Iran Leader Vows Never To Stop Enrichment

Ahmadinejad Seeks To Bolster Support For Hard-Line Regime At Massive Rally

(AP)  Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a defiant tone as he spoke to giant crowds marking the 29th anniversary of the Islamic revolution Monday, vowing never to slow down Iran's nuclear development and announcing plans for more rocket launches in his country's space program.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched through the capital Tehran, chanting "Death to America" and burning effigies of President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Ahmadinejad's speech before the crowd appeared aimed at showing an image of strength of his hard-line camp ahead of key parliament elections in mid-March.

Iran's ruling clerical establishment has worked to keep reformists out of the vote. Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad's Interior Ministry disqualified more than 2,000 pro-reform candidates from running in the election. The hard-line constitutional watchdog, the cleric-run Guardian Council, is to announce the final list of approved candidates in early March.

Ahmadinejad's popularity has been deeply hurt by Iran's economic woes over the past year and the vote is seen as a key test of the president's hold on power. The barring of the reformist candidates has infuriated liberals who were hoping to stage a comeback in the vote.

One reformist faction, called the "Mujahideen of the Islamic Revolution," issued a statement Monday calling the barring of the candidates "one of the ugliest events in the history of the revolution, creating deviations from the ideals of the most humane revolution."

It called on Iranians participating in ceremonies marking the anniversary to "make all efforts to prevent the transmuting of the revolution's ideals."

State-run television said millions of Iranians took to the streets across Iran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that toppled the pro-U.S. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought hard-line clerics to power.

In Tehran, Ahmadinejad vowed to push ahead with both the nuclear and space program and rallied Iranians against U.N. Security Council demands that Iran stop enriching uranium.

Like Iran's nuclear activities, the country's space program has provoked unease abroad because the same technology needed to put satellites into space can be used to deliver warheads. Iranian officials have insisted both programs are intended for peaceful purposes.

"I ask the people's view. Would you agree if I ... gave in, surrendered or compromised over the nuclear issue? Would you agree to give up one iota of your nuclear rights?" Ahmadinejad asked. The crowd chanted in response: "No!" and "Nuclear energy is our definite right."

The U.S. has led the push for a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or material for an atomic bomb. Last month, the five permanent Security Council members - the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France - agreed on a draft resolution for new sanctions.

Ahmadinejad said Monday that Iran won't be frightened by the threat of more sanctions. He also warned the Security Council that it risked losing its credibility.

The Iranian president also said Iran will launch two more research rockets into space before putting the first Iranian-made satellite into orbit hopefully by this summer.

Earlier this month, Iran said it launched its first research rocket into space and unveiled its first major space center and indigenous satellite - called Omid, or Hope.

"Today, we possess all the fundamental sections needed to launch a satellite into space," said Ahmadinejad. "We built all (of the sections) ourselves."

The U.S. called the Feb. 4 rocket launch "just another troubling development", saying it was a cause for concern about Iran's continuing development of medium- and long-range missiles.

Despite the anxiety over Iran's space program, it is not exactly clear how developed it is, and analysts have expressed doubts about such technological achievements announced by the country in the past.

On Monday, Ahmadinejad offered the first details about the Feb. 4 launch, saying the first section of the rocket - called Kavoshgar-1, or Explorer-1 - detached after 90 seconds and returned to earth with the help of a parachute. The second segment entered space for about five minutes, he said, while the final section was sent "toward" orbit to collect information to determine the best future route for the Omid satellite.

Iran has said it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation and improve its telecommunications. Iranian officials also point to America's use of satellites to monitor Afghanistan and Iraq and say they need similar abilities for their security.

In 2005, Iran launched its first commercial satellite on a Russian rocket, in a joint project with Moscow, which appears to be the main partner in transferring space technology to Iran.

[ioweign]

Iran''''s economy is falling apart and oil production is declining for lack of equipment and technology but his only strategy to save his job is to rant against the West.

Sounds like another revolution getting ready to happen over there.

Posted by donbl1 at 09:19 PM : Feb 12, 2008

Yes - let us see if we can transfer all our problems onto the Americans. Smoke and mirrors - similar to the surge in Iraqi will keep us safe...

[donbl1]

Iran''s economy is falling apart and oil production is declining for lack of equipment and technology but his only strategy to save his job is to rant against the West.

Sounds like another revolution getting ready to happen over there.

[j-whitman]

ilikecats1,,, Where did you get that from ??

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,, Last time I checked it was roosters who doing c.ock a doodle

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,,, Fine, let them --- We have enough troubles meeting commitments both domestically & abroad ---- Let the Bush idiots deal with it.

[underdogus]

remember the "chickens"? doing c.ock a doodle all over your hood??

[j-whitman]

Ollie North took more than $90,000 in unsigned traveler''s checks that could be cashed by the bearer. From the Contr Leader...

