Thursday, February 16, 2006

Iranian Fatwa: Use Of Nukes Acceptable As "Counter-Measure"

The leader of the religious conservatives in Iran, and mentor to President Ahmadinejad, has declared the use of nuclear weapons to be acceptable:


“The spiritual leaders of the ultra-conservatives [in Iran] have accepted the use of nuclear weapons as lawful in the eyes of the shari’a. Mohsen Gharavian, a disciple of [Ayatollah] Mesbah Yazdi [who is Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s spiritual mentor], has spoken for the first time of using nuclear weapons as a counter-measure. He stated that ‘in terms of the shari’a, it all depends on the goal.’

“The religious leadership of the Islamic Republic [of Iran], which has until now regarded the use of nuclear weapons as opposed to the Shari’a, and has repeated this point again and again, has so far kept silent about this. In spite of the fact that, in the last few weeks, some of the senior [leaders] of the Islamic Republic have tried to reduce the pressure [exerted by] the radical [conservatives], the radicals nevertheless seem to have complete control over the [political] arena.

“[Iranian National Security Council Secretary] Ali Larijani, who is in charge of the nuclear dossier, has spoken to reporters only once since the [IAEA] Board of Governors approved its resolution – and his silence is significant.(2) But yesterday, the IraNews news agency published recent remarks by Mohsen Gharavian regarding the nuclear issue. Gharavian is a lecturer at the religious schools of Qom, and is a disciple of [Ayatollah] Mesbah Yazdi. In his recent remarks, he said for the first time that the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem according to shari’a. He further said that ‘when the entire world is armed with nuclear weapons, it is permissible to use these weapons as a counter-[measure]. According to the shari’a, too, only the goal is important...’”


To what? It doesn't stipulate as a counter-measure to what. So, could it be as a counter-measure to a nuclear strike, or any military strike? Blasphemous cartoons? Looking at them wrong?

9 comments:

Kiddo said...

Sheesh....well I suppose that makes things official?

Pastorius said...

And STILL, the left will say there is no threat.

Christine said...

Well the left has a choice, either remove the tin foil hat to free their eyes and ears. Or, it will get blown off.

von Schlichtningen said...

These people are scary. But they can't be this stupid. What is their motive? Do they want to be attacked? Are they under internal pressure and need an external attack to keep in power?

Pastorius said...

Chritine,
Remove the tin foil hat? Maybe the tinfoil has melded with their brains by now.

Pastorius said...

Von Schlicht,
A lot of people have put forth that theory (that Iran wants to be attacked).

Call me crazy, but I am afraid they want to provoke an attack as an excuse to use black market nukes which they already have.

Kiddo said...

Well, as France and Germany aren't profiting from Iran their vocal stance on the issue may sway the Euro-wanna-be leftists in the US, but perhaps Europe's left as well.

Pastorius, that's not crazy at all. Ahmadenijad is practcally waving his arms around and screaming "Hey you, come on and attack us, already!!". His theological stance is what I think the excuse may be instead of nukes, although you may be right. His spiritual advisor is the scary component in this equation.

Christine said...

Pastorius,

I agree with the melded part. :-)


Iran's pushing to be attacked seems to fit in with the victim mentality. Don't you think?

von Schlichtningen said...

Hmmh. I do not think they have any nuclear weapons yet - even though it could maybe explain their stance.

The reason I don't think so is Israel. They would bomb Iran at the first suspicion. They would have to. Their intelligence service is probably the best in the world.