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Iran hails Iraq vote but warns of US meddling
 TEHRAN: Iranian officials on Sunday hailed Iraq's elections as a "great step" towards full independence, but repeated a warning from the Islamic republic's supreme leader that the United States may not accept the result. "The organisation of the elections in Iraq constitutes a great step for Iraqis towards an independent and popular regime," top MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. But influential former Iranian president Akbar Hasemi Rafsanjani warned that Washington may not accept Iraq becoming a country that is "free and independent and that does not stand next to America and Israel."
| Israel! Oh, horrors! Quick, Ethel! My pills! |
"If a free and clean election happens in Iraq, an Arab country, self-rule will be a good example for many countries. I think the Americans and Iraqi Baathists do not want this to happen," he told the student news agency ISNA.
| [Scratches head] Then why'd we let them have elections? The Sunnis wanted them postponed indefinitely. Kofi wanted them postponed. The Euros wanted them postponed. We could have gone along... |
Rafsanjani said the United States "could either rig the results of the elections," or otherwise stage a coup d'etat — a warning expressed earlier this month by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei..
| Brilliant. Simply brilliant. |
For his part, Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani told ISNA that "a massive participation in the election will put an obstacle in front of the occupiers."
| Sounds like they're just as confused as al-Jizzles. |
Posted by: Fred 2005-01-31 |
