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**Hagan’s American Journal: **
**Iran’s Dangerous Game **
**By **
**William John Hagan **
Houston Home Journal
Weekend Edition
10/08/2005
Iran’s new President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, first made a name for himself as mayor of Tehran. During his tenure he imposed the will of the nation’s religious leaders by rolling back progressive reforms that had been allowed under his predecessors. As mayor, Mahmoud shut down fast-food restaurants and, in a fit of pique, required male city employees to wear beards and long-sleeve shirts. His extreme political and Islamic conservatism served his political future well; he was recently ushered into Iran’s highest elected office with the backing of powerful supporters in the Iranian parliament or “Majlis”.
This group consists of old parliamentarians who took part in the original 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran. Prior to his appointment as Mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad was an obscure figure in the world of Iranian politics; despite claims by some former American hostages that he participated in the capture of the American Embassy. Ahmadinejad denies any involvement, but does admit to joining Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after the fall of the Shah. For reasons unknown, the CIA has apparently sided with Ahmadinejad. According to an anonymous source, “The tone of the report is that there is no evidence to date that the new Iranian president…held U.S. diplomats hostage. The officials cautioned that the analysis is not final.”
An outside observer might be led to conclude that the leak of these alleged “findings” could be a move by the Bush administration to keep the diplomatic door open to Iran at a time when their current nuclear program is threatening to further destabilize the Middle East. Photographic evidence and eye witness accounts, after all, call into question the CIA’s conclusions. If elements in the United States Government did in fact give Ahmadinejad a pass on his hostage-taking past, then it appears to have been a wasted olive branch. Iran is currently two to three years away from developing a nuclear bomb and the prevention of this threat to global stability has become a top priority for the United States, Britain, and Israel. Initially, the Ahmadinejad government claimed that their nuclear program was to be used only as a source for domestic energy; hardly a convincing assertion by a nation sitting on top of one of the world’s largest oil reserves. In recent weeks, however, it has become convincingly clear that Ahmadinejad is just not credible as he placed the military firmly in control of his nation’s “civilian” nuclear program. This action has triggered a game of nuclear brinksmenship between Iran and the Western Alliance (the United States, Britain, and Israel).
***The remainder of the article can be read at:
***http://williamjohnhagan.blogspot.com
**Iran’s Dangerous Game **
**By **
**William John Hagan **
Houston Home Journal
Weekend Edition
10/08/2005
Iran’s new President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, first made a name for himself as mayor of Tehran. During his tenure he imposed the will of the nation’s religious leaders by rolling back progressive reforms that had been allowed under his predecessors. As mayor, Mahmoud shut down fast-food restaurants and, in a fit of pique, required male city employees to wear beards and long-sleeve shirts. His extreme political and Islamic conservatism served his political future well; he was recently ushered into Iran’s highest elected office with the backing of powerful supporters in the Iranian parliament or “Majlis”.
This group consists of old parliamentarians who took part in the original 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran. Prior to his appointment as Mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad was an obscure figure in the world of Iranian politics; despite claims by some former American hostages that he participated in the capture of the American Embassy. Ahmadinejad denies any involvement, but does admit to joining Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after the fall of the Shah. For reasons unknown, the CIA has apparently sided with Ahmadinejad. According to an anonymous source, “The tone of the report is that there is no evidence to date that the new Iranian president…held U.S. diplomats hostage. The officials cautioned that the analysis is not final.”
An outside observer might be led to conclude that the leak of these alleged “findings” could be a move by the Bush administration to keep the diplomatic door open to Iran at a time when their current nuclear program is threatening to further destabilize the Middle East. Photographic evidence and eye witness accounts, after all, call into question the CIA’s conclusions. If elements in the United States Government did in fact give Ahmadinejad a pass on his hostage-taking past, then it appears to have been a wasted olive branch. Iran is currently two to three years away from developing a nuclear bomb and the prevention of this threat to global stability has become a top priority for the United States, Britain, and Israel. Initially, the Ahmadinejad government claimed that their nuclear program was to be used only as a source for domestic energy; hardly a convincing assertion by a nation sitting on top of one of the world’s largest oil reserves. In recent weeks, however, it has become convincingly clear that Ahmadinejad is just not credible as he placed the military firmly in control of his nation’s “civilian” nuclear program. This action has triggered a game of nuclear brinksmenship between Iran and the Western Alliance (the United States, Britain, and Israel).
***The remainder of the article can be read at:
***http://williamjohnhagan.blogspot.com