Revolution in the Arab world

[212]

Ed Ou for The New York Times
Protesters calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down, injured in fighting on Wednesday in Cairo, received treatment at a mosque that had been turned into a makeshift hospital.


Arab World Faces Its Uncertain Future

By ANTHONY SHADID
CAIRO — The future of the Arab world, perched between revolt and the contempt of a crumbling order, was fought for in the streets of downtown Cairo on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of protesters who have reimagined the very notion of citizenship in a tumultuous week of defiance proclaimed with sticks, home-made bombs and a shower of rocks that they would not surrender their revolution to the full brunt of an authoritarian government that answered their calls for change with violence.

The Arab world watched a moment that suggested it would never be the same again — and waited to see whether protest or crackdown would win the day. Words like “uprising” and “revolution” only hint at the scale of events in Egypt, which have already reverberated across Yemen, Jordan, Syria and even Saudi Arabia, offering a new template for change in a region that long reeled from its own sense of stagnation. “Every Egyptian understands now,” said Magdi al-Sayyid, one of the protesters.

The protesters have spoken for themselves to a government that, like many across the Middle East, treated them as a nuisance. For years, pundits have predicted that Islamists would be the force that toppled governments across the Arab world. But so far, they have been submerged in an outpouring of popular dissent that speaks to a unity of message, however fleeting — itself a sea change in the region’s political landscape. In the vast panorama of Tahrir Square on Wednesday, Egyptians were stationed at makeshift barricades, belying pat dismissals of the power of the Arab street.

“The street is not afraid of governments anymore,” said Shawki al-Qadi, an opposition lawmaker in Yemen, itself roiled by change. “It is the opposite. Governments and their security forces are afraid of the people now. The new generation, the generation of the Internet, is fearless. They want their full rights, and they want life, a dignified life.”

The power of Wednesday’s stand was that it turned those abstractions into reality.

The battle was waged by Mohammed Gamil, a dentist in a blue tie who ran toward the barricades of Tahrir Square. It was joined by Fayeqa Hussein, a veiled mother of seven who filled a Styrofoam container with rocks. Magdi Abdel-Rahman, a 60-year-old grandfather, kissed the ground before throwing himself against crowds mobilized by a state bent on driving them from the square. And the charge was led by Yasser Hamdi, who said his 2-year-old daughter would live a life better than the one he endured.

“Aren’t you men?” he shouted. “Let’s go!”

As the crowd pushed back the government’s men, down a street of airline offices, banks and a bookstore called L’Orientaliste, Mr. Abdel-Rahman made the stakes clear. “They want to take our revolution from us,” he declared.



The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition force, has entered the fray. In a poignant moment, its followers knelt in prayer at dusk, their faces lighted by the soft glow of burning fires a stone’s throw away. But Mr. Abdel-Rahman’s description of the uprising as a revolution suggested that the events of the past week had overwhelmed even the Brotherhood, long considered the sole agent of change here.

“Dignity” was a word often used Wednesday, and its emphasis underlined the breadth of a movement that is, so far, leaderless. Neither the Brotherhood nor a handful of opposition leaders — men like Mohammed ElBaradei or Ayman Nour — have managed to articulate hopelessness, the humiliations at the hands of the police and the outrage at having too little money to marry, echoed in the streets of Palestinian camps in Jordan and in the urban misery of Baghdad’s Sadr City. For many, the Brotherhood itself is a vestige of an older order that has failed to deliver.

“The problem is that for 30 years, Mubarak didn’t let us build an alternative,” said Adel Wehba, as he watched the tumult in the square. “No alternative for anything.”

The lack of an alternative may have led to the uprising, making the street the last option for not only the young and dispossessed but also virtually every element of Egypt’s population — turbaned clerics, businessmen from wealthy suburbs, film directors and well-to-do engineers. Months ago, despair at the prospect of change in the Arab world was commonplace. Protesters on Wednesday acted as though they were making a last stand at what they had won, in an uprising that is distinctly nationalist.

