I know, they love Iran, so long as they don't have to live there right? As for the plane, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1079/is_n2139_v88/ai_6876360 at the end you will see that the US did indeed express regret to the families of the victims and the concept of compensation was brought up.
These allegations are all a neocon Likudnik plot against a great man! Just curious, IM, did I get it right by capitalizing "Likudnik" but not "neocon"? My orders from protocol central were a bit fuzzy.
Hey nicephoras mocked me for saying exactly that, but a week ago! He said the Iranians were far more Stalinists and all that. Well, "a wave of Islamic revolutions" sweeping the wordld sure don't sound stalinist to me! Comrade Trotsky would be so proud!
I can't really blame them. It must be tough when your heart tells you it's home and your mind tells you it ought to be a nuclear testing ground. I guess that explains a lot of the schizophrenia we see. I remember that at the time, but it won't change the fact that our "friends" will continue to ah, forget and bring it up.
Compensation On February 22, 1996 the United States agreed to pay Iran $61.8 million in compensation ($300,000 per wage earning victim, $150,000 per non wage earner) for the 248 Iranians killed in the shootdown.
See if I get true democracy right this time: The shah's elections were for show, so, not a democracy. The guardian council handpicks the candidates and that is a true democracy that will change the world. Got it.
If I had to write Iran's constitution, I would provide for a different system to vet candidates. That, however, doesn't change the fact that the choices offered in this election were quite diverse in their viewpoints and platforms. Or that the election was fiercely competitive and contested. Two facts clearly illustrate that the criticisms are stretching the truth. First, the last 4 elections, the winner was not from the same camp as the Supreme Leader. Rafsanjani has long been one of his main rivals within the regime; Khatami was a liberal reformist cleric who basically ran against Khamenie and the regime's hand picked candidate. Indeed, Ahmadinejad is the first president that is seen as an ally of Khamenie. Second, as long as a regime cares about turnout, it cannot just willy nilly disqualify popular candidates. That would affect turnout. Now, for better or worse, since the revolution, we have not had a very popular opposition figure emerge. And, by opposition, I mean some who is totally against the system. Someone in the category of a dissident as opposed to someone willing to work within the system. Nor are there any dissident political parties that have much popularity. If we did have either of those two, then the fact they were not included in the contest would make sure turnout is low. Most of their supporters would not vote. As it is, turnout in Iranian elections is actually very high by any standard. At the end of the day, Iran will be subject to a deluge of propaganda, throwing in facts, mud, lies and whatever elser comes in handy to drum up support for putting pressure on the country. Already, I have seen the campaign well underway, even before this fellow has taken office.
the best way to reduce the number of hostage taker is to bomb their already-******** country. They are all suicide bomber ready to blow themselves up, so better bomb them early before they blow themselves up in front of innocent people.
The knowledge that Ahmadinejad was amongst the 1979 kidnappers will make the overthrow of Iran under his leadership all the more tasty. Paybacks are a bitch.
Some of you guys act as if the students involved in taking over the US embassy have been hiding! And suddenly one of them was discovered, leaving aside the fact that this one (by accounts of those involved) was not part of the crowd that took over embassy. Many people in Iran's government, and others from the reformist camp, including folks who have met and and been involved in panel discussions with US politicians (e.g. Senator Biden) just recently in Davos, were involved in the takeover of the US embassy. In fact, Iran and the US concluded the episode by signing an international agreement, i.e the Algiers Accords, which was meant to settle all claims and issues arising from the incident. Suddenly, some 26 years after the fact, you discover there might some of these folks in Iran! While I expect the propaganda war against Iran to intensify, ultimately if Iran stands firm, the US has no real options but to give up. In some ways, until the new government takes over next month, the US will have the field all to itself. Once the new government is formed, we will see what follows? For now, lets just see what position China and Russia take. If both make up their mind and stand firmly, this whole game is over for the US and Israel. If not, Iran will go through a period where it will be tested. But at the end, it will pass the test. It has no other options.
FWIW: http://www.optonline.net/News/Article/Feeds?CID=type=xml&channel=32&article=15069599 "Definitely he was not among the students who took part in the seizure," said Abbas Abdi, the leader of the hostage-takers. Abdi has since become a leading supporter of reform and sharply opposed Ahmadinejad. "He was not part of us. He played no role in the seizure, let alone being responsible for security" for the students. Another of the hostage-takers, Bijan Abidi, said Ahmadinejad "was not involved. There was no one by that name among the students who took part in the U.S. Embassy seizure."
Here is a picture of Ahmadinejad last year standing next to Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president when the latter was visiting Iran. At the time, Ahmadinejad was Tehran's mayor. The point of the picture is to emphasize how diminutive Ahmadinejad actually is. For instance, in his press conference the other day, he was almost lost behind the microphones and just seeing him next to other political figures I know in Iran, he seems more of the height and size of say Robert Reich than the student depicted in those pictures.
Wait... wait... see here He looks the one who tried to kill Woytila! Black hair and beard, something you don't find often in Iran.
and in today's news: FOX news (read "propaganda machine") stated "telling too many lies" as the reason for the Ahmadinejad's nose being a lot bigger than it was in 1979 when he took Americans as hostage....
It's called Pinocchio syndrom, common among politicians around the world, and religious leaders in Iran.
well it seems that the hostages are suffering from the same syndrome.... reading how sure they were that it was Ahmadinejad who took them in, yet non of them can remember what they had for dinner last night
funny you say this... I'm sure I read similar things somewhere else too... let me see I remember some words clearly "Abu Gharib", "Iraqi POWs".... yeah something along those lines!