Iran says 70,000 volunteer for Israel fight

TEHRAN, Iran — More than 70,000 Iranian students have volunteered to carry out suicide bombings against Israel, Iran's state news agency reported Monday, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has not responded to their request for permission.

Volunteer suicide groups have made similar requests in the past and the government never responded, giving the campaigns more of the feel of propaganda.

According to the official IRNA news agency, hardline student leader Esmaeil Ahmadi said the students want to fight Israel in support of Hamas, Gaza's Islamic militant rulers.

Iran is Hamas' main backer, though the country denies sending weapons to the Islamic militant movement that took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Iran considers Israel its archenemy, and Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Five hard-line student groups and a conservative clerical group launched the registration drive for suicide bombers last week and asked the government to allow them to stage the attacks.

In an open letter to Ahmadinejad, the students said "volunteer student suicide groups ... are determined to go to Gaza. You are expected to issue orders to the relevant authorities to pave the way for such action." A copy of the letter was made available to The Associated Press last week.

The hard-liners started signing up volunteers after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree Dec. 28 saying anyone killed while defending Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.

Khamenei's religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel.

At a gathering two days later in Tehran, hard-liners distributed registration forms.

Israel's bombardment of Gaza, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians, has outraged many in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for Hamas rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.

On Dec. 30, IRNA reported that dozens of Iranian students broke into the British Embassy residence in Tehran, accusing Britain of supporting the Israeli air assault that started Dec. 27. The report said the students pulled down the British flag and raised a Palestinian flag at the compound's entrance before police forced them to leave.

The protest lasted about half an hour, and no injuries were reported.

Comments

[Discomustachio]

This will help Irans image to the rest of the world...

[Furby]

I doubt Iran is concerned about image.

[HallStyle]

I don't believe that Iran really wants to mess up the opportunity it will have when Barack Obama is sworn in. I firmly believe that by the end of his 4 years we will have normallized relations with Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela. Thus Weakening OUR true Enemy! Russia! They are the Power Behind Iran.

[hortonhearsawho2]

What sector are these unemployed coming from ?

[hortonhearsawho2]

That is alot of virgins...

[Brett575]

Whoooa! 5,040,000 virgins. No wonder the rush to get there.

[MagisterLudi]

Is it that many? They may have to borrow some from the Christian section.

[JKemple0]

Come on, Iran. You do not want this before breakfast.

[JustAnotherScreenname]

HAHAHAHA This is laughable to any Iranian. Please I'll believe this when I actually hear of an Iranian blowing himself up, whether there or in Iraq or anywhere else.
Somebody compared this to abstinence pledges, and it's pretty much the same kind of thinking. When it comes to religion, Iranians aren't like Arabs and South Asians - probably 99% of the students who "signed" those forms did it so they can get lucrative jobs within the government ie suck up to someone.

[hu.man]

A lot of this is propaganda for the public consumption in the Islamic world. If the Iranian government allowed some of these "volunteers" to actually blow themselves up, you will see a lot less enthusiasm for this kind chest beating nonsense. The religious sectarian dynamics that plays into this kind of display cannot be underestimated.

[Toker]

Is Iran trying to give Israel a reason to justify an attack on it's country?

[exhale09]

So here we go...more upping the anty.

There needs to be a revision of the "begats" chapter in the Bible.

And this group of semites begat violence on that group of semites, and that group of semites begat more violence on the previous group of semites, and their children begat more violence on their children, and so on and so forth, sayith God.

[rasit]

Yep, and it may happen, if Iran is not an itty bitty careful....

[HallStyle]

Israel isn't stupid! The Loss of Life for itty Bitty Israel would be Huge! Iran want be as easy to get to! There is a little land in between them you know! Iran has weapons that can hit Israel everywhere! Israel wouldn't be able to send in any ground troops it would be constant air strikes that would only end up in one of the other countries occuping syria for Strategical reasons. Plus I believe that Turkey would be a huge player in this aswell. Which would lead to the Rest of the Arab World condemning the US and Israel! Any Attack on Iran would lead to World War 3. Russia would be heavily envolved. They would provide weapons and aid to Iran. China would provide funding. The US would weakend severely! In the End it would lead to the US no longer being the number one power. The EU would emerge as the Dominate power in the World by not getting involved.

