U.S. Criticized Over Iran Relief Efforts

from Little Green Footballs comes a link to this Yahoo/AP story: bq. "The Americans, by publicizing their aid to Iran, have ineptly tried to implement their duplicitous policy of creating a rift between the Iranian nation and government,� state radio said in an unattributed commentary, adding that �our people�s solidarity� will stop that from happening. bq. Iranian radio said recent conciliatory remarks from top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, were aimed at concealing Washington�s anti-Iran policies at a time when the world�s attention is focused on the devastation from the quake. bq. �One should therefore not trust the expression of opinion, speeches and other optimistic signals that are sent by the American foreign policy authorities toward Iran from time to time,� the radio said. and more: bq. Instead of sending "meager aid" to help quake victims, Washington should unfreeze billions of dollars of Iranian assets, the radio commentary said. bq. In Bam, American aid workers have generally received a warm welcome from Iranian doctors and quake victims, though one cleric was sharply critical Friday and said the American team should go home. bq. "We hate the arrogance of the Americans and we are sure that they haven't come for humanitarian reasons, but for other things like spying," said Abdullah Irani, a mullah from Qum, the main center for Shiite clerics in Iran. Geee - if we hadn't sent anything, they would have groused. Now they are grousing that we aren't doing enough - they want us to unfreeze the terrorist funds (Hizbollah and others) so that it can be used for 'relief work' - yeah, and I have a bridge to sell you... Amir Taheri has an excellent article here placing blame for the high death count directly in the laps of the Mullahs. He says: bq. The racket was backed by a group of powerful mullahs who, in exchange for a cut in the proceeds, issued fatwas (religious opinions) that canceled government orders that banned house-building in the city. The mullahs claimed that the Shah had wished to keep Bam empty because of a secret plan under which the city would be turned into a Zoroastrian centre. They also dismissed warnings from the National Seismological Centre in Tehran that opposed the repopulation of Bam. The mullahs claimed that the Hidden Imam would protect the new inhabitants of the city against all disasters. Thus more than 50 per cent of those who died in the recent earthquake could be regarded as victims of a racket ran by mullahs and their associates with the help of religious prejudice and superstition. bq. Most Iranians knew nothing of the racket that the earthquake has exposed. The discovery that so many people died because cynical developers and bribe-taking mullahs wished to make a fast buck has sent a shock wave throughout the country. Taheri also points out that the city has been destroyed by earthquake several times before: bq. The ancient city of Bam, the epicenter of the �quake, has a long history of destruction. It was first destroyed in an earthquake almost 1900 years ago. and bq. The city was again almost totally razed by an earthquake in 1911. But by the 1930s it had remerged as a trading centre and a producer of dates and pistachios. Then came other earthquakes in 1950 and 1966. By the early 1970s the government had decided not to allow people to build new houses in Bam itself. The city�s ancient monuments were declared part of the heritage of mankind under UNESCO and no new buildings permits were issued for almost six years. The next couple of years will be interesting to watch - the Iranian citizens are watching the good things that are happening in Iraq and they want in on them. Capitalism is a good thing! UPDATE: From Yahoo/Reuters bq. Iranian military engineers said on Friday they had uncovered violations of building regulations in the earthquake-devastated city of Bam and that those responsible would be prosecuted. bq. About 90 percent of the mostly mud-brick buildings in the ancient Silk Road city collapsed in last Friday's quake, killing at least 30,000 people in one of the world's worst natural disasters in recent decades. bq. "We have seen some violations and they are being reported to the Justice Department (news - web sites)," Hamid Eskander, head of a fact-finding team of about 100 engineers from Iran's Revolutionary Guards, told Reuters. bq. "People we suspect of not doing their job properly will be contacted and prosecuted," said Eskandar, a U.S.-educated specialist in earthquakes. bq. "There are a good number of cases where there were violations in terms of construction practices, engineering practices, and perhaps even faulty inspections." I would not want to be an Iranian contractor right now - they will probably not get all of the bad ones (the Mullahs are still very much in power and they protect their own when it comes to corruption) but they will certainly make a very public test-case out of a couple companies...