February 11, 2012

Yah, I'm back but don't expect a lot from me unless Rsluty gives me a raise!

Back to the reason for my headline:

Caption contest?

February 07, 2012

Ninjas!!!!!!!!!!

The best part? The ominous music. Because if movies have taught me anything, then it's that Ninjas are your best defense against a drone strike. But only when ominous music is playing.

All we need now is for the lady Ninjas to practice the ancient art of battling evil Juice by jumping through flaming hoops of fire.

H/T: Jazz Shaw

February 04, 2012

Iranian regime has no sense of humor.

Now, Iranian lawmaker Arsalan Fat'hipour is telling Iran's PressTV that the country may impose a ban on products from South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung over a commercial depicting Israelis accidentally destroying an Iranian nuclear facility.

February 03, 2012

Interesting article by the AP on the movement of al Qaeda operatives out of Iran. The major point is that after 9/11 when major al Qaeda figures fled Afghanistan into Iran, the regime mostly put them under some form of house arrest or another. Of course they weren't going to help the Great Satan by extraditing them for trial, but the Iranians hated the Taliban and al Qaeda even more so.

But now? Since Iran cannot directly confront the US they are left with using terrorist proxies to fight us at the periphery. Normally when we think of Iranian proxies we think of Hezbollah or Hamas. But even though the Shia Mullahs hate al Qaeda -- and, trust me, the feeling is mutual -- they do share a common enemy, us:

The departures began in late 2008 as the U.S. stepped up international efforts to sanction Iran for its nuclear program. Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's sons, was allowed to leave the country around that time with about four other al-Qaida figures.

Since then, U.S. intelligence officials say, others have followed. One former CIA official familiar with the travel identified the men as moneymen and planners, the kind of manpower al-Qaida needs after a series of successful U.S. drone attacks on al-Qaida's ranks...

A major concern among U.S. officials is that this movement foreshadows the release of al-Qaida's "management council," including some of al-Qaida's most dangerous figures....

The roster of al-Qaida figures in Iran is something of a who's who for the terror group. One is Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, a bin Laden adviser who helped form the modern al-Qaida by merging bin Laden's operation with Ayman al-Zawahiri's Islamic Jihad. Al-Qaida's longtime chief financial officer, Abu Saeed al-Masri, has been held there. So have bin Laden's spokesman, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, and Mustafa Hamid, an al-Qaida trainer with a terrorism pedigree that spans decades.

January 31, 2012

No word on whether or not those targets will be anti-Iranian activists, foreign diplomats, or just your run of the mill infidel shopping at Ikea. WaPo:

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran is prepared to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States in response to perceived threats from America and its allies, the U.S. spy chief said Tuesday.

On a related note, there's also this:

If the pressure on al-Qaeda can be maintained, “there is a better-than-even chance that decentralization will lead to fragmentation,” Clapper said. The terrorist group “will seek to execute smaller, simpler plots to demonstrate relevance to the global jihad.”

Thanks to Ed.

January 30, 2012

Related.

January 17, 2012

I'm just asking the question that is on every one's mind. I did a Google news search and so far no one is accusing the government of Iran of involvement in Gelareh Bagherzadeh's death. But all the stories have that not-so-subtle hint that this was no ordinary murder:

A woman whom Houston police described as an activist on behalf of Iranian women's civil rights was found shot dead at the wheel of her car after it crashed into a townhouse garage....

According to investigators, someone walked up to the passenger's side of 30-year-old Gelareh Bagherzadeh's car and shot her in the head....

Bagherzadeh was part of Sabaz Houston, a local Iranian organization that supports the green movement against the current Iranian government. Her friends describe her as sweet and smart.

"I can't believe that she's gone," Lopez said. "I can't believe that somebody shot her. I don't know how that's even possible."

Bagherzadeh's purse and cell phone were still inside the car, so investigators are not sure what the motive for the killing may be.

h/t: @webradius

January 12, 2012

I know Obama gets a lot of flack for his dealings with Iran. Most of these criticisms are warranted. But the newest round of sanctions? Good work and they seem to be having an effect:

Iran's currency has slid 20 percent against the dollar in the last week despite central bank intervention, and Iranians concerned about the economy said on Tuesday attempts to send text messages using the word "dollar" appeared to be blocked.

