I would like to speak about several subjects in this sermon. The first one is about the elections. Thank God, they were successful, good, happy. A great work has been achieved. It was a difficult confrontation, not between the candidates, but between the revolution and its enemies; i.e. between those who have been our enemy since the first day of the revolution and continue to be so today, and this innocent and lonely, but powerful and God-reliant, revolution.
A very powerful psychological warfare took place in the one year leading up to the elections. The Americans and some other Western places lit the fire of this warfare. Their main objective was that either their intended candidates should come out of the ballot box, or that people should boycott the elections. Either of these objectives would have been a victory for them. Naturally, the first one was their main objective, i.e. they thought they can create an atmosphere through which their intended candidates could go to the Majles. However, the truly vigilant, intelligent and wise participation of our people managed to thwart this extremely powerful wave of propaganda which was pursued by the imperialist media. They safeguard the country from the storm.
We should truly congratulate our people for being so intelligent, so trustworthy, so tactful. A great work has been done. Naturally, we should not forget the grace of God. There are things which are beyond our control. God Almighty provides them. I do not want to discuss who has been elected and who has not been elected, or what were the differences between the rival forces. I simply refer to vigilance and wakefulness of our people who entered the scene on time. The heart of the matter is evident in the words of Mr George Bush. It is strange that they sometimes say things which become historic evidence for the seekers of truth. He said "we are disappointed and discontented with the election results in Iran." (Congregation chants: "God is Great," "Khamene'i is the leader," "Death to the opponents of the Guardian Jurisconsult," "Death to Hypocrites," "Death to Israel," and other indistinct chants)
He spoke the truth - either unwittingly or deliberately. We do not know about their affairs, so we cannot say why such confessions were made. It is very strange that the next day George Tenet, the director of CIA, went to the Senate - basically admitting that they had made certain mistakes regarding Iran. He said that they had thought that either those favored by America would be elected, or Iran would experience certain popular unrest, undermining the system. This is a very important confession - part of which has been published. They are very careful in releasing news and never reveal their secrets. However, they admitted this much.
He (Tenet) also suggested that the opposition groups could not play a part in the power structure anymore, but the emphasis should now shift to NGOs and unions such as teachers and workers. He suggested that a new front should be set up in Iran aimed at generating fresh opposition, enabling them to achieve their goals. This is a very important issue. We must carefully study, discuss and analyze this, trying to find out what they are really after.
They speak of democracy. Well, democracy means the people's vote - determining the fate of the country by a popular vote. Why were they disappointed when the people rushed to the polling stations? They should have instead realized that we were successful. This is what democracy means. Popular vote means majority vote. They will continue to make accusations, describing the process as illegal, irreligious and unjust. They have always made such claims from the start. They even described our overwhelmingly successful referendum as being imposed. When asked what part of it was imposed, they replied that we had manipulated the public view. They consider our people ignorant. And that is how they deal with the people. They have the audacity to claim to the promoters of democracy.
(Congregation chants: "Death to America")
Of course, peoples' participation in the elections could have been more than this. If it was not for the internal irrational bickering and sulking of some of the revolution forces, perhaps more people would have participated and it would have been better. However, the analysis should be done under these conditions. I am surprised that the media is not taking into account in their calculations that when we say so many people are eligible to vote we include the population of Iranians residing abroad because we work out the total from the number of birth certificates. They all have Iranian birth certificate and their IDs are registered in our data bank but they are not in Iran. Even the Hajj or Karbala pilgrims and others should be included. If you eliminate these groups of people and only count the core of the eligible people, we have still had a high percentage of participation. We still enjoy a higher proportion (of participation) compared to America and Europe and countries who have experienced and practiced democracy for two hundred years, where people know that they should vote. They can not say that people of Iran are indifferent. This claim does not add up and they know it. The day I went to vote, a western female reporter asked me what would I do if the number of votes reached so many, if the people come. It was still early in the morning. I responded if worse comes to the worst it will be like America, where less than 50 per cent of people participated and the president won with only 25 per cent of the vote after a court verdict. That gentleman (Bush) is now the forerunner for democracy, so he claims. Well in that case we will be the forerunners for democracy and shout slogans just as he does. However this is unlikely to happen in Iran. These discussions always take place around election time and people take part in the elections. But of course we believe that we have room for more active participation by the people as long as all the preparations for the elections include measures to guarantee the presence of people, which, God willing, we should be careful about in the future. This is one issue.
