A Precarious President

A Precarious President

The American government depicts Iran as a major threat to global safety because of some infamous statements attributed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about a desire to wipe Israel off the map, a disbelief in the Holocaust, and development of nuclear power.
Ataei, however, says that the western media severely misquoted the president. In the actual transcript of President Ahmadinejad’s speech, he was quoting—or rather misquoting—a statement made by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the monarchy was overthrown and the theocratic republic took power.

“[Ahmadinejad] never said [Israel]; he used the term ‘Zionist regime,’” Ataei said. “Second, the Persian word for map wasn’t even in the original speech, nor was the term ‘wipe out.’ Yet we hear again and again that he threatened to ‘wipe Israel off the map.’”

In a word-for-word translation of Ahmadinejad’s statement, the following was said: “[Ayatollah Khomeini] said the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish.”

Ali, the journalist, stressed that the media has used Iran's president as a tool and has underestimated the power of the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

“Actually, Ahmadinejad is truly just an excuse,” Ali said. “[America] worked with Iran to infiltrate Afghanistan, everybody admits that. But right after that, the United States came and said Iran is part of the ‘Axis of Evil.’” Ali continued, “The rhetoric that Ahmadinejad uses is perfect—he comes and says something about Israel, we blow it out of proportion, try to muddy the water, and do what we do. The fact is that Iran is no threat, and has never been a threat to the United States.”

Ahmadinejad—who was mayor of Tehran before winning the 2005 presidential election—has less power than the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, according to Article 113 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. President Ahmadinejad is not the commander-in-chief of Iran’s armed forces and cannot wage war without the Supreme Leader’s consent.
The Iranian republic has executive, legislative and judicial branches, but above these three is the Supreme Leader. Besides the ability to wage war and mobilize the forces, he can appoint, dismiss, and accept the resignation of various governmental positions.

The Supreme Leader clearly has more clout than the president, yet the American media has its eyes focused on Ahmadinejad.

Ataei said that Ahmadinejad is truly doing “a horrible job” as president, domestically more so than internationally.

“Don’t forget the people who voted for him were mostly lower class people and Ahmadinejad came to power promising them a better economy,” Ataei said. “But so far he hasn’t really done anything to fulfill his promises.”

Ataei continued, “The economy is in bad shape. Seventy percent of the Iranian population is under the age of 30 and many of them are well educated. Many of these students believe that Ahmadinejad is ruining Iran’s image in the international community.”

The Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) is, according to its mission statement, “an independent campaign organization with the purpose of opposing sanctions, foreign state interference and military intervention in Iran.”

Nader Sadeghi, a board member of CASMII, believes that Ahmadinejad’s statements against Israel were purposefully misconstrued by the American media.

Sadeghi’s opinion of Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric against Israel is that it can be “nothing more than want of a regime change [in Israel]” spurred by Israel’s demands in government. In 2003, Iran proposed a broad dialogue with the United States via a fax offering absolute cooperation concerning its nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian military groups.

The United States rejected the proposal.