Ahmadinejad the Conqueror!

You knew this was going to happen. Now it is official, Ahmadinejad is an even bigger hero now in Iran and among the terrorists then he was before. He is credited with going into the "lion's den" and beating the pants off Columbia's rude and hateful president.

This whole escapade of misguided dictator free speech is going to have a long lasting affect on his credibility in the Middle East. Ahmadinejad has a bigger leash to do whatever he wants because his government-controlled newspapers are trumpeting his amazing "success" at defeating the Great Satan's most brilliant academics in a battle of wits.

Reuters - Wednesday, September 26

TEHRAN
- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have faced ridicule in the United
States by suggesting there were no homosexuals in Iran, but he won
praise at home on Wednesday for taking his country's case to "the
Lion's Den".

Generally,
politicians and media in the Islamic Republic -- even some who have
previously criticised the president -- described Ahmadinejad's visit to
New York as a triumph and denounced the university president who called
him "a petty and cruel dictator".

But one pro-reform newspaper
said that, although the president told his U.S. audience he respected
academics, that was not always how it seemed at home.

Ahmadinejad,
who often rails against the West, travelled to the United States at a
time of escalating tension between the two foes over Tehran's nuclear
ambitions and the war in Iraq.

The president spoke at Columbia
University on Monday and on Tuesday addressed the U.N. General
Assembly, where he told world leaders the issue of Iran's nuclear
ambitions was "closed" and that military threats and sanctions had
failed.

"By fearlessly and courageously walking into the 'Lion's
Den' ... he is sure to become even more of a hero in the Arab-Muslim
street than before," the daily Iran News wrote.

Iran denies U.S.
accusations it is seeking atomic bombs, saying it wants to generate
electricity. It also rejects accusations it is violating human rights
and muzzling critics.

LAUGHTER

Around 200 lawmakers hailed
Ahmadinejad's "historical and memorable" stay in New York, saying in a
statement his "courageous" speech on Monday had made Muslims happy
while angering Iran's enemies like Israel, the Mehr News Agency said.

Others
condemned the way Ahmadinejad was treated at Columbia University, where
he criticised Israel and the United States and provoked laughter and
jeers by saying Iran had no homosexuals.

Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in Iran.

Introducing
Ahmadinejad, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said he acted
like a dictator and his Holocaust denials showed he was "brazenly
provocative or astonishingly uneducated".

One Iranian MP described Bollinger's remarks as insulting.

The
head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi- Shahroudi, who has
in the past criticised Ahmadinejad, said he had defied hostile
"plotters" to deliver his speech.

But the reformist newspaper,
Aftab-e Yazd, contrasted his comments in New York on how Iran respects
its academics with the way some of them were being treated in the
country.

The daily referred to a harshly worded response by some
officials to an open letter in June signed by 57 economists criticising
the government's economic and foreign policies.

"No doubt,
Ahmadinejad's logic and composure in the face of the Columbia
University head's disgracing remarks is a cause of pride for all
Iranians," it wrote. "However, history will remember this behaviour
only if ... he can prove that he trusts all academics and in all
affairs."

I guess we could always hope that they love him so much that they sacrifice him thinking he is the Twelfth Imam. Now that would be good television. BigT