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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leader draft

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Persian: محمود احمدی نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadinezhād ; born 28 October 1956) is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran. The presidency is not the highest constitutional office in Iran. The Supreme Leader has ultimate control over foreign policy, the armed forces, and the nuclear policy of the Iranian state.

A university teacher from a poor background, Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity after the Islamic Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor, he lost favour and returned to teaching. Tehran's council appointed him mayor in 2003. He took a religious hard-line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, promised oil money to the poor, with the slogan "It's possible and we can do it". With 62% of the runoff election votes, he became President on 3 August 2005, loyally kissing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's hand at the ceremony.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leader draft of para 3

  * 3.1 Economic policy
  * 3.3 Housing
  * 3.2 Family planning and population policy
  * 3.4 Human rights
  * 3.5 Universities
  * 4.1 Accusations of corruption
  * 4.4 Criticisms from other political parties
  * 4.8 2009 alleged complicity in conviction for "earthquake saferoom"
  * 4.6 Ali Kordan's fabricated doctoral degree and moral charges

Ahmadinejad fired the government's economic experts and shunned economists' advice. Despite record oil revenues, his budget deficit was also a record. Inflation, unemployment and housing costssoared. He rationed gasoline, subsidised essential commodity prices and limited interest rates. Parliament rejected his plan to help young people get jobs, afford marriage, and buy their own homes with money from oil revenues, but he ordered that it be implemented anyway. Women's rights activists were persecuted after getting Parliament to water down a "Family Protection Bill" before its enactment. The Ahmadinejad government did not tolerate peaceful protests, gatherings or dissent at universities, and it purged many academics in a "second cultural revolution". Human rights organizations reported worsening treatment and torture of government detainees. Ahmadinejad had attacked private "plunderers" and "corrupt officials," but many of his close associates took positions for which they were not obviously qualified, and the Sepah (IRGC), received "billion dollar no-bid contracts". Ahmadinejad co-authored a book whose other authors were convicted of plagiarism in it, and his interior minister was impeached after his fake doctoral degree and an old conviction became known.

With Khamenei supporting Ahmadinejad's reelection, the 2009 presidential election campaign drew unprecedented public interest and robust debate. Of the votes counted, over 62% were for Ahmadinejad. As of August 2009, his reelection remained in dispute, its legitimacy widely questioned in Iran and internationally. Large, initially peaceful protests were met with violence but continued for some time. Ahmadinejad called the election "completely free" and the outcome "a great victory" for Iran. However, his choice as first vice president was quickly forced to resign.

He was sworn in for a second term on 5 August 2009. Hundreds of riot police met opposition protesters outside parliament. Germany, France, Britain and the US all said they would not send the usual letters of congratulation.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leader draft of para 3a

  * 4.3 Statements on the United Nations and football stadiums
  * 4.5 Ahmadinejad–Haddad Adel conflict over Iranian constitution
  * 4.7 Ahmadinejad–parliament conflict
  * 3.6 Nuclear program
  * 4.2 Criticisms of statements and social issues

Statements on the United Nations and football stadiums

Ahmadinejad stated he had "felt a halo over his head" during his 2005 speech to the UN General Assembly. This was offensive to some conservative religious leaders because an ordinary man cannot presume a special closeness to God or any of the Imams, nor can he imply the presence of the Mahdi.

In 2006, Ahmadinejad proclaimed (without consulting the clerics before hand), that women should be allowed into football stadiums to watch male football clubs compete. This proclamation "was quickly overruled" by clerical authorities, one of whom, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani "refused for weeks to meet with President Ahmadinejad" in early 2007.

Conflict with parliament

In 2008, the Supreme Leader was needed to resolve the conflict between the speaker of parliament and Ahmadinejad. He had called for legal action against the speaker for bypassing the presidency by giving the order to implement legislation in an official newspaper. Speaker Haddad-Adel responded to Ahmadinejad accusing him of using inappropriate language in his remarks and letters.

On February 2009 after Iran's National Audit Office reported that $1.058 billion of surplus oil revenue in the (2006-2007) budget hasn't been returned by the government to the national treasury, Ali Larijani-Iran's parliamentary speaker-called for further investigations in order to make sure the missing funds are returned to the treasury as soon as possible. Ahmadinejad criticized the National Audit Office for what he called its "carelessness", saying the report "incites the people" against the government. also Head of the parliament Energy Commission, Hamidreza Katouzian reprted:The government spent $5 billion to import fuel, about $2 billion more than the sum parliament had authorized.Katouzian quoted Iran's Oil Minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, as saying that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ordered the extra purchase.

