[net.politics] Israel/Iran/arms/influence/terrorists/foolishness

oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (01/26/86)

	    (All indented items are from Farzin Mokhtarian)
		
>	I don't know whether it is  Israel's  intention  that  those
>	arms  be  given  to the terrorists or not but Israel *knows*
>	that some of them will be given to the terrorists.
		     ------------------------------
    Grant, for an instant, that Iran receives some supplies from Israel.
Are   they   lethal?   Offensive?   Defensive?   Usable  by  terrorists?
Hand-held?  Mobile?  Useful for attacking civilian targets?   Let's  get
specific, please.

>	All  countries  (such  as  Libya,  Syria,  Iran)  which  run
>	"terrorist camps" on their soil are  just  teaching  certain
>	military  skills to the people in those camps. Similar camps
>	exist in the U. S. But people who run them  don't  determine
>	what  their  graduates  do with their skills. Only when they
>	use  their  skills  to  kill  civilians,  do   they   become
>	terrorists.
		     ------------------------------
    Agha-ye-Mokhtarian,  once again the argument would be clearer if you
gave out specifics.  Military camps which teach control and training  of
military  forces  designed to fight similar forces in the open field are
different from  those  teaching  methodologies  for  small-force  attack
against soft civilian targets, no?

    (At  this  point  in the discussion, I withdraw permission to "grant
that Israeli supplies have been reaching Iran.")
		     ------------------------------

    WRT  your  claim  that Kayhan on 02.01.86 made the claim that Israel
supplied Iran with "weapons," and the resultant claims that Israel  arms
terrorists against herself:

    Who  publishes  Kayhan, and what is its alignment on various issues?
To what extent is its political orientation  allowed  to  influence  its
content?   Is  there  an  English  edition?  Does it get mailed here, so
people near me would have some?  If I mention a particular  affair  (for
example,  the  fate of Baha'is in Iran) can you describe its coverage of
it, so we can compare it with other sources?

    Was the Jan. 2, 1986 article the only one making that  claim?   What
did  IT  say were its sources?  Do you know of anyone (outside the Iraqi
press, I guess) who will second that assertion?

    More  importantly,  WHY  DID  YOU  TEASE  US  SO LONG if you had the
reference available?  "Measuring" your correspondents again?  All of us?
-- 

Oded Feingold     MIT AI Lab.   545 Tech Square    Cambridge, Mass. 02139
OAF%OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA   {harvard, ihnp4!mit-eddie}!mit-vax!oaf  617-253-8598