“He won’t go,” President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters chanted on the other side. “He will go,” went the reply. “We’re not going to go.”

The word “traitor” rang out Wednesday. The insult was directed at Mr. Mubarak, and it echoed the sentiment heard in so many parts of the Arab world these days — governments of an American-backed order in most of the region have lost their legitimacy, built on the idea that people would surrender their rights for the prospect of security and stability. In the square on Wednesday, protesters offered an alternative, their empowerment standing as possibly the most remarkable legacy of a people who often lamented their apathy.

Everyone seemed joined in the moment, fists, batons and rocks banging any piece of metal to rally themselves. A man stood on a tank turret, urging protesters forward. Another cried as he shouted at Mr. Mubarak’s men. “Come here!” he said. “Here is where’s right.” Men and women ferried rocks in bags, cartons and boxes to the barricades. Bassem Yusuf, a heart surgeon, heard news of the clashes on television and headed to the square at dusk, stitching wounds at a makeshift clinic run by volunteers.

“We’re not going to destroy our country,” said Mohammed Kamil, a 48-year-old, surging with the crowd. “We’re not going to let this dog make us do that.”

From minute-by-minute coverage on Arabic channels to conversations from Iraq to Morocco, the Middle East watched breathlessly at a moment as compelling as any in the Arab world in a lifetime. For the first time in a generation, Arabs seem to be looking again to Egypt for leadership, and that sense of destiny was voiced throughout the day.

“I tell the Arab world to stand with us until we win our freedom,” said Khaled Yusuf, a cleric from Al Azhar, a once esteemed institution of religious scholarship now beholden to the government. “Once we do, we’re going to free the Arab world.”

For decades, the Arab world has waited for a savior — be it Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the charismatic Egyptian president or even, for a time, Saddam Hussein. No one was waiting for a savior on Wednesday. Before nearly three decades of accumulated authority — the power of a state that can mobilize thousands to heed its whims — people had themselves.

“I’m fighting for my freedom,” Noha al-Ustaz said as she broke bricks on the curb. “For my right to express myself. For an end to oppression. For an end to injustice.”

“Go forward,” the cries rang out, and she did, disappearing into a sea of men.

Nada Bakri contributed reporting from Beirut.

[lofter1]

How to make use of cyberspace in the new Middle East ...

The Pro-Regime Text Messages

THE DAILY DISH
03 FEB 2011 10:11 AM
by Patrick Appel

Ackerman:

One of the largest mobile providers operating in Egypt says the regime of Hosni Mubarak sent unattributed pro-regime text messages out over its network. And it’s not happy about the hack.

In a statement, Vodafone confirms that “since the start of the protests,” the regime has used emergency authorities to send “messages to the people of Egypt.” Rival providers Mobinil and Etisalat are subject to the same authority. None of the messages are “scripted by any of the mobile network operators and we do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content.”

Mackey has more:

The translations of the texts also appear to suggest that different messages were sent to different phones, perhaps indicating that the Egyptian government has specific information on each mobile owner. One message, apparently sent to suspected protesters, reads: "Youth of Egypt, beware rumors and listen to the sound of reason - Egypt is above all so preserve it."

Another message, seeking to rally regime supporters, read: "The Armed Forces asks Egypt's honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our people and honor and our precious Egypt."

Gallery of text messages here.

COPYRIGHT © THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011 BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY GROUP

[Ninjahedge]

Precious.

[lofter1]

This would put Hosni in the top 4 worldwide ...

Mubaraks' Loot

THE DAILY DISH
by Chris Bodenner
04 FEB 2011 01:45 PM

A small but staggering detail in EA's coverage today:

1645 GMT: ABC News reports that Mubarak and his families personal wealth could range anywhere between $40-$70 billion dollars - most of it outside of Egypt, possibly in Swiss and British banks.

Here's a list of top billionaires for reference.

COPYRIGHT © FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011

***

Egypt is the second highest annual recipient, behind Israel, of foreign aid paid out by the USA.

