Iran & The Suicide Bomber Cult
Recently, the Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale carried a fascinating account of Iran’s drive to recruit suicide bombers. Gian Micalessin, an Il Giornale journalist, paid a visit to the martyrs’ shop,” which is “located inside the old embassy of the Great Satan (former US Embassy in Tehran) itself.” The account includes startling details about Iran’s role in promulgating what I will call “the suicide bomber cult.” Because this account is not widely available here in the U.S., I will share portions of a government translation I came across.
The most interesting part of Micalessin’s account is his interview with Mohammad Samadi, “the brains behind Iran's militant suicide bombers and their spokesman.” Samadi is the founder of Iran’s “Department for the Commemoration of World Martyrs” and he freely admits that the martyrs have been targeting American forces in Iraq. In particular, he discusses recruiting martyrs to strike Americans in Karbala and al-Najaf, two Shiite cities about 100 to 160 km south of Baghdad and just to the west of the Euphrates:
“Two years ago when we were gathering the first signatures of youngsters ready for martyrdom to hound the Americans out of the holy places of Karbala and of al-Najaf, the initiative was merely symbolic. But there were really very many volunteers and so we set up a full fledged organization to gather together and offer serious professional training to all those who want to sacrifice their lives on the Palestinian front, on the Iraqi front, or even to take part in the killing of author Salman Rushdie. But in the event of US (military) intervention (in Iran), we will swing into action here too.”
Samadi pretends that his martyrs have not been sanctioned by the Iranian government and refuses to divulge any of the “classified” details of their operations:
“As I was saying, the symbolic phase lasted only a few months; today we are already in the active phase, but unlike Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, we are not committed to a declared conflict... We cannot divulge classified information regarding our activities; we have no official government backing, and in view of the situation we cannot ask for help which would be tantamount to a declaration of war.”
Only a sucker would accept Samadi’s disavowal of official government backing. And he did admit that one of his friends went to Karbala to strike American forces:
“His was a personal initiative; he wanted to fight for Karbala and he labored until he found the martyrdom to which he so aspired, but his sacrifice has nothing to do with our organization's activity.”
Of course, it would be unwise to accept Samadi's explanation that his group had nothing to do with his friend's martyrdom. Alarmingly, Samadi says that thousands of martyrs have already been recruited. There is no way to tell how accurate his figures are, or whether they are embellished for public consumption, but Samadi says that tens of thousands of suicide bombers have been recruited:
“The recruitment process is really very simple. After getting in touch with them to find out whether they really do feel ready to join us, we subject them to a series of political, ideological, and behavioral tests. If they pass those tests, then we call them up for their training proper. To date we have had 55,000 people join us and we have completed the training of 1,000 volunteers split into three battalions.”
Micalessin explains that a photograph of the first battalion, which is ready for action, hangs near Samadi during the interview. The photo is of “300 youngsters clad in white from head to toe, their hands raised in a victory salute.” We also learn that the group was “dedicated to the memory of Engineer Yah'ya Ay'ash, the trainer of the first Hamas suicide bombers who was beheaded by an Israeli bomb concealed inside his cell phone back in January 1996.”
It should come as no surprise that the Iranian martyrs hold Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations in such high esteem. The mullahs have helped fund and train them for decades. The Iranian government just recently stepped in to fund Hamas after the flow of international cash was abruptly halted. That move was a part of a U.S.-orchestrated attempt to gain leverage over the group. But, the Iranians are having none of it. Millions of additional dollars are flowing from Tehran to the Palestinian-controlled areas.
The martyrs’ shop even displays “a major exhibit on Palestine…in the gardens of the huge building that became a prison for US hostages 25 years ago.”
Today, the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran stands as a shrine devoted to the cult of the suicide bomber. Thousands of volunteers have been recruited for missions around the globe, including against American servicemen and women. What are we doing about it?
The most interesting part of Micalessin’s account is his interview with Mohammad Samadi, “the brains behind Iran's militant suicide bombers and their spokesman.” Samadi is the founder of Iran’s “Department for the Commemoration of World Martyrs” and he freely admits that the martyrs have been targeting American forces in Iraq. In particular, he discusses recruiting martyrs to strike Americans in Karbala and al-Najaf, two Shiite cities about 100 to 160 km south of Baghdad and just to the west of the Euphrates:
“Two years ago when we were gathering the first signatures of youngsters ready for martyrdom to hound the Americans out of the holy places of Karbala and of al-Najaf, the initiative was merely symbolic. But there were really very many volunteers and so we set up a full fledged organization to gather together and offer serious professional training to all those who want to sacrifice their lives on the Palestinian front, on the Iraqi front, or even to take part in the killing of author Salman Rushdie. But in the event of US (military) intervention (in Iran), we will swing into action here too.”
Samadi pretends that his martyrs have not been sanctioned by the Iranian government and refuses to divulge any of the “classified” details of their operations:
“As I was saying, the symbolic phase lasted only a few months; today we are already in the active phase, but unlike Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, we are not committed to a declared conflict... We cannot divulge classified information regarding our activities; we have no official government backing, and in view of the situation we cannot ask for help which would be tantamount to a declaration of war.”
Only a sucker would accept Samadi’s disavowal of official government backing. And he did admit that one of his friends went to Karbala to strike American forces:
“His was a personal initiative; he wanted to fight for Karbala and he labored until he found the martyrdom to which he so aspired, but his sacrifice has nothing to do with our organization's activity.”
Of course, it would be unwise to accept Samadi's explanation that his group had nothing to do with his friend's martyrdom. Alarmingly, Samadi says that thousands of martyrs have already been recruited. There is no way to tell how accurate his figures are, or whether they are embellished for public consumption, but Samadi says that tens of thousands of suicide bombers have been recruited:
“The recruitment process is really very simple. After getting in touch with them to find out whether they really do feel ready to join us, we subject them to a series of political, ideological, and behavioral tests. If they pass those tests, then we call them up for their training proper. To date we have had 55,000 people join us and we have completed the training of 1,000 volunteers split into three battalions.”
Micalessin explains that a photograph of the first battalion, which is ready for action, hangs near Samadi during the interview. The photo is of “300 youngsters clad in white from head to toe, their hands raised in a victory salute.” We also learn that the group was “dedicated to the memory of Engineer Yah'ya Ay'ash, the trainer of the first Hamas suicide bombers who was beheaded by an Israeli bomb concealed inside his cell phone back in January 1996.”
It should come as no surprise that the Iranian martyrs hold Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations in such high esteem. The mullahs have helped fund and train them for decades. The Iranian government just recently stepped in to fund Hamas after the flow of international cash was abruptly halted. That move was a part of a U.S.-orchestrated attempt to gain leverage over the group. But, the Iranians are having none of it. Millions of additional dollars are flowing from Tehran to the Palestinian-controlled areas.
The martyrs’ shop even displays “a major exhibit on Palestine…in the gardens of the huge building that became a prison for US hostages 25 years ago.”
Today, the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran stands as a shrine devoted to the cult of the suicide bomber. Thousands of volunteers have been recruited for missions around the globe, including against American servicemen and women. What are we doing about it?
posted by Thomas Joscelyn at 11:03 AM
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