Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 22, 2003

The explosion of car bombs in front of the UN office in Baghdad, in front of the Mosul police, and an explosion beside a cinema in Mosul that showed obscene films left a number of people dead and injured. In Baghdad, Samarra, and Baqubah, American forces were attacked, and in Basra, demonstrations were held against the British.

In England, [David Blunkett], the Home Secretary, said that the Labour Party's heavy defeat in the Brent by-election was a disaster for the party, because 96 percent of its supporters had voted for another party.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban say they have captured four cities, and some newspapers have written that [Pervez] Musharraf, [the President of Pakistan], is trying to strengthen the Taliban and has ordered that [Osama] bin Laden, [the leader of al-Qaeda], not be pursued, and some believe he has coordinated this with the United States; they cite the inclusion of a group of Pashtuns in Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense as evidence.

Mr. [Mohammad] Masjed-Jamei, Iran's new ambassador to Morocco, came to say goodbye and said that your speech at the ambassadors' seminar had attracted considerable attention.

Mr. [Qodratollah] Alikhani, [the representative of Buin Zahra], came. He said that serious disagreements had emerged within the [Combatant] Clerics Assembly because of the positions of Mr. [Mehdi] Karroubi, [the Speaker of Parliament and the Assembly's Secretary-General], and that some members no longer participate. They also disagree over an alliance with the radical Second of Khordad faction, and Mr. Karroubi is upset with Mr. Khatami, [the President], for not consulting him regarding the recent ten-point proposals submitted to the Supreme Leader.

The [members] of the committee commemorating the martyrs of the Masjed Jame' district of Qom came and sought assistance for their work. At noon, a group of Basij members from government offices—who had walked from Jamaran to the Supreme Leader's residence—came. I performed the congregational prayer with them and gave a few words of encouragement.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Reza] Aqanouri, [head of the Center for Chemical Research and Military Injuries], came. We discussed establishing a committee to defend chemical warfare victims, helping identify known victims, and a biological defense program.

Ayatollah Montazeri, who has recently begun teaching in the Hosseiniyeh next to his home, has been giving frequent interviews and explicitly rejects the intervention of the Guardian Jurist in the country's affairs and denies the Guardian Council's right to disqualify election candidates; an issue that he himself had been instrumental in introducing into the Constitution. He has also condemned the occupation of the U.S. embassy and called for restoring relations with the United States. Mr. Hossein Khomeini, [Imam Khomeini's grandson], who has gone from Iraq to the United States, is expressing views similar to those of Ayatollah Montazeri.