[lofter1]

The power of people + prayer at the battle on Qasr el-Nil bridge, 29 January 2011 ...



Today, a Christian Mass in Tehrir Square ...

[mariab]

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak won't step down; protesters in Cairo vow to march on palace

BY Thomas M. Defrank AND Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Thursday, February 10th 2011, 11:12 AM
Updated: Thursday, February 10th 2011, 9:04 PM
Abu Zaid/AP
Army soldiers stand guard as anti-government protesters surround the state television building following Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's televised speech.

Egypt TV/AP
Mubarak makes a televised statement to his nation Thursday in which he said he will not immediately step down.







Egypt faced its biggest day of rage Friday after embattled president Hosni Mubarak defied the will of his people and refused to resign from office.
A throng of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square by the hundreds of thousands Friday morning, vowing to march on the presidential palace - urging all Egyptians to join them.
Defying pleas from Mubarak's vice president to "Go home," they vowed to stage their biggest demonstration yet in Egypt's three-week revolt.
"We will not stop fighting until Mubarak is gone," one protester yelled.
Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Mohamed El Baradei called on the Egyptian army to save his country.
Mubarak, who appeared to be on his way out early Thursday, crushed the hopes of his long-suffering subjects by dismissing their demands for a quick exit.
He said he was delegating some authority to his handpicked vice president but would remain in office until elections in September.
"I am determined to fulfill what I promised," he said.
In Washington, Mubarak's defiance was met with a demand from President Obama that the Egyptian government spell out exactly what changes had occurred.
"The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient," he said.
Obama was meeting with national security aides and debating what to do about Mubarak - a longtime ally who has maintained the long-standing peace treaty with Israel.
The 82-year-old Egyptian leaders's stubborn refusal to leave was also a huge embarrassment for CIA chief Leon Panetta, who had told lawmakers there was a "strong likelihood" that Mubarak would step down.
Speaking on TV from the presidential palace, Mubarak called his subjects "children of Egypt" and then quickly dashed his peoples' hopes for change.
Mubarak reminded his restive people that he has already said he would not stand for reelection in September - and that he is sticking to that plan.
In an attempt to mollify the public, Mubarak said he would cede some power to his veep Omar Suleiman - which El Baradei dismissed as "an act of deception on a grand scale."
Mubarak said his departure would not be dictated by "foreigners" and accused the cable TV stations covering the drama of fomenting the rebellion.
"I never sought false power or popularity," he said. "The people know who Hosni Mubarak is."
In Tahrir Square, the crowd listened to Mubarak's defiant speech in stunned silence. Then, as he finished, they began screaming "Leave! Leave! Leave!" and waving their shoes in a sign of contempt.
Suleiman spoke a short time later and urged the protesters to, "Go back home, go back to your work."
In the run-up to the speech, there appeared to be signs that Mubarak might fold.
Egypt's armed forces went on state TV and announced they were stepping in to "safeguard" the country.
Footage showed stern-faced Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi chairing a meeting of top military brass, one of whom read what he called "communique number one."
"In support of the legitimate demands of the people," the officer read, the Egyptian army will "examine measures to be taken to protect the nation."
Notably absent were Mubarak and Suleiman.
All the while, Mubarak spokesman Anas el-Fiqqi, insisted his boss would not stand down.
By nightfall yesterday, Mubarak's mouthpiece was proven right.
The anti-Mubarak protests erupted 17 days ago after a popular uprising toppled Tunisia's corrupt President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Despite several clashes with Mubarak's thugs, the protesters have refused to leave Tahrir Square and revolts have also broken out in other key Egyptian cities.
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
With News Wire Services


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl...#ixzz1DcLcp696


He'll keep short puppet strings attached to whoever he cedes power to.