January 10, 2012

American sailors have come to the rescue of distressed Iranian fishermen for the second time in less than a week, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

January 09, 2012

We all know what is going on in Iran: they're holding Mirzaei Hekmati as a hostage, a pawn to win concessions for their nuclear ambitions:

An Iranian court on Monday convicted an American man of working for the CIA and sentenced him to death, state media reported.

Iranian authorities allege that Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine, received special training at U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before being dispatched on a spy mission in Iran. Hekmati, 28, was born in Arizona but holds dual citizenship.

December 21, 2011

As you may have heard there was an oopsy at one of Iran's oil refineries. This is especially bad for Iran because it burns more fuel than it can refine already.

A malfunction at an Isfahan refinery caused a leakage of cooling water from its generators - the latest in a string of mysterious mishaps in Iran in the past few months. A power outage was created as a result and a state of emergency was declared at the refinery, the Iranian Mehr news agency reported.

According to the report, one person was injured and taken to hospital. Various eye-witnesses reported seeing flames and thick smoke covering the area. The report stated that workers burned off the excess oil and gas in pipes to prevent a blast in the site. Traffic to the site was blocked and all phone lines were disconnected to prevent an explosion.

Below the fold....

December 16, 2011

If war itself is an act of injustice, then is the price for ending the war worth the cost of letting a murderer go free?

The Obama administration turned over the last remaining American prisoner in Iraq to the Iraqi government on Friday...

The prisoner, Ali Musa Daqduq, a Lebanese suspected of being a Hezbollah operative, is accused of helping to orchestrate a January 2007 raid by Shiite militants who wore American-style uniforms and carried forged identity cards. They killed five American soldiers — one immediately, and four others who were kidnapped and later shot and dumped beside a road.

The nation’s largest pro-troop organization, Move America Forward blasted the Obama Administration for allowing the transfer of the prisoner Ali Mussa Daqduq to Iraqi custody. Military prosecutors are doubtful that he will receive proper justice in Iraqi courts, worse, he could even be set free.

“The Obama administration did nothing to hold Daqduq, who is a known Hezbollah terrorist and was in US custody, but was handed over today to Iraqi courts where he will probably either go free or receive just a slap on the wrist. It’s an obscene miscarriage of justice that flies in the face of our mission to win the war on terror. This terrorist should have been taken to Guantanamo Bay, not simply handed over.” said Danny Gonzalez, Director of Communications for the pro-troop group.

“Daqduq is suspected of engineering a kidnapping in 2007 that led to the deaths of 5 US troops, he’s a known Hezbollah operative who has been to Iran, trained and recruited other terrorists, and he’s the highest ranking Hezbollah operative in current US custody, a very important person to hold.” said Gonzalez. “Is it now US policy to let slip known terrorists who we know helped or was directly involved in the killing of Americans?” asked Gonzalez.

“US officials and legislators have known for months that Daqduq was a high value captive and the administration had plenty of time to negotiate his custody as part of the withdrawal. Several Senators and Congressmen including Senators John McCain, Saxy Chambliss, Kelly Ayotte, Scott Brown, Jon Kyl, Joe Lieberman, Mark Kirk, James Inhofe and others had sent letters to the Secretary of Defense pleading for him to take action on this and get this guy put in GITMO where he belongs, but the warnings fell on deaf ears. Now this terrorist could be back on the streets in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon or elsewhere, engineering the killing of innocents.” concluded Gonzalez.

December 12, 2011

It was an accident, honest. We swear.....

Note the presence of unspecified "foreigners" among the dead.

December 06, 2011

The head of Hezbollah admitted today that he was, in reality, the Borg hive queen. The wording of this story from the Iranian News Agency undeniably confirms this:

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah announcing his will to be martyred, said here Monday plotting against resistance is futile as Hezbollah would safeguard it with its blood.

December 04, 2011

The FARS story where Iran claims to have shot down a drone is located here. Complete with stock photo.

The problem is that the Iranian press is in full wartime propaganda mode and are proven liars.

I'm not sure why the American press is so quick to push up this story unless they have more proof?

Also I'm wondering about the claims of little damage? Maybe it will er uh go off laster?

While we wait we can also relearn American History here courtesy of the Iranians.

Update: Well whaddya know...

WASHINGTON—Iran said on Sunday that it shot down a U.S. stealth drone near the country's eastern border, but U.S. officials in Afghanistan said the craft could instead be an unmanned reconnaissance plane that veered off course and crashed last week.

Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted a military official who said Tehran had downed an RQ-170 Sentinel, the U.S. Air Force's stealth drone.

U.S. and NATO officials wouldn't say what kind of American drone had disappeared, but U.S. officials said there was no indication that the aircraft had been shot down by the Iranians. One American official said the drone likely suffered from a mechanical failure.

American officials said they believe that after the remote pilots lost control of the aircraft, the drone crashed in an unknown location.

On Sunday afternoon, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's command in Afghanistan said the Iranians may have been referring to an unmanned craft lost while flying a mission over western Afghanistan "late last week."

"The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status," said the statement released by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

December 01, 2011

Here's an image from the Arabic version of al Arabiya showing Redah Naqdi (transliteration), the leader of the Basij Forces. The implication being that the illegal storming of the British embassy was done under the direct orders of Ayatollah Khameini.

Thanks to Ferd.

UPDATE: Oops, it looks like the name of the guys is Karim Jalali, a Quds Force Officer. At least that's what other publications are saying.

Which is worse, given that the Quds Force works for the Iranian government in a direct capacity while the Basij are a "militia" that only work for the government in an indirect capacity.

Yahoo:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has released 11 hardline protesters detained for storming the British Embassy and diplomatic compounds in Tehran this week, the semi-official Fars news agency said Thursday.

Fars said 11 people, described as students, were set free late on Wednesday, a day after they were arrested for storming and ransacking the embassy and British diplomatic compounds in Tehran.

There was no immediate explanation for the release. Under Iranian law, damaging property carries a prison term of up to three years. It could, however, indicate the 11 have high-level protection from circles within the Iranian establishment.

Hat Tip:J.L.

November 30, 2011

Oldie but goodie!

AP:

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's foreign secretary on Wednesday ordered all Iranian diplomats out of the U.K within 48 hours following attacks on the British embassy and a residential compound in Tehran.

William Hague told the House of Commons that Britain had also pulled its entire diplomatic staff out of Iran for their safety following the violence.

...Hague said the private quarters of staff and Britain's ambassador were trashed, the main embassy office set on fire and personal possessions belonging to British diplomats stolen by a regime-backed Basij militia group.

..."We should be clear from the outset that this is an organization controlled by elements of the Iranian regime," Hague said. "The idea that the Iranian authorities could not have protected our embassy or that this assault could have taken place without some degree of regime consent is fanciful."

November 29, 2011

While storming the British embassy earlier today the thugs could be heard shouting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".

Did I mention this was the British embassy?

Also, death to America!

ZIP:

Iranian protesters broke into the British embassy compound in Tehran, tearing down the flag and looting a portrait of The Queen.

British officials said they were urgently trying to establish whereabouts of staff and the scope of the threat unleashed by the breach.

Iranian hardliners had called for a demonstration against the embassy yesterday after the country adopted a law requiring the regime to throw out the British ambassador.

Reports from the scene said that security forces had failed to secure the site as dozens of students stormed the British Embassy, bringing down the union flag and throwing documents from windows.

The students clashed with anti-riot police and chanted “the Embassy of Britain should be taken over” and “death to England.”

There have been unconfirmed reports of hostages. We pray not and that all the Brits get out safely. More here at WaPo.

Update: Related and not good..

"It should be believed that the generalization of the Basij model and formation and organization of the Muslim world Basijis can empower the Muslim world to conquer the world," Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei's top military advisor Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said.

November 28, 2011

Reports from Iran are that yet another "accident" may have occurred at a site involved in the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions. Early reports from Iran claimed that there was a massive explosion in the city of Isfahar, where uranium for the country's "peaceful nuclear plants" is processed. But later, those reports were yanked from Iranian news sites and the mullahs are in deny-it-ever-happened mode.

Ynet:

Less than two weeks after a mysterious explosion destroyed an Iranian missile base near Tehran, the Islamic Republic's official news agency Fars reported Tuesday that a loud blast was heard in the city of Isfahan at 2:40 pm local time, but later removed the report.

According to the initial report, search and rescue teams called to the scene confirmed the blast, but reported no injuries....

In a curious turn of events, shortly after the initial report was published, the item was removed from the news agency's website, which is affiliated with the country's Revolutionary Guard.