Nuclear program

Nuclear policy is set not by Iran's president but by the Supreme National Security Council, but Ahmadinejad has been a vocal supporter of Iran's nuclear program, and has insisted that it is for peaceful purposes.

Criticisms of statements and social issues

In 2005, Ali Khamenei responded to Ahmadinejad's remark that Israel should be "wiped off the map" by saying that "the Islamic Republic has never threatened and will never threaten any country." Moreover, Khamenei's main adviser in foreign policy, Ali Akbar Velayati, refused to take part in Ahmadinejad's Holocaust conference. In contrast to Ahmadinejad's remarks, Velayati said that the Holocaust was a genocide and a historical reality.

In June 2007, Ahmadinejad was criticized by some Iranian parliament members over his remark about Christianity and Judaism. According to Aftab News Agency, Ahmadinejad stated: "In the world, there are deviations from the right path: Christianity and Judaism. Dollars have been devoted to the propagation of these deviations. There are also false claims that these [religions] will save mankind. But Islam is the only religion that [can] save mankind." Some members of Iranian parliament criticized these remarks as being fuels to religious war.

Conservative MP Rafat Bayat has blamed Ahmadinejad for a decline in observance of the required hijab for women, calling him "not that strict on this issue". Ahmadinejad has been also accused of indecency by people close to Rafsanjani, after he publicly kissed the hand of a woman who used to be his school teacher.

Ahmadinejad's criticism of the West has led to attempts to compel him to go to the Iranian parliament to answer questions. In October 2008, Ahmadinejad's statements on the Holocaust were criticized within Iran by cleric and presidential hopeful Mahdi Karroubi.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leader draft of para 4 - Foreign relations

Ahmadinejad is well known internationally for statements about matters he does not ultimately control (nuclear, foreign, military policies).

Relations with the United States

During Ahmadinejad's presidency, Iran and the US have had the most high-profile contact in almost 30 years. Iran and the US froze diplomatic relations in 1980 and had no direct diplomatic contact until May 2007.

While the U.S has linked its support for a Palestinian state to acceptance of Israel's "right to exist," Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has retorted that Israel should be moved to Europe instead, reiterating Muammar al-Gaddafi's 1990 statement. The U.S. has sent clear signals to Iran that its posturing against Israel's right to exist is unacceptable in their opinion, leading to increased speculation of a U.S. led attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Even though Iran has denied involvement in Iraq, then-President Bush warned of "consequences," sending a clear message to Iran that the U.S may take military action against it. The Bush administration considered Iran to be the world's leading state supporter of terrorism. Iran has been on the U.S. list of state sponsors of international terrorism since 1984, a claim that Iran and Ahmadinejad have denied.

On 8 May 2006, Ahmadinejad sent a personal letter to then-President Bush to propose "new ways" to end Iran's nuclear dispute. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley both reviewed the letter and dismissed it as a negotiating ploy and publicity stunt that did not address U.S. concerns about Iran's nuclear program. A few days later at a meeting in Jakarta, Ahmadinejad said, "the letter was an invitation to monotheism and justice, which are common to all divine prophets."

Ahmadinejad invited Bush to a debate at the United Nations General Assembly, which was to take place on 19 September 2006. The debate was to be about Iran's right to enrich uranium. The invitation was promptly rejected by White House spokesman Tony Snow, who said "There's not going to be a steel-cage grudge match between the President and Ahmadinejad."

Columbia University students protesting against the university's decision to invite Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the university campus.

On November 2006, Ahmadinejad wrote an open letter to the American people, representing some of his anxieties and concerns. He stated that there is an urgency to have a dialog because of the activities of the US administration in the Middle East, and that the US is concealing the truth about current realities.

The United States Senate passed a resolution warning Iran about attacks in Iraq. On 26 September 2007, the United States Senate passed a resolution 76-22 and labeled an arm of the Iranian military as a terrorist organization.

In September 2007 Ahmadinejad visited New York to address the General Assembly of the United Nations. Prior to this he gave a speech at Columbia University, where the university president Lee Bollinger used his introduction to excoriate the Iranian leader as everything from a "cruel and petty dictator" to "astonishingly uneducated." Taking questions from Columbia faculty and students who attended his address, Ahmadinejad answered a query about the treatment of gays in Iran by saying: "We don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. We don't have this phenomenon; I don't know who's told you we have it." An aide later claimed that he was misrepresented and was actually saying that "compared to American society, we don't have many homosexuals".

In a speech given in April 2008, Ahmadinejad described the September 11, 2001 attacks as a "suspect event." He minimized the attacks by saying all that had happened was, "a building collapsed." He claimed that the death toll was never published, that the victims' names were never published, and that the attacks were used subsequently as pretext for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

In October 2008, President Ahmadinejad expressed his happiness of 2008 global economic crisis and what he called "collapse of liberalism". He said the West has been driven to deadend and that Iran was proud "to put an end to liberal economy". Ahmadinejad used a September 2008 speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations to assert the American empire is soon going to end without specifying how. "The American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders," Ahmadinejad said.