The second issue that I want to speak about is this: What are we going to do today? People did vote, they proved their loyalty, their intelligence, their support, and they acted accordingly. What are we going to do now? A single word is enough for the future. The gentlemen (candidates) had raised certain points in their slogans and programs. Their points were more or less the same. Most of them stressed common issues. They all spoke about development, progress, people's welfare, the fight against poverty, the fight against unemployment, the fight against inflation. There was little reference to pompous political slogans. Of course, they also have a duty towards these (political issues). We should be all very careful with political issues because they are the foundation for the management of social affairs. They should not be neglected. And many of them spoke about unity. The groups got together and referred to themselves as fronts. I think in the context of the enemies that we face, the conditions that we have in the region and the conditions that we have inside the country, our path is clear. We are in a situation where we can carry out the promises that our deputies have made.
In terms of the infrastructure the conditions in the country are good today. The country's infrastructure has been created and should be gradually completed. However, they are sufficient to meet our current needs. There are sufficient amounts of water, electricity, gas, oil, fuel, communication systems, steel, cement, building material, roads, ports, transport systems, all the things that you can imagine, for a decent living in the country. There is the education system, universities, schools, cultural and artistic debates. If we manage these things properly they can be good enough.
We do not have the foreign currency limitations that we had previously. We have foreign currency reserves. We have definite oil revenues. I think it is unlikely that the price of oil will go down further in the current circumstances. This revenue is very valuable for us. And we can gradually export things too. Until a few years ago our export capacity was limited. Today, we have great productivity and we can export things. We have little need for imports. We do not need to spend our foreign currency unless we want to change our foreign currency into the rial. Only then we import things. Therefore, things are going well. (Passage omitted: similar remarks about the soundness of the economy) The result of all these things is economic boom, country's development and progress, employment for all members of the family. Finally, the only thing which will remain is the case of poor people who need support. This requires a full social security system like the ones in developed countries. It is possible to guarantee food, housing, health, education and income, at an acceptable level, through a social security system. We have the necessary resources in our country.
Therefore, we should make certain that those people who have pinned their hopes on these slogans will not lose heart. God willing, we can strengthen cooperation between the government, the Majles and other state organs. We know our capacity, because the leadership has drafted the country's 20-year prospects. We know our goal and where we are heading.
The Fourth Five-year Development Plan, which is currently in front of the Majles, is based on the same policies. I think that we have a clear path ahead of us and have the necessary capabilities. I think the energy spent by some people on fighting and disputing each other should instead be invested in cooperation with one another. Of course political rivalries are quite appropriate in a free country - no-one is opposing criticism. Freedom of expression is a must. Everyone must be able to express their views. But this does not translate into freedom to fighting, throwing insults and siding with foreigners and enemies. I am speaking about what our country needs in order to develop and progress. Our foreign policy is rather clear. We have been pursuing detente for many years. We would like to work with everyone. We would like to establish mutual understanding with everyone except with those who insist on remaining antagonistic towards us such as America and Israel. The rest of the world keeps its gates open to everyone. And in turn the gate of our country is open to them - should they wish to work with our Iran. God willing, this will happen. (Crowd chants: "Khamene'i, God will save you")
We have two or three issues to discuss here. We should remember those who gave their lives in the service of the revolution - such as martyr Mahalati and his compatriots whose airplane was shot down by the Ba'thist regime of Iraq. We offer our deepest sentiments to the family and friends of those honorable men. These days also mark the anniversary of the bombing of Imam Reza (Shiite eight Imam) shrine (in Mashhad). So, it would be appropriate at this point, to direct our comments to America.