Above photo and hat tip courtesy Muqata who says that Israeli news sources indicate a second explosion at an Iranian missile base today.

November 22, 2011

Yet another indication that Iran is the core actor in the nexus of terror. An Iranian and a Turk, Siavosh Henareh and Cetin Aksu, are being extradited for a plot to sell heroine in the United States and then use that money to purchase weapons for the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

November 18, 2011

WAPO:

OSLO, Norway — The accused ringleader of a terror plot in Norway has rejected charges that he conspired with al-Qaida to attack a Danish newspaper, saying he was planning a solo raid against the Chinese Embassy in Oslo.

...Davud, who came to Norway in 1999 and became a citizen eight years later, said he traveled to Iran in January 2009 and had contact with al-Qaida there about receiving training. He said he rejected that option because he didn’t want to work under al-Qaida’s leadership, and instead sought explosives training from a “private group” that he refused to identify.

November 16, 2011

I, for one, blame da J-O-Os. They're everywhere:

The blast at the Alghadir missile base at Bid Ganeh was so powerful it rattled windows 30 miles away in Tehran. Witnesses said it sounded like a huge bomb had been dropped. Seventeen of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were killed, among them a man described his peers as the "architect" of the country's missile programme, Major General Hassan Moghaddam...

The official account insisted the blast was an accident, but a source with close links to Iran's clerical regime blamed it on an operation by the Mossad, bolstering other reports of involvement by Israel's intelligence and special operations organisation that were attributed to western intelligence services.

November 14, 2011

Reuters:

- Iran said on Sunday it had detected the Duqu computer virus that experts say is based on Stuxnet, the so-called "cyber-weapon" discovered last year and believed to be aimed at sabotaging the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites.

The head of Iran's civil defense organization told the official IRNA news agency that computers at all main sites at risk were being checked and that Iran had developed software to combat the virus.

"We are in the initial phase of fighting the Duqu virus," Gholamreza Jalali, was quoted as saying. "The final report which says which organizations the virus has spread to and what its impacts are has not been completed yet.

November 12, 2011

CNN:

At least 15 people died as a result of an explosion on a military base in western Tehran, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.

Saturday's explosion took place at a Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) munitions depot at a military base, a military spokesman told the agency.

Update: Related?

Update II: Full report here at the Beeb.

My apologies to Richet for da blantant borrowing of his schtick, but its early Saturday morning and he's not using it.

November 08, 2011

From FNC:

VIENNA – The U.N. nuclear atomic energy agency says that Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose can only be the development of nuclear arms.

The conclusion is contained in a restricted International Atomic Energy Agency report obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday, shortly after it was circulated to the IAEA's 35-nation board and to the U.N. Security Council. [...]

The report is the strongest sign yet that Iran seeks to build a nuclear arsenal, despite claims to the contrary.

As punishment, Obama has stated he will extend sanctions against Iran that have been in effect since 1979.

That'll teach them!

November 04, 2011

It reads like your typical radical Leftwist website: America is bad, America is evil, Chomsky is awesome, and the Jews control everything.

h/t: Aaron

November 03, 2011

Iran's Supreme leader keeps using that word "terrorist". I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.

November 01, 2011

Iran's Basij Launches Website To Cover Occupy Wall Street Movement.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has found an unlikely fan: Iran's government Basij force, whose thuggish members are thought to have been heavily involved in the crackdown that followed the disputed reelection of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in 2008.

In their latest move in support of the movement, a number . of young Basij members have launched a website that purports to cover news and developments about the movement in order to "fill in the gap by Western media."

I know what's so bad about that? it gets worse.... Note the Obama poster with the O spelled with a noose.

Also a note of irony in the fact that the Basij were instrumental in quelling protests in Iran.

Human Rights Watch has reported that the Basij belong to the "Parallel institutions" (nahad-e movazi), "the quasi-official organs of repression that have become increasingly open in crushing student protests, detaining activists, writers, and journalists in secret prisons, and threatening pro-democracy speakers and audiences at public events." Under the control of the Office of the Supreme Leader these groups set up arbitrary checkpoints around Tehran, uniformed police often refraining from directly confronting these plainclothes agents. "Illegal prisons, which are outside of the oversight of the National Prisons Office, are sites where political prisoners are abused, intimidated, and tortured with impunity."

