Post by achebeautiful on May 7, 2006 18:03:59 GMT -5
I post this here because I believe this man will be the next chapter our history books will be filled with. Winning the hearts of his people by reaching out to the poor, allowing freedoms to women (to wear what they want) and the youth (to wear their hair how they wish); this man has the charm of H_ and will use it to accomplish much terror. I hope I'm wrong about this.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
On 24 June 2005 Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad [mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAHD ] was elected as Iran's president. Ahmadinejad swept to the presidential post with a stunning 17,046,441 votes out of a total of 27,536,069 votes cast in the runoff election. His rival and Expediency Council Chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gained only 9,841,346. A few days before the vote, Rafsanjani said that the race was "very close" but he believed he was "slightly ahead" of Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad will be Iran's first non-cleric president in 24 years when he takes office in August 2005.
The Tehran mayor's backers had portrayed Rafsanjani as the Iranian equivalent of a political hack. The commonly heard sentiment about the Tehran mayor was that he is a simple man - a backhanded slap at Rafsanjani, who has amassed great personal wealth. Ahmadinejad's populist platform, which included providing a monthly stipend to citizens, won votes from people concerned about economic issues such as unemployment. Ahmadinejad's main campaign advertisement was a film that showed him praying and addressing war veterans in military fatigues.
Ahmadinejad came from relative political obscurity to go head-to-head with a prominent national figure, former president Rafsanjani. In style and substance, the two men could not be more different. At 70, Rafsanjani was an Islamic cleric, a political veteran, and what might be termed moderately progressive [on the Iranian political spectrum]. Ahmadinejad, who was 31-years younger, is a former Revolutionary Guard, a novice on the national stage, and a hardline conservative much feared by the reformist movement.
Some outside observers had great difficult understanding Ahmadinejad's apparent popularity across the country. They were not able to comprehend his ability to out-poll better-known figures, such as former speaker of parliament Mehdi Karrubi or former national police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. The other candidates had been nationally visible for years, and had campaigned throughout the country. Although Ahmadinejad only became nationally visible after he became Tehran mayor. He did not campaign as extensively as his rivals. Some speculated that electoral interference by the Basij and the Guardians Council was the only explaination of this otherwise inexplicable rise to power.
The Basiijs, or Mobilization Resistance Force - a volunteer paramilitary militia under the Revolutionary Guards - was called upon to vote for Ahmadinejad and get others to do so. There was evidence of vote rigging by Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters. Reformists charged the Basij, a paramilitary arm of the Revolutionary Guard, with violating prohibitions against military involvement in politics by mobilizing votes for the Tehran mayor. Although the military is supposed to steer clear of politics, it has always had some role, but it has never been as prominent as this.
President Bush said presidential elections in Iran are designed to keep power in the hands of rulers who suppress liberty at home and spread terror abroad. According to a US State Department official, the Iranian election fell very, very short of minimum democratic standards.
Ahmadinejad's Biography
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born in Garmsar, southeast of Tehran in 1956. He is the fourth son of an ironworker who had seven children. Mahmoud and his family migrated to Tehran when he was one-year-old. He got his diploma and was admitted to the University of Science and Technology in the field of civil engineering after he ranked 130th in the nationwide university entrance exams in 1975. He was accepted as an MS student at the same university in 1986 and got his doctorate in 1987 in the field of engineering and traffic transportation planning.
Following the 1979 Islamic revolution he became a member the ultra-conservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity [OSU] Between Universities and Theological Seminaries. The OSU was established by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, one of Khomeini’s key collaborators, to organise Islamist students against the rapidly growing Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK). When the idea of storming the American embassy in Tehran was raised by the OSU, Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time.
With the start of the Iraq war in 1980, Ahmadinejad rushed to the western fronts to fight against the enemy and voluntarily joined special forces of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC) in 1986. He served in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps intelligence and security apparatus.
Ahmadinejad was a senior officer in the Special Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards, stationed at Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. This was the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards’ "Extra-territorial Operations" -- mounting attacks beyond Iran’s borders. His work in the Revolutionary Guards was related to suppression of dissidents in Iran and abroad. He personally participated in covert operations around the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
With the formation of the elite Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the IRGC, Ahmadinejad became one of its senior commanders. He directed assassinations in the Middle East and Europe, including the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou, who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards in a Vienna flat in July 1989. Ahmadinejad was a key planner of the attack. He was reported to have been involved in planning an attempt on the life of Salman Rushdie.
