Chrenkoff

It's hard to sit here without picturing the double-decker with its roof peeled off. But people are getting on with it. Virgin Radio is playing a series of audience requests -- 'I'm Still Standing', 'I Get Knocked Down Then I Get Up Again', and even -- in history's first recorded use of a Blondie song as a counter-terrorism anthem -- 'One Way or Another...I'm Going To Get You'.

I switch to BBC Radio Four and the momentary euphoria fades. To the cheers of the British middle classes in some suburban Town Hall, pop producer Brian Eno is explaining how we brought this on ourselves because 'We allied ourselves to America, which has done nothing but destroy liberty and antagonise Moslems'.

'Which Moslems?' I want to shout. 'The millions who voted in Iraq, the millions more who yearn for our freedoms in Iran, or who marched so bravely in Beirut?' Of course not. He means the ones he had read about in the Guardian and the Independent. But I'm sad to say that Eno reflects what most of my left-of-centre TV friends have been saying for years. How did the poison ever go so deep into the British Intelligencia?

Still, Hitchens is on fire in the Daily Mirror, that old tabloid stalwart of the British popular left that has abandoned Bush-bashing for a couple of days.

What are Eno and the other antiwar writers and pop stars really doing? Grovelling at the feet of those who despise the culture that he and I and everyone else on this bus love, the one we celebrated in Hyde Park on Saturday, a thousand years ago. And the people who blew up the tubes and buses yesterday? They despise that world -- his world -- of fun, freedom, hope, love, sex, drugs and rock n roll. I switch back to Virgin and I find myself whispering along [I'm British after all] to the Clash:

'London calling to the faraway towns,
Now war is declared - and battle come down'.

Please make it true.

Taking into account the absolute cost of raising children from 0 to 18 for a typical high-income family with a combined annual income of $150,000 or more, plus income sacrificed by the parent with primary responsibility for the child, the total cost of raising a first child in Sydney is, for the first time, more than one million dollars: $1,032,600, to be precise.

The figure emerges from two pieces of research: Henman's study shows more than $607,000 in spending in Sydney on a range of child-rearing expenses, including housing, electricity, food, clothing, childcare and household goods and services until the child reaches 18. Breusch and Gray's analysis identifies $425,000 in forgone income for university-educated parents in Sydney and Melbourne, including the short- and long-term effects of career interruption...

Henman has found even families on combined incomes in the middle range of about $70,000 a year spend between $240,000 and $280,000 on direct child-rearing costs. Add to this the income sacrificed by the secondary-educated parent with primary responsibility for a child, and even middle-income families face a bill of more than $550,000 over the lifetime of their first child in Sydney and Melbourne, and between $505,000 and $533,000 in the other capitals.

"I am very flattered even to be mentioned in the same sentence as the Supreme Court," Judge Judy told me through a spokesman...

When asked point-blank if she'd like to be considered for the job, Judge Judy dodged the question.

"I prefer not to rule by committee," she said.

Yeah, and I bet she'd also prefer not to give up her $30 million annual salary, but that's not the same as saying she wouldn't do it if the President called.

On your BEST day you're not as smart as I am on my worst day.

I'm here because I'm smart, not because I'm young and gorgeous... although I am!

This is my courtroom I can say what I want. When you become a Judge, we will talk.

The attack in London, tragic as it is, is a direct result of Bush and Blair losing interest in pursuing al-Qaeda. They followed their own agenda when they went to Iraq, knowing full well that there was no connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

Bush and Blair both lost interest in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is now in resurgence. Both failed to take any action whatsoever against Saudi Arabia or Egypt which is where the 9/11 hijackers came from. They both forged an alliance with Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is apparently being hid, and orchestrating present terrorist attacks.

Had we stayed in Afghanistan, spent the billions necessary to rebuild that war torn nation, and aggressively pursued Bin Laden and crew, much of what is a real terrorist threat could have been nipped in the bud.

("As Brits, we'll carry on - it doesn't scare us at all," said 37-year-old tour guide Michael Cahill. "Look, loads of people are walking down the streets. It's Great Britain - not called 'Great' for nothing"...

Computer technician Matt Carter, 25, said he was struck by how the attacks had united Londoners.

