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Politics & Policies: Ahmadinejad's antics |
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Thursday, 15 December 2005 |
 United Press International
By CLAUDE SALHANI (UPI International Editor)
WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- Should the world take Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seriously? No, I mean seriously!
Consider his recent antics: First, Ahmadinejad declared to a group of
students in Tehran in October that "Israel should be wiped off the
map." Israel certainly takes him seriously.
If that first statement were not bad enough, and even before the dust
from that storm he created had time to settle, the Iranian president
suggested Israel be moved to Europe -- somewhere between Germany and
Austria. Now the European Union is taking him seriously.
Then, while in Mecca last week, attending a meeting of heads of state
of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ahmadinejad takes advantage
of the presence of the international media at an extraordinary summit
called by Saudi King Abdullah, and does it again -- this time by saying
he doubted the Holocaust ever took place. Now he has the Saudis furious.
So what exactly is the Iranian president trying to accomplish by
stirring world public opinion against him? And this at a time when he
should be trying to appease the world, showing them that Iran, even
with nuclear weapons, can be a responsible nation.
"What Ahmadinejad is doing is making very calculated statements with a
clear purpose in mind," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic
Policy Consulting, and a former Washington spokesman for Iran's
parliament in exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Jafarzadeh is the one who revealed to the world in August 2002 that the
Iranians were building nuclear facilities in Natanz and Arak.
"Ahmadinejad is trying to rally the Revolutionary Guards and the most
radical elements in the regime to be fully behind him and boost their
morale," Jafarzadeh told United Press International.
At the same time, Ahmadinejad is also trying to reach out to the Muslim
population in the Arab world, he believes. Hence the visit last week to
Tehran by Hamas' leader Khalid Mashal.
"Ahmadinejad was placed at the head of the Islamic republic by Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei with the aim to head toward a confrontation with
the United States," said Jafarzadeh.
"I believe he was tasked with a mission when he was selected by Khamenei," claims Jafarzadeh. His mission is two pronged.
-- To get Iran its first nuclear weapon as quickly as possible and at whatever cost.
-- Establishing an Islamic republic in Iraq, or at least gaining a very significant influence over Iraqi affairs.
If Khamenei were not planning for a confrontation, he would not have
chosen Ahmadinejad as president, he would have backed a less
conservative candidate such Hashemi Rafsanjani.
"Ahmadinejad's mission is not to negotiate," says Jafarzadeh, "but to
confront. That is what he is doing on the nuclear side, and that is
what he is doing in the entire region."
While Jafarzadeh may see Ahmadinejad as someone with a clear-cut
mission, some analysts question whether Ahmadinejad may be entirely in
control of his emotions. Consider this following conversation, caught
on videotape, Ahmadinejad had with a high-ranking ayatollah after his
return from New York where he addressed the U.N. General Assembly in
September:
"The last day when I was speaking before the (U.N. General) Assembly,
one of our group told me when I started to say, 'In the name of God the
Almighty, the Merciful,' he saw a light around me, and I was placed
inside this aura and I felt it myself. I felt the atmosphere suddenly
change, and for those 27 or 28 minutes the leaders of the world did not
blink. When I say they did not bat an eyelid, I am not exaggerating
because I was looking at them and they were wrapped," said Ahmadinejad.
Indeed, Ahmadinejad may feel that at times he projects an aura and
captivates his audience. And because of his close relationship with the
ayatollahs, he may believe he is closer to the divine than most. Still,
that did not prevent him from not wanting to take a chance that his
prayers may go unanswered, preferring to rely on dirty tricks to secure
the elections in Iraq for his candidates.
Just a day before Iraq's elections, border policemen seized a tanker
that was trying to cross from Iran filled with thousands of forged
ballots, reported The New York Times on Wednesday.
The paper, quoting officials, said the tanker was seized in the evening
by agents with the U.S.-trained border protection force at the Iraqi
town of Badra, after crossing at Munthirya on the Iraqi border.
Iraqi police officials say the border police found several thousand
partly completed ballots inside. When interrogated by the police, the
driver admitted at least three more similar trucks also filled with
fake ballots had crossed different border posts.
So should such a man be taken seriously? The Iraqis certainly are now. |
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