We know that those who exploded the bomb enjoyed the protection of America. America is therefore lying when it claims to be fighting terrorists. I am prompted to speak about this issue by the report submitted in the last day or two by the State Department to the Congress on human rights around the globe. I would like to enter the discussion from this angle.
The report accuses most of the countries around the world of violating human rights. They have buried their heads in the sand, refusing to admit to their own crimes. They either cannot see or deliberately close their eyes. They have closed their ears and open their mouths, failing to see the truth. They refuse to reflect on their own actions. We find their claims to be the defenders of human rights as distasteful. I can provide you with a list. Let us look at their actions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There are hundreds of prisoners there, gathered by Americans from all over the world. No-one has been able to see them for two years. They are neither considered as (war) captives, therefore not entitled to be visited by the Red Cross, nor are they classified as regular prisoners, consequently not afforded defense lawyers. Their legal conditions are not clear. How can we explain America's injustice? How can a country with such disgusting record defend human rights?
The terrorists who are at the service of America are an example of what America does and then calls "fight against terrorism." The terrorists who exploded the shrine of Imam Reza and killed many people. People who had come to the shrine to pay their respect were killed or injured. The same terrorists are under the support of America. America is supporting them in America and in Iraq. What kind of support for human rights is this? Look at what America is doing to the Red Indians in its own land. American Red Indians are the owners of America. They (the first travelers) went from Spain, England, France and other countries to America, took those lands and created this great civilization of America on the ruins of the Red-Indians' possessions. They (Americans) took the black people as slaves from across Africa to America. A great number of them were killed in the workshops and the remaining blacks now form a population of 40m in America. They are committing the worst possible prejudices against the blacks and Red-Indians. And now America wants to be the forerunner in safeguarding human rights in other parts (of the world). America with its record of (treating its) prisoners is supporting prisoners in other countries. America wants to support justice and fairness in other countries while it exercises prejudice. America's behavior in Iraq shows its lack of responsibility. If someone gets killed in the street, there is no authority to complain to. There is no court to investigate, no one is answerable. They (the Americans) are selling the wealth of the Iraqi people by exporting and selling huge quantities of oil and are not answering to anyone as to how they are spending this money. It (America) then uses human rights as a means to condemn Iran, China or any other state.
How many people are being martyred or wounded everyday in Palestine? How many houses are being destroyed and how many people are being arrested? There are thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and no-one hears about them. America is responsible for all these things. With a population of only several million Zionists Israel is not able to behave so unjustly towards the Islamic world. Israel is doing this with American support. The blood of all these innocent people is dripping from the teeth and claws of this entity, and so how can it raise the flag of justice, human rights and democracy? In the past several hundred years, America has supported many dictators, despots, imposed regimes and coups every year. How can it be a supporter of democracy? We have to put this claimant in its place. But their loud cries and our weak voice is not appropriate to the situation. We and other nations should speak our mind and America should awaken and see its own failures before speaking about other people. I think it is sufficient to say that America has been a supporter of terrorism. All the terrorists that are in the world today were created by American money, policy and support. (Congregation chants: "Death to America")
You know very well, and the Americans know better than anyone else, they created the Taliban in Afghanistan in order to fight Iran. They created the Al-Qa'ida in order to put them against the forces of the revolution in Iran. And, yes, because they were Muslim and because they had religious zeal, they soon identified America as the criminal and they turned their guns against it. America created all these groups, they promoted them.
We also know that the Americans strengthened the Monafeqin (the Hypocrites, i.e. the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization). At the beginning the organization had sincere aims but CIA elements imposed themselves on the organization and diverted the group. They put the organization under the control of Saddam and Europe. Today, as you know, America has been in Iraq for a year, and these notorious terrorists are under their control but they have not taken a single step against them. They are being entertained in the name of being disarmed. What form of anti-terrorism is this? Who is going to believe what they say? We, for one, do not believe in what they say. We know the roots (of this group). We know the dossier of this group from the start. The Americans are just making baseless claims. (Passage omitted: remarks about the tragedy of Ashura, and recitations ending the sermon)
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