Senior Iranian cleric urges Iraqis to participate in elections

Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tehran
17 Dec 04

Secretary of the Guardian Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told
worshippers at Tehran Friday prayers that if Iraqis want to get
rid of oppression and dictatorship, “they should participate in the
elections” and “vote in ample numbers to those who care for the Iraqi
people”. The following are excerpts from the sermon, broadcast live
by Iranian radio on 17 December:

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Passage omitted:
on religious matters

What can we say about the Ahvaz festival? Of whom should we complain?
However, it is clear who those people are. Have we got to the point
that we should import dancers from abroad? Haven’t we reached
self-sufficiency yet? Should we import dancers from Armenia and
elsewhere? What is going on in this country?

This is not the first time. The same has happened in other festivals
and they did not listen to the objections made. Similar banal scenes
have been there in ten-day dawn festivals ceremonies celebrating the
anniversary of Iran’s Revolution . I would like to warn them right
now since we have the ten-day dawn ceremonies ahead of ourselves,
it you want to do the same, you should know that the people will
encounter you.

Ethical deviation and banality is one issue. There has as well been
a lot of waste of public wealth. This is the money that should have
been spent on those who are homeless and sleep in the streets. I hope
that the statistics on those who sleep in the streets on the cartons
and die of cold is not true. The money that should be spent on those
people the homeless is being spent on them dancers . This is just one
issue, while there are plenty of such wastes. If there were not such
wastes, there would have not been even one homeless.

They officials would have made a place for them the homeless to sleep
and not to die on the streets.

God helps us if one day we open the dams in the name of freedom, but
fail to fortify the dikes. The water will wash everything away. If
the dams’ gates are to be opened, the dikes should be fortified to
prevent the water’s destruction. Let me not explain any further. We
hope that God would save us all from ignorance. Passage omitted:
on Hajj pilgrimage and ongoing reconstruction following Bam earthquake

And my last point is about Iraq. You know that the elections are
imminent and the American crimes are ever-increasing. They drop 250 kg
bombs on the people. I do not really know what they want to do with
these people. What sin they have committed that their women, men,
children, elderly, sick and healthy should all be burnt and killed
under bombings. Slogans chanted by the worshippers: “Death to America”

At any rate, we expect the noble and Muslim people of Iraq to be
mindful of clear realities. They should know that America is facing
Islam rather than the Shi’is, Sunnis, Kurds or Arabs and it will
indiscriminately repress all. They should also know that if they want
to have a relatively promising future they should participate in the
elections. They should vote in ample numbers to those who care for
the Iraqi people and not others. The oppressed Iraqi people who got
rid of the former dictator, just to face a worse dictator.

If they the Iraqi people would not be able to fend for themselves,
the result would be the dominance of dictators, as it is now. The way
out is to create a popular power in the form of a strong parliament to
take the fate of the country into its hands. However, the religious
scholars have a substantial role to play in this regard. They should
have a comprehensive supervision over the elections.

A lot of cheating and vote riggings may take place. Things may be
done to prevent the people from achieving their optimal result. They
should therefore be ready for what may come. Passage omitted: on
final prayer of the sermon