[Levittown]

Iran now has the opportunity to drop their " end of Israel " statements. If not they will only let their
bluster become reality and WW 111 will be getting a heads up. They will be the first to go up in smoke because they are self destructive by their silence. It only takes a match to light the fire and
all the oil in the middle east will be in danger. They can stop the rockets. They can stop Hamas.
They can do it. Just do it. They are killing Palestinians, they and Hamas are one.

[shockmagog]

Look how many kids signed those abstinence pledges.

Went over like lead balloons.

[rudyinbama]

If a nation proudly announces it has produced thousands of suicide-murderers, is there any moral reason to refrain from bombing them where they live?

[Chopin]

That's called genocide. It's a special category of crimes called "crime against humanity". A careful reading of recent history would confirm that the leaders of nations that committed those crimes during WW2 and recent wars have been tried in international courts, convicted, hanged, and recorded in history.

You'd better take a look in the mirror, and examine your soul and conscience, and have a talk with a psychiatrist.

[reliant1]

Who was hung...the losers of the wars right?

Winners don't have that problem or thousands of Americans would be 'recorded in history' - starting with the 1st Brit colonist who wanted and took and then occupied land they did not own.

[TheBlackCat]

There are 65 million people in Iran. Are you honestly saying that you are willing to kill 64,930,000 in order to kill 70,000 guilty people?

That's pretty messed up.

[marymansour]

For shame, rudyinbama. for shame.

[deadcustodian]

why don't they try it at home first?

[Fernando]

Iran says a lot of things.

Then again, I signed so many petitions in college without looking I probably volunteered for that too.

[jdfast]

Who cares. It would be nice to see some of the radical mullas (sp?) become bombers instead of setting up some poor dumb SOB. They talk a good game but talk is cheap.

[christopherflynn]

but guns and bombs and invasions from israel aren't??

[Hirnlego]

We've heard this before. Nothing happened.

[mergina]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HUMANS IN THIS REGION. Why is there NO VALUE FOR HUMAN LIFE? Is it their miserable religions? Their twisted frustrated religious leaders? Can any of them EXPLAIN why they HATE EVERYTHING? They don't even know how to treat their women as anything but VICTIMS? Israel is NOT INNOCENT, but damn. What is it? Can ANYONE explain it?

[lyingtruth]

It's not "This Religion." It is religion!

Remember; "Good Christians" nearly killed all of the American Indians! I don't mean to say that this is an explaination. Fact is; humans are a not very nice animals!

[FairTalk]

Israel's actions are consistant with ethnic cleansing. Israel is expansionist, and interviews with many Israelis document this. Many Israelis refer to Palestine as Israel. They believe they are the chosen people, and god gave them the land. I believe that in Israel, Jews have more rights than others by law, and it is forbiden to advocate for equal rights because that would threaten Israel's right to exist.

Israel began in the 1940s to terrorize the indigenous population, the Palestinians, by killing, removing them from their homes, shops and farms, razing whole towns so they could not return. NAKBA

Incrementally, Israel has expanded their "territory" by stealing the land from the Palestinians.

Unlike the Nazis and Japan, who moved swiftly and boldly, Israel has carefully inch by inch taken what was not given. Today, the Ghetto of Gaza is not unlike the Warsaw Ghetto, and the slaughter visited on the Palestinians is not unlike the Rape of NanJing, complete with the bleating of the "world" and taking of pictures, but doing nothing meaningful to put a stop to Israel's extermination campaign.

How sad to see this happening again. Man's inhumanity to man.

[WorkingClass]

Oh. Israel. I thought you were talking about the old south.

[reliant1]

Once upon a time most great civilzations of the past became great by winning wars and taking the land they won. The losers were enslaved, killed or sold most of the time - most of them being from the poor/serfs/lowest classes.

Rome built an empire, engineered their way across the known world and they kept their citizens happy by building coliseums and engaging in 7 day long feasts of flesh. They knew their people.

Human life has been cheap for most of its miserable existance. Now, we abhor the armed violence which forces us to face large casualty numbers - we are much happier with the small statistics of who and how while we still kill each other on an individual basis, in the same huge numbers.

Better to let them fight the big fights and have clear cut winners and losers. Winners keep the land and do what they wish to the defeated people. That is how it is usually done.

Or just nuke the whole region and cover it with cement and surround it with a fence with warning signs - Caution Humans Once Lived Here!