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Ahmadinejad Unwelcome in Parts of Iran
[New York Post] Amir Taheri - For 30 years, the tradition has been for each newly elected president to travel to the "holy" city of Mashad, to the tomb of Ali bin Mussa, the only one of Shiism's twelve imams buried in Iranian soil. This year Ahmadinejad was forced at the last minute to scrub the trip. The authorities couldn't guarantee the president's safety - let alone deliver the enthusiastic, welcoming crowds that he requires for propaganda purposes. Last Friday, his visit to Shiraz, Iran's cultural capital, was called off on "security grounds." The authorities have had to deploy tens of thousands of security agents, kill dozens of protestors and imprison more than 4,000 dissidents to prevent Ahmadinejad's victory from being challenged by millions of protest marchers every day. He governs thanks to the batons and bayonets of the security agents - not what populist Ahmadinejad had hoped.