Ahmadinajad in Lebanon

So Robert Worth said:  "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran arrived here on Wednesday morning and was given an ecstatic welcome by supporters of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement his country backs."  What is inaccurate is the suggestion that only supporters of Hizbullah welcomed him to Lebanon.  In fact, the Amal Movement has also been enthusiastically welcoming him to Lebanon too: I am now watching him live on TV give a speech in Qana.  And the affair in Qana has been officiated by the Amal Movement.  (By the way, people don't know that Iran also financially supports the Amal Movement).   But the popular support and enthusiasm for Ahmadinajad among Shi`ites is genuine and sincere and it has--to a degree--surprised me a bit particularly because the man has no charisma or oratorical skills.   Of course, every article on the visit has to mention the slaughter of the sheep.  If they were slaughtered in honor of a Zionist leader, they would have not been mentioned, or would have mentioned with admiration and glee.  Spare me Orientalist cliches and focuses.