Ahmadinejad on Iraq: We’ll take it from here; Update: “Who are you” to question Maliki?
posted at 11:00 am on August 28, 2007 by Allahpundit
I think this is what David Ignatius meant on Sunday about Iran overplaying its hand. What a silly thing to say ahead of the Bush-Congress showdown. If you want America out so you can move in — and he does — why give U.S. hawks any leverage by announcing that fact publicly?
“The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly,” Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Tehran, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq. “Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation.”
The Machiavellian read would be that he doesn’t want the U.S. to leave, at least not until he can bleed us some more, and this is his way of trying to buy Bush more time. Hard to believe that Iran digs having 160,000 American troops across the border, though, however easier it makes them to target. Maybe it’s just smoke he’s blowing back towards the west after Sarkozy’s saber-rattling yesterday and the U.S. going after the Revolutionary Guard last week? I’m at a loss. Theories are welcome.
Exit question: Will there be anyone left by the time they move in?
Update: Cooking with Islamist Nutjob!
“Of course what I make is delicious — ask everyone who has eaten it! I can make all the different kinds of soups and Iranian stews,” said the president.
Update: Another nugget from today’s presser. This one’s old news dating back to May, when ElBaradei said he thought “they pretty much have the knowledge about how to enrich.” The question is whether they have the capacity to enrich uranium highly enough to make it bomb-grade. Probably not yet, but that’s a matter of time.
Update: This won’t do Maliki any favors with Bush either, although it’ll score Iran some cheap points with Iraq’s Shiites.
“They rudely say (the Iraqi) prime minister and the constitution must change,” Ahmadinejad said. “Who are you? Who has given you the right” to ask for such a change, he added, addressing the U.S. critics of al-Maliki, who is also a Shiite.
Blowback
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Maybe he believes our media. First time the MSM has done some good in a long while.
JiangxiDad on August 28, 2007 at 11:19 AM
No soup for you!
Brat on August 28, 2007 at 11:25 AM
Bing.
When was the last time the left quoted and/or believed anything this guy says? He’s apparently invisible.
Jaibones on August 28, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Machiavellian, shmachiavellian .. maybe he’s just not that bright.
IreneFingIrene on August 28, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Any Ayatollah’s Book of Shi’ite Nursery Rhymes:
Mahdi’s comin’ out of the well,
Time to turn the world to hell.
Is Mahmoud a lycanthrope?
A little more hair on his ears and it’s “An Iranian Werewolf in Tehran“.
profitsbeard on August 28, 2007 at 11:27 AM
“Of course what I make is delicious — ask everyone who has eaten it! I can make all the different kinds of soups and Iranian stews,” said the president.
Hello Food Network!
Tell me you wouldn’t watch “Cooking with Ahmmy.”
John from OPFOR on August 28, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Keep in mind that this guy sees the world through the lenses of his crazy religious beliefs.
infidel4life on August 28, 2007 at 11:46 AM
He could care less what the Amrericans think. He knows our tail is between our legs and the democrats in power are going to reteat as soon as they can. It is just a matter of time. He is just starting the humiliation a little soon. When we leave, it will get worse.
volsense on August 28, 2007 at 11:58 AM
AP it has to do with the mindset of the people of the region. Remember Saddam and his mother of all battles? These guys have several logic fallacies backing up their rhetoric.
A) They believe that Allah has their back and will deliver their enemies into their hands.
B) They believe that the thousands of years that they have been at war with each other has made them superior warriors.
C) They believe that their asymmetrical tactics give them a indefeasible advantage.
D) They believe that our ignorance of the geographical and climatological conditions and inability to fully integrate with the indigenous population gives us a insurmountable disadvantage.
Dinnerjacket like Saddam before him, if he is not very very careful will wake up one morning with the immortal words of Ronald Reagan hammering in his head…
doriangrey on August 28, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Its actualy very simple.