On November 6, 2008 (two days after the 2008 US Presidential Election), President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Barack Obama, the newly elected President of the United States, and said that he "Welcomes basic and fair changes in U.S. policies and conducts, I hope you will prefer real public interests and justice to the never-ending demands of a selfish minority and seize the opportunity to serve people so that you will be remembered with high esteem". It is the first congratulatory message to a new elected President of the United States by an Iranian President since the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Relations with Israel

On 26 October 2005 Ahmadinejad gave a speech at a conference in Tehran entitled "World Without Zionism". According to widely published translations, he agreed with a statement he attributed to Ayatollah Khomeini that the "occupying regime" had to be removed, and referred to it as a "disgraceful stain [on] the Islamic world", that needed to be "wiped from the pages of history."

Ahmadinejad's comments were condemned by major Western governments, the European Union, Russia, the United Nations Security Council and then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Egyptian, Turkish and Palestinian leaders also expressed displeasure over Ahmadinejad's remark. Canada's then Prime Minister Paul Martin said, “this threat to Israel's existence, this call for genocide coupled with Iran's obvious nuclear ambitions is a matter that the world cannot ignore.”

The translation of his statement has been disputed. Iran's foreign minister stated that Ahmadinejad had been "misunderstood": "He is talking about the regime. We do not recognise legally this regime." Some experts state that the phrase in question (بايد از صفحه روزگار محو شود) is more accurately translated as "eliminated" or "wiped off" or "wiped away" from "the page of time" or "the pages of history", rather than "wiped off the map". Reviewing the controversy over the translation, New York Times deputy foreign editor Ethan Bronner observed that "all official translations" of the comments, including the foreign ministry and president's office, "refer to wiping Israel away". Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum, an Israel-based professor with ties to AIPAC, in a paper for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, examined the language that President Ahmadinejad has used when discussing Israel. Using Farsi translations from Dr. Denis MacEoin, a former lecturer in Islamic studies in the United Kingdom, Teitelbaum wrote that "the Iranian president was not just calling for “regime change” in Jerusalem, but rather the actual physical destruction of the State of Israel," and asserted that Ahmadinejad was advocating the genocide of its residents as well. Teitelbaum said that in a speech given on 26 October 2005, Ahmadinejad said the following about Israel: "Soon this stain of disgrace will be cleaned from the garment of the world of Islam, and this is attainable." Teitelbaum argued that this type of dehumanizing rhetoric is a documented prelude to genocide incitement. Dr. Juan Cole, a professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan, has argued that Ahmadinejad was not calling for the destruction of Israel, “Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to wipe Israel off the map because no such idiom exists in Persian.” Dr. Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard University has said “I don’t think he is inciting to genocide." According to Gawdat Bahgat, Director of Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, "the fiery calls to destroy Israel are meant to mobilize domestic and regional constituencies" and that "Rhetoric aside, most analysts agree that the Islamic Republic and the Jewish state are not likely to engage in a military confrontation against each other."

In July 2006, Ahmadinejad compared Israel's actions in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict to Adolf Hitler's actions during World War II saying that "like Hitler, the Zionist regime is just looking for a pretext for launching military attacks" and "is now acting just like him." On 8 August 2006, he gave a television interview to Mike Wallace, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, in which he questioned American support of Israel's "murderous regime" and the moral grounds for Israel's invasion of Lebanon. On 2 December 2006, Ahmadinejad met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah in Doha, Qatar. At that meeting, he said that Israel "was created to establish dominion of arrogant states over the region and to enable the enemy to penetrate the heart Muslim land." He called Israel a "threat" and said it was created to create tensions in and impose US and UK policies upon the region. On 12 December 2006, Ahmadinejad addressed the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, and made comments about the future of Israel. He said, "Israel is about to crash. This is God's promise and the wish of all the world's nations."

When CNN's Larry King asked Ahmadinejad "does Israel remain Israel" in his version of the Middle East, Ahmadinejad suggested that throughout the Palestinian territories free elections for all be conducted under the supervision of international organizations. Ahmadinejad suggested that "..we must allow free elections to happen in Palestine under the supervision of the United Nations. And the Palestinian people, the displaced Palestinian people, or whoever considers Palestine its land, can participate in free elections. And then whatever happens as a result could happen."

Relations with Russia

Ahmadinejad with then President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Tehran on 16 October 2007.

