The world's quite anti-Muslim - I'll take complaints with a 1/2 grain of salt, whether lies about his most famous statement, Washington Post here, Israeli Minister of Intelligence here, to gross exaggerations from the West about Iran's nuclear capability. "Axis of Evil", "tried to buy yellowcake", Blair's "just 45 minutes" quote, and some of Obama's war on terror/statements about OBL & Qaddafi are also demagoguic (sp?). Including a number of lies about Ahmadinejad's re-election & lies by his underlings about nuclear facilities. (No, it wasn't as stolen as the west pretended - Ahmadinejad did have a very popular base, and had done much to ease poverty, so the election wasn't as stolen as pretended. No, radiation around a suspect nuclear facility can't just be rinsed away by water...).

So now, is Ahmadinejad to blame for your "these journalists" being arrested?

A political dispute between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader is reported to have intensified.

Ahmadinejad is said to be contemplating resigning after Heidar Moslehi, the intelligence minister he had sacked, was reinstated by Khamenei.

The failed attempt to dismiss Moslehi is part of Ahmadinejad’s wider campaign to cleanse his government of senior officials imposed on him by other power circles within the Islamic Republic. Moslehi’s resignation would also make Ahmadinejad’s cabinet – along with Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan’s short-lived transitional government in 1979 – the only cabinet in the history of the Islamic Republic devoid of representatives from the clergy.

 

Ahmadinejad has previously attempted to restrain the Supreme Leader’s control over the intelligence ministry.

Why is that important? Well, who's in charge of detaining journalists?

As Second Round of Journalists Arrested, Intelligence Ministry Threatens Even More

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February 6, 2013

Heidar Moslehi, Iran’s Minister of Intelligence.

Another wave of summonses and arrests of journalists has taken place in Iran, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on February 5. In a statement published by Fars News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Intelligence Ministry stated that the journalists were arrested for their contact with the BBC and that the arrests, which began January 26, will continue.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry says it has arrested several elements cooperating with a Western media network.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, the Ministry said that in line with its duties to counter any foreign infiltration and interference in the country, it identified “one of the largest media networks affiliated to the global arrogance.”

Oops.

Now, it's not uncommon for politicians to try to retain some bit of power at the end of their tenure - Vladimir Putin, Vaclav Klaus, Berlusconi, Rudy Giuliani... So if Ahmadinejad is still trying to stay relevant while in office, 4 months before replacement elections? Wow, sue him. I recall Bush turning over the keys to the White House in July 2008.

Actually, I'm not defending Ahmadinejad - I'm wondering why smart people keep falling for the same press manipulation over and over. Ahmadinejad's almost certainly a thug - but that doesn't make him guilty of every rabid charge from the anti-Muslim west.

And for Ahmadinejad being a "madman", yes, he must be mad - no sane US leader would let the Soviet Union occupy Canada, Mexico, Cuba without a serious response, but that's essentially what Ahmadinejad's done - Iraq, Afghanistan, fleet in the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan support for CIA renditions & military cooperation, Azeri support...