[mariab]

End of Mubarak era as protests topple Egyptian president

Military takes over; Nobel Peace Prize winner says nation 'liberated'

CAIRO — Egypt’s military took control of the country Friday as Hosni Mubarak resigned as president after 18 days of massive protests against his autocratic 30-year reign.
Mubarak’s resignation was announced by Vice President Omar Suleiman in a brief statement that brought roars of joy to Egyptians gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square — the epicenter of the protest movement — as well as the presidential palace in the suburb of Heliopolis and all around the country.
"We have brought down the regime, we have brought down the regime," chanted the hundreds of thousands of people who packed into Tahrir Square for "Farewell Friday."

Video: ‘The people brought down this regime’

Egyptians waved flags, cried, cheered and embraced when the news reached them through a public address system. "Finally we are free," said Safwan Abou Stat, a 60-year-old protester.
The move was welcomed by the White House and several Middle Eastern nations.
President Barack Obama said the world had witnessed a true moment of history. "Egyptians have inspired us, and and they've done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained by violence," he said.
Video: Obama: ‘Egypt will never be the same’
Earlier, Egypt's higher military council said it would announce measures for a transitional phase. The statement also praised Mubarak for stepping down "in the interests of the nation" and "salutes the martyrs" who lost their lives in the unrest.



Suleiman — who appeared to have lost his post as well in the military takeover — appeared grim as he delivered the short announcement.
"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," Suleiman said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."
'The greatest day'
Leading Egyptian democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said Friday was "the greatest day of my life."

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," ElBaradei told The Associated Press. He said he expected a "beautiful" transition of power.
A senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest opposition group, said it was waiting to see what steps would be taken by the military's Supreme Council, but also sounded an optimistic note.
"I salute the Egyptian people and the martyrs. This is the day of victory for the Egyptian people. The main goal of the revolution has been achieved," Mohamed el-Katatni, former leader of the Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc, told Reuters.
Story: What you need to know about the crisis in Egypt
Another leading opposition figure, Ayman Nour, said he was looking forward to a transition period that would lead to a civilian government.
"This is the greatest day in the history of Egypt that will not be repeated. This nation has been born again. These people have been born again and this is a new Egypt," he told Al-Jazeera.
End of era
Mubarak, a former air force commander came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals. Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, using rigged elections and a hated police force accused of widespread torture to ensure his control.
He resisted calls for reform even as public bitterness grew over corruption, deteriorating infrastructure and rampant poverty in a country where 40 percent live below or near the poverty line.
Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to Suleiman while keeping his title.
Video: Live video from Cairo's Tahrir Square
But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soldiers stood by, besieging his palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.



Mubarak himself flew to his isolated palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the turmoil in Cairo.
His fall came 32 years to the day after the collapse of the shah's government in Iran.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41526422...ica/?GT1=43001

[lofter1]

Can't find specific info on Mubarak's palace in Sharm el-Sheikh. Given his other digs, I doubt his exile will be too tough ...

Pimp My Palace

THE DAILY DISH
by Zoe Pollock
11 FEB 2011

Hunter Walker has the 411 on all of Mubarak's palaces. Money quote:

Abdeen Palace includes museums dedicated to silverware, gifts received by President Mubarak, and weaponry including a pistol once owned by Italian fascist Benito Mussolini. ... One room in the Presidential gifts museum contains a portrait of Mubarak surrounded by weapons given to the President. Saddam Hussein contributed a gold-plated AK-47 to the collection.

What happens to the loot now? EA updates on Mubarak's coffers:

1727 GMT: A Foreign Ministry spokesman says the Swiss government has frozen potential Mubarak assets in the country.

The Guardian relays what the blanket injunction to freeze his assets really means:

This is the usual procedure in such cases, and has also been the procedure for Tunisia earlier this year: Besides decreeing that all accounts etc belonging to Hosni Mubarak and his family plus certain ex-ministers are immediately blocked, it also mandates banks to report to the federal administration whether they hold any accounts in the name of Hosni Mubarak etc.

Thus, it's a preventive "blanket injunction" aimed at any and all accounts of Mubarak et al, if there are any. It does not really serve to confirm whether Mubarak actually has any money in Switzerland or not, it could well be that actually no accounts will found to fall within the remit of the injunction.

