Iran's Khatami says suicide bombers hurt Islam http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090802049.html WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami on Friday condemned the September 11 attacks against the United States as an atrocity and said suicide bombers did Islam an injustice and would not go to heaven. Three days before the fifth anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, the Shi'ite cleric urged Muslims to work against "Islamaphobia," which he said had grown since Islamic militants flew hijacked aircraft into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field Two crimes were committed on September 11 -- civilians were killed and it was done in the name of Islam, Khatami told the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a human rights group. "We Muslims should condemn these atrocities even more strongly," he said. "Terrorist, which means killing of civilians, is a human being that lacks morality ... (and) will not go to heaven" and those who do it in the name of Islam "are lying," he said. Nearing the end of a five-city U.S. visit in which he largely stressed themes of dialogue and co-existence, Khatami continued to stir controversy. A U.S.-based pro-Israel group, the Israel Project, complained in a press release that the president from 1997 to 2005 was "working to white-wash Iran's record of nuclear developments, support for terror and human rights violations." In a Time magazine interview, Khatami regretted the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis and acknowledged the Holocaust of 6 million Jews as "historical fact." "I believe the Holocaust is the crime of Nazism. But it is possible that the Holocaust, which is an absolute fact, a historical fact, would be misused. The Holocaust should not be, in any way, an excuse for the suppression of Palestinian rights," he said. Considered a reformist during his presidency, Khatami was largely stymied by powerful conservative clerics. His hard-line successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has reinstated conservative domestic policies, while threatening to destroy Israel and denying the Holocaust. As for the 1979 hostage crisis, when student radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans for 444 days, Khatami said, "I regret the hostage crisis ... and I sympathize with the hostages and their families for their loss and their hurt but this was (also) a revolutionary reaction to half a century of the U.S. taking Iran hostage." Khatami is the most prominent Iranian to visit the United States, outside of the United Nations' New York headquarters, in decades. Ahmadinejad spoke at the U.N. General Assembly last year and has requested a visa to do so again this year. Khatami's U.S. visit has been controversial in light of U.S. accusations Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, sponsors terrorism and arms Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. At a news conference on Thursday, Khatami warned the United States against threatening Iran. While urging a dialogue among civilizations, he said there was too much mistrust for Washington and Tehran to talk now. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, "The place to start when talking about the discourse of threats is with his own president, President Ahmadinejad, in threatening to wipe the state of Israel off the map." Khatami told Time he got "really upset" with President George W. Bush's designation of Iran as part of an "axis of evil" and he praised America as a "great and big country."
Khatami says 9/11 attackers will not go to heaven http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060909/ts_afp/usattacksirankhatami_060909041526 ARLINGTON, Virginia (AFP) - Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has condemned the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and said those who carried them out will never go to heaven. "During the calamity of September 11, two crimes were committed: one was the killing of innocent people and the second was making this crime in the name of Islam," said the former president, who is on a speaking tour of the United States. "We, Muslims, should condemn this atrocity even more strongly," Khatami told the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Terrorism, which means killing civilians in whatever name or title, lacks morality, and nobody who lacks such principle will go to heaven," Khatami continued. "Those who kill others and commit acts of terror, if they identify themselves with Islam, they are lying." Americans mark the fifth anniversary of the attacks on Monday.
from an islamic law prespective i think its fairly problematic to decide who goes to heaven and who doesn't. that is the domain of god and not human beings. however i caught him on a couple of his events through the country...and it is a damn shame taht the axis of evil speech completely delegitmized him in iran.
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO27757/ "His speech is on ethics and violence. It would be very bizarre if he came here to speak on ethics and violence and did not acknowledge and discuss his own record in Iran," said Eric Lesser, 21, president of Harvard College Democrats, which teamed with their Republican peers for the protest. "Students were arrested and thrown in prison for speaking their mind in the same way we're doing right now." wow, when you have the demos and repubs together on something, then you know that people dont like you.
the whole irony is that this dude has no power. at least we know that W does have power and it ends after 2 terms. The Mullahs dont get booted out of office and they pull the strings. I wish I was there. I would tell Khatami: " Here's my friend Creepyfloyd, please take him with you when you go back "
