, Curator, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University. Matthew Gordon, Department of History, Miami University. Negin Nabavi, Fellow, Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania. Mahmood Monshipouri, Professor, Political Science Dept., Quinnipiac University. Hamideh Sedghi, Department of Political Science, Villanova University. Hamid Hosseini, Professor of International Business and Economics King's College. Janet Afary, Associate Professor of History, Purdue University. Ariel Salzmann, Associate Professor of Islamic and World History, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Zohreh T. Sullivan, Professor of English & Comparative Literature, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Arzoo Osanloo, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Law Societies and Justice, University of Washington. Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics Syracuse University. Shira Robinson, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Iowa. Mojtaba Aghamohammadi, Coordinator, Project on Culture and Conflict (PCC), University of Arizona; Founder, Universal Coalition for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue and Discourse. Poopak Taati, Ph.D., Media for Thought, Sociologist and Journalist, Washington DC. Minoo Moallm, Professor of Women Studies, San Francisco State University. Leila Hudson, Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona. Ali Mirsepassi, Interim Dean, Gallatin, School of Individualized Study, New York University. Freeda Saba, Journalist/ TV commentator, IRTV Communications, The Iranian Television Program. Jill Crystal, Professor, Department of Political Science, Auburn University. Sheida Shirvani, Professor of Communication Studies, Ohio University-Zanesville. Cyrus S. Behroozi, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University. Mehran Kamrava, Professor of Political Science, California State University, Northridge. Nancy Gallagher, Chair, Middle East Studies Program; Co-Director, Center for Middle East Studies; Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara. Esfandiar Bakhtiarnejad, Georgia Institute of Technology; Chair, Center for Middle Eastern Research and Studies, Inc. Zahra Taheri, Visiting Associate Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Tokyo. Ali Ferdowsi, Ph.D., Chair, Department of History and Political Science, Notre Dame de Namaur University. Kamal Aras, Dept. of Economics, Cologne University-Germany. Fereydoun Safizadeh, Lecturer, Dept. of Anthropology, Boston Univ. Fred Dallmayr, Packey J. Dee Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, University of Notre Dame. Simin Karimi, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Arizona. Reza Farahani, Adjunct Professor, City College of City University of New York. Robert A. Rubinstein, Professor of Anthropology and International Relations, The Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Juan Cole, Professor, Middle East History, University of Michigan. Keyvan Tabari, International Lawyer, San Francisco. Shaun Marmon, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Princeton University. Timothy Mitchell, Professor of Politics, New York University, International Center for Advanced Studies. Shahla Haeri, Director of Women's Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropoogy, Boston University. Morgan L Phillips, Professor of Hebrew Scripture and Jewish History; Chair, Religion Department, Ohio Wesleyan University. John Damis, Professor of Political Science and Director, Middle East Studies Center, Portland State University. Reza Baraheni, Iranian Poet & Novelist; Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Toronto; Former President of PEN Canada. Nadine Naber, Assistant Professor, Program of American Culture and Department of Women's Studies, University of Michigan. Hossein Bagher Zadeh, former Professor of Mathematics at Tehran University, Human Rights Activist. Maboud Ansari, Professor of Sociology, William Paterson University. Houchang Hassan-Yari, Professor and Head, Department of Political and Economic Science, Royal Military College of Canada. Julia Clancy-Smith, Associate Professor of History, University of Arizona. Touraj Daryaee, Associate Professor and Vice-Chair of History Department California State University, Fullerton. Arang Keshavarzian, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science Concordia University. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, Assistant Professor of Religion and Humanities, Reed College. Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law. Cyrus Bina, Ph.D., Distinguished Research Professor of Economics and Management, University of Minnesota. Ali Behdad, Chair, Department of Comparative Literature, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of California, Los Angeles. Mehdi Noorbaksh Ph.D., MBA, MHA, Assistant Professor, Center for International Studies, University of St. Thomas. Hooshang Pazaki, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Naghmeh Sohrabi, Brandeis University. Jasamin Rostam-Kolayi, Assistant Professor, Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. Afshin Matin-Asgari, Associate Professor, Middle East History, California State University, Los Angeles. Shirin A. Khanmohamadi, Assistant Professor of Comparative and World Literature, San Francisco State University. Wali Ahmadi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Mary Elaine Hegland, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Women & Gender Studies, Santa Clara University. Nader Najafi, Ph.D., President & CEO, ISSYS Inc. Haideh Salehi-Esfahani, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Washington. Koorosh Angali, Ph.D., lecturer, University of California, Berkeley. John Chalcraft, Ph.D., Lecturer in the History and Politics of Empire / Imperialism, Department of Government, London School of Economics. Shahin Navai, Ph.D., Humboldt University, Germany. Nahid Mozaffari, New York University. A. Kamron Jabbari, Ph.D., President, Mazda Publishers, Inc. Jaleh Pirnazar, Ph.D., Iranian Studies, Near Eastern Studies Dept, University of California, Berkeley. Houri Berberian, Ph.D., Associate Professor/Graduate Advisor, Department of History, Director of Middle Eastern Studies Program, California State University, Long Beach. Hussein Ibish, Ph.D., Executive Director, Foundation for Arab-American Leadership. Ali Zarrin, Lecturer, Regis University. Barbara Emadi-Coffin, D. Phil., Senior Lecturer in International Relations Staffordshire University, UK. Dariush Zahedi, Lecturer in International Political Economy and Peace and Conflict Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Maryam Tabibzadeh, Author of Persian Dreams, Raeligh, NC. Hamid Naficy, Nina J. Cullinan Professor of Art & Art History/Film and Media Studies, Rice University. Omid Safi, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, Colgate University. Ghada Talhami, Professor of Politics, Lake Forest College. Lawrence T. Geraty, President and Professor of Archaeology, La Sierra University. Omnia El Shakry, Assistant Professor, Department of History University of California, Davis. Camron Michael Amin, Associate Professor of History, The University of Michigan-Dearborn. Dr. Esmail Koushanpour, Emeritus Professor, Northwestern University Medical School. Adam H. Becker, Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies New York University. Hossein Kendy, Activist, Iran House of Greater Chicago. Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Director, The Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland. Ali Rezaei, Department of Sociology, Universty of Calgary. Mehdi Hashemi, President, Asian American Association for Advancement of Georgia. Gladys Frantz-Murphy, History & Politics, Regis University. Lisa Rofel, Professor, Graduate Director, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz. Alan Richards, Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies University of California, Santa Cruz. Muhammad Sahimi, NIOC Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Helene Moglen, Presidential Chair in Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz. David E. Skinner, Professor of History, Santa Clara University, California. Mehrdad Mashayekhi, Georgetown University, Dept. of Sociology. Shouleh Vatanabadi, General Studies Program/Global Cultures, New York University. Glenn E. Perry, Professor of Political Science, Indiana State University. Hadi Jawad, Co-Founder Crawford Peace House. Timothy May, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian History Department of History, North Georgia College & State University. Robert Crews, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Stanford University. Todd Hasak-Lowy, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Florida. Louise Halper, Professor of Law, Washington & Lee University School of Law Lexington, VA. David Ede, Associate Professor of Comparative Religion (Islamic Studies), Western Michigan University. Martin Love, Middle East Writer/Journalist, American Academy of Palestine Tubas, West Bank, Palestine. Adam Sabra, Assistant Professor of History, Western Michigan University. Ali M. Sadegh, Professor, City University of New York Christopher Stone, Associate Professor of Arabic, Hunter College of the City University of New York. Bahman Fozouni, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Department of Government, Director, Iranian & Middle Easter Studies Center, California State University, Sacramento. Nader Rastegar, Independent Researcher. Mina Safizadeh, Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst. James A. Paul, Executive Director, Global Policy Forum, New York. Masha Rahnama, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics, Economics and Geography Department, Texas Tech University. F. Jamil Ragep, Professor of the History of Science, University of Oklahoma. Wendy DeSouza, PhD candidate in Modern Middle East History, University of California, Los Angeles. John F. Robertson, Professor of Middle Eastern History, Central Michigan University. Bahar Fata, Ph.D. candidate, University of Southern California. Ulrike Siddiqi, President, Pan-Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association, Hawaii. Donald Alford Weadon, Jr., International Lawyer, Weadon & Associates, Washington DC. Reza Ghorashi, Professor of Political Economy, Richard Stockton College, New