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Society + Culture

By Rageh Omaar

A year is a long time in Iranian politics.

Ahmadinejad commands respect, even from those who do not agree with him

Twelve months ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, was branded a hardliner by Washington - a religious zealot, and a direct threat to Israel.

Now he is seen as essential to helping George Bush and Tony Blair out of the policy disaster in Iraq.

What is it about him and his government that the American president and British prime minister got so wrong?

Austere leader

Ahmedinejad lectured at a prestigious university in Tehran, teaching civil engineering.

He is still technically a member of the faculty. His office remains untouched, should he wish to return.

You would know that it was Dr Ahmadinejad's office only by its austerity and religious symbols.

Students and colleagues, even those who do not agree with his politics, say they respect him.

Ahmadinejad represents a crucial break in Iranian politics – he is the first post-revolutionary who is not a cleric, he fought in the Iran-Iraq war, and crucially he is seen as not being corrupt.

If the West has underestimated his government's influence in Iraq and the region, they have also exaggerated his vulnerability here in Iran.

So it is hardly surprising that most ordinary Iranians are not hugely interested in Tony Blair's comments on Iraq, especially as he has said Iran would have to give up its nuclear enrichment programme before any talks – something every Iranian leader has said will not happen.

People here feel that when it comes to Iraq and even Lebanon and Afghanistan, Britain and the US need them, not the other way round.

What they want to know is what benefits does Iran get for such assistance?

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Comments (3)

1. 17-11-2006 14:28

Only the Traitors in our Western News Media believe this line of crap, the only way this nut case wants to clean up Iraq is by killing anyone who stands in his way. He wants to have his world headquarters in Babylon. He wants Israel destroyed and all Jews dead, he wants the West replaced by Muslim rule, and he wants your and my head on the end of a stick. He wants us dead; rejecting this FACT is proof of unrestrained stupidity.

Our government is filled with traitors. Instead of supporting the President in the war on terrorism, they have done their best to undermine our troops by giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Perhaps many politicians are just too dumb to understand the threat of terrorism, but I think most understand it and have allied themselves with the enemy. This is not the time to set an artificial deadline after which we abandon the cause. Now is the time to press our advantage, and kill more terrorists.

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June

2. 26-09-2007 07:40

Some credit is due Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for telling it like it is, though we in the U.S. don't want to hear it. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney et al should have been brought before Congress for impeachment the day they confirmed there were no WMD's in Iraq. This means that we invaded a foreign country with no bonafide provocation and that those in power lied to the American people to serve their own ends. If they truly had wished to fight the so-called "War on Terror" we would have instead stayed in Afghanistan until Mr. bin Laden and his al-Qaeda crew were thoroughly put out of business, not to where we get to hear his latest diatribles six years after 9/11/2001. Saddam Hussein, bin Laden and even Ahmadinejad are our own creations from the foolish policies of the past. That they turn around and bite the hand that's fed them should, at this point, come as no surprise.

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Patrick

3. 27-09-2007 01:51

Optimistic

I cannot believe that we still have stupid people running this planet....namely the united nations, et al....Iran like all countries on this planet have a right to self preservation, its sovereignty established long before the western diaspora...and may I add a place where most indo europeans can claim kinship/roots....politics has lost its grip on truth.
Personally I no longer subscribe to type zero civilisation. I am one of the last of my kind and yet I see more have come to realise the same.

My only hope is that some day women will save the world.

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