Ahmadinejad Gives Obama "Cold Shoulder"

President Obama has made a start at trying to "change" American Middle East policy. Admittedly, different people see that change differently. Some of the right see a weak Obama pandering to the "Arab Street." Some on the left think that Obama's policies are starting to look like "Bush III." The harshest foreign critics of Obama have been the al Qaeda leaders, the Iranian leadership, and assorted Islamists.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad today offered his reaction to Obama's interview on al-Arabbiya. Different agencies reported it very differently. The Reuters headline was: "Iran Tells US to Show Change in Policy Not Tactics." The Tehran Times announced: "Iran welcomes change in U.S. foreign policy: Ahmadinejad." The IRNA so far has nothing on the story, but does cover a response from a lower-level Iranian official. . The Fars News Agency carried the harshest headline: "Ahmadinejad: US Should Apologize to Iran to Show 'Change.'"

What, in fact, did Ahmadinejad actually say? (Bolding mine)


TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the new US administration to extend an apology to Tehran if it really intends to put Obama's campaign slogan of "change" into practice.

"The people who want to make changes in the US should apologize to the Iranian nation and compensate for their crimes against the Iranians" Ahmadinejad said during his tour of the western Iranian province of Kermanshah on Wednesday. "We welcome change provided that it will be fundamental and in the correct direction, otherwise the world should know that if any one even with new words but with Mr. Bush's literature, spirit and aggressiveness wants to speak with Iranians, their response is the one they have stressed for years," he added.

Ahmadinejad further noted inauguration of the new US administration, and stressed, "The fact that a new administration with the slogan of 'change' has come to power and said that it wants to change US policies is good as Mr. Bush's policies were inhumane, immoral and alien to the prophets' teachings." "They say we want to make changes but change can occur in two forms: One form is basic change and the other form is tactical change and changing the words they use which is political warfare," the Iranian president said. Noting that change means not interfering in other countries affairs, he reiterated, "Mr. Bush humiliated the US nation, wiretapped their phone calls and did whatever he wanted (to do) without soliciting them." A real change, Ahmadinejad said, is a change in policies which means "removing pressure from the American people and allowing them to freely decide about their fate".

Didn't we just have an election? That last line may seem cryptic, but it's not. Can you guess whom Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes is pressuring the American people and whose control needs to be ended? Hmmm? It can't be the Republicans or Neocons, because the Democrats control the House, Senate, and Presidency. Bush is home in Texas. The Congressional Black Caucus? NOW? Who could it be except--THE JEWS! After all, given all the other wacky theories Adhmadinejad holds, I'm sure he's convinced Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's chief-of-staff, is a Mossad agent. See it here!