"It's amazing how people have stuck together. I've seen total strangers hugging each other and people coming out into the street with free cups of tea," he said.

"We can't let the terrorists defeat us. We've got to show them they will never win.")

I expected some grief, at least as much as there was when Lady Di died. And grief I got. I interviewed three very ordinary, normal teenaged English Muslims, one with short spiky hair (dressed not unlike my 10 year-old-dude). All three seem to be parroting Muslim talking points. "The bombings were a conspiracy by Blair to generate support for the war," they recited in a charming British accent.

The bombers were quite indiscriminate. Edgware is not far from the heart of Little Beirut, a Muslim ethnic neighborhood.

A young British black woman told me, "The bombings are Tony Blair's fault - they killed a 100 thousand Iraqis - and it's like a boomerang [coming back at the British]." Most everyone I talked to believed that the British caused the bombing or had it coming.

Of the dozen or so people I interviewed only white males in business attire expressed surprise that anyone would think the British were at fault in anyway. But these gentlemen were the minority. Most felt that the Brits were complicit. The people at London's ground zero were sounding like the "wobbly" Spanish after their train bombings.

Some will attempt to blame Tony Blair's government for bringing this horror to our capital. The people who set these bombs expect this reaction. They saw it in Madrid, and they crave it in London.

They must get the reverse. Under Blair's leadership Britain has taken its place in a war against Islamofascism, against the bombers of New York, Bali and Beslan, against those who believe that their love of death is stronger than our love of life. We saw that love clearly displayed last Saturday at 'Live 8' in one of this city's great parks - striking proof of this young, diverse nation's desire to engage with and assist the wider world.

We are right to be in this war, and right to work with progressive forces in the Islamic world who want a life free from tyranny, totalitarianism and the cult of death - such as the millions who voted in Iraq, such as the millions who today yearn for freedom in Iran. Together with our Moslem allies we must redouble our efforts - and, yes, our troop deployments - so that we can isolate and destroy Bin Ladenism wherever it chooses to make a stand, and send the clerical fascists back to the dark ages.

But many people will blame Tony Blair. Some of them have spent years saying that there is no real terror threat anyway, that the war is something worthy of inverted commas, something got up by the American right for its own dark purposes. Let yesterday prove that they were wrong. Let yesterday prove that 60 years after defeating another brand of this same poison, Londoners and Britons of all faiths and backgrounds can still see clearly who their enemies are, and refuse to bow the knee.

Been watching the news casts all day and I must say I'm really tired of hearing how this was a "well planned attack" or a "well coordinated attack" or was done by "skilled, well trained terrorists."

What is so damn hard about telling a few crazies "here's a bomb, set it off in a bus or subway around eight o'clock AM on such a such day"? A troop of cub scouts could have pulled this off! All you need is one guy to get the bombs rigged and a bunch of crazies to plant them. And since these bombs went off over a period of time, and apparently set with timers, instead of simultaneously, they could have been dropped by just one or two people. Why do we make it sound as if these scum are so smart, so skilled, so well trained? Why make them bigger than they are? Why stroke their egos with such praise?

No one can condone acts of violence aimed at working people going about their daily lives. They have not been a party to, nor are they responsible for, the decisions of their government. They are entirely innocent and we condemn those who have killed or injured them.

The loss of innocent lives, whether in this country or Iraq, is precisely the result of a world that has become a less safe and peaceful place in recent years.

We have worked without rest to remove the causes of such violence from our world. We argued, as did the Security Services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the government ignoring such warnings.

Workers in the city of London are still trying to take in what has happened. And almost every pub around Liverpool Street is packed with people wanting to watch the One o' clock news.

At the East India Arms, a small pub on Fenchurch Street, bankers quietly sipped their pints of Young's bitter while listening to the news and watching the pictures of how their city has been changed. Those in the pub were recounting tales of the morning's events, some of them speculative, much of it rumour. When the prime minister's statement came up on the news the pub almost immediately fell silent.

However, the strange thing is that despite this terrible attack, there really is an air of people just trying to get on with things. As soon as the prime minister stopped talking, the pub erupted in conversation with all the usual talking points - contracts, deadlines and projects.

Al-Qaida terrorists today claimed responsibility for the London blasts on an Islamic website and said that “Britain is burning with fear”.