October 27, 2011

Check this out. Notice that none of the Iranian shipping companies are in Iran? Mostly they are in Panama and Cypress. If you need stuff to build a nuclear missile, you'll have to have some way to ship the parts.

Aaron had noted a ramping up over at OFAC in listing Iranian entities. To be honest, I thought he was overstating the case. OFAC has historically been very far behind the curve on these matters when they should be out front. So, maybe they're playing catch up?

For the newbies, OFAC stands for Office of Control and Finance and it's the agency within the Treasury Department tasked with making sure US companies do not do business with "listed" foreign entities. Entities such as the Taliban and Iran's Qods Force.

October 26, 2011

When I first read the teaser to this story I thought: OMFG, some traitor in Minnesota was selling the Iranians parts!

But that's not what happened. What happened was that four guys in Singapore and an Iranian accomplice bought the parts from the US company and then shipped then to Iran. From Iran, the parts were then used in IED's to kill and maim US troops.

So, these guys aren't traitors. Just enemies. In either case, why aren't we lining them up against the wall?

Radio-control parts hidden in roadside bombs in Iraq have been traced to a company in Minnesota, prompting a federal grand jury Tuesday to indict five people in an alleged smuggling ring that sent up to 6,000 of the devices from this country to Iran for use against U.S. military personnel.

The alleged plot, run by a group of citizens of Singapore, was designed to skirt U.S. laws against conducting business with Iran, authorities said, adding that they hoped to extradite the defendants for trial in Washington...

Sixteen of the radio-frequency modules were found by coalition forces in unexploded IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, between May 2008 and July 2010 in Iraq, and were part of the 6,000 modules allegedly shipped through Iran.

Officials said the modules included encryption capabilities with a range of 40 miles for transmitting data wirelessly when configured with antennae.

October 17, 2011

From SAIH via BareNakedIslam:

SAIH annual campaign has created reactions. This year's campaign focuses on the students' role as critics and democracy builders. Students throughout the world experience to be censored, monitored, persecuted and imprisoned for their social commitment. The campaign is fronted by a poster put up on all Norwegian university and college towns. The poster shows the dictators Adolf Hitler, Muammar al-Gadafi, Robert Mugabe, Kim Jong-il, Joseph Stalin - and the Ayatollah Khomeini who flee from the protesting students. This poster made the Iranian embassy to react.

- Unfortunately, the poster contains a picture of our great late leader Imam Khomeini, next dictators like Hitler. You have offended the feelings of a great nation, says the email that SAIH has received from the press chief of the Iranian Embassy in Oslo, Mohammad Javad Hosseini. - The Embassy of The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly protests against this action and wants your organization to remove this picture as soon as possible; it is further stated in the email from the embassy.

You can purchase the poster HERE.

October 14, 2011

I pointed this out in my original post on Manssor Arbabsiar, but it's worth pointing out again and on its own:

two U.S. law enforcement sources told NBC News that Arbabsiar, in recorded conversations with an undercover drug informant, said in coded language that the same individuals who were orchestrating the bombing plot against the ambassador were involved in drug dealing. He told the informant that his Iranian handlers could arrange to provide Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, with “multi-ton” shipments of opium, the sources said.

NY Daily News:

Nearly a half-century after John Glenn orbited the earth, the Iranian space program botched its first attempt to send a live monkey into space.

October 11, 2011

Wow, this is big. Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror in the world, but the Islamic Republic is usually smart enough to a) use proxies; b) only hit US interests overseas.

Would this be the first time Iran had sponsored a terror attack within the US itself? I'm racking my brain for the answer, but maybe one of you knows something that I'm forgetting.

ABC:

FBI and DEA agents have disrupted a plot to commit a "significant terrorist act in the United States" tied to Iran, federal officials told ABC News today.

The officials said the plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir, with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C. Bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were also discussed, according to the U.S. officials.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in an announcement today that the plan was "conceived, sponsored and was directed from Iran" and called it a "flagrant" violation of U.S. and international law.

UPDATE: More from the Blotter:

The Iranian-American, identified by federal officials as Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, reportedly claimed he was being "directed by high-ranking members of the Iranian government," including a cousin who was "a member of the Iranian army but did not wear a uniform," according to a person briefed on the details of the case. Counter-terrorism officials said they believe the cousin may be part of the special operations unit of the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force.