He served as governor of Maku and Khoy cities in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province for four years in the 1980s and as an advisor to the governor general of the western province of Kurdestan for two years. While serving as the cultural advisor to then Ministry of Culture and Higher Education in 1993, he was appointed as governor general of the newly established northwestern province of Ardebil. He was elected as the exemplary governor general for three consecutive years. But in 1997 the newly-installed Khatami administration removed Ahmadinejad from his post as Ardebil governor general.
Ahmadinejad returned to Elm-o Sanaat University to teach in 1997 and became a member of the scientific board of the Civil Engineering College of University of Science and Technology. He carried out several scientific, cultural, political and social activities. He also worked with Ansar-i Hizbullah [Followers of the Party of God], the violent Islamic vigilante group.
In April 2003 Ahmadinejad was appointed mayor of Tehran by the capital's municipal council, which is dominated by the hard-line Islamic Iran Developers Coalition (Etelaf-i Abadgaran-i Iran-i Islami). In some of Ahmadinejad's public statements, he has appeared to identify himself as a Developer. He lives a very Spartan lifestyle and that's how he projected himself.
As Mayor, he reversed many of the policies of previous moderate and reformist mayors, placing serious religious emphasis on the activites of the cultural centers by turning them into prayer halls during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He closed fast-food restaurants and required male city employees to have beards and wear long sleeves. He instituted the separation of elevators of men and women in the municiple offices. He also suggested the burial of the bodies of martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war in major city squares of Tehran.
On 26 April 2005 Ahmadinejad said that, in accord with the decision of the city council, the municipality would install a plaque in memory of the victims of Iraqi chemical warfare. "Major crimes have been perpetrated against Iranian nation, the youth and the war veterans affected by chemical warfare syndrome. We should support the rights of the victims by installing the plaque of remembrance," Ahmadinejad said. "The big powers possess technology to produce chemical weapons and they used the deadly weapons against Iranian soldiers during Iraqi-imposed war (1980-1988)."
Ahmadinejad is a member of the central council of the hard-line Islamic Revolution Devotees' Society (Jamiyat-i Isargaran-i Inqilab-i Islami). The Devotees publicly endorsed another candidate -- Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf -- in the 17 June 2005 first round of the presidential election. Both the Developers and the Devotees represent the younger generation of Iranians with a background in the Revolutionary Guards and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Ahmadinejad represents the rise of this new generation.
Political Predictions
In practice, the control of foreign policy, nuclear policy, and the main economic policies were already within the power of the supreme leader. From the beginning, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei wanted Ahmadinejad to be the next president because he did not want an equal partner or rival as president. The presidency was the last holdout of Iran's reformists, and the victory of Ahmadinejad gave total control of Iran's state institutions to hard-liners. Khamenei controlled the Parliament, the judiciary, the army, radio and television, and now he will be able to control the presidency as well. The conservative political establishment made a decision late in the campaign to support Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad, more closely tied to Khamenei than either Rafsanjani or Khatami, is unlikely to challenge the Guardian Council, particularly given the alleged Guardians Council support for his presidential bid.
Ahmadinejad was perhaps the most conservative of the seven candidates who were permitted to compete in the presidential race. The Rafsanjani campaign attempted to stick Ahmadinejad with the label of an extremist, intent on rolling back reform. They called Ahmadinejad a fundamentalist who is probably taking Iran back to some kind of Taliban-style of governing. Reformists charged that an element of the Revolutionary Guard is violating prohibitions agains military involvement in politics by mobilizing votes for Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad, an unabashed conservative, resurrected the fervor of the 1979 Islamic Revolution during the campaign by saying Iran "did not have a revolution in order to have democracy, but to have an Islamic government." Ahmadinejad had a bloody background. He was responsible for the execution of hundreds of dissidents after the war.
Ahmadinejad, a hardline conservative and Revolutionary Guard veteran, mounted a surprisingly strong challenge with a populist message aimed at the economically disadvantaged. He has promised to institute monthly stipends for citizens. Much of Ahmadinejad's support in the first round of voting came from poorer areas such as South Tehran.
Ahmadinejad's election strengthened the "theocracy with a democratic face" aspects of the Iranian regime, with westernized reformers almost completely marginalized. Ahmadinejad's version of reform called for a focus on Islamic socialism, rejecting both the privileged (and corrupt) Bazaari merchant class, and market-oriented westernized technocracy. Iran might become less willing to do oil and gas deals with foreign companies.
