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CHECHNIA: The symbol of a peoples' Will to Live and Die with Honor
[With thanks to sis. Hamdiyah Fatima, South Carolina, courtesy kavkaz.]

February 23 is the 59th anniversary of the total deportation of Chechen and Ingush Nations to Central Asia and Siberia. On February 23, 1994 the first President of Independent Chechen State Dzhokhar Dudayev signed a special Decree on the Day of Rebirth of the Chechen Nation. Speaking at the meeting in Jokhar, the Chechen President stated, - "Our enemies want the Chechen people to remain in constant mourning and to constantly mourn the losses of their relatives and loved ones. We are rejecting the eternal mourning. The Chechen Nation has strong spirit and strong faith. From now on and forever this day will become the Day of Rebirth of the Chechen Nation, the Day of the demonstration that we are alive and that we are fighting no matter what. Regardless of all the efforts that our enemies are making in order to plunge us into eternal mourning. We will not mourn, we will not forget or forgive!"
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60 Minutes of Lies: Rebuttal of CBS Story
Hussein Al-Shaharastani was NEVER in a nuclear weapons program
Large Landowner's Land was Distributed by Saddam: Worked for pro-Iran Group.

If you watched the 60 Minutes interview with Hussein Al-Shaharastani, it was one HUGE LIE.

My husband and I knew Husain Al Shaharastani and his wife Berniece Coleman Al-Shaharastani in the 60s and 70s in Iraq. I used to teach with Berniece at Thanawiat Baghdad fi Mansour. Berniece used to teach the first and second class English but she has a BSc in Biology from Canada. (I don't remember the name of the university she graduated from, though.) She was a good friend of mine and we visited each other often. She had 3 daughters named Zainab, Fatma and Ruqaya before I left Baghdad in 1976. She has had at least 2 more children since then. Her husband has a MSc in Petroleum Engineering and a PhD in Nuclear Physics. He used to do nuclear research in medicine. I was asked to participate in one of his research projects which was to measure the amount of mercury and DDT in the body. I was asked to contribute hair samples for that project. The nuclear research facility he worked at was called the Takathariya. Hussein Shaharastani is from Kerbala. He is the son of the second wife of a wealthy landowner. His family used to own 12,000 donums in Kerbala and his father was known as a religious leader and a Shia sheikh. His father died while Hussein was still young as his father was quite old when he married Hussein's mother. When the Baathist Party came into power, they seized the land and distributed it to the share croppers who were working on the land. However, Huseain felt a need to continue a relationship with his former sharecroppers and would make frequent trips to Kerbala on Shia holidays. He was very bitter about the seizure of his property and the subsequent loss of status of his family. Husain Al-Shaharastani rose quickly in the Baathist Party and was soon working out of the Presidential Palace in Baghdad as a favored "son" of Saddam. However, Hussein was also a member of Hezba Dawa, a Shia terrorist group that was supported by Khomeni whose aim was to violently overthrow the Baath Party in Iraq. The Hezba Dawa staged demonstrations and planted bombs in the universities.

It seems that Husain disguised himself with a beard and an imama (shia hat) and participated in a pro-Iranian/anti-Baath demonstration. The demonstration was filmed by the Baath Party and Husain Al-Shaharastani was identified. When he showed up at the Presidential Palace the next day, he was shown the film and then he was thrown into jail. That was in 1978 or 1979 just before the Iraq/Iran war.

In 1980, the Israelis bombed the French built nuclear reactor which was a research facility only. At that time, it was estimated that Iraq was at least 10 years away from developing any nuclear weapons. Hussein Al-Shaharastani was NEVER in a nuclear weapons program as he claimed on 60 Minutes. He was doing medical research. He wasn't put in jail for refusing to develop nuclear weapons. He was jailed for being a member of the Iranian terrorist group, the Hezba Dawa which had planted bombs in Mustansaria University. He was working for Iran and was planning insurrection in Iraq. He was caught.

He also couldn't know about any secret underground tunnels as he claimed on 60 Minutes as he was jailed before Israel bombed the nuclear reactor in 1980. At the time he was employed in medical research, there was no need for underground tunnels. The whole 60 Minutes story was a fabrication of the INC (the Iraqi National Congress) which is headed by Ahmad Chelabi. Ahmad Chelabi is wanted both in Jordan and Morocco for committing bank fraud. It appears that Ahmad Chelabi is now supporting the former Iranian spy and Iraqi traitor Husain Al-Shaharastani. And since this whole episode is well known in Iraq, I am assuming that 60 Minutes is fully aware of the truth and is perpetuating another fraudon the American public. As for Berniece, she continued working at Thanawiat Baghdad fi Mansour after her husband went to jail. She then disappeared from Iraq. Rumor had it that she was in Iran with the Iranian half of the Shaharastani family. She couldn't take her children back to Canada as Canada has a rule that the children born in the country of the foreign parent become the citizens of the country in which they are born. I am glad to see that she and her children are safe in London. But I am very upset that she has become embroiled in a plot to invade Iraq and made to seem to be confirming the lies her husband espoused on 60 Minutes. [Writer's name withheld on request.]
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2003-02-26 Wed 08:18ct