Ten Things You Didn't Know About Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Yahoo! News/U.S. News & World Report ^ | September 26, 2007 | Staff

[2ndDivisionVet]

1. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAD) was born Oct. 28, 1956, three years after the CIA-sponsored coup that installed the pro-Western leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Iran's leader. A Shiite Muslim, he and his wife, a professor, have two sons and a daughter.

2. When he was an infant, Ahmadinejad's family moved from the village of Aradan to Tehran. It was at this point that the family changed its name from Saborjhian, which translates to "thread painter" (the lowliest job in Iran's traditional carpet-weaving industry), to the more religious Ahmadinejad ("race of Muhammad" or "virtuous race").

3. Ahmadinejad is the fourth son of seven children. His father, Ahmad, ran a grocery store and then a barber shop in Aradan; upon their move to Tehran, his father became a blacksmith.

4. In 1975, he finished 130th among students across Iran who took university entrance exams that year and was admitted as a civil engineering student at Tehran's University of Science and Technology. He would later complete graduate work, earning master's and doctoral degrees in traffic and transportation engineering.

5. As a student, Ahmadinejad was politically active. Although religious activism was repressed under the shah, Ahmadinejad and his fellow protesters produced leaflets denouncing the shah using a printing press hidden in his family's home. Later, Ahmadinejad joined the ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the radical student group that grew out of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and staged the capture of the U.S. Embassy.

6. After serving in the war with Iraq, he joined Iran's elite Special Brigade of Revolutionary Guards, the militia force loyal to the spiritual leader at the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He served in covert operations with the guards, probably in Kirkuk, and may also have been involved in the elimination of the Ayatollah's enemies; intelligence sources believed that he traveled to Austria in 1989 to assist in the assassination of Abdorrahman Qassemlou, a Kurdish dissident.

7. He was cofounder of the Islamic Society of Students and was an instructor with the Basij, the youth volunteer organization that enforces the Islamic Republic's strict religious codes. The Basij crisscrossed the city via motorcycles, searching for women out in public in violation of strict Muslim dress codes or in the company of males who were not close relatives.

8. After the war, he returned to academia as a lecturer and professor of engineering at his alma mater. Ahmadinejad's public service included serving as vice governor and governor of Maku and Khoy and acting as an adviser to the minister of culture and Islamic guidance. He was governor of the province of Ardabil from 1993 to 1997 and was the appointed mayor of Tehran in 2003.

9. As Tehran's mayor, he gained a reputation for personal piety and attentiveness to the city's lower and working classes. His two-year tenure was marked by religious conservatism and populism. He ordered the shutdown of fast-food restaurants, a crackdown on Internet caf鳬 and the cancellation of some secular entertainment events. He also turned cultural centers into religious halls. At one point, he donned a street sweeper's uniform to earn the respect of city workers and, shunning a city-provided limousine service, drove his own 1977 Peugeot.

10. Declaring that "we did not have a revolution in order to have democracy," Ahmadinejad won Iran's presidential election, edging out his rival, Islamic cleric and veteran politician Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in the runoff election in June 2005.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Know your enemy.

[Cindy]

RECAP:

"5. As a student, Ahmadinejad was politically active. Although religious activism was repressed under the shah, Ahmadinejad and his fellow protesters produced leaflets denouncing the shah using a printing press hidden in his family's home. Later, Ahmadinejad joined the ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the radical student group that grew out of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and staged the capture of the U.S. Embassy."

[xJones]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAD)

It certainly helps to know how to say the little weenie's name.

[johnny7]

t certainly helps to know how to say the little weenie's name.

The spelling won't matter... his grave will be unmarked.

[LjubivojeRadosavljevic]

As a student, Ahmadinejad was politically active. Although religious activism was repressed under the shah,...

Really?...I wonder if the Savak had anything to do with this so-called repression?

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

“Know your enemy.”

Indeed. He has far more impressive credentials than Adolf Hitler, another seriously underestimated character on the world stage, ever did; and probably a good deal more impressive than many FR posters who use dismissive phrases like “little weenie” as substitutes for thought.

[mmanager]

Reads like Hillary or Hitler’s youth.

[Baladas]

So true, I call tell You’re not on the left end of the political spectrum with that comment alone. Want to add:

11. Ahmadinejad’s a psychotic terrorist.

[johnny7]

He has far more impressive credentials than Adolf Hitler...

History isn't your strong-suit.

[agere_contra]

The Basiji are perhaps better known for acting as human minesweepers during the Iran-Iraq war.

IIRC Ahmadinejhad was a Minesweeper-”trainer”

[sure_fine]

"5. As a student, Ahmadinejad was politically active. Although religious activism was repressed under the shah, Ahmadinejad and his fellow protesters produced leaflets denouncing the shah using a printing press hidden in his family's home. Later, Ahmadinejad joined the ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the radical student group that grew out of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and staged the capture of the U.S. Embassy."

[Cindy]

Yep.
Thanks for posting those photos, sure fine.

