Victory For Iran
the electoral victory of the Democratic party on Tuesday is being heralded as a great victory. For Iran. So says Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday.
"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."
The Democrats wrested control of both houses of Congress from the Republicans in this week's mid-term elections, partly because of voter concern over the war in Iraq.
Khamenei, a senior cleric in power since 1989, has the last word on matters of state in Iran's complex system of Islamic rule, while the government, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in charge of day-to-day decision making.
"The result of this election indicates that the majority of American people are dissatisfied and are fed up with the policies of the American administration," the IRNA state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Khamenei said military maneuvers in the Gulf this week in which Iranian forces tested new missile systems showed Iran was ready to face any threat.
But, he said: "With the scandalous defeat of America's policies in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, America's threats are empty threats on an international scale."
This should make people wonder about exactly what message is being transmitted to the world with our internal politics. Well, I don't wonder; I've been warning all along.
UPDATE: Al Qaeda is quite enthusiastic about the Democrats, too. That really should make the Democrats think hard about how they are perceived by the world.
The group also said it welcomed the Republican electoral defeat that led to the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and it added that its fighters would not rest until they had blown up the White House.
Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, also urged the U.S. to stay in Iraq so his group would have more opportunities to kill American troops.
"The al-Qaida army has 12,000 fighters in Iraq, and they have vowed to die for God's sake," a man introduced as al-Muhajir said in an audio tape made available on militant Web sites.
"We will not rest from our Jihad until we are under the olive trees of Rumieh and we have blown up the filthiest house — which is called the White House," al-Muhajir said.
Al-Muhajir became the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June.
The tape could not be independently verified.
The speaker praised the outcome of Tuesday's elections in which Democrats swept to power in the House and the Senate, in large part due to U.S. voter dissatisfaction over the handling of the war in Iraq.
By BenT, Friday, 10 November , 2006 @ 3:53 pm
“This should make people wonder about exactly what message is being transmitted to the world with our internal politics. Well, I don’t wonder; I’ve been warning all along.”
Yes. You are a great seer. You are the only person who has been remarking on how our country appears to the rest of the world.
By TJM, Friday, 10 November , 2006 @ 4:53 pm
Apparently the State Dept. doesn’t entirely agree with you about Iran. In the 11/01/2006 Weekly Status Report,the Iraqi oil ministry is to discuss the shipment of 150,000 bbls per day to the Abadan refinery. In a country with less than a 3 day supply of gasoline available for Iraqis (where getting a fill-up can take all day,even at heavily subsidized prices) and the target is a 15 day supply,the State Dept. is supportive of this as “Help Iraq Strengthen its Economy.”