Iran clerics back nuclear weapons

[travelinman]

Iran clerics back nuclear weapons
By Colin Freeman
LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
February 19, 2006

Iran's hard-line Islamic spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented fatwa, or holy order, approving the use of atomic weapons against the country's enemies.

Muslim clerics for the first time have questioned the theocracy's traditional viewpoint that Shariah law forbids the use of nuclear weapons.

One senior mullah has now said it is "only natural" to have nuclear bombs as a "countermeasure" against other nuclear powers, a reference considered to be the United States and Europe.

The pronouncement was issued by Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of the extremely hard-line Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, widely regarded as the cleric closest to Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi's group opposes virtually any kind of rapprochement with the West and is believed to have influenced Mr. Ahmadinejad's refusal to negotiate over Iran's nuclear program.

Separately, an Iranian group that claims its members are dedicated to becoming suicide bombers warned the United States and Britain yesterday that they will strike coalition military bases in Iraq if Tehran's nuclear facilities are attacked.

Mohammad Ali Samadi, spokesman for "Esteshadion," or "Martyrdom Seekers," boasted of having hundreds of potential bombers in his talk at a seminar on suicide-bombings tactics at Tehran's Khajeh Nasir University, the Associated Press reported from Tehran.

"With more than 1,000 trained martyrdom seekers, we are ready to attack the American and British sensitive points if they attack Iran's nuclear facilities," Mr. Samadi said.

Iran's clerics support suicide bombing, but using nuclear weapons had been frowned on. That's why the remarks by Mr. Gharavian -- nicknamed "Professor Crocodile" because of his harsh theology --are considered significant. His is believed to be the first public statement by the Yazdi-linked clerics on the nuclear issue.

Moreover, his comments appear to be an attempt by Iran's Islamic hard-liners to begin preparing a theological justification for owning and, if necessary in their view, using atomic bombs.

The pronouncement appeared in Rooz, an Internet newspaper run by members of Iran's fractured reformist movement, which picked it up from remarks by Mr. Gharavian reported by the state news agency.


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[Raven Soul]

Laugh out loud! I forgot how childish you were when you get put in your place.

[Anton von Stockhoff]

I think rather than being "racist" and oppose Iran's nuclear ambitions, maybe we should just hand over our old ICBM's to them to drive home the point that we embrace "diversity" and that we trust them because, afterall, it is only a small minority within islam that advocates violence. As further proof that we want to understand them and live peacefully with them we should turn over control of our armed forces and nuclear arsenal to the United Nations. Then we will all live happily together. I bet if Iran were in our position we wouldn't have global warming either. Thanks to Raven and BS I see the error of my racist thinking. Please Trav, lose all this racist thinking of yours and stop being so mean.