See also: Iran-Russia relations

Ahmadinejad has moved to strengthen relations with Russia, setting up an office expressly dedicated to the purpose in October 2005. He has worked with Vladimir Putin on the nuclear issue, and both Putin and Ahmadinejad have expressed a desire for more mutual cooperation on issues involving the Caspian Sea. More recently, Iran has been increasingly pushed into an alliance with Moscow due to the controversy over Iran's nuclear program. By late December 2007, Russia began to deliver enriched batches of nuclear fuel to Iran as a way of persuading Iran to end self-enrichment.

Relations with Venezuela

See also: Iran-Venezuela relations

Ahmadinejad has sought to develop ties with other world leaders that are also opposed to U.S. foreign policy and influence like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Venezuela voted in favor of Iran's nuclear program before the United Nations, and both governments have sought to develop more bilateral trade. As of 2006, the ties between the two countries are strategic rather than economic; Venezuela is still not one of Iran's major trading partners.

Regional relations

Immediately after the Islamic Revolution, Iran's relations with most of its neighbors, particularly those with large Shiite minorities, were severely strained. Ahmadinejad's priority in the region has been to improve ties with most of Iran's neighbors to strengthen Iran's status and influence.

Ahmadinejad visited Ankara in order to reinforce relations with Turkey immediately after the 2007 NIE report was released. Relations were briefly strained after President Abdullah Gul had stated that he wants the atomic threat to be eliminated from the region, perhaps a hint to Iran; however, business has remained cordial between the two countries. Despite US disapproval, Turkey recently signed a multibillion dollar gas line deal with Tehran in late 2007.

Iran's relations with the Arab states have been complex, partly due to the Islamic Revolution of decades ago, as well as more recent efforts by the United States to establish a united front against Iran over the nuclear issue and War on Terror. Ahmadinejad has sought reconciliation with the Arab states by encouraging bilateral trade and posturing for Iranian entry into the Gulf Cooperation Council. Outside of the Persian Gulf, Ahmadinejad has sought to reestablish relations with other major Arab states, most notably Egypt. As of 2007, Iran did not have an open embassy there.

Iran's ties to Syria have been most notable in the West. Both nations have had to deal with international and regional isolation. Further, they both have cordial ties to the militant group, Hezbollah, and concerns over Iran-Syria relations were further exacerbated following the 2006 Lebanon War, which both Ahmadinejad and President Assad claimed as a victory over Israel.

Ahmadinejad has also attempted to develop stronger, more intimate ties with both Afghanistan and Pakistan to the East in order to ensure "regional stability." In particular, Ahmadinejad is interested in more bilateral talks between Iran and both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, Ahmadinejad's administration has taken part in establishing the "peace pipeline"; a pipeline from Iran that will eventually fuel both Pakistan and India. In theory, the plan will help to integrate South Asian economies, and, by consequence, calm tensions between Pakistan and India.

Ahmadinejad met foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan in order to discuss increased cooperation between the two nations. Mammadyarov also expressed desire to expand the North-South corridor between Iran and Azerbaijan and to launch cooperative projects regarding power plant construction. Iran has also redoubled efforts to forge ties with Armenia; during Ahmadinejad's visit in October 2007 the discussions were focused on developing energy ties between the two countries.

Iraq

Ahmadinejad developed closer relations with Iraq, Ahmadinejad was the first Iranian president to visit Iraq. but criticized the U.S. while still saying that "visiting Iraq without the dictator Saddam Hussein is a good thing."

Previous lead-in

Ahmadinejad has been a critic of the United States and Israel, and backs strengthening Iran's relations with Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. During his term, Iran has also been one of the largest aid donors to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad has stated repeatedly that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful electricity generation, not nuclear weapons development. Under his leadership, Iran has rejected United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for it to end nuclear enrichment. Ahmadinejad called Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear enrichment "illegal" and said Iran will continue to abide by International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring of its nuclear program, though Iran has not done so.

Ahmadinejad is widely known for his anti-US and Israel comments for which he is often widely criticized. According to a speech translation disputed by the Iranian government, Ahmadinejad has called for the dissolution of the state of Israel. He also calls for free elections in the region. He believes that the Palestinians need a stronger voice in the region's future.

He was named among the Time magazine 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2006.

In one of Ahmadinejad's most controversial statements, according to the initial Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting translation, he called for the "occupying regime" to be "wiped off the map," though that translation and interpretation is disputed. He has also been condemned for describing the Holocaust as a myth, which has led to accusations of anti-semitism; the interpretation of this quote is also disputed. In response to these criticisms, Ahmadinejad said “No, I am not against Jews, I respect them very much.” Ahmadinejad also clarified, "I'm not saying that the Holocaust didn't happen at all. This is not the judgment that I'm passing here."