The unverified claim, made on the Al-Qal’ah – Fortress – internet site, was posted by a group calling themselves the Secret Organisation Group of Al-Qa’ida of Jihad Organisation in Europe.

The message, posted this morning, said: “The heroic mujahidin have carried out a blessed raid in London.

“Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.”

Israel was not warned about possible terror attacks in London before at least six blasts ripped through the city, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said today.

A Foreign Ministry official had said earlier that British police warned the Israeli Embassy in London of possible terror attacks minutes before the first explosion.

“There was no early information about terrorist attacks,” Shalom told Israel Army Radio. “After the first explosion an order was given that no one move until things become clear.”

Israel was holding an economic conference in a hotel over the underground stop where one of the blasts occurred. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to attend the conference, but “after the first explosion our finance minister received a request not to go anywhere,” Shalom said.

A bus was ripped apart in an explosion in central London today and several blasts rocked the Tube network leaving dozens of people injured.

A full search of the house yielded the following items: one U.S. body armor vest, two load-bearing vests for AK-47 rifles, eight rocket-propelled grenade triggers, one RPG pouch, one detonator, four AK-47s, two improvised RPG/rocket launchers, two 82mm mortars, two 82mm mortar tripods, 20 rocket primers, 11 RPG propellants, three RPGs, 17 grenade fuses, 12 AK-47 magazines, four AK-47 stocks, an expended 1,000-round RPK belt, more than 1,000 RPK rounds (both expended and live), 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a large amount of propaganda materials, various improvised explosive device-making materials, welding supplies, two 60mm mortars, one 60mm mortar tripod, 10 grenades, one modified ammo box, three new Iraqi Police uniforms, three bullet-proof windows and one rifle scope.

Task Force Baghdad soldiers caught a man red-handed trying to detonate a roadside bomb along a highway south of the city. The military said soldiers patrolling in south Baghdad at around 2 a.m. [July 3] noticed two sets of wires leading to the side of a highway. The patrol followed the wires to a bunker with an overhead cover and found a man with a spool of wire inside.

Task Force Liberty soldiers detained five suspects, three of whom were arrested after soldiers followed a trail of wires from the roadside to a house near Duluiyah on June 27. The soldiers searched the house and found three AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, small-arms ammunition, a suitcase of Iraqi currency, and 25 identification cards.

The Iraqi Soldiers secured the site to keep everyone away from the bomb and called in a team of explosives experts. When the team investigated they found four mortar rounds, one land mine and a radio with wire connected to the car. The explosives team safely detonated the car bomb.

The trigger was the assassination of a tribal sheikh, from the Sulaiman tribe, ordered by Zarqawi for inviting senior US marines for lunch. American troops gained an insight into the measures the jihadists had imposed during recent house-to-house searches in nearby towns and villages.

Shops selling music and satellite dishes had been closed. Women were ordered to wear all-enveloping clothing and men forbidden from wearing western clothes.

Anyone considered to be aiding coalition forces was being killed or kidnapped. That included those with links to the government - seen as a US puppet - such as water or electricity officials. As a result local services had collapsed.

Before plunging into Iraq, U.S. psychological-warfare operators studied certain cultural stereotypes. One was that young Arab toughs cannot tolerate insults to their manhood. So, as American armored columns pushed down the road to Baghdad, 400-watt loudspeakers mounted on Humvees would, from time to time, blare out in Arabic that Iraqi men are impotent. The Fedayeen, the fierce but undisciplined and untrained Iraqi irregulars, could not bear to be taunted. Whether they took the bait or saw an opportunity to attack, many Iraqis stormed out of their concealed or dug-in positions, pushing aside their human shields in some cases—to be slaughtered by American tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.

On July 2, 2005, Al-Arabiya TV broadcast a report on an Iranian movement of suicide bombers with the aim of targeting Americans in Iraq and Israel. The volunteers said they wanted to carry out martyrdom operations to liberate Islamic lands and stated that so far 40,000 "time bombs" have been recruited.

According to the chairman and spokesman of The World Islamic Organization's Headquarters for Remembering the Shahids, Mohammad 'Ali Samedi, his organization began recruiting suicide bombers about a year and a half ago... Since then, he has engaged in organizing conventions, registering volunteer suicide bombers online, and providing guidance and training for martyrdom operations.