Jersey. K.V. Nagarajan, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario. Edmund Burke, III, Director, Center for World History, University of California, Santa Cruz. Professor Juan E. Campo, Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. A. Verdi Farmanfarmaian, Professor Emeritus, Former Chairman and Graduate Director, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. Gladys Frantz-Murphy, Professor of Middle East History, Regis University, Denver. Marjorie Cohn, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law President-elect, National Lawyers Guild. Arash Khazeni, Assistant Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College. Other Supporters: Asef Bayat, Professor and Academic Director, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World and Chair, Leiden University, The Netherlands. Richard Tapper, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of London. Andrea Kavanaugh, Senior Research Scientist, Virginia Tech. Monireh Mohammadi, Director, Richmond Hill Academy of Music & Arts. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Visiting Scholar, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mark Rupert, Professor of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate; President and Founder World Centers of Compassion for Children International. Haleh Afshar, OBE, Professor of Politics University of York. Turi Munthe, Fellow, Middle East Program, Royal United Services Institute, London. Daniel Thomas, University of Pittsburgh, Russian and European Studies. Ahmad Hadavi, Associate Director, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University. Nader Haghighipour, University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy. Maria Sabaye Moghaddam, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto. Diala Al Jabri, Media/Political and Socio-Economic Analyst, Higher Council for Science and Technology, Amman, Jordan. Saideh Lotfian, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran. Taghi Azadarmaki, Professor in Sociology, Social Science Faculty, The University of Tehran; Visiting Professor at New York University. Golbarg Bashi, Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University. Jahan Salehi, International Director, Agence Global. Shahram Mostarshed, Member of the Board of Directors (US), Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII). Siamak Namazi, Managing Director, Atieh Bahar Consulting. Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Research Associate, London Middle East Institute. Fred A. Reed, Outremont, Québec Author: Persian Postcards; Anatolia Junction; Shattered Images. Rami G. Khouri, Syndicated columnist, Beirut, Lebanon. Bjørn Olav Utvik, Associate Professor, Director of Middle East Studies University of Oslo. Dr. M. Parvizi Amineh, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), University of Leiden. Siavash Abghari, Professor and Chairman Dept. of Business Administration. Jahanshah Javid, Publisher, Iranian.com. Amir Zanjanian, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. Sherry Shokouhi, Psychotherapist, Queens Child Guidance Center. Ghassem Ghassemi, Visiting Researcher, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht, Germany. Carol Key, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Tarleton State Unviversity. PhD Hossein Sheiban, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Stockholm University. Azadeh Kian-Thiébaut, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Paris. Kenneth P. Goodrich, Ph. D., Retired Vice President of Academic Affairs Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon. Reza Fani Yazdi, California Department of Health Services. Dr. David N. Rahni, Professor of Chemistry, Adj. Professor of Environmental Law, Pace University, New York; Adj. Professor of Dermatology, NY Medical College. Mateo Farzaneh, Center for Middle East Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. Thomas M. Ricks, Ph.D. Tayebeh Rezaie, M.Sc., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Molecular Ophthalmic Genetics Laboratory, Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center. Mohamad Navab, Professor of Cardiology, University of California, Los Angeles. Azam Niroomand-Rad, PhD, Professor; President, International Organization For Medical Physics,Department of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center. Thomas A. Green, Associate Director of Libraries & Head of Public Services L. A. Beeghly Library, Ohio Wesleyan University. Marguerite G. Rosenthal, Ph.D., Professor & MSW Coordinator, School of Social Work, Salem State College. Shirine Mafi, Associate Professor, Otterbein College. Ida Mirzaie, Department of Economics and Finance, John Carroll University. Lowell S. Gustafson, Director, Graduate Program in Liberal Studies Villanova University. Aziz Karamlou, M.D, UCLA school of Medicine. Shahrzad Mojab, Professor and Director, Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto. Katayoun Khosravani, MD, Preventive Medicine Physician, University of Maryland. Ali Nayeri, Department of Physics, Harvard University. Mahmood Shafizadeh, President Board of Education Orange Crescent School, Member Executive Committee Islamic Society of Orange County. Mohammad