[Los Angeles Times] Dariush Zahedi and Omid Memarian - Until municipal elections in December, the relatively young conservatives who control Iran's parliament and the more traditional conservatives beholden to the clerics were unsure of Ahmadinejad's popularity. But Ahmadinejad's humiliation at the polls - about 90% of his allies lost - has emboldened his opponents. Ahmadinejad comes from the most militant and ideologically driven faction in Iran, known as the Hizbullahis. In general, they are right-wing populists with security and military backgrounds in the Revolutionary Guard and the voluntary militia attached to it, the Basij. The president has gone out of his way to placate these extremist forces, granting them multibillion-dollar infrastructure contracts to develop the country's oil and gas sector, among other enterprises.
2007-01-22 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive