Mahmoud is stirring the pot in Iraq.
Would you expect anything less?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) shakes hands with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at the latter’s office in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone March 2, 2008. Ahmadinejad hailed a new chapter in ties with Iraq on Sunday, saying he was “truly happy” to make a landmark trip to Baghdad now that Iran’s arch-foe Saddam Hussein had been deposed. Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian president to go to Iraq since Saddam launched a ruinous eight-year war on Iran in 1980 in which a million people died. He is also the first leader from the region to visit since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. (REUTERS/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
Hundreds of Iraqis protested against his visit this week.
Ahmadinejad made a historic visit to Iraq today, the first official visit by an Iranian president since the Iran-Iraq War that killed nearly one million people in the 1980’s.
Mahmoud had a few words on America during his press conference.
IC Publications reported:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the people of Iraq “do not like America,” and dismissed President George W. Bush’s charge that Tehran supports militants in Iraq.
“Bush always accuses others without evidence and this increases problems. The Americans have to understand that Iraqi people do not like America,” Ahmadinejad said at a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad.
The Iranian regime also used Mahmoud’s visit as an excuse to lash out at Arab countries.
The Tehran Times reported:
Iraqi officials and citizens know who has helped them over the past five years of instability, which has been caused by the activities of terrorists. Iran was the first country to recognize the Iraqi governing council and to reopen its embassy in Iraq, and the Iranian president’s visit shows that Tehran wants the country to have peace and development.
On the other hand, some Arab countries that consider themselves friends of the U.S. still view Iraq with suspicion, even five years after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, and they have only reopened their embassies due to Washington’s pressure.
Clearly, when Iran says it “regards Iraq’s security as its own” it is not just rhetoric
Reuters also lashed out at Iraq’s Arab neighbors for their reluctant support of the Iraqi government.
President Bush suggested that the Iraqi Government ask Ahmadinejad to quit supplying the terrorists with bombs.
Jules Crittenden noted Mahmoud’s comments on Saddam.