Haji-Abdolhosseini, Applied Linguistics & Technology and Human Computer Interaction, Iowa State University. Abbas Edalat, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics Department of Computing, Imperial College, London. Afsaneh Matin, DDS, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California. J. R. Aman, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Saint Xavier University. Bahar Bastani MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University, Missouri. Judith Caesar, Associate Professor of English, American University of Sharjah. Kevin B. Anderson, Associate Professor of Political Science and Sociology Purdue University. Giuseppe Palleschi, Head of the Department, Università di Roma Tor Vergata Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Roma. Dr Stephanie Cronin, Research Fellow, University of Northampton. Soraya Nouri, MD, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics at St. Louis University, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University St. Louis. Bahram (Bob) Farahmand, Ph.D., Boeing Technical Fellow, Fatigue & Fracture Mechanics (Analysis & Testing). Saeed Honarmand, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Ohio State University. Jalil Roshandel, Department of Political Science, Duke University. Richard Peterson, Department of Philosophy, Michigan State University. Jaleh Taghavi Miller, President, Persian American Women's Network, San Francisco. Louis Kriesberg, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies, Syracuse University. Dr. Susanna S. Bellocq, Professor, Ohio Wesleyan University Benjamin Wolf, Cinematographer, New York City. Elham Semsar, Concordia University. Ghassem Ghassemi, Visiting Researcher, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Strafrecht, Germany. Siavash Ansari, CPA, CMA. Reza Saberi, Pharm. D., Ph.D, Science Writer. Rusti Findley, Executive Assistant to Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate President and Founder - World Centers of Compassion for Children International. Ramezan Dowlati, PhD, Northern Virginia Community College. Bahram Zahir Azami, Ph.D. CTO, Hivva Technologies. Abdolreza Sadri, B.Sc. UMIST, M.Sc. Mel. Construction Management. Rostam Pourzal, Journalist; Board of Directors, Iranian Cultural Association of Washington DC. Mandana Kompani, PhD. Amir Farrahi, Ph.D. Senior Staff Engineer, Sun Microsystems, Inc., Sunnyvale. Mohammad H. Naraghi, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Manhattan College, Riverdale, New York. Saeed Manii, Senior Manager with the Telecommunication Industry. Kaveh Tashakori, Architect, Bethesda, MD. Alan Martin, College of Engineering, San Jose State University. Mirjam Künkler, Ph.D. Candidate, Columbia University, Department of Political Science. Saberi, Ph.D. candidate, McGill University. Hamid Rezai, PhD Candidate, Columbia University. Mujeeb R. Khan, Doctoral Student, Dept. of Political Science, The University of California-Berkeley Lawrence. Reza Ershaghi, Candidate for J.D. at Chicago-Kent School of Law Sadegh Farzaneh, PhD Candidate, Concordia University. Trita Parsi, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University SAIS. Ahmad Jalili M.D., Ph.D., Division of Immunology, Allergy and Infectious Diseases (DIAID) Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna. Miriam Jiménez Román, Queens College, City University of New York. Hoss H. Ravandi, President. EzItSolutions Robert G. Newby, Professor of Sociology, Central Michigan University. Hoora Naeimi, M.A. Candidate in Economics, Concordia University. Sami Zubaida, Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology, University of London. Nemat Sarnevesht, Director, Web and Architecture, Openwave Systems. Pardis Minuchehr, Ph.D., NELC Department, University of Pennsylvania. Behdokht Neshat, Founder and CEO, Institute for Advancement of Democracy, New York. Sally M.Ameli, Accounting Clerk. Ata Alijani M.D., Radiology Resident, SUNY Upstate Medical University. Jalil Doostkhah, Ph.D., former Professor, University of Isfahan; Editor of Center for Iranian Studies, Australia. Majid Mirmontahai, Middle East studies and Independent Journalist, Washington DC. Khosrow Hassani, Ph.D. Candidate, McGill University, Canada. Nader Sadeghi, MD, FRCSC, Associate Professor of Surgery; Director, Head and Neck Surgery George Washington University. Iraj Ershaghi, Omar B. Milligan Professor and Director of the Petroleum Engineering Program, University of Southern California. Amy Watts, Research Assistant, San Francisco. Lily Yazdi Ryan R. Farsai, Laguna Hills. Dr. Niloofar Gheissari, Postdoc Researcher, National ICT Australia (NICTA), Canberra. Roya Sedighian, IT Specialist, New York. Abbas Semsar, Shiraz University, Iran. Mehrdad Nourani, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas. Helia Naeimi, Computer Science Graduate Student, California Institute of Technology. Allahyar Kangarlu, Ph.D., Senior Physicist, Faculty of Clinical Neurosciences, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute. Leyli Shayegan, Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University. Shahab Alizadeh Dr. Mohammad Amin Mohammad H. Naraghi, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Manhattan