Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - October 16, 2002

  The media controversy over the president's [elections and powers] bills continues, with the superiority of right-wing attacks.

Full text of the newspaper:

I had a meeting with the deputies of the Strategic Research Center.  Mr. [Mustafa] Mirslim gave a report on the program of the crescent sighting seminar [in the month of Shawwal] and Mr. [Mortaza] Mohammad Khan reported on the delay of another seminar.  I told Mr. Dr. [Hasan] Rouhani, [Head of the Strategic Research Center and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council], to follow up the issue of the return of people to Somar in the Supreme National Security Council.  Mr. Rouhani said, [Jack Straw], the British Foreign Minister, said about the policy of dealing with Iraq that it is currently at the level of a show of war, but if Iraq is short-handed in disarming itself, they will go to war.  

In the evening, I had an interview with Dr. [Hossein] Mehrpour, for a special issue of the Strategy magazine, about the Council of Expediency;  The first part of the interview was already done.   
The United Nations Security Council has publicly started the debate on Iraq's use of force to disarm weapons of mass destruction, based on the resolution proposed by the United States.  More than 50 countries have registered to speak.  All the speakers today have opposed unilateral action and demanded that any action be taken through the United Nations.  [US President] George Bush signed the law authorizing armed action against Iraq.  

The plan to hijack a Saudi [Arabian] plane was neutralized.  Several explosions occurred in Pakistan.  In India, the conflict between Hindus and Muslims was repeated.  The important victories of Islamic parties in Pakistan have caused serious concern in the West.

In the south of Lebanon, an important incident happened;  The Lebanese government implemented a plan to take ten million cubic meters of water from the Wazani River to irrigate the villages of southern Lebanon.  The water that has been going to the Sea of ​​Galilee and is being used by Israel, and Israel is brazenly threatening and resorting to force to prevent it.   Speakers of parliament and president also participated in the ceremony to declare their seriousness, and Hezbollah announced that if Israel takes military action, it will receive a firm answer and open a new front against Israel in the north.  Due to the importance of water in the region, the possibility of major accidents increases.  

In Raver Kerman, two earthquakes with magnitudes of 2.5 and 5.4 on the Richter scale have occurred.  The media controversy over the president's [elections and powers] bills continues with the superiority of right-wing attacks.