After Ahmadinejad

The Iranian propaganda machine is saying that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Baghdad was a great success, mostly because the Iranian leader was received so politely by some of Iraq's leaders. Much of the U.S. coverage of the visit seems in line with this version, the idea being, apparently, to portray Iran as the real beneficiary of Bush's Mideast policy.

But ordinary Iraqis had a different reaction to the event. There are numerous reports of protests against the Iranian president's visit, and this story says Ahmadinejad thought it the better part of valor to cancel his planned trip to the holy sites of Kerbala and Najaf.

Indeed, the Arabic report says that Ali Sistani refused to receive Ahmadinejad, which might be a reason the Iranian president chose not to go these sites. After all, it would look strange for him to visit the holy sites and not pass by Sistani's home. Sistani's position has been that he does not meet with heads of state.

Another reason might be security. There are reports that the U.S. military did not protect Ahmadinejad during his stay in Baghdad. If that's so, then the drive south would have been risky, even at the political level. Iran's PR message would have been especially muddled if Ahmadinejad had to face Iraqi protesters along the way.

Finally, here's an Arabic-language story that says that the visit actually highlighted the deep divisions between Iran and Iraq. It says that other than a few members of the Dawa party and some from the SIIC (Hakim's team), Iraq's politicians want little to do with Iran. According to the story, the rest of the country's politicians boycotted the leader's visit.

Iraq's holy sites are, historically, major pilgrimage destinations for Iranian Shiites. Yet the deeply religious Ahmadinejad actually comes to Iraq but decides he can't visit these places? Some propaganda coup that is. Westerners can analyze the trip to make it conform to their preferred vision of the region, but ordinary Iraqis and Iranians can see the visit for what it was.