College. Reza Karimi, Artist and Art Conservator. Benjamin Wolf, Cinematographer, New York City. Armin Sorooshian, Graduate Student, Department of Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology. Bijan Moshaver, Medical Scientist, VU University, The Netherlands. Ali Eghbal, MS EE Kambiz Hassani, Civil Servant, New Zealand. Saeed Ghanbari, Ph.D. Candidate, Centre for Atom Optics & Ultrafast Spectroscopy (CAOUS), Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Seyed Vahid Ghavam Shahidi, EE, Sydney. Evan Siegel, Ph.D., New Jersey City University. Maryam Nikizad, M.S of Electrical Engineering, USC. Niloufar Afshar, SUNY New Paltz, New York. Mohammad Ala, Ph.D., Professor of Management. Riaz Tejani, Ph.D. Candidate Princeton University, J.D. Candidate USC Law School. Behnam Kamali, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Mercer University. Maybritt Jill Alpes, Fondation nationale des sciences politiques, Paris. Carol Key, Professor of Sociology, Tarleton State University. Oranus Dabestani Kaveh Karimi, M.S. Candidate in Nuclear Engineering ,Tehran Science and Research Azad University. Kia Bazargan, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota. M. Khatamee, M.D., FACOG, Professor, NYU School of Medicine, Executive Director, Fertility Research Foundation. Hossein Partovi, California State University, Sacramento. Fariba Adelkhah, CERI/Sciences-po, Paris. Shaghayegh Azimi, MA Candidate MA student of Middle East Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Coordinating editor of the London Middle East Institute's magazine in London. Jeffrey Montez de Oca, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Southern California. Reza Tayebnejad, Ph.D. Ramon Blecua, Diplomat, Spain. Tobias Etzold, Ph.D. candidate, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Soroosh Sorooshian, UCI Distinguished Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of California, Irvine. Hengameh Hanna Tadbiri. Registered Nurse. Nastaran Moossavi, Visiting Professor of International Studies, Trinity College, Connecticut; Member, Iranian Writers Association. Mina Shirvai, MA, Financial Planner Saeed Sokhanvar, P.Eng., Ph.D. Candidate, Concordia University. Masood Irani, P.E. M. Reza Vaghefi, Professor, University of North Florida. Dr Shuaib Manjra, Occupational and Environmental Health Physician, Cape Town. Saeed Paivandi, Professor, Director Dept. of Education, University Paris VIII. Roobik Gharabagi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Saint Louis University. Loes Bijnen, Activist for Human Rights in Iran, The Netherlands. Jim Kenney, Executive Director, Interreligious Engagement Project, Lake Forest, Illinois. Darius Kadivar, Film Historian, Author and Journalist. Curtis Bronson, Advisory IT Specialist. Hossein Akhlaghpour, CEO, ObjectJ Inc. Nanna Keeling Bijan Pirzadeh, M.S. of Civil Engineering. Asal Pirzadeh, Doctoral Student Eva Patricia Rakel, Lecturer, University of Amsterdam Ulrik Svensson, Senior Software Consultant, Ford Motor Company. Reza Goharzad, Journalist. Maziar Moini, Real Estate Consultant. Sina Amoushahi, M.S. of Mining Engineering, Research & Science Campus, Iran Fereshteh Kianersi, Staff Strategic Alliances Manager, Synopsys. Lynn N. Villagran, MSW, Social Worker, San Jose, California. Lana Jennifer van Galen, LanavanAtelier, Barrabool, Victoria, Australia. Nadia Sorkhabi, PhD, future Professor of Child and Family Studies, California State University, Los Angeles. Manochehr Dorraj, Professor, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. Mohsen Shakerin, Project Management Consultant. Hassan Soleimani, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Wales, UK Soodabeh Shakerin, Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank. Hani Salehi, MD, Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology Elahe Mohtashemi, Real Estate Broker. Manucher Mohtashemi, MD, FACS, Cardiac Surgeon (Ret.) Iraj Imam, Ph.D., The Center for Applied Local Research, Richmond, CA. Mahnaz Aria Mazdak Vaezpour, University of California, Los Angeles. Zohreh Keshavarz, Ph.D. Candidate, Australia. Bahram Dahi, Ph.D. Candidate, Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Amir Abbassi, Ph.D., LPC, LMFT, Assistant Professor, Department of Counseling, Texas A& M University Mahmood Karbasi, Software Professional, San Jose, CA. Mahdokht Sanati Amy J. Hopkins, Senior Help Desk Analyst. Soheila Lighvani, Director, Design Engineering, Toshiba America Electronic Components, San Jose, CA. Aidin Vahedi Amir Moayedi, Medical School, University of Geneva, Switzerland. Daryoush Mehrshahi, Geography Department, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran. Ophelia Parvizad, Marketing Manager, Pezhvak of Persia. Nazanin Amani Nina Zumpalova, MA Candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Firouzeh Mohajer, Lecturer, Tehran University. Ashk Dahlén, Ph.D., Uppsala University, Sweden. Shouraei Samahat, Radio Ghasedak / An Iranian radio program, Zürich. Forough Nayeri Tamimi, Cultural Antropologist Silke Riemann, M.A., PhD Candidate, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Politikwissenschaft I, Germany. Steven Galovich, Professor of Mathematics, Lake Forest College. Majid