{"id":8959,"date":"2011-07-20T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T09:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=8959"},"modified":"2011-07-20T05:30:19","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T09:30:19","slug":"iranian-presidents-theological-troubles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/07\/iranian-presidents-theological-troubles\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian president’s theological troubles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Theology may be bringing down Iran\u2019s President Ahmadinejad.\u00a0 So says Karim Sadjadpour, writing in the Washington Post<\/em>:<\/p>\n

While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\u2019s demagoguery and Holocaust revisionism on the world stage have earned him alarmist comparisons to Adolf Hitler, his recent, ignoble fall from grace reveals the Iranian president for what he really is: the dispensable sword of Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

The marriage of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad should be understood in the context of Iran\u2019s internal rivalries. Since the death in 1989 of the revolution\u2019s father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini \u2014 whose austere nature and anti-Americanism set the tenor for Iran\u2019s post-monarchic order \u2014 Tehran\u2019s political elite has been broadly divided into two schools.<\/p>\n

Reformists and pragmatists argued that ensuring the Islamic Republic\u2019s survival required easing political and social restrictions and prioritizing economic expediency over ideology. Hard-liners, led by Khamenei, believed that compromising on revolutionary ideals could unravel the system, just as perestroika did the Soviet Union. . . .<\/p>\n

\nAhmadinejad\u2019s pious populism resonated among Iran\u2019s working classes, and his revolutionary zeal and willingness to attack Khamenei\u2019s adversaries endeared him to the supreme leader, whose backing of Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election proved decisive. The balance of power between the two was exhibited during Ahmadinejad\u2019s inauguration, when the new president prostrated himself before Khamenei and kissed his hand.\n

Under the supreme leader\u2019s approving gaze, Ahmadinejad\u2019s first term as president was spent bludgeoning Khamenei\u2019s domestic opponents, taking a hard line on the nuclear issue and taunting the United States. Ahmadinejad\u2019s newfound fame abroad, however, confused his true position at home.<\/p>\n

What Khamenei failed to realize was that Ahmadinejad and his cohorts had greater ambitions than simply being his minions.<\/p>\n

They spoke of their direct connection to the hidden imam \u2014 Shiite Islam\u2019s Messiah equivalent \u2014 in an attempt to render the clergy obsolete. In \u201cprivate\u201d meetings \u2014 which were bugged by intelligence forces loyal to Khamenei \u2014 Ahmadinejad\u2019s closest adviser, Rahim Mashaei, spoke openly of designs to supplant the clergy. The last straw came earlier this year, when Ahmadinejad tried to take over the Ministry of Intelligence, whose vast files on the financial and moral corruption of Iran\u2019s political elite are powerful tools of political persuasion and blackmail.<\/p>\n

The supreme leader was publicly nonchalant about Ahmadinejad\u2019s insubordination; privately, however, he unleashed jackals that had long been salivating for the president\u2019s comeuppance. The powerful Revolutionary Guards \u2014 who helped engineer Ahmadinejad\u2019s contested 2009 reelection \u2014 swiftly declared their devotion to Khamenei, and several of the president\u2019s advisers were arrested.<\/p>\n

\n
One former Guard and current member of parliament, Mohammad Karamirad, sent Ahmadinejad a message last week<\/a>in the form of a macabre Persian proverb: \u201cIf [Khamenei] asks us to bring him a hat, we know what to bring him,\u201d i.e., the head of the person wearing the hat.In addition to proving the primacy of Iran\u2019s supreme leader, the rise and fall of Ahmadinejad exemplifies the contempt that Tehran\u2019s ruling cartel has for the intelligence of its citizenry.\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Ahmadinejad\u2019s tainted reelection \u2014 which spurred millions to take to the streets \u2014 was hailed by Khamenei as a \u201cdivine assessment\u201d and the people\u2019s will. Two years later, Ahmadinejad and his cronies are accused by former supporters of being \u201cdeviant Zionist agents\u201d and \u201cpossessed by the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khamenei\u2019s desire to project a unified front to the world is likely to keep Ahmadinejad in office until his term expires in 2013. Khamenei seeks to wield power without accountability; this requires a president who has accountability without power. A disgraced Ahmadinejad can conveniently absorb blame for the country\u2019s endemic economic, political and social disaffection.<\/p>\n

via The rise and fall of Iran\u2019s Ahmadinejad \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theology may be bringing down Iran\u2019s President Ahmadinejad.\u00a0 So says Karim Sadjadpour, writing in the Washington Post: While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\u2019s demagoguery and Holocaust revisionism on the world stage have earned him alarmist comparisons to Adolf Hitler, his recent, ignoble fall from grace reveals the Iranian president for what he really is: the dispensable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1114,2015],"class_list":["post-8959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islam","tag-iran","tag-shiite-islam"],"yoast_head":"\nIranian president's theological troubles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Theology may be bringing down Iran's President Ahmadinejad.\u00a0 So says Karim Sadjadpour, writing in the Washington Post: While Iranian 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