Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - March 2, 2003

Participation in the Assembly of Experts and Hosting them in the Expediency Council and Hashemi's Narrative of the Margins of the Pre-Order Speeches

Full text of the diary:

I went to the Imam Khomeini Complex for the Assembly of Experts. Most of the time was spent on the speeches before the order and the elections of the board of directors and commissions. The same board of directors remained, except for one case when Mr. Seyyed Ahmad Khatami came in place of Mr. Seyyed Hassan Taheri [Khorramabadi]. 
I went to my office at noon, did the work, and returned to the summit at 4 p.m. At night, the experts were my guests. As usual, Ayatollah [Ali] Meshkini, [the head of the Assembly of Experts] and a few experts spoke and I answered the questions. In the speeches that preceded the order, some people attacked the parliament and the government, but it was less than in the previous periods, because their danger was weakened by the elections of the councils. Mr. Meshkini also rebuked the [Sixth] Majlis, and some of the leftists were not in spirit, and there was no news of what they had said in previous periods.

Pakistan announced that it had arrested Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the third al-Qaeda operative [the main suspect in the 9/11 attacks]. Yesterday and today, Iraq destroyed 10 Al-Samoud-2 missiles, which is a sign of its lack of will to defend itself, and the United States is trying to win a majority of votes in the Security Council for its plan [to attack Iraq]. The popular demonstrations against the U.S. have gained a new wave, with 250,000 people taking part in the demonstrations in Egypt.