Movahed, Civil Engineer. Ahmed Vawda, Deputy Director: Higher Education, South African Qualifications Authority. Mozafar Banihashemi, University of New Mexico, Department of Sociology Hossein Samakar, Author, California. Behrad Majdabadi Mirko Bastian, Consultant, Caritas, Germany. Shirin Pakfar, United Nations Kamran Arjomand Ph.D., Middle East Special Subject Collection, University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany. Arghavan Sadeghi, MFT, Marriage and Family Therapist. Siavash Abghari, Chair, Dept. of Business Administration Morehouse College. Fataneh Scampa. Gibran Mir, Account Executive. Pantea Javidan, Law Offices, Emeryville, CA. Shervin Malekzadeh, Ph.D. candidate, Government, Comparative Politics Georgetown University. Javad Mirsaidi, PE, CCM. Naheed Kalhor, University of California San Francisco. Ali Javadian. Mohsen Nejad, Political Activist. Rennie B. Schoepflin, Professor of History, California State University, Los Angeles. Morteza Tajally, CEO, PMP, Inc., San Jose, CA. Sara Hajiamiri, Assistant Policy Analyst & PhD fellow, RAND Graduate School. Rikki Braas amd Abbas Shafii, Amsterdam. Mona Ghassemi, high school student, Montreal. Firooz Afiattalab. Amir E. Piroozfar, Ph.D. candidate, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, UK. Hooman Heydarbeygi, PhD, Economist/Biometrician. Ubaldo Cordova-Figueroa, California Institute of Technology. Mokhtar Paki, Artist / College instructor, California College of the Arts. Nader Entezam. Seyf Ehdaie, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Reza Javidan, Teacher, San Francisco Unified School District. Ali Karbassi, IT Consultant, London. Alireza Daneshkhah, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Probability and Statistics, University of Sheffield. Mohsen Aarabi, MB ChB, MPH, PhD Candidate, Academic Unit of Clinical Pharmacology Division of Clinical Sciences (South) University of Sheffield. Mohammad Hassan Nasiri, Ph.D. candidate, University of Sheffield, UK. Pegah Zhafereh, Iran CFC Accountant. Ali Noorollahi. Booker T. Gibson, New York public school teacher (ret.) Firooz Behseresht, Chartered Surveyor, Scotland, UK. Parviz Forghani Michael Schaefer, former Adjunct Professor of History, Adult Services Provider, St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis, MO. Parviz Boroumand, P.E. Civil Engineer. Tineke Lintjens, Coördinator Stem in de Stad , the Netherlands. Mehri Ansari, S.E Mohammad Manzarpour, Journalist, Producer. Manoo Missaghi, President & CEO WebViews Inc., Toronto, Canada. Maziar Shirazi. Cyrus Khalatbari, Toronto. Hassan Zeheri, writer. Fred Missaghi, Richmond Hill, Ontario. Jay Sharifi, P. Eng., Brampton, Ontario. Mohammad Govahi, Ahmad Sakhavarz, Political Cartoonist. Hossein Honarmand, School of Busuness Management, Ryerson University, Toronto. Hormoz Vahid, Public Works Engineering. Bahram S. Biria, MS CE, Canada. Hossein Nikdel, IT & Engineering Diretor. Nuchine Nobari, President, Library Technology Alliance, NY. Amir Mazinani, Ph.D. Nakisa Malakooti, Researcher, Melbourne, Australia. Carole Srole, California State University at Los Angeles. Brooke Glass-O'Shea, Law Student, Gould School of Law, USC. Mir Fazeli, Political Science student, York University, Canada. Jeff Akbarzadeh, A professional on camera technologies. Alberta Rozsay, student, University of Nevada Las Vegas. Zoya Zarafshani, studeM.Sc. Candidate, Polymer Engineering and Science, Technical University of Berlin, Germany. Abdool Valodia, C E O, Superfoam C C, South Africa. Majid Ahmadi, Professor, Director of Research Center for Integrated Microsystems Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Windsor, Ontario. Tobias Keil, M.A. of Political Science and History, Author, Germany. Esmail Hejazifar, Ph.D., Professor of Physics, Wilmington College. Homa Assar, Scientist. Monda Tajbakhsh. Zeb Akbar. Working Together. Esmaeel Naeemi, Ph.D., Faculty at Seattle Community College Seattle, Washington. Niaz Salimi, President,The Muslim Canadian Congress. Arif Maftuhin, The Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. Hoda Mirafzal, Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Student at Cooper Union, New York. Omar Tawakol, Concerned Citizen. Hoseyn Rahbar. Jeffrey Bass, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lake Forest College Fariba Sahraei, Journalist. Behrouz Vafa, Co-founder of Financial Sciences Corp, NJ. Foruohar Aghili, UMA University asistant in Renewable Energy Dept. Davoud Navaian B. Sc., Chemical Engineering, Teacher, Gothenburg; Sweden Fatemeh Ebtehaj, Associate member, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge. Shahrzad Afshinpour, Electrical Engineer, Raleigh, NC. Mary Shahrzad Ossati from England. Amir Torkamani, USC Gould School of Law. M. Hadi Hadizadeh, Visiting Research Professor, John E. Edwards Accelerator Laboratory, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Ohio University. Sima Shakhsari, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology Stanford University. Amir Naghshineh-Pour, Aerospace Engineer, San Diego, CA. Fanny V.Heymann, psychologist consultancy from The Netherlands. Sina Emami, Aerospace Engineer, San Diego, California. Rana Rabei, Neurobiology and Physiology