COPYRIGHT © FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011

[lofter1]

Of course, there are those bleating fear mongers who see nothing good in this ...

NYC Mosque Foe Pam Geller On Egypt: Bad for Freedom

... I asked Geller what she thought about Mubarak's resignation and the fate of Egypt's leadership. Her take was nothing short of apocalyptic, predicting "the rise of Islamic supremacism and the imposition of the Sharia" throughout the Middle East.

"We are witnessing a complete seismic shift in the direction of the world away from freedom," Geller said. When I asked her about Glenn Beck's theory that "uber-leftists" and Islamic extremists could be plotting to from a new Islamic caliphate, she told me that those "are justifiable fears. An earthquake has occurred in the Middle East." She added, "These are catastrophic events over which we have no control."

Geller said she was "thoroughly embarrassed and disgusted" that the US "would abandon an ally," a reference to the Obama administration's recent statements calling for a peaceful change in leadership in Egypt, which had been under Mubarak's autocratic rule for nearly 30 years. Asked about who she thought would step up to lead in Egypt, Geller said, "We do know that evil loves a vacuum ..."

One commenter wrote:

If evil fills a vacuum, then Geller should begin looking diligently and fearfully inside her own head.

Copyright ©2011 Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress.

[mariab]

"We do know that evil loves a vacuum ..."

...but it was ok when this evil dictator filled the vacuum 30 years ago?

[lofter1]

Day of the Martyrs

BLOG GANZEER
Friday, February 11, 2011

Dirty politics and power struggles aside, there are innocent people who died over the course of Egypt's current revolution. These people died because they could see something most of us could not see. They died because they could see Egypt soaring high in a place of dignity and respect. They could see Egypt become something none of us thought possible. They died for me, they died for you, for our grandparents, and for our children. True heroes, ready to fight a corrupt regime with all its soldiers, guns, and ammo with nothing more than their voices and willpower.

These heroes are the Golden Eagles of the Egyptian revolution.

Christine



They Died to See Egypt Soar:
A Cairo Artist's Portraits of the Revolution's Martyred Activists

Gallery at ArtInfo

***

An anti-Mubarak sticker design by Ganzeer

Egyptian artist Ganzeer has created a series of anti-Mubarak protest artworks, including this graphic:


...............Courtesy of Ganzeer

[lofter1]

From Tunisia To Tehran

THE DAILY DISH
by Chris Bodenner
13 FEB 2011 09:02 PM

The Greens are gearing up for pro-democracy protests tomorrow:

Iranian opposition leaders are moving forward with plans to hold a rally Monday in Tehran in support of successful anti-government uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Iran's Interior Ministry has refused to grant permission for the rally, which one government official has termed "riots for seditionists." Iranian reformist leader Mehdi Karroubi has been placed under house arrest, presumably in connection with the request to stage the rally. But on Sunday a renewed call for the demonstration appeared on both Karroubi's website and one belonging to another opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The regime is trying to stymie online communication:

Iranian authorities have blocked the word "Bahman" -- the 11th month of the Persian calendar -- from Internet searches within the country, according to an opposition website. The measure appears to be an effort by Iranian authorities to obstruct access to several websites that are promoting a rally on Monday -- the 25th day of Bahman -- proposed by Iranian opposition leaders in support of the uprising in Egypt, Saham News reported Saturday. ...

"By announcing that they will not allow opposition protests, the Iranian government has declared illegal for Iranians what it claimed was noble for Egyptians," National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said in the statement.

Enduring America is tracking the arrests of journalists and activists.

***

Saturday night in Iran ...

Ekbatan 24 Bahman 89

[lofter1]

Iranian Leaders Vow to Crush March

NY TIMES
By WILLIAM YONG
February 13, 2011

TEHRAN — The Iranian leaders who cheered the popular overthrow of an Egyptian strongman last week have promised to crush an opposition march planned for Monday in solidarity with the Egyptian people.

