Terrible News
Oct 18th, 2009 by pedestrian
As you’ve possibly heard, a massive suicide bombing killed at least 7 top IRGC commanders, along with a number of others including tribal leaders.
General Nourali Shoushtari, the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ armed forces, and General Mohammadzadeh, the Guard’s commander in Sistan-Baluchestan, were among the victims. So far, 29 people have been reported dead.
RajaNews (pro-government) reports that “an approximately 21 year old male was the suicide bomber and was standing at the entrance to the physed center where the gathering was to be held.” (apparently Shoushtari held such meetings every few weeks.) It also reports that “the security of the Eastern parts of the country has recently been handed completely to IRGC.”
My question is: given the absolute poverty and destitution that the province has been grappling with, how can “security” come solely through the IRGC? What programs have they initiated (if any) to address these issues which are the heart of much of the unrest in this region?
Sistan & Baluchestan is one the most volatile, violent provinces in the country. So at this point, there is no way to be certain of what really happened: Jundallah? an attempt to exterminate IRGC’s moderate figures?
The Iranian government is not wrong for pointing fingers at outsiders.It has been doing it for so long however, for everything, that to many people, it’s sadly taken a the-boy-who-cried-wolf kind of response.
What I found particularly interesting was the way in which state (pro-government) media is covering this.
FarsNews did not find the bombings worthy of headline news.
RajaNews did:
This is a part of RajaNews’ piece: “we should note that in the months following the election, attacking IRGC had become the focus of internal opposition groups.”
FarsNews and IRNA referred to different speeches (the Friday prayer leader in Zahedan and Ahmadinejad respectively) to state that “enemies” were targeting “national unity and cohesion”.
Sounds o.k., if you don’t know what “national unity” means.
Whoever is behind this – the U.S. or Mongolia or Iranians themselves – this will fit in perfectly with the greater struggle to eradicate internal opposition.
I don’t think there is any evidence that the US is behind this. In fact, I wont put it past the guards themselves; they probably did this themselves, so that they can blame ‘foreign” agents and local dissidents. This will “force” the supreme leader to relinquish more security control to the guards (the little that is left).
Of course, this all speculation, but at this point we can all speculate.
dmnari, as I said: there’s no way to know for certain who was behind this. It could be the Iranians – but it also could certainly be someone else. Jundallah has taken responsibility – this money is going somehwere. You can find more about Jundallah on Enduring America.
And as Parvati_roma pointed out at Naj’s blog, BBC is calling this terrorist group “resistance fighters”, BBC Persian is calling them “traditional armed group” (WTF?! So what’s up with Hamas?) This doesn’t PROVE anything, it just means these bastards will try to use this situation as much as possible.
I don’t really consider Hersh all that credible (I am not saying what he wrote is false, but he uses too many sources in his work that can’t be verified) . I also not naive to believe that the US could not be behind this. At this point we just don’t know.
The New Yorker also has its agenda.
I stopped trusting the news long time ago. With the invention of the internet, I can now read most of the original documents, so I don’t wait for the “news’ people to disseminate their biased pieces.
Ped you are right; the sluggishness of Mowjcamp to “react” to this is really disturbing! What the hell is wrong with these reformers, they all “raftan gol bechinan?”
I see Mowj has some mundane updates about someone’s birthday and etc … but nothing significant!
dmnari, I agree that every outlet has its own agenda. Hersh’s article was consistent with the increased unrest that suddenly abrupted in the Eastern and Southern provinces. I’m not concluding that this thus makes it a CERTAINTY, – however, it is something to consider, as you yourself said, all possibilities must be.
And when U.S. has forces stationed all around Iran’s borders from Iraq to Afghanistan, I would find it highly possible that they also lead covert ops in Iran.
It’s great to be read the original documents. The thing is that not everything comes with a “document” – and when it does, I don’t don’t that many languages either!
naj, mowjcamp is run by a group of reformist youngsters in Iran. So maybe they’re too pissed at the IRGC to post anything? (VERY WRONG) But they publish Mousavi/Karoubi statements. It doesn’t take much effort (on Mousavi’s part) to release one paragraph, does it?
Rah-e sabz is run from outside Iran and from what I remember too, they don’t post on weekends.
raftan gol bechinan … LOL …
I do not understand your defense of IRGC. A weakened IRGC would be beneficial to the reformist?
I am wondering about what would be your grand master plan for the reformist to come to power? You do not want IRGC soldiers to die and you do not want help from the US. How can it realistically be achieved without?
DanishPork, I’m not sure I understand what you mean.
I will historically defend the creation of the IRGC, at least from one viewpoint. We could not have survived the war without them. But somewhere down the line, then they took on a life of their own. And i do not advocate or tolerate a POWERFUL quasi-military organization accountable to no one which is involved in everything from providing security in the east to making multi-billion dollar cell phone contracts.
I do not want IRGC soldiers to die and I don’t want help from the U.S. (by help you mean takeover, right? when has it been anything else). What does one have to do with the other, and what do both have to do with the reformists?
CRAP! Naj, even Rah-e Sabz updated with no word
I’m not a person that’s naturally disposed toward conspiracy theories.