undergraduate student at University of Maryland . Ali Shokouhbakhsh, Economics Instructor, Bay Area Community Colleges California. Masoud Rezvani. Leela B.Ghaffari, Assistant Professor, New York University. Fereshteh Kujoory. Ali Torkamani, Ph.D. Candidate, Biomedical Sciences, University of California, San Diego. Denis Salter, Professor, McGill University. Amir Yavari, Application Support Specialist. Betty Farrahi, Farsi teacher. Shapour Neshatfar, Ph.D., Vice President, Goldman Sachs. Fariborz Shokoofh, Vice President, ABB Schweiz AG. Soody Neshatfar, Systems Engineer. Babak Daraie, CTO, Walnut Creek, CA. Mehri Farzaneh, Telecommunication Software Engineer Columbus, Ohio. Musa Marashi. Nadine Kollmeyer, Social Scientist, Germany. Mohsen Kermanshahi, DDS. Morteza Ghassemi, Ph.D., Research and Development in Telecommunication Industry. Ronnie D. Lipschutz, Professor of Politics, University of California, Santa Cruz. Walter Goldfrank, Depts. of Sociology and of Latin American & Latino Studies, Univ of California, Santa Cruz. Ruby Rodriguez, Ph.D. candidate in anthropology, UC Santa Cruz. Pilgrim J. Jackson, Postdoctoral researcher, University of California, Irvine. Jennifer A. Gonzalez, Associate Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture University of California, Santa Cruz. E.G. Crichton, Associate Professor of Art, UC Santa Cruz. Massood Seyedin, Ph.D. Professor of Mathematics, El Camino College. Fereshteh Khajehnouri. Fariba Mirbaha, Ph.D. Candidate, University of North Texas. Jennifer Yaghoubian, High School Teacher, Redlands, CA. Ken Bonetti, MS Economics, Academic Advisor, Department of Economics University of Colorado. Keith Lammers, Director, Library & Learning Resources Gerard Cottet Library Pennsylvania College of Optometry. Matthew Alford Paul V. Van Merode, Advisor, Brussels, Belgium. Gary Goodpaster, Professor of Law Emeritus, UC Davis, School of Law. Rev. Charles Cornell, Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer, Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. Leonard Koscianski, Professor, Art Department, Anne Arundel Community College, Annapolis, Maryland. Anne Gagnon, Former Professor at University of Quebec at Montreal. Peter C. Haney, Ph.D., Lecturer in Mexican American Studies, University of Texas at Austin. Charles Hoerr, Childcare Worker, SUNY New Paltz. Benj Hellie, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto. Tim C. Smith, Ph.D. Indianapolis, IN. Dr. Thomas C. Hull, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Merrimack College North Andover, MA. Tim C. Smith, Ph.D., Scientist. William D. Fergus, Jr., Attorney at Law. Dr Casem Majd, Vice President of a Telecommunications Company. Alex Abramowicz, Los Angeles. Luke Gelinas, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Toronto. Joanna Picciotto, UC Berkeley, Department of English. Stephen Roddy, Associate Professor of Modern & Classical Languages, University of San Francisco. Kooshy Afshar, President, Printup Graphics. Mori Dinauer, Political Science, Graduate Student, Portland State University. Jennifer Jones, Ph.D., Highline Community College. Martin van Bruinessen, Professor, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, and Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Francis A. Mlynarczyk, Jr., Ph.D., New York. Joel H. Shapiro, Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University. Jia-Jia Zhu, Undergraduate at University of Albany. Poulod Borojerdi, student. Daniel J. Philbin, SMSgt USAF(Ret.) Isis Stafford, politics student at the University of York. Behrooz Sheyda, Literary Critic, Stockholm, Sweden. Abbass Bozorg, Assistant Professor of Financial Economics, Boston University. Paul Raymond Gunderman, Former Adjunct Assitant Professor, Business and Management, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee Wisconsin. Farshid Ketabchi, Irvine, California. Marc Ferguson, Professor of History, American International College. Reza Shirazi, TV producer Ray Ormandy, Associate Professor (retired), Literature Dept., Seijo University, Tokyo. Azita Mashayekkhi, MHS, Staff Industrial Hygienist, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Washington, DC. Eugene Kelly, Professor, Roanoke College, Virginia. Will Jennings, Lecturer, The University of Iowa. Ali Faegh, Professor of Economics, Northwest College, Houston. Joyce Neu, Executive Director, Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, University of San Diego. Majid Zamani, MPA Candidate in Public Administration, Columbia University. Dr. Hugh McElwain, Professor of Religion, Dominican University, River Forest, IL. karen Brand. William Coleman, Film Production Manager. Janet McCracken, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Professor of Philosophy Lake Forest College. Jawed Siddiqi , Professor of Software Engineering, Informatics Research Group Sheffield Hallam University. Reza Sahandi, Bournemouth University, UK. Ardeshir Anbarestani, Sweden. Ana Echague, Researcher, FRIDE, Madrid. Pooya Hashemi, Mechanical Engineer. Janne Bjerre Christensen, Ph.D. candidate, Roskilde University, Denmark. Forogh Hashabeiky, Ph.D., Iranian Languages, Researcher and lecturer at Uppsala University, Sweden. Gary Yeritsian, Undergraduate