Arbabsiar and a second man, Gohlam Shakuri, an Iranian official, were named in a five-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday afternoon in federal court in New York. They were charged with conspiracy to kill a foreign official and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, a bomb, among other counts. Shakuri is still at large in Iran, Holder said.

The complaint also refers to another Iranian official but does not name him.

In other words, this was a sting -- but a sting in which an Iranian agent was trying to hire members of a drug cartel to kill the Saudi Ambassador.

Arbabsiar was also trying to work out a deal in which Iran would help the Mexican drug cartels by supplying them with Opium.

Bring down the Great Satan from within.

This is big, and should it pan out that Arbabsiar and the others were actually being directed by the Iranian government? Ed Morrissey is making the case that this is an act of war:

If we’re charging an official of the Iranian government with complicity or worse in this plot, then it ceases to be a law enforcement issue and becomes a military and political issue instead.

UPDATE: Here is the criminal complaint. I'm just reading it now.....thanks to David Gartenstein-Ross

UPDATE: I'm reading the complaint, and I see some of the early details above were wrong. I've tried to correct them above, but expect more updates.

UPDATE: Wow, so when they arrested Arbabsier he admitted everything. They have him on tape, prior to the arrest, saying that his cousin is a member of the Qods Force and that in Iran he met with two other Qods Force members who he was told were senior officers. One of them gives him the money for the assassination plot.

When he's arrested he fingers two senior Qods Force members from photos shown to him by the FBI. These photos, says the complaint, were not publicly available.

After he was arrested he then placed several monitored phone calls back to Iran in which he and Shakuri discuss the plot.

One thing, though, the complaint makes clear that the original plan was that the Iranians wanted the Mexican Drug Cartel to kidnap the Saudi Ambassador, but kill him if necessary. As the plot evolves, the DEA informant says that the easiest thing would be to kill the Saudi Ambassador at a restaurant that he visits at least twice a week.

It's at this point that he asks whether or not the Iranians would accept collateral damage? It's made clear that they would prefer just the Saudi Ambassador killed -- no others. But, if the only way to kill him was to blow up the restaurant and risk others being killed, so be it.

So, the plot seemed to evolve from one where the Iranians just wanted the Saudi Ambassador kidnapped, to one where he is assassinated, to one where they were willing to kill large numbers of people.

One interesting tidbit is that the DEA informant tells Arbabsiar that the restaurant that the Saudi Ambassador frequents is also frequented by U.S. Senators, but Arbabsiar says to go ahead and do it -- even if it means killing Senators.

October 06, 2011

Report: Iranian warship route to U.S. coast leaked online

Hey, target practice for us.

October 04, 2011

It's like Hezbollah, only cyber. Which makes it super scary and super high tech.

And while Cyber Hezbollah is scary, watch out -- the bogey man is watching you!

Abbasi warned about the close monitoring of Iranians’ web traffic by Western intelligence services, particularly the American National Security Agency (NSA). Addressing students who use the internet, he said that even though they currently do not possess important information that can be of interest to foreign intelligence services, they must exercise caution on the web, because someday they will have important and sensitive information that can be exposed by those who follow their online activity. He noted that the NSA is the organization that actually controls the world wide web....

Abbasi added that the United States intends to carry out a massive September 11-like cyber attack on Iran. He warned that the United States is looking for excuses to instigate wars across the globe to rescue its declining economy. Accordingly, Cyber Hezbollah activists must act cautiously to foil the plots hatched by the enemies and not give them any pretext to take action against Iran. They must also act in the cultural sphere against American websites and spread the message of the Muslim world in cyberspace (Fars, September 23).

More information on Cyber Hezbollah's website here.

September 27, 2011

More evidence on why legally instituted sharia -- in any form -- is a bad idea. Yes, Muhammad really did (if the hadiths are to be believed) order the execution of any who abandoned the faith:

Iran may execute Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani for refusing to recant his Christian faith.

As my colleague Paul Marshall recently wrote, evangelical Pastor Nadarkhani was sentenced to death for apostasy because he converted to Christianity. He had been tried and found guilty a year ago, even though the court also found that he had never been a practicing Muslim as an adult. Nadarkhani, from Rasht, on the Caspian Sea, converted to Christianity as a teenager.

Iran’s Supreme Court, which upheld the verdict in June, ordered that the pastor be given four chances to renounce Christianity and accept Islam. Two hearings for this purpose took place yesterday and today. Two more are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.