Ahmadinejad 'no friend' of democracy - Rumsfeld

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "no friend of democracy" and will prove himself unacceptable to young Iranians and women, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday.

In the strongest criticisms yet by a U.S. official, Rumsfeld dismissed the vote Ahmadinejad won by a landslide on Saturday as a "mock election," and said it was no surprise a "hard-liner" was elected.

"Now, I don't know much about this fellow. He's young," Rumsfeld said on "Fox News Sunday."

"But he is no friend of democracy. He's no friend of freedom. He is a person who is very much supportive of the current ayatollahs, who are telling the people of that country how to live their lives. And my guess is over time, the young people and the women will find him, as well as his masters, unacceptable," Rumsfeld said.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050626/pl_nm/iran_usa_dc_3

[acmejack]

1. Takes one to know one...

nt

[VegasWolf]

14. I'm rubber you are glue. nt

[BulletproofLandshark]

2. Enemies of democracy

can smell their own

[rooboy]

3. No... Iranians need a 'democrat' like Musharraf. n/t

[stray cat]

4. It sounds like the Iranian people elected him handily.

He certainly has more of a mandate than Bush had. We really don't want democracy in some of the middle east countries - the people are less friendly to the U.S. than the current rulers.

[gratuitous]

10. And that's the point

I haven't heard any allegations of widespread election fraud, or that there was anything to indicate that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wasn't democratically elected by the will of the people of Iran, so what's Rumsfeld saying? "Wrong answer, Iranian people; try again"?

Is it the official policy of this administration that elections are recognized only if the people elect the "right" candidate? Seems the United States has been down this road many times before: Chile, Nicaragua, Iran, and on and on. The results have been uniformly bad for global relations, though extraordinarily good for a small cadre of war profiteers.

[saigon68]

5. Rumsfeld 'no friend' of democracy -

A friend of hoodlum Corporation criminals

and their ilk

[kayice]

7. Just seeing the name Rumsfeld makes me want to puke.

Nixon was right; Rummy should have stayed away from the Dept. of Defense. Rummy is as crooked as Nixon. Which one is the greater narcissist between B*sh and Rummy is a toss-up.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Why is the Secretary of Defense running his mouth about this?

Isn't this supposed to be Rice's job?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

8. Buries the needle on the "Hypocrisy Meter"

And the "Irony Meter" isn't looking much better.

[salin]

9. Not that your little elective war didn't help him get elected

or anything...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Yep...the pressure is being increased little by little.

[movonne]

12. And neither are you mr. rumsfeld!!!!

[Catshrink]

13. Ratchet up the rhetoric, Rummy.

We all know where you're heading with this.... Of course, you'll need to reinstate the draft before you can invade Iran, unless you want to send all our soldiers on a suicide mission because they're spread so thin.

[VegasWolf]

15. Bush is a liar, when he says Democracy he means Corporate Capitialism.nt

[driver8]

16. The Bush administration are no friends to democracy...

unless democracy includes fascism.

[deadparrot]

17. No shit. And he's a conservative religious fundamentalist. nt