The money came from funds Mr. Calero had received from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia at the behest of the Reagan Administration and at a time when official United States aid to the contras had been discontinued.

[underdogus]

j-whitman ..Venezuela ready to cut off oil to US.

[j-whitman]

Mr. Fiers, who directed the agency''s operations in Central America between 1984 and 1986, said that he had learned of the diversion and told three of his superiors about it months before the scheme was publicly disclosed in November 1986. Moreover, Mr. Fiers said that Clair E. George, the agency''s deputy director of operations and the C.I.A.''s No. 3 official, had instructed him to mislead Congress about how much the agency''s senior officials knew about the operation. A prosecution document alleges that when Mr. Fiers told Mr. George about the diversion, Mr. George replied, "Now you are one of the handful of people who know this."

[j-whitman]

Hi Kid''s, can I play too ???


FOR many Americans, it has always been a little hard to swallow the Reagan Administration''s version of the Iran-contra affair: a rogue operation run by a few zealous members of the National Security Council operating out of the White House basement without anyone else''s knowledge. Last week, the admissions of a former intelligence official led prosecutors up from the White House basement and out to Langley, Va. The plea-bargained testimony of Alan D. Fiers Jr. indicated for the first time that some senior Central Intelligence Agency officials knew more they let on about how the Nicaraguan rebels secretly received arms purchased in part with profits from the covert sale of arms to Iran.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4DB1F3BF937A25754C0A967958260

[nggr]

let me ask you this speakinup ,
what exactly did you think the IRAN/CONTRA trails were about?

[speakinup]

nggr - come on "educate me" - what''s the source of your statements ? Or, are you just too embarrassed to tell us ? You certainly didn''t memorize it word for word. And, your own quotes would indicate you took it from somewhere else.

[formrusmcsgt]

as far as insulting people goes, I believe you were saying I was a liberal and I was stupid.
does that mean you are frustrated when someone completely owns you with facts?
Posted by nggr at 07:22 PM : Feb 12, 2008

More likely it means he''s arrested in adolescence....

[nggr]

nd all because you are frustrated with someone that deals with facts challenges you.
Posted by speakinup at 07:14 PM : Feb 12, 2008

what facts do you deal with?
I haven''t read a fact 1 since you have been posting.
you have some pretty strong assumptions on the charactor of people based on their political affiliation. you seem to struggle with definitions, as frmrusmcsrgt has to correct you. and you claim to know about a pivitol time in american history, yet you have not presented a single fact to support your argument, which is that iran/contra had nothing to do with the release of the u.s hostages in iran and that it didn''t invlve the illegal trafficking of weapons to iran for seaid hostages.
as far as insulting people goes, I believe you were saying I was a liberal and I was stupid.
does that mean you are frustrated when someone completely owns you with facts?

[j-whitman]

underdogus,,, Think about enlisting yet ?? Or do you still want to use others to defend you ??

[formrusmcsgt]

Well, I suppose you could say that, formrusmcsgt. But, it doesn''''t make you right, just ignorant.

Posted by speakinup at 07:16 PM : Feb 12, 2008

Look. You want to call someone ignorant and you think swearing that something exists that doesn''t exist isn''t a lie?

Try that at you next IRS audit and see if they buy your crapola that you weren''t lying about deductions you didn''t really have.

Sheesh...

[j-whitman]

Who''s hiding the ''Surge Progress'' ???

Iraqi threatens to disband parliament:

The disarray undermines the purpose of last year''s U.S. troop "surge" %u2014 to bring down violence enough to allow the Iraqi government and parliament to focus on measures to reconcile differences among minority Sunnis and Kurds and the majority Shiites. Violence is down dramatically, but political progress languishes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Ao6spVaMDGYfuaKejJiHQZ6s0NUE

[formrusmcsgt]

what exactly did you think the IRAN/CONTRA trails were about?

Posted by nggr at 07:13 PM : Feb 12, 2008

Hint: they got Ollie North a dishonorable discharge and loss of his pension.

[speakinup]

"A distinction without a difference, as I said. Posted by formrusmcsgt


Well, I suppose you could say that, formrusmcsgt. But, it doesn''t make you right, just ignorant.

[speakinup]

nggr - I''m not g@y, but you obviously have a problem with people being g@y.

Is this the ultimate insult to you - to call someone G@y ?



Bad news, for someone with a pen-name of "nggr" - you got more nerve than a bumb tooth bringing up how people abreviate things. I don''t care if it means something else, it can be misintrepreted, and I''ll assure you it has been by some.

But hey, you don''t care. That''s what being celf-centered is all about.

You are as offensive as they come nggr, and all because you are frustrated with someone that deals with facts challenges you. What''s the matter - have a problem backing up your statements and keeping your temper under control ?