Student, History, International Relations University of Southern California. Ali R. Borojerdi, P.E., Needham, MA. Denise Conner, Graduate student (Chemistry) at Pennsylvania State University. Katie Moore, Graduate Student, Peace & Justice Studies, University of San Diego. Danusia Garrison, MA candidate International Peace and Justice Studies, University of San Diego. Mark Woods, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of San Diego. Michael Chejlava, Chemist, Lafayette College. James Gill, Commerce, CA. Steve Snyder, Editor, Dallas, TX. Edward Danforth, Returning Scholar, University of Chicago. Amir Oskui, Student and Political commentator, Kuwait. Alex Najafi, M.A., USF International Relations. Khosrow Aryan, President, Pacific Realty & Mgmt. Chicago. Ardeshir Anbarestani. Maryam Molavi, Urban Planner/ Architect California. Nooshin Vassei. Zinda Mahmood Bajwa, Secretary Public Affairs, Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, USA. Sassan Rahimzadeh, V.P. Rahimzadeh Investment Group, Inc. Alex R. Zebarjadian, MS., Senior Industrial Hygienist, San Francisco, California. Nasser Kanani, Professor of Materials Science, Berlin University of Technology (TUB) Berlin, Germany. Hadi Moradi, Ph.D., Research Professor, Intelligent Systems Research Center, SKKU. Mohammad Nariman, M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California. Jan Keulen, Journalist, Chairman Communication for Development Foundation, The Netherlands. Michael A. O'Toole Jr., Professor Emeritus, Schoolcraft College. Joshua Goldstein, Assistant Professor, History Department, USC. Martin Stewart. Jim Roberts, Ph.D., Retired. Timothy Hammond-Williams, father of two, ordinary citizen, concerned American Oregon City, Oregon USA. John Chandler, Winston-Salem, NC. Reza Naghshineh-pour, Industrial Engineer, San Jose, CA. Betty Molchany, J.D., Front Royal, VA. Stephen Oren, Ph.D. Molly Rad, MD Roksana Bahramitash, Ph.D., Concordia Univeresity, Montreal. Edmund Acton Schofield, Jr., Ph.D., Boylston, Massachusetts. Laura Pollecutt, Ceasefire Campaign, South Africa. Susan M. Waters Dr. Nadia El-Sayed El-Shazly, Former Assistant Professor Dept of Political Science, American University in Cairo. Mariam Gheshlaghi, student at Red Cross Nordic United World College. Daniel Bonilla-Torres, Opera Singer and Actor. Habeeb Al-Aidroos, Lakefield, Ontario Jim Glasson Tsewang Bhuti, student at Red Cross Nordic United World College, Norway. Maricel D. Avena. Ali Raiss-Tousi, Journalist in London, England. Howard Winant, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara. Douglas Bennett, Chairperson for Citizens for Responsible Government, Redding, CA. Dr Ross Wilcock, grandfather, Canada. Inayat I. Lalani M.D. Delegate, 2004 Democratic National Convention. Mariano Giampietri, Red Cross Nordic United World College. Lawrence M. Firman Gunvant Govindjee, Teacher of Human Rights, Red Cross Nordic United World College. Daan Luijkx, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Andre A.V.P.B. Monteiro, Research Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate in Economics, Free University Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute. Stephen W. Angell, Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, IN Manuel Esquivel, Student, Costa Rica Rudy Alejandro Herrera Marmol, Røde Kors Nordiske, United World College. Fariba Amini-political commentator-free lance writer and President of Foundation for Educational Progress. Ali Mortazavi, CEO, River Rock Capital, Inc. Mahmoud-Max Mansoubi, PhD, former Professor of Informatics at the Graduate School of Communication Sciences, University of Rome I, Italy. Jason M Hushour, Student, University of Arizona Faaez Ul Haq, RCNUWC, Flekke, Norway. Seemona Farya Rahman, Student from Bangladesh Red Cross Nordic, United World College, Norway. Christin D Gore, Mother, Citizen of Planet Earth. Margina Cocozza Bendaña, Costa Rica, Red Cross Nordic United World College Student. Carl Gustav Job Emil Gordon, Student at Red Cross Nordic United World College, Norway. Jorge Alejandro Enriquez Murillo - Bolivian student at Red Cross Nordic United World College, Norway. Geoffrey M. Young, Clerk, Lexington Friends Meeting Lexington, Kentucky. Eleonora Clemente, RCNUWC, Flekke Fjord, Norway. Douglas Mapondera, IB student, Red Cross Nordic United World College, Norway. Øyvind Bjørnerud Mo, student, Red Cross Nordic United World College. Sopheak Chheng, Red Cross Nordic United World College. Sara Kristine Nes, Human Rights student at Red Cross Nordic United World College, Norway. Cizzi Lundberg, student at Red Cross Nordic United World College, Norway. Ali Fani Salek, doctrat in plastique arts at France Anna Grigorieva, student, RCNUWC. Senia Abderahman, RCNUWC. Gunvant Govindjee, Teacher of Human Rights, Red Cross Nordic United World College, Flekke, Norway. Jerry W. Scott, father of three, ordinary citizen, concerned American, Salem, Oregon . Camille Semaan, Lecturer in IT, Collège de Maisonneuve, Montréal, Québec. Richard Soofi, MD. Board Certified in Family Medicine. Paul Roden, Lower Bucks for Democracy (DFA), Yardley, PA. Caroline Saremi. Mark Hiew, Washington, DC. Farah Devlin, Computer Scientist, Sterling, Virginia.