You notice this has had very little if any play by the MSM here in America. He can trust the MSM here to bury anything he says… like… oh… Death to America… while blowing out of proportion anything said here in America that is anti administration…
I mean the “administrations source” who LIED about what Pace was going to tell the President got much more play than this blatant statement about the foreign policy of a potential enemy….
He’s gotten away with it for so long… that he thinks he can pretty much say anything he wants, and the American public won’t pay attention… and you know? He’s probably correct….
Romeo13 on August 28, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Drudge:
Bush: Iran must halt Iraq actions ‘at once’… Developing…
bnelson44 on August 28, 2007 at 12:47 PM
Michael Ledeen, over at the Corner, says that Ahmadinejad says this kind of thing “every other day,” and speculated that someone on the foreign desk might have thought it was a slow news day.
Could be “dog bites man.” May have looked like it helped fill in the daily jigsaw. Conspiracist, paranoid thinking begins with the assumption that disparate, probably or possibly random connections MUST expose patterns or intentions that only our special gifts/curses/intellects etc. enable us to detect.
Even in the 21st Century, interpreting the meaning and import of stray statements and events uttered in distant countries, within dimly understood contexts, and translated haphazardly, is more art than science. When you’re trying to divine hidden intentions and issues of timing and strategy, without an agent (or three) in place, you might do as well with tea leaves.
We see this just about every other day with unjustifiable conclusions based on the latest ripples in the Iraqi political swamp. Why do we think we have a chance of getting those right, when we so often do such a poor job of figuring out what our own leaders’ statements and actions really man?
CK MacLeod on August 28, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s confidential MySpace entry:
Hi there fellow Islamic bloggers. My name is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and I am the great and fearless President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and soon to be the defacto President of Iraq too!
I was was born one of seven children to a humble blacksmith and when I was a child growing up I worked on a farm to earn extra money for my poor father and I got to know a lot of the farm animals very well. I was
a real nature boy back then. I was a real animal lover. My favorites were the goats of course. I still have such fond memories of my boyhood.
Later I excelled as a student, earning my master’s degree and a Ph.D in civil engineering. I have only three wifes, but as the leader of such a great Islamic country and soon to be the dominate power in the Middle East I feel that it is time for me to take my fourth
wife. If any nice Islamic ladies are reading this you should email me some time soon. You must be between the ages of 12 and 28 years old. If you are under 12 that would be alright too but you must have a note from a male relative of course.
In addition to my important duties as the Great President of the Islamic Republic of Iran I am now working on my post graduate science project, which when completed in a very few years, I will test on Evil Israel and the Great Satin America.
Who I would like to meet … …
In addition to my fourth wife, and remember
if you are under 12 years old, you must have a note from a male relative, I would like to meet other dedicated members of the Great Religion of
SlaughterPeace, Islam of course. We can all get together after work and spendtime reading inspiring passages from the Koran and comparing notes on our mutual love of farm animals. We can also go over a list of priority test sites for my developing
Holocaustscience project. It will be a blast!MB4 on August 28, 2007 at 1:05 PM
Drudge Siren:
BUSH WARNS OF ‘HOLOCAUST’ IF IRAN GETS NUKES
bnelson44 on August 28, 2007 at 1:48 PM
just remember gang:
no matter how much dinner jacket jumps up and down he still is shorter than xxxx (insert the name of most anyone in the free world.)
semi seriously:
this guys country and iraq fought it out toe to toe for a number of years their way and all they managed to do was to kill about 800,000 of their people.
uncle sams nephews went through saddams bunch the first time in about 100 hours even though saddams army and navy and air force and republican guards and, and, and, had at least 120 days advance notice. then about ten years later they did it again after a three week warmup in afghanistan.
so dinnerjacket says he has millions ready to die for thier country. thats ok, they can do it out in the desert where stray backscatter radiation will not hurt semi innocent onlookers.
for the ohh but bunch, see the “Korean Peace Action”.
C
pk on August 28, 2007 at 2:44 PM