According to a statement by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the mullahs' regime has assigned the 9th Badr Corps, directed by the Ministry of Intelligence, to devote the bulk of its resources to activities against the Mojahedin and the National Liberation Army of Iran, in Iraq.

According to Mojahedin various groups of the 9th Badr Corps have been stationed in the border provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Khuzistan, for reconnaissance of the centers of the Iranian Resistance and military and terrorist operations against the movement. The ministry has also set up bases in the cities of Khorramshahr, Moussian and Ilam.

The 9th Badr Corps was formed in 1984 by and under the command of the Revolutionary Guards Corps. Since 1990, it has been basically directed and commanded by the mullahs' Ministry of Intelligence.
 

Iran Top 'Pariah State' in Arms Buys, The Washington Times, January 12

Iran remains the largest illicit buyer of conventional weapons among "pariah" states, buying an estimated $20 million to $30 million worth of U.S. military parts last year, according to a CIA report….

The report on arms acquisitions by pariah states - those linked by U.S. officials to terrorism - said most of the countries went to the international arms market for undercover purchases as a result of U.N. sanctions or other international accords barring weapons sales to rogue states….

Most of $20 million to $30 million spent by Tehran on the arms market went to buy spare parts for its U.S.-origin aircraft and armored vehicles, according to the report.

Procurement officials in Tehran also negotiated with "gray market" arms brokers to make under-the-table purchases of T-72 tanks, MiG-29 fighters, SA-10 missiles and SA-18 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, the report said. "Tehran could divert some of the SA-18 missiles to Hezbollah terrorists," the CIA said. The gray market is trade of dubious legality….
 

Dual Doormat Policy, The New York Times, Essay by William Saffire, January 12

WASHINGTON -- A new U.S. foreign policy toward Iran and Iraq, rooted in a showing of fierce acquiescence, has been quietly adopted by the Clinton Administration. Because the previous policy of "Dual Containment" was beginning to demand tough decisions on sanctions and sacrifice, it was replaced by the policy of the Dual Doormat….

As soon as Iran's new President, Mohammad Khatami, cut the great-Satan rhetoric and spoke kindly of Abraham Lincoln, the Clinton dovecote began undermining our laws putting economic pressure on nations like Russia and France eager to sell Teheran nuclear-weapons know-how….

… Clinton cautionary statements, and Foggy Bottom backgrounders about a requirement for open diplomatic discussions conditioned on an end to terror, are part of a charade….

The Clinton decision to "open a dialogue" -- overt and covert contact, and largely on Iran's terms -- has already been made….

The softening up of American opinion is under way:

1. Under Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstat last week announced a new "sanctions team" to "set our house in order" after 61 sanctions were imposed in the Clinton years under Congressional pressure. We'll be told that sanctions do not advance human rights, hurt us more than others and always fail (never mind their soothing effects on Libya and Serbia).

2. Dovish commentators in hawkish feathers have begun to argue that our embrace of Iran would give us a card to play against Saddam in Iraq. Caving in on sanctions is not going soft, goes this creative formulation, but is being tough -- because nuclear weapons in Iran's hands would imperil Baghdad. (Never mind that Iran's reformatollah agrees with Saddam that Israel is the "racist terrorist state.")

3. Khatami will be portrayed in much of the media as a reformer who needs our help to defeat the anti-intellectual baddies in Teheran. When he called for cultural exchanges with the West, his CNN interviewer pointedly refrained from asking about the death sentence still hanging over the novelist Salman Rushdie….

On Dec. 15, one of our satellites picked up the heat signature of a missile engine being tested at the Shahid Hemat facility south of Teheran. This new generation of Iranian missiles -- built with extensive, secret, unpunished Russian help and likely to be test-fired this year -- is capable of carrying a 2,200-pound warhead more than 800 miles. That projects Iranian power far beyond Iraq, taking hostage the populations of Ankara and Tel Aviv, not to mention 25,000 U.S. troops.

Don't be taken in by the pretense of a genuine policy debate within the Administration. The Dual Doormat is already in place. "Deeds, not words" says Mr. Clinton -- as he quietly changes our gulf policy to rely on words, not deeds.

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