NewsMine — war-on-terror — iran — elections-2005 — Viewing Item

Elections flawed from start says US Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=650025 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=650025 US says elections were 'flawed from the start' By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 27 June 2005 The US administration yesterday continued to pour scorn on the victory of President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the hardline former mayor of Tehran, making a further deterioration in the already threadbare diplomatic relationship between the Washington and Tehran apparently inevitable. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, capped weeks of hostile rhetoric by referring to a "mock election" and saying Mr Ahmadinejad was "no friend of democracy". A State Department statement called the elections "flawed from the inception". The US has been criticised since the first round of the Iranian presidential election because it dismissed the process rather than offer encouragement to the leading reformist candidate, Mostafa Moin, who came fifth and failed to make the run-off. Many neoconservatives close to the administration have made clear they are interested in regime change, not reform, and during the campaign called Mr Moin a "pseudo-reformer" who might be more dangerous than the hardliners. Some liberal commentators suggested it might suit Washington to have an unambiguously hardline leadership in Tehran because it would give the administration a pretext to shun all dialogue with a country President George Bush named in his "axis of evil".

Ahmadinejad results shocked analysts { June 20 2005 } American hawks prefer hardliner candidate { June 24 2005 } Bomb in oil town right before elections Bush reaction backfired in favor of hardliners { June 20 2005 } Cheney prefers iran hardliner [pdf] Cheney wishes Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad to elections { June 24 2005 } Commentators predict iranians oppose conservative candidate Election arrests ahead of iran presidential poll { June 23 2005 } Elections flawed from start says US Four americans recognize capture as new iran leader Hardliner poses tough poll challenge Hardliners win landslide victory in election Intelligence doubts iran leader involved 1979 hostages { August 12 2005 } Iran leader ahmadinejad calls holocaust myth Iran leader linked to 1979 hostage crisis Iran new president was prison executioner Military supported conservatives in iran elections { June 20 2005 } New york times calls radical iranian populist { June 26 2005 } Newspapers closed amid iran vote rigging accusations { June 21 2005 } Preelection polls dont match election results { June 27 2005 } President consolidates power under ayatollah khamenei Rafsanjani blames organized interference in the polls Rafsanjani rallies students ahead of iran polls Reform candidate leads in iran polls { June 24 2005 } Reformists accused military of rigging vote Reformists Rafsanjani frontrunner in polls Turmoil in iran as president purges enemies { November 18 2005 } Ultraconservative president elected in iran { June 27 2005 } Voters intimidated arrests made for election violations Files Listed: 29

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