“These elements are fully aware of the illegal nature of the request,” Mehdi Alikhani Sadr, an Interior Ministry official, said of the permit request for the march in comments published Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. “They know they will not be granted permission for riots.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was blunt.

“The conspirators are nothing but corpses,” Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the corps, said Wednesday in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. “Any incitement will be dealt with severely.”

But opposition supporters, hoping the democratic uprisings sweeping the region will rejuvenate their own movement, insisted the march would go forward. “There are no plans to cancel it,” Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, senior political adviser to the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi, said in a statement published Sunday on opposition Web sites.

The opposition also hopes to capitalize on the contradiction between Iran’s embrace of democracy movements abroad — Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi referred Friday to “the brave and justice-seeking movement in Egypt” — and its crackdown on a kindred movement at home.

“If they are not going to allow their own people to protest, it goes against everything they are saying, and all they are doing to welcome the protests in Egypt is fake,” another opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, said in an interview last week.

The United States has also seized on the apparent hypocrisy, issuing a statement on Sunday that seemed intended to encourage a revival of the protests in Iran. “By announcing that they will not allow opposition protests, the Iranian government has declared illegal for Iranians what it claimed was noble for Egyptians,” the statement, from the White House, said. “We call on the government of Iran to allow the Iranian people the universal right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate that’s being exercised in Cairo.”

Even as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was welcoming the emergence of what he called a “new Middle East” on Friday, his government had already taken steps to quash the protest planned here.

In the week since opposition leaders filed the request for the march, the government has imposed restrictions on the communications and movements of Mr. Karroubi and detained at least 30 journalists, student activists and family members of figures close to the opposition leadership, according to opposition Web sites. There was also a vigilante attack on a senior reformist figure.

While the pro-democracy movement here professes similar political goals to those elsewhere, the differences are critical. The so-called Green movement here is, as the government points out, inherently counterrevolutionary; while democracy movements toppled secular dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt, Iran’s Islamic Revolution did that here in 1979. The Iranian leaders praising the revolts of recent weeks claim them as their political progeny.

The democracy movement here has also been shaped, and battered, by recent experience. After the disputed election of June 2009, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in protest, deploying their own social networks in what was then called “the Twitter revolution.” By the end of the year, a government crackdown characterized by killings and mass arrests had largely curtailed the movement’s public actions.

With those memories still fresh, opposition supporters are caught between fear and hopelessness on one hand, and the urge to seize what feels like a historic opportunity on the other.

“Things are far more complicated in Iran than Egypt,” said an online activist using the pseudonym Zahra Meysami. “People need to believe that things are possible. We desperately need hope. People need to see, not just believe, that the movement is alive.”

In the background has been a steady drumbeat of executions. International rights groups say 66 prisoners have been hanged this year, at least three of them arrested during the 2009 protests.

Mr. Moussavi and Mr. Karroubi have condemned the executions for creating an atmosphere of “terror in society.” Some activists have called them a deliberate ploy to neutralize dissent.

Still, opposition Web sites have announced protest routes for more than 30 cities.

“The victory of the freedom-seeking movement in Egypt and Tunisia can open the way for Iran,” read a statement from an association of Tehran University student political groups. “Without a doubt, the starting point of these protests was the peaceful freedom-seeking movement of Iran in 2009.”

But some of the movement’s foot soldiers learned other lessons from 2009.

“Many people suffered in the 2009 unrest,” Leyla, 27, said. “They don’t want one martyr to become two.

“This is my souvenir from the protests,” she said, pushing aside her hair to reveal a scar in the center of her forehead, etched by a police baton two summers ago.

“My parents will be locking me in the house tomorrow.”

© 2011 The New York Times Company

[mariab]

“The conspirators are nothing but corpses,” Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the corps, said Wednesday in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. “Any incitement will be dealt with severely.”

No sense in whitewashing it.

[MidtownGuy]

Iran and Yemen should be next.