Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Raving Lunatic or PR Mastermind?

I’m sure by now we’re all familiar with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (maybe too familiar). It feels like he dominates the news. Whether it be accusations that he is sponsoring terrorism and fighting a proxy war in Iraq, his denials of the Holocaust as fact and refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist, or most recently, his speaking engagement at Columbia University and request to be allowed to visit the sight of the World Trade Center (to place a wreath and pay his respects), the man is a lightning rod for controversy.

So the question I ask is this: is Ahmadinejad the psychotic, illogical and “tyrannical dictator” that he often comes across as, or is he the clever, crafty PR man I suspect him to be?

Surely his ill-advised pursuit of a nuclear program, which thus far has only served to isolate him and his country, places him in the same sphere of delusion as Kim Jong Il. His stance that the Holocaust is a “theory that requires more research” is so absurd that it’s hard to even argue with. He denies that homosexuals live in Iran. His human rights abuses against women and dissidents (there have been over 300 political executions since January) are despicable. Plus, he’s a terrible government official. Economically, Iran is in shambles despite it’s location in the oil-rich Middle East. He’s fallen out of favor with the poor class that elected him. His bombastic rhetoric has become somewhat of a running (though hushed) joke in academic circles.

But the very fact that we pay him so much attention shows that A) we have very little understanding of how the politics of Iran work, and B) Ahmadinejad is a mastermind of self promotion.

Allow me to address these points in order. The truth of it is, Ahmadinejad has limited influence, almost no power, and the fact that we place so much emphasis on him only serves to increase his stature. The presidency in Iran is very different than it is in the US. The effective head of Iran’s political establishment is the Supreme Leader (currently Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), who serves a dual political and religious role. He is backed by a group of mullahs (the Islamic clergy).

The president can influence governmental proceedings by choosing members of parliament and appointing mayors, but ultimately has little say beyond this. The Supreme Leader controls the armed forces, makes final decisions on policy and law, and it is only with his approval that the president can operate at all. Even the much ballyhooed nuclear program falls inside the Supreme Leader’s scope (despite what Ahmadinejad would have the rest of the world believe).

So how has Ahmadinejad managed to manifest a persona as the all powerful, dangerous leader of a terroristic country? By spreading suspicion, confusion, fear and anger, and letting the media do the leg work for him. By making outrageous assertions with bold rhetoric (ie the Holocaust as myth, vows to destroy the west), he plays on our sympathies and our nightmares. By acting as the public face of Iran’s nuclear program, he projects the image that it’s his nuclear program.

Every time he’s allowed to address the UN, every time we play a clip of him on CNN, every time someone like Lee Bollinger (the president of Columbia University) accuses him of being a “petty dictator” (a leader with no power can hardly be called a dictator), we inflate this power in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of his people.

Meanwhile, the true rulers of Iran can act with immunity in obscurity. They can continue to oppress women and dissidents. They can continue to use their Revolutionary Guards to spread mayhem in Iraq. They can continue enriching uranium. As long as Ahmadenijad is the voice and face of evil, as long the west believes that he is the man calling the shots in Iran, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his mullahs will escape unscathed (truth be told, I don’t even know what the Grand Ayatollah looks like).

It would be easy enough to get rid of Ahmadinejad. He has already succeeded in marginalizing himself by falling out of favor with the people who elected him. These people are the true victims of Ahmadinejad’s tense relations with the west. UN sanctions against Iran have ravaged an already poverty stricken people, and economically the country has gone to hell. Iranians are, generally speaking, highly educated people and it’s safe to assume they won’t put up with oppression silently.

If the US would get smart and start ignoring Ahmadinejad like the harmless nuisance that he is, in turn applying some pressure to the Grand Ayatollah, the man would disappear. He would no longer be of any use. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a puppet with a Ph.D. in traffic management, and could easily be replaced.

But first we would have to get smart…on foreign policy. When will that happen? Your guess is as good as mine.

Thanks for reading.