Ahmadinejad was booed by Shi'ites throughout organized tour of Iraq
Sunday, March 16, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got a taste of Iraqi sentiment during his first official visit to Iraq since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. But the nationwide tour early this month was far from the hero's reception many expected.
For weeks, Iran had been preparing for Ahmadinejad's tour of Iraq. The idea was to present Ahmadinejad as the spiritual leader of the majority Shi'ite community and the chief player of regional politics.
The crowds came out for Ahmadinejad, but their hostility was obvious, if not widely reported. Ahmadinejad was booed as his convoy drove past in Baghdad. As a result, Iranian television showed very little footage of Ahmadinejad's arrival.
The protests against Ahmadinejad were not isolated to Baghdad but continued in almost every major stop on the Iraqi tour, including Shi'ite Basra, security officials said. Demonstrators, posters, banners and literally the writing on the walls accused Ahmadinejad of meddling in Iraq.
The reception Ahmadinejad received in Baghdad made the president's entourage nervous, the officials said. Ahmadinejad had been scheduled to visit the Shi'ite cities of Karbala and Najaf as part of his pilgrimage.
But Iranian agents warned the president to stay away. The reason: thousands of Shi'ites were planning to protest Ahmadinejad's visit and denounce him as an aggressor. The president was also told that many Shi'ite clerics and dignitaries would not greet him.
Iran will not be deterred, security officials said. Indeed, Teheran pours hundreds of millions of dollars each year in financing Shi'ite militias and encouraging attacks on the U.S.-led coalition.
But what has become clear to Iran's regime is that Iraq's Shi'ite community may not want to be part of Iran or even in its orbit, the officials said.