Saturday, June 25, 2005

Iran’s new President has a past mired in controversy

“Ahmadinejad? Who’s he?” This was the typical reaction of most Iranians a day after the first round of presidential elections in Iran, when they heard that the two candidates facing each other in the run-off were veteran politician Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the little-known, ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran. Last week’s surprise was all forgotten by the much bigger shock on Friday, when Ahmadinejad defeated the former President in a landslide victory that consolidated power in the hands of the ruling Islamic clerics. In 1979, he became the representative of Elm-o Sanaat students in the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries. The OSU played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Members of the OSU central council, who included Ahmadinejad as well as Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen (Mahmoud) Mirdamadi, Mohsen Kadivar, Mohsen Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi, were regularly received by Khomeini himself. In 1986, Ahmadinejad became a senior officer in the Special Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards and was stationed in Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. In Kermanshah, Ahmadinejad became involved in the clerical regime’s terrorist operations abroad.

1 Comments:

At June 26, 2005 1:53 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"Tough times ahead."

Remember that I come from the planet's third largest oil exporter. Norway is probably the only Western nation that won't complain if we get oil prices at 100$ per barrel.

 

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