Palestinians - even terrorists - generally prefer life in what they call the "Zionist entity." This pattern became especially clear twice when a chunk of territory - eastern Jerusalem in 2000 and part of the Galilee "Triangle" in 2004 - was slated for transfer to PA control. In both cases, the Palestinians involved clung to Israel.

When Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak's diplomacy raised the prospect, in mid-2000, of some Arab-majority parts of Jerusalem being transferred to the PA, a Palestinian social worker found "an overwhelming majority" of Jerusalem's 200,000 Arabs choosing to remain under Israeli control. A member of the Palestinian National Council, Fadal Tahabub, specified that number: 70 percent, he said, preferred Israeli sovereignty. Another politician, Husam Watad, described people as "in a panic" at the prospect of finding themselves under PA rule...

In the Galilee Triangle, a Palestinian-majority area in the north of the country, just 30% of Israel's Arab population, according to a May 2001 survey, agreed to some of the Galilee Triangle being annexed to a future Palestinian state, meaning that a large majority preferred to remain in Israel. By February 2004, when the Sharon government released a trial balloon about giving the PA control over the Galilee Triangle, the Haifa-based Arab Center for Applied Social Research found the number had jumped to 90%. And 73% of Triangle Arabs said they would use violence to prevent changes in the border.

A full search of the house yielded the following items: one U.S. body armor vest, two load-bearing vests for AK-47 rifles, eight rocket-propelled grenade triggers, one RPG pouch, one detonator, four AK-47s, two improvised RPG/rocket launchers, two 82mm mortars, two 82mm mortar tripods, 20 rocket primers, 11 RPG propellants, three RPGs, 17 grenade fuses, 12 AK-47 magazines, four AK-47 stocks, an expended 1,000-round RPK belt, more than 1,000 RPK rounds (both expended and live), 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a large amount of propaganda materials, various improvised explosive device-making materials, welding supplies, two 60mm mortars, one 60mm mortar tripod, 10 grenades, one modified ammo box, three new Iraqi Police uniforms, three bullet-proof windows and one rifle scope.

"There is no doubt that if the real intention of the Iranian authorities is to reach capability to attain nuclear weapons [then] it would be greatest threat to peace not only in this part of the world... but theoretically it can be the greatest threat to world peace...

"With all due respect to the UN, there are too many examples of ineffective action by the UN to trust sending the Iranian case to the security council... We should not overestimate this procedure."

They came out of charity. They left with booming record sales.

The galaxy of rock stars who took part in Live 8 concerts on Saturday to help beat the curse of poverty have seen their records fly off the shelves in British music stores, proving that cash balances as well as consciences were the winner.

According to HMV, one of Britain's main record retailers with 200 stores nationwide, Pink Floyd's Echoes album posted a staggering 1343 per cent increase in sales on Sunday compared with the same day a week ago...

Next came The Who's Then & Now, with an increase of 863 per cent, Annie Lennox's Eurythmics Greatest Hits (500 per cent) and Dido's Life For Rent (412 per cent).

"Let's join hands as wealthy industrialised nations and say to the world, 'We are going to get rid of all our agricultural subsidies together.' We are willing to do so and we will do so with our fine friends in the European Union."

President Bush's comments show he is prepared to show real leadership in addressing global poverty, and I urge EU leaders to follow suit...

Debt forgiveness and aid are admirable but it is time the world's leaders attacked one of the major causes of poverty - agricultural protectionism.

Oxfam argues that total subsidies to farmers in rich countries, particularly in the EU and the US, amount to around US$300 billion a year -– more than the combined income of 1.2 billion of the world's poorest people.

Government support in both the EU and the US totals $180 billion. As a percentage of farm income, 33% of it is government support in the EU, and 18% in the US. Australia provides just 4% or $1.1 billion.

The poll, conducted by the Roper Reports unit of NOP World, is based on personal and telephone interviews over several years. It found that 81 percent of Americans believed patriotism is "in," meaning it is an important factor in their individual identities, compared with 14 percent of Americans who believed patriotism is "out."

The Roper/NOP poll found the gap was the widest since 1991, after the first Persian Gulf War, and far wider than during the mid- to late 1990s.

The poll also found that, African Americans and Hispanics are among those most inclined to have patriotic feelings. The survey found "virtually no difference between blacks' views and those of the nation as a whole."

Eighty percent of black Americans and 78 percent of Hispanics strongly identify themselves as patriotic, as well as 81 percent of white Americans, the poll found.

The pattern of support remains consistent, even allowing for distinctions along the great divide of politics. The survey found that "only 2 points separate the shares of Democrats from Republicans and liberals from conservatives."

Some 87 percent of baby boomers - the bloc of Americans demographers generally consider born between 1946 and 1964 - said patriotism is a central identifying fact of their lives. Seventy-eight percent of Generation Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, felt the same way.

And allow me, one very grateful Iraqi on this day, the 4th of July to congratulate all Americans on their independence day that I truly celebrate with them. It's not just out of gratitude but also because I believe it's more than an Independence Day for America, for by being free and independent, the American people gave so many other nations their independence, and thus I see it as an independence day for all the free around the world. Happy 4th of July America and thank you for all your help and sacrifices, not just for us Iraqis but all free people that you helped them get their freedom, and thank you for being the symbol of freedom that gives hope to all oppressed people around the world.

"I ain't got time to beef"...

"I'm thirtysomething years old with three kids at the pad and they're trying to see their daddy.

"It was me relaying to (other rappers) that the bangin' in the business ain't making us no money.

"This is the west coast. We built on gangsta, gangsta, gangsta, but sometimes we gotta know when to have peace."

"It's no accident that Blair has chosen Africa, where there is no ideological opposition... He is not talking about poverty in the Muslim world, not talking about Latin America because people are rising in revolution. The people of Bolivia have given their answer to the G8."

It may come as a surprise to Live 8 fans, but the top three reasons why most African countries are economic basket cases are not lack of aid, excessive debt service payments and protectionism by developed countries. They are in fact chronic misgovernment, recurrent civil war and the high incidence of diseases such as malaria and Aids. It is just possible that more aid, debt relief and freer trade could mitigate these problems. But experience is not encouraging.

Radio talk show hosts will be broadcasting their shows live from Baghdad, Iraq. In an effort to shed light on the "whole Iraq story," seven radio talk show hosts from across the United States are traveling to Baghdad from July 7 to 17, 2005.

Move America Forward, a non-partisan not-for-profit organization, is coordinating the trip for the talk show hosts with the U.S. Armed Forces Central Command...

Talk show hosts who will be making the trek to Baghdad include nationally syndicated talk show host, Dennis Prager (based at NewsTalk 870 KRLA - Los Angeles, CA); nationally syndicated talk show host Lars Larson (based from NewsRadio 750 KXL in Portand, OR); Melanie Morgan of powerhouse KSFO 560 AM (San Francisco); Mark Williams of Sacramento, CA's #1-rated radio station, KFBK 1530; Michael Graham of NewsTalk 630 WMAL (Washington, DC); Martha Zoller of Newstalk 550 WDUN (Atlanta-Gainesville, GA) as well as the RighTalk Radio Network; and Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson, host of "The Buzz Cut" on the RighTalk Radio Network.

"We're looking forward to taking our medium to Baghdad and blowing the lid off of the other half of the Iraq story that the mainstream media refuses to cover - success, progress, democracy and freedom," said Morgan.

"This is the most pathetic thing I've heard in a long time. They should be ashamed of themselves," Peter Beinart, editor of left-leaning The New Republic magazine, said.

"They have no idea what journalism is, and to pretend they are journalists is laughable," Beinart said. "You do not achieve victory by not facing reality. I think these are the kinds of people that will lead us to lose there...

Steve Rendall, senior analyst for Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting and author of "The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error," said with an attitude like that, the trip will probably be useless in terms of real news-making…

"If these talk show hosts are going over there to find good news no matter what, their trip is useless," he said. "It would be laughable if it wasn't as troubling as it is when they call it 'The Truth Tour.'"

Rendall said that such a pro-Bush administration mission might be inappropriately supported by taxpayer money, considering the delegation will be hosted on bases and brought over on military transport.

"If they were actually reporters out to tell the story, good, bad, warts and all, than it wouldn't be entirely objectionable," he said. "But if they are acting entirely as government propagandists, which seems to be the case here, it's improper."