Ahmadinejad said on 18 June 2005 that he was against World Trade Organization membership, if it would hurt Iran's economy. Ahmadinejad would not be keen on privatization because it would create unemployment. His win is not positive for the stock market and the investment community, because he stands for basically everything investors fear.
Ahmadinejad appeared to have a serious ideological and moral opposition to Israel, and the secular American culture and society. The president's background with the Revolutionary Guards and Basiij presumes pervasive state control of society and continuing struggle against ideological enemies. Observers expected a purge of "moderates" in the Foreign Ministry and other institutions populated by supporters of outgoing President Khatami, along with a further crackdown on the media and intellectuals.
In a 07 June 2005 interview on state television, Ahmadinejad said Iran was the target of a destructive Western cultural onslaught. He claimed the West intended to undermine the self-confidence of Iranian managers and influence the young. To counter this, he said teachers must have greater access to resources.
Ahmadinejad had complained of "uncontrolled" cultural policies, and accused organised networks of "propogating decadence." Some supporters anticipated that girls will have to wear the proper hijab, access to improper websites will be blocked, West-struck (gharbzadeh) professors will be banned, and satellite receivers will be eliminated.
But on 22 June 2005, Ahmadinejad denied rumors that he would force women to wear the head-to-toe Islamic covering called a chador. He said Iran's main problems are unemployment and housing, not what to wear. "Are hairstyles the real problem of [our youth]? They can cut their hair the way they want," Ahmadinejad said. "It's none of our business. We have to take care of the real problems of the country. The government should put order in the economy and create calm."
Ahmadinejad and Atomics
As president, Ahmadinejad would probably take a more confrontational approach to the United States, to Sunni Arab neighbors, to Afghanistan, and certainly toward Israel. In mid-June 2005 he told a news conference he could not foresee improved ties with any country that "seeks hostility" against Iran, a reference to the United States. "The US administration cut off ties unilaterally to lay waste to the Islamic republic," he argued. "They want to restore them today for the same reason."
Ahmadinejad's supporters said he "will punch in the mouth" all those who advocate relations with the United States. Rafsanjani had said in campaign interviews that he would seek to improve Iran's troubled relationship with the United States. Ahmadinejad represents a younger generation whose formative experience was the Iran-Iraq War.
Ahmadinejad, in comments that drew sharp criticism from the Foreign Ministry, accused Iran's nuclear negotiators on 20 June 2005 of being weak and bowing to European pressure at the negotiation table. According to Ahmadinejad, "those who are handling the talks are terrified, and before they even sit down at the negotiating table they retreat 500 kilometers.... A popular and fundamentalist government will quickly change that."
Rafsanjani, had been endorsed by Iran's top nuclear officials. Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that Rafsanjani was the only person who could positively present Iran's position, given his influence, moderate views and political clout. Rafsanjani loyalist Hassan Rowhani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, said Iran needed a powerful and experienced president to successfully handle the issue - an open reference to Rafsanjani.
He said he would continue dialogue with Europe over Iran's nuclear program. "We will continue the current policies of the Islamic Republic. In principle, dialogue with Europe, Asia, and Africa is within the framework of our foreign policy. And of course, in order to defend the rights of our nation, we will continue the [nuclear] dialogue [with Europe]," Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad's campaign issued a statement which described Iran's nuclear program as "a flood which cannot be stopped by a match stick ... It's impossible to stop a nation's scientific progress with a bunch of irrelevant words ... We will hold talks from a rational point of view and if they accept our legitimate right we'll cooperate ... The analysts say no country, no matter how powerful they are, can attack Iran. It would be suicidal for a country to attack Iran... so we must not bend to threats." The statement warned that Iran would not accept protracted negotiations and "the kind of games they have played with Palestinians".
Ahmadinejad said that Iran's access to nuclear technology is the fruit of the nation's progress, stressing no one can prevent a nation from progressing. Commenting on the country's foreign policy, he said Iran is interested in friendly ties with all world states and nations. Tehran is ready to cooperate with any government which has no hostile attitude toward the Iranian nation, he said.
