[Washington Post] Ruth Marcus - I had breakfast this morning with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a session for about 20 media types, arranged by Iran's ambassador to the UN. U.S. politicians tend to be the glossiest in the room, always camera-ready. Ahmadinejad was, by contrast, the scruffiest of his crew. Sitting among them, in his trademark beige sports coat that looks like something like a thrift store windbreaker, Ahmadinejad reminded me of a criminal defendant with his better-dressed legal team. But he seemed anything but uncomfortable - and why should he be? He had arrayed before him, with still and video cameras to record the scene for the folks back home, titans of the U.S. media establishment. He proceeded to deliver a lecture that could be summarized as the Farsi version of "The Times They Are A-Changin'," with a pounding anti-Zionist backbeat. The age of the American empire is over, Ahmadinejad said - you could imagine that the folks back home would eat this up - and he was simply "giving assistance to the politicians here so they can think about changing their behavior." As a politician, Ahmadinejad plays a good net game. Every time he was challenged, he stepped up and volleyed right back. If people were worried about Iran in possession of nuclear material, well, what about all the nuclear weapons in the United States?
2008-09-26 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive