Ahmadinejad's Blog

The Iranian government has imposed severe blogging restrictions on citizens, but apparently that doesn't seems to apply to the country's president. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has joined the blogging bandwagon - by starting his own weblog. The blog is a very surprising and unusual move by the conservative president and it comes amid the continuing censorship of Internet sites by Iranian government. Iran has one of the most sophisticated censorship system in place to censor and block sites which it deems inappropriate. Recently Iran has cracked down on bloggers who have posted anti-government messages and it has even blocked the blogspot blogs in Iran.

Mr Ahmadinejad's first post, titled autobiography, tells very less about his childhood, and talks more about Iran's Islamic revolution, and the country's war with Iraq.

He begins by telling his humble origins. He calls himself as son of hard-bitten toiler blacksmith.

I was born in a poor family in a remote village of Garmsar-approximately 90 kilometer east of Tehran.... ...My father had finished 6 grade of elementary school. He was a hard-bitten toiler blacksmith, a pious man who regularly participated in different religious programs.

He is all praise for the Islamic revolution patriach Imam Ayatollah Khomeini. He talks about the Imam with much admiration and affection.

I never forget Imam Khomeini’s speeches during those years which was very persuasive and appealing. You would hear the strong faith to Almighty God in his orations. He invited the people to pure Islam. His message was invitation to the belief of monotheism- Unity and Oneness of God- and also justice, elimination of oppression, injustice and sedition in the world. He was courageous and had a valiant heart. He spoke firmly and securely. His orations were simple and honest. The people accepted his guidance sincerely. Due to these characteristics, he was a beloved leader for every individuals-young or elderly. Of course he was a disgrace for shah’s regime and his Americans masters.

He lambasts US as Great Satan. But, one cannot expect more from a hardline conservative leader.

These terrorist groups with the support and directions from arrogant powers, the leader of them being USA at that time, started massacring innocent people as well as the leading figures of the Islamic Revolution.... .....They were ultimately able to force these terrorist groups out of their own country. Although these terrorist groups are still under the protection and shameful support of Great Satan USA, however, the slap that these groups have received from the brave nation of Iran will never be forgotten by them.

He takes a dig at Saddam by calling him a aggressor.

Saddam, intoxicated with power and while receiving all the economic, military and intelligence support that USA and other Western countries provided him, proudly announced that he will capture Tehran within 3 days. The war that was imposed on Iran, continued for more than 8 years instead of 3 days and ultimately in the end, not even an inch of Iranian land reach the hands of Saddam and his supporters.

And Brian Whitaker has made some sharp observations on the presidents blog.

A picture of the president shows him writing with a pen on a sheet of paper, which is not very bloggerish. Surely they could have sat him at a computer somewhere for the photograph. All this underlines the fact that Ahmadinejad doesn't really get the point of blogging. A presidential blog is almost a contradiction in terms: blogs represent the voice of ordinary people, not politicians who are pretending to be ordinary people. And of course ordinary people who blog in Iran and other parts of the Middle East risk ending up in jail.