Ahmadinejad said in an 08 June 2005 interview on state broadcasting that he favored relations with all other countries on the basis of respect. He said relations with immediate neighbors were the most important, followed by countries that were once part of the Persian Empire. Then come Muslim states, and last but not least, states that are not hostile to Iran. Turning to the United Nations, Ahmadinejad said its structure is "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
On 24 June 2005 Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad [mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAHD ] was elected as Iran's president. Ahmadinejad swept to the presidential post with a stunning 17,046,441 votes out of a total of 27,536,069 votes cast in the runoff election. His rival and Expediency Council Chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gained only 9,841,346. A few days before the vote, Rafsanjani said that the race was "very close" but he believed he was "slightly ahead" of Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad will be Iran's first non-cleric president in 24 years when he takes office in August 2005.
The Tehran mayor's backers had portrayed Rafsanjani as the Iranian equivalent of a political hack. The commonly heard sentiment about the Tehran mayor was that he is a simple man - a backhanded slap at Rafsanjani, who has amassed great personal wealth. Ahmadinejad's populist platform, which included providing a monthly stipend to citizens, won votes from people concerned about economic issues such as unemployment. Ahmadinejad's main campaign advertisement was a film that showed him praying and addressing war veterans in military fatigues.
Ahmadinejad came from relative political obscurity to go head-to-head with a prominent national figure, former president Rafsanjani. In style and substance, the two men could not be more different. At 70, Rafsanjani was an Islamic cleric, a political veteran, and what might be termed moderately progressive [on the Iranian political spectrum]. Ahmadinejad, who was 31-years younger, is a former Revolutionary Guard, a novice on the national stage, and a hardline conservative much feared by the reformist movement.
Some outside observers had great difficult understanding Ahmadinejad's apparent popularity across the country. They were not able to comprehend his ability to out-poll better-known figures, such as former speaker of parliament Mehdi Karrubi or former national police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. The other candidates had been nationally visible for years, and had campaigned throughout the country. Although Ahmadinejad only became nationally visible after he became Tehran mayor. He did not campaign as extensively as his rivals. Some speculated that electoral interference by the Basij and the Guardians Council was the only explaination of this otherwise inexplicable rise to power.
The Basiijs, or Mobilization Resistance Force - a volunteer paramilitary militia under the Revolutionary Guards - was called upon to vote for Ahmadinejad and get others to do so. There was evidence of vote rigging by Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters. Reformists charged the Basij, a paramilitary arm of the Revolutionary Guard, with violating prohibitions against military involvement in politics by mobilizing votes for the Tehran mayor. Although the military is supposed to steer clear of politics, it has always had some role, but it has never been as prominent as this.
President Bush said presidential elections in Iran are designed to keep power in the hands of rulers who suppress liberty at home and spread terror abroad. According to a US State Department official, the Iranian election fell very, very short of minimum democratic standards.
Ahmadinejad's Biography
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born in Garmsar, southeast of Tehran in 1956. He is the fourth son of an ironworker who had seven children. Mahmoud and his family migrated to Tehran when he was one-year-old. He got his diploma and was admitted to the University of Science and Technology in the field of civil engineering after he ranked 130th in the nationwide university entrance exams in 1975. He was accepted as an MS student at the same university in 1986 and got his doctorate in 1987 in the field of engineering and traffic transportation planning.
Following the 1979 Islamic revolution he became a member the ultra-conservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity [OSU] Between Universities and Theological Seminaries. The OSU was established by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, one of Khomeini’s key collaborators, to organise Islamist students against the rapidly growing Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK). When the idea of storming the American embassy in Tehran was raised by the OSU, Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time.
With the start of the Iraq war in 1980, Ahmadinejad rushed to the western fronts to fight against the enemy and voluntarily joined special forces of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC) in 1986. He served in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps intelligence and security apparatus.
Ahmadinejad was a senior officer in the Special Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards, stationed at Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. This was the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards’ "Extra-territorial Operations" -- mounting attacks beyond Iran’s borders. His work in the Revolutionary Guards was related to suppression of dissidents in Iran and abroad. He personally participated in covert operations around the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
With the formation of the elite Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the IRGC, Ahmadinejad became one of its senior commanders. He directed assassinations in the Middle East and Europe, including the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou, who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards in a Vienna flat in July 1989. Ahmadinejad was a key planner of the attack. He was reported to have been involved in planning an attempt on the life of Salman Rushdie.