That said, let’s suppose this attack was actually executed by Jundallah. Well then this is 9/11 for the IRGC.
And don’t be too quick to dismiss the claims in the Hersh article. Hundreds of millions of US dollars dedicated specifically to anti-Iran activities (this is publicly acknowledged as fact) has got to go somewhere. Jundalleh represents an ideal beneficiary to this “aid”.
Furthermore, don’t be naive. Iran has been “busy” for years against US interests in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So Iran has now absorbed a hit. Question is, how will the IRGC respond?
And how will this impact tomorrow’s nuclear talks? Right before the first set of talks, the West grandstanded the Qom disclosure. Now before the second, a terrorist attack!
Hate to say it, Ped, but much more pressing issues are further marginalizing the Greens.
Those old war pics of the martyred Generals from when they were young are really sad- don’t you think?
Pork,
If I may add to what Ped said; we want an Iran FREE of violence; we want an Iran where even the enemy and the opponent is given a fair chance at defending himself; We want rule of law, and we REJECT terrorism.
So to condemn terror attacks is not to condone IRGC. And whether you like it or not, we still TRUST IRGC to fend for our country, should Israel or America decide on some military adventurism …
Pirouz, every time I want to HATE them with all my heart … I go back to these images, and I really can’t hate them anymore :’(
(that of course is nonsensical. I don’t hate the IRGC who defended me and my countrymen, who loyally fought for Iran. I hate a quasi-military/industrial complex accountable to no one.)
Yes, much more pressing issues are further marginalizing the Greens. That’s why it’s important for them to find their way into these new issues. That’s why it’s important for them to loudly condemn this act, and I agree with Naj: for the big names to attend the funeral. These issues will be both fabricated and natural – and they will continue to come up. They must find ways of STAYING RELEVANT.
We are all fighting for the future of Iran: be it on the nuclear issue, the elections, human rights, terrorism, etc. So we must simultaneously address all of these things as they unfold.
No small feat I may add.
I’m totally with Naj and Pedestrian here: can’t see what possible benefit mass-murderous attacks by a fanatical Sunni sectarianist-secessionist jihadi suicide-bombing outfit – which or without possible US/Saudi ties but WITH known ties to other fanatical Sunni-jihadi sectarianist outfits sheltered by the ISI in Pakistan – can bring to the Green movement? Risk is creation of “national emergency” climate with Ahmadinejad+IRGC saying “either with us=Iran or agin’ us=Iran” to sole benefit of even more severe police-state repression all across the board. I agree Greens must condemn and dissociate NOW!
P.S. just saw rumours on twitter of noise of big explosion near Oil Ministry in Tehran – another hit????
Hersh is no doubt right that there is some US money being passed around to destabilize/bring pressure on the Iranians—and from all directions, meaning Azeri separatists, the PKK and Pejvak, the al-Ahwaz group and Baluchi irredentist movements that span the Iran-Pak border like Jundullah. However, these kinds of handouts are ripe for embezzlement. Think about what happened to all those pallets of cash they brought to Iraq. On the eastern front, most of that money also first goes through intermediaries like the ISI. Only a fraction of it, if that, is actually getting to its targets.
Anyway, these kinds of operations don’t need massive amounts of cash or expertise. Think in terms of the IED controversy in Iraq, which the US accused the Iranians of providing the know-how and equipment to the Iraqis. Like the Iraqis are too stupid to work up these things themselves? Forget about the lively black market trade or the enormous caches of weapons and ammo that went missing from the National Guard barracks and later the post-occupation Iraqi army and police bases. These are all coming from official channels in Iran.
The IRGC could use this as a 9/11 false flag operation but it’s going to be hard to get people to acquiesce to it. First of all, Zahedan is not New York. This is more akin to the Oklahoma City bombing than 9/11. Secondly, this has been going on for a while. I think they first sent the IRGC to secure the region when that NAJA convoy was hit a few years back with 20 something dead.
I’m not sure what the Greens can say until we see what the IRGC really wants to make of this.
One quick thing: just in case you missed it, that’s sarcasm in the second paragraph above. Sometimes it’s hard to express in print.
parvati, from what I’ve heard so far, it seems to be an accident – a faulty air tank. Maybe not! I don’t know … this is terrible, whatever it was. Enduring America has it all: there was also a factory in Golestan that burned to the ground, and a train that was derailed.
WTF?!
supp, as you say, psychologically, this will not cause outrage throughout Iran – not like 9/11. We’ll have to wait and see what they themselves make of it. This is just too macabre. Coincidence or careful planning that all this shit happened today.
In all this there is ONE positive sign; that with all its madness, Ahmadinejad’s summoned the Pakistani diplomat and spending the attention where it’s due.
I made a post about all the catastrophes that happened on the weekend but I quickly deleted it because I thought I was creating unwarranted jitter; I think the 4-richter earthquake, train derailment, the oxygen tank explosion and the tea factory were all genuine accidents and events.
The factory burned in Golestan is the Chay-Golestan. The founder of the factory has died just recently; I don’t know what the “chai” market is in Iran like, but since the cause of fire is not determined, it’s not unlikely that it was an intentional arson. (Chai Golestan “sucked”
)
Naj, I PERFECTLY remember the awful taste of Golestan Chai