Iranian protester: "On 9/11, the world said we were all Americans. Tonight, we are all Iranians."
well, looks what we're all up to now...
Iraq insurgents kill nine policeInsurgents have shot dead nine police in Iraq's two most populous cities of Baghdad and Mosul, police and government officials said on Sunday.
Four policemen were shot dead by gunmen while on patrol on Saturday in separate incidents in the predominantly Sunni Arab Baghdad district of Jamiya on Saturday, while another two were killed in clashes between insurgents and security forces on Sunday in the same neighbourhood.
"All (four) were killed by insurgents carrying pistols with silencers who passed nearby, opened fire, and fled immediately," a police official told AFP of Saturday's incidents.
Also in Baghdad on Sunday, two policemen on patrol were killed and one other wounded by gunmen in Ghazaliyah, another Sunni neighbourhood in west Baghdad, an official said.
In the main northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, insurgents using pistols with silencers killed another policeman on Sunday, a local police official said.
A roadside bomb targeting police in the city also killed a civilian and wounded three people, one of them a policeman, the official added.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has warned that insurgent groups and militias could exploit the planned withdrawal of US forces from built-up areas by the end of the month to step up attacks in a bid to undermine confidence in Iraqi security forces.
During 2006 and 2007, when sectarian violence blighted much of Iraq, police officers commonly wore masks while on duty because they feared for their safety.
Violence has dropped markedly in recent months, with the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 invasion reported in May. But attacks remain common, particularly in Baghdad and Mosul.
Iran finds US-backed MKO fingermarks in riots
The terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) has reportedly played a major role in intensifying the recent wave of street violence in Iran.
Iranian security officials reported Saturday that they have identified and arrested a large number of MKO members who were involved in recent riots in Iran's capital.
According to the security officials, the arrested members had confessed that they were extensively trained in Iraq's camp Ashraf to create post-election mayhem in the country.
They had also revealed that they have been given directions by the MKO command post in Britain.
Street protests broke out after defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi rejected President Ahmadinejad's decisive win in the June 12 election. His supporters have staged a series of illegal rallies ever since.
Iran's deputy police commander, on Saturday, warned against the mass gatherings, asserting that those who engage in any such actions would be severely reprimanded.
Earlier on Saturday, MKO leader Maryam Rajavi had supported the recent wave of street violence in Iran during a Saturday address to supporters in Paris.
Rajavi had reportedly described the MKO terrorists as the real winners of the Iranian election.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization is a Marxist guerilla group, which was founded in the 1960s.In the past two decades, MKO leaders have been resettled in the northern outskirts of Paris.
The terrorists are especially notorious for taking sides with former dictator Saddam Hussein during the war Iraq imposed on Iran (1980-1988).
The group masterminded a slew of terrorist operations in Iran and Iraq -- one of which was the 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed.
A 2007 German intelligence report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has identified the MKO as a "repressive, sect-like and Stalinist authoritarian organization which centers around the personality cult of [MKO leaders] Maryam and Masoud Rajavi".
Anne Singleton, an expert on the MKO and author of 'Saddam's Private Army' explains that the West aims to keep the group afloat in order to use it in efforts to stage a regime change in Iran.
"With a new Administration in the White House a pre-emptive strike on Iran looks unlikely. Instead the MKO's backers have put together a coalition of small irritant groups, the known minority and separatist groups, along with the MKO. These groups will be garrisoned around the border with Iran and their task is to launch terrorist attacks into Iran over the next few years to keep the fire hot," she explains.
"The role of the MKO is to train and manage these groups using the expertise they acquired from Saddam's Republican Guard," Singleton added.
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report also condemns the MKO for running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations. According to report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