He served as governor of Maku and Khoy cities in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province for four years in the 1980s and as an advisor to the governor general of the western province of Kurdestan for two years. While serving as the cultural advisor to then Ministry of Culture and Higher Education in 1993, he was appointed as governor general of the newly established northwestern province of Ardebil. He was elected as the exemplary governor general for three consecutive years. But in 1997 the newly-installed Khatami administration removed Ahmadinejad from his post as Ardebil governor general.
Ahmadinejad returned to Elm-o Sanaat University to teach in 1997 and became a member of the scientific board of the Civil Engineering College of University of Science and Technology. He carried out several scientific, cultural, political and social activities. He also worked with Ansar-i Hizbullah [Followers of the Party of God], the violent Islamic vigilante group.
In April 2003 Ahmadinejad was appointed mayor of Tehran by the capital's municipal council, which is dominated by the hard-line Islamic Iran Developers Coalition (Etelaf-i Abadgaran-i Iran-i Islami). In some of Ahmadinejad's public statements, he has appeared to identify himself as a Developer. He lives a very Spartan lifestyle and that's how he projected himself.
As Mayor, he reversed many of the policies of previous moderate and reformist mayors, placing serious religious emphasis on the activites of the cultural centers by turning them into prayer halls during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He closed fast-food restaurants and required male city employees to have beards and wear long sleeves. He instituted the separation of elevators of men and women in the municiple offices. He also suggested the burial of the bodies of martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war in major city squares of Tehran.
On 26 April 2005 Ahmadinejad said that, in accord with the decision of the city council, the municipality would install a plaque in memory of the victims of Iraqi chemical warfare. "Major crimes have been perpetrated against Iranian nation, the youth and the war veterans affected by chemical warfare syndrome. We should support the rights of the victims by installing the plaque of remembrance," Ahmadinejad said. "The big powers possess technology to produce chemical weapons and they used the deadly weapons against Iranian soldiers during Iraqi-imposed war (1980-1988)."
Ahmadinejad is a member of the central council of the hard-line Islamic Revolution Devotees' Society (Jamiyat-i Isargaran-i Inqilab-i Islami). The Devotees publicly endorsed another candidate -- Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf -- in the 17 June 2005 first round of the presidential election. Both the Developers and the Devotees represent the younger generation of Iranians with a background in the Revolutionary Guards and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Ahmadinejad represents the rise of this new generation.
Political Predictions
In practice, the control of foreign policy, nuclear policy, and the main economic policies were already within the power of the supreme leader. From the beginning, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei wanted Ahmadinejad to be the next president because he did not want an equal partner or rival as president. The presidency was the last holdout of Iran's reformists, and the victory of Ahmadinejad gave total control of Iran's state institutions to hard-liners. Khamenei controlled the Parliament, the judiciary, the army, radio and television, and now he will be able to control the presidency as well. The conservative political establishment made a decision late in the campaign to support Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad, more closely tied to Khamenei than either Rafsanjani or Khatami, is unlikely to challenge the Guardian Council, particularly given the alleged Guardians Council support for his presidential bid.
Ahmadinejad was perhaps the most conservative of the seven candidates who were permitted to compete in the presidential race. The Rafsanjani campaign attempted to stick Ahmadinejad with the label of an extremist, intent on rolling back reform. They called Ahmadinejad a fundamentalist who is probably taking Iran back to some kind of Taliban-style of governing. Reformists charged that an element of the Revolutionary Guard is violating prohibitions agains military involvement in politics by mobilizing votes for Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad, an unabashed conservative, resurrected the fervor of the 1979 Islamic Revolution during the campaign by saying Iran "did not have a revolution in order to have democracy, but to have an Islamic government." Ahmadinejad had a bloody background. He was responsible for the execution of hundreds of dissidents after the war.
Ahmadinejad, a hardline conservative and Revolutionary Guard veteran, mounted a surprisingly strong challenge with a populist message aimed at the economically disadvantaged. He has promised to institute monthly stipends for citizens. Much of Ahmadinejad's support in the first round of voting came from poorer areas such as South Tehran.
Ahmadinejad's election strengthened the "theocracy with a democratic face" aspects of the Iranian regime, with westernized reformers almost completely marginalized. Ahmadinejad's version of reform called for a focus on Islamic socialism, rejecting both the privileged (and corrupt) Bazaari merchant class, and market-oriented westernized technocracy. Iran might become less willing to do oil and gas deals with foreign companies.