[SkyPilot]

How tall is he?

I am guessing 5'3".

[Baladas]

Yeah, looking at THAT, I can see what Walter Cronkite meant when he said he might like to have a “gay marriage”. Hawt.

[olezip]

5. As a student, Ahmadinejad was politically active. Although religious activism was repressed under the shah, Ahmadinejad and his fellow protesters produced leaflets denouncing the shah using a printing press hidden in his family's home. Later, Ahmadinejad joined the ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity, the radical student group that grew out of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and staged the capture of the U.S. Embassy. 6. After serving in the war with Iraq, he joined Iran's elite Special Brigade of Revolutionary Guards, the militia force loyal to the spiritual leader at the time, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He served in covert operations with the guards, probably in Kirkuk, and may also have been involved in the elimination of the Ayatollah's enemies; intelligence sources believed that he traveled to Austria in 1989 to assist in the assassination of Abdorrahman Qassemlou, a Kurdish dissident.

In other words Ahmadinejad is or was a terrorist. That is further evidence that Columbia University is run by morons.

[SkyPilot]

The Basij crisscrossed the city via motorcycles, searching for women out in public in violation of strict Muslim dress codes or in the company of males who were not close relatives.

So he chased skirts on a motorcycle?

Wow - impressive. Glad he has that on his resume.

[OldSmaj]

All I want to know about the sawed-off, beady-eyed little piece of excrement, is the moment he assumes room temperature.

[aruanan]

10. Declaring that "we did not have a revolution in order to have democracy," Ahmadinejad won Iran's presidential election, edging out his rival, Islamic cleric and veteran politician Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in the runoff election in June 2005.

And we will not have bombed Iran in order to let a pious kook escape to threaten the world with Islamic nukes.

[aruanan]

3. Ahmadinejad is the fourth son of seven children. His father, Ahmad, ran a grocery store and then a barber shop in Aradan; upon their move to Tehran, his father became a blacksmith.

At least he wasn't the 7th son of a 7th son or we'd really be in trouble.

[racnpartsales4u]

and to further your argument he drives a french made automobile. He must have to hitchhike to work a lot.

[Cindy]

“...is or was...”

OPINION:

is and was

[Cindy]

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
http://memritv.org/subject/en/121.htm

[mmanager]

5’2”

[Leisler]

Reminds me of an Iranian Jimmah (PBUH) Carter.

[flat]

wait, he took part in the kidnapping and mistreatment of Americans for days on end and we had him on our soil and he wasn’t arrested?

wtf?

[LibLieSlayer]

Your public education is showing. Imademonjob is a third rate punk that takes orders from rag-headed unholy men. He lives and breathes at the pleasure of the mullahs.

LLS

[Recon Dad]

He would later complete graduate work, earning master’s and doctoral degrees in traffic and transportation engineering.

The other day in his speech at Columbia he said he was teaching a class in Psychics every week?

[steelyourfaith]

So, in other words, Mahmoud Armingforjihad is another nut-job in need of a shower & shave. Thanks.

[Bluebird Singing]

He should have been taken into custody for his crimes the moment he set foot on U.S. soil.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Or a twin son of different fathers... :)

[syriacus]

Thanks for posting this, 2ndDivisionVet.

[shezza]

The other day in his speech at Columbia he said he was teaching a class in Psychics every week...

[Puppage]

He’s gay?

[bolobaby]

“He’s gay?”

“We have no homosexuals in Iran. None. I have searched and cannot find any. Surely if we had this phenomenon, I would have found them and buggered them by now. But there are none.”

[agrace]

That excerpt and the side-by-side together make a really strong argument, don’t they. Best instant impact made yet with regard to the case for his involvement in the embassy takeover, I think.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

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[prophetic]

I see that Iran is pretty short on good dentists as well.

[CodeToad]

good post. The guy is a nutcase thirsty for power and will use the cult of Islam to get it.

[george76]

the family changed its name from Saborjhian, which translates to "thread painter" (the lowliest job in Iran's traditional carpet-weaving industry),

.

[NeoCaveman]

I just call him President Tom, like Glenn Beck does.

[Biggirl]

So could it be that the famous picture so often seen was him in 1979?

[Biggirl]

Better yet, call him President Nutjob.

[Biggirl]

Well I have seen online pictures of President Nutjob kissing other males.

[Biggirl]

Me too. The moment he came to Columbia U should have been the time to have had him arrested, oh well.

[Biggirl]

Here is a video with some pictures showing President Nutjob kissing a few males.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I5cdpBovaI&mode=related&search=

[r9etb]

Your public education is showing. Imademonjob is a third rate punk that takes orders from rag-headed unholy men. He lives and breathes at the pleasure of the mullahs.

It would be a mistake to think he's stupid. He's nuts, but he's definitely not stupid.

[evets]

11. Ahmadinejad is "an engineer and a master in calculation and tabulation."

[LibLieSlayer]

Uninformed was my point.

LLS

[r9etb]

I guess I’m dense today ... I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make.