Green Energy
A'JAD'S ENDLESS IRAQ DEBACLE
Amir Taheri - New York Post
March 8, 2008 -- IT had been billed as a "triumph" for the Islamic Republic and "a slap in the face of the American Great Satan." However, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day state visit to Iraq last weekend showed the limits of Iranian influence in the newly liberated country.
Weeks of hard work by Iranian emissaries and pro-Iran elements in Iraq were supposed to ensure massive crowds thronging the streets of Baghdad and throwing flowers on the path of the visiting Iranian leader. Instead, no more than a handful of Iraqis turned up for the occasion. The numbers were so low that the state-owned TV channels in Iran decided not to use the footage at all.
Instead, much larger crowds gathered to protest Ahmadinejad's visit. In the Adhamiya district of Baghdad, several thousand poured into the streets with cries of "Iranian aggressor, go home!"
The visit's highlight was supposed to be a pilgrimage to Karbala and Najaf, the "holiest" of Shiite cities in Iraq. There, Ahmadinejad was supposed to become the first Iranian government leader since 1976 to pray at the mausoleums of Imam Hussein and Imam Ali.
In the end, however, the tour was canceled amid reports that Shiite pilgrims, including thousands from Iran, were planning to demonstrate against his presence at the "holy" cities.
A more important reason motivated Ahmadinejad to drop his planned visits to Najaf - his failure to arrange an encounter with the leading ayatollahs of the "holy" city, especially Grand Ayatollah Ali-Muhammad Sistani, the leading Shiite clergyman. For a president who claims that he's the standard-bearer of a global Shiite revolution, that was one photo-op to die for.
Read the rest here.
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Green Energy
Ahmadinejad got flowers dissed in Iraq
A'JAD'S ENDLESS IRAQ DEBACLE
Amir Taheri - New York Post
March 8, 2008 -- IT had been billed as a "triumph" for the Islamic Republic and "a slap in the face of the American Great Satan." However, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day state visit to Iraq last weekend showed the limits of Iranian influence in the newly liberated country.
Weeks of hard work by Iranian emissaries and pro-Iran elements in Iraq were supposed to ensure massive crowds thronging the streets of Baghdad and throwing flowers on the path of the visiting Iranian leader. Instead, no more than a handful of Iraqis turned up for the occasion. The numbers were so low that the state-owned TV channels in Iran decided not to use the footage at all.
Instead, much larger crowds gathered to protest Ahmadinejad's visit. In the Adhamiya district of Baghdad, several thousand poured into the streets with cries of "Iranian aggressor, go home!"
The visit's highlight was supposed to be a pilgrimage to Karbala and Najaf, the "holiest" of Shiite cities in Iraq. There, Ahmadinejad was supposed to become the first Iranian government leader since 1976 to pray at the mausoleums of Imam Hussein and Imam Ali.
In the end, however, the tour was canceled amid reports that Shiite pilgrims, including thousands from Iran, were planning to demonstrate against his presence at the "holy" cities.
A more important reason motivated Ahmadinejad to drop his planned visits to Najaf - his failure to arrange an encounter with the leading ayatollahs of the "holy" city, especially Grand Ayatollah Ali-Muhammad Sistani, the leading Shiite clergyman. For a president who claims that he's the standard-bearer of a global Shiite revolution, that was one photo-op to die for.
Read the rest here.
- Pope Cancels Meetings With Seven World Leaders To Avoid Ahmadinejad
These are extraordinary lengths to go to avoid having to be in the presence of one man. He has taken the chance of alienating seven other world leaders. Of course, it may be that the Pope does not want to meet with people who will meet with Ahmadinejad....
- Iran Confirms It Brokered Truce Between Iraq And Sadr
What was that Newt Gingrich said, in the video below, about us being in a "phoney war"? From Pat Dollard: TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Officials in Iran confirmed for the first time Saturday that the country played an important role in brokering a recent truce...
- Ahmadinejad Is All Over The Place These Days
He's coming to the UN again. He's declaring that Bush will one day be tried for his "catastrophes." He is telling the world that Israel can not "continue its life." This rant is of particular note. Check it out: Asked if Iran had launched a...
- Hearing The Mahdi Bray
“Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made his first official visit to Iran today and repotedly asked Iran to prevent al Qaeda from slipping across the border to carry out attacks. Iran’s president in turn promised to help Iraq ‘establish security’,...
- Ahmadinejad Launches His Very Own Blog!
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined a burgeoning international community - by starting his own weblog! The launch of www.ahmadinejad.ir was reported on state TV, which urged users to send in messages to the president. Ahmadinejad's first...