Ahmadinejad said on 18 June 2005 that he was against World Trade Organization membership, if it would hurt Iran's economy. Ahmadinejad would not be keen on privatization because it would create unemployment. His win is not positive for the stock market and the investment community, because he stands for basically everything investors fear.
Ahmadinejad appeared to have a serious ideological and moral opposition to Israel, and the secular American culture and society. The president's background with the Revolutionary Guards and Basiij presumes pervasive state control of society and continuing struggle against ideological enemies. Observers expected a purge of "moderates" in the Foreign Ministry and other institutions populated by supporters of outgoing President Khatami, along with a further crackdown on the media and intellectuals.
In a 07 June 2005 interview on state television, Ahmadinejad said Iran was the target of a destructive Western cultural onslaught. He claimed the West intended to undermine the self-confidence of Iranian managers and influence the young. To counter this, he said teachers must have greater access to resources.
Ahmadinejad had complained of "uncontrolled" cultural policies, and accused organised networks of "propogating decadence." Some supporters anticipated that girls will have to wear the proper hijab, access to improper websites will be blocked, West-struck (gharbzadeh) professors will be banned, and satellite receivers will be eliminated.
But on 22 June 2005, Ahmadinejad denied rumors that he would force women to wear the head-to-toe Islamic covering called a chador. He said Iran's main problems are unemployment and housing, not what to wear. "Are hairstyles the real problem of [our youth]? They can cut their hair the way they want," Ahmadinejad said. "It's none of our business. We have to take care of the real problems of the country. The government should put order in the economy and create calm."
Ahmadinejad and Atomics
As president, Ahmadinejad would probably take a more confrontational approach to the United States, to Sunni Arab neighbors, to Afghanistan, and certainly toward Israel. In mid-June 2005 he told a news conference he could not foresee improved ties with any country that "seeks hostility" against Iran, a reference to the United States. "The US administration cut off ties unilaterally to lay waste to the Islamic republic," he argued. "They want to restore them today for the same reason."
Ahmadinejad's supporters said he "will punch in the mouth" all those who advocate relations with the United States. Rafsanjani had said in campaign interviews that he would seek to improve Iran's troubled relationship with the United States. Ahmadinejad represents a younger generation whose formative experience was the Iran-Iraq War.
Ahmadinejad, in comments that drew sharp criticism from the Foreign Ministry, accused Iran's nuclear negotiators on 20 June 2005 of being weak and bowing to European pressure at the negotiation table. According to Ahmadinejad, "those who are handling the talks are terrified, and before they even sit down at the negotiating table they retreat 500 kilometers.... A popular and fundamentalist government will quickly change that."
Rafsanjani, had been endorsed by Iran's top nuclear officials. Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that Rafsanjani was the only person who could positively present Iran's position, given his influence, moderate views and political clout. Rafsanjani loyalist Hassan Rowhani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, said Iran needed a powerful and experienced president to successfully handle the issue - an open reference to Rafsanjani.
He said he would continue dialogue with Europe over Iran's nuclear program. "We will continue the current policies of the Islamic Republic. In principle, dialogue with Europe, Asia, and Africa is within the framework of our foreign policy. And of course, in order to defend the rights of our nation, we will continue the [nuclear] dialogue [with Europe]," Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad's campaign issued a statement which described Iran's nuclear program as "a flood which cannot be stopped by a match stick ... It's impossible to stop a nation's scientific progress with a bunch of irrelevant words ... We will hold talks from a rational point of view and if they accept our legitimate right we'll cooperate ... The analysts say no country, no matter how powerful they are, can attack Iran. It would be suicidal for a country to attack Iran... so we must not bend to threats." The statement warned that Iran would not accept protracted negotiations and "the kind of games they have played with Palestinians".
Ahmadinejad said that Iran's access to nuclear technology is the fruit of the nation's progress, stressing no one can prevent a nation from progressing. Commenting on the country's foreign policy, he said Iran is interested in friendly ties with all world states and nations. Tehran is ready to cooperate with any government which has no hostile attitude toward the Iranian nation, he said.
Ahmadinejad said in an 08 June 2005 interview on state broadcasting that he favored relations with all other countries on the basis of respect. He said relations with immediate neighbors were the most important, followed by countries that were once part of the Persian Empire. Then come Muslim states, and last but not least, states that are not hostile to Iran. Turning to the United Nations, Ahmadinejad said its structure is "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam."