Rendall noted it "bears comparison to the Armstrong Williams and the other instances" of government payment for good news, referring to conservative talk show host Williams, who was paid by the Department of Education to pump up school choice on his radio show in 2004.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday that a newspaper cannot be sued for printing a letter that suggested Americans respond to attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq by going to the nearest mosque and killing the first five Muslims they see.

The high court unanimously held that the letter to the editor was political speech protected by the First Amendment. It threw out a lawsuit accusing the Tucson Citizen of intentionally inflicting emotional distress on residents.

Two Tucson men had sued the Gannett Co. newspaper for unspecified damages after it ran the letter in 2003.

The letter frightened some area Muslims enough to keep their children home from religious schools, and protests poured into the newspaper.

Four days later, the Citizen ran an apology and said the letter's author had written a second letter to clarify that his comments referred only to military actions in combat zones.

Without [the new anti-vilification] laws, these men would have quietly given their church seminar on jihad three years ago to 250 fellow worshippers and none of us would have even known. But the laws changed everything.

They inspired the Equal Opportunity Commission to urge Muslims to complain, and one EOC employee, May Helou, even asked three converts from the Islamic Council of Victoria -- of which she was an official -- to drop in on the pastors' seminar.

So began a three-year prosecution against the pastors that has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Last December, Judge Higgins finally ruled that Scot in particular had offended by quoting the Koran in a way that got "a response from the audience at various times in the form of laughter". Is laughter now a crime?

Stranger still, he gave 13 examples of how Scot had "made fun of Muslim beliefs and conduct", at least eight of which involved him quoting the Koran, and, I believe, accurately. Yes, the Koran indeed authorises men to beat their wives. Yes, it indeed calls for thieving hands to be chopped off.

What did Scot say that was false? The judge listed just two trivial examples, but also said Scot hadn't made clear enough he was giving a literalist reading of the Koran that wasn't mainstream.

Did he? Isn't it? On such points, so deserving of debate, Scot was convicted of stating the wrong opinion.

But if the judgment was strange, so was the penalty.

Scot and Nalliah must now run four big advertisements, costing $70,000, in the Herald Sun and The Age, declaring they've been found guilty of bad-mouthing Muslims.

Oddly, these apologies must reach not just the 250 people who were at their seminar, but 2.5 million newspaper readers who weren't. Odder still, the judge ordered the pastors to never even imply what they'd said about the Koran. They are banned from speaking their mind not only in Victoria, but anywhere in Australia, where others are still free to say what they may not.

Not surprisingly, the pastors say they'd rather go to jail than comply.

President-elect opposed U.S. embassy seizure

Abbas Abdi, a fierce supporter of reforms in Iran who helped to orchestrate the raid on the embassy and the seizure of its staff after the Islamic revolution, said the former American hostages had poor memories.

"Ahmadinejad was not among those who occupied the American embassy after the revolution," said Abdi.

Mohsen Mirdamadi, a former reformist lawmaker and Hamid Reza Jalaeipoor, a reform-minded political activist, who had both taken part in the embassy seizure, rejected the Times report about Ahmadinejad's involvement.

"I deny such reports. Ahmadinejad was not a member of the radical students' group who seized the embassy," said Mirdamadi.

Seyyed Nejad was one of the members of the central council of the Office to Foster Unity (OFU)...

Q: Mr. Seyyed Nejad! You were one of first members of OFU in 1979. Who else was in the OFU Central Council?

A: The other members were Mohsen Mirdamadi from Polytechnique University, Ibrahim Asgharzadeh from Sharif University, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from the University of Science and Industry, and another man whose name I can not remember from Shahid Beheshti University.

Q: Is that right that Mr. Asgharzadeh and Mirdamadi had first proposed the plan to occupy the U.S. embassy in Tehran and you and Mr. Ahmadinejad disagreed with the idea?

A: Exactly.

He belonged to the ultra-conservative faction of the OSU [a different translation of the organization's name]. According to other OSU officials, when the idea of storming the U.S. embassy in Tehran was raised in the OSU central committee by Mahmoud Mirdamadi and Abbas Abdi, who later became leading figures in President Mohammad Khatami's faction, Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time.