Rafsanjani picked to head Iran's powerful assembly

[Eugene]

Source: Reuers

Rafsanjani picked to head Iran's powerful assembly
Tue Sep 4, 2007 7:20AM EDT

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Clerics picked Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani on Tuesday to lead a powerful Iranian
government body, in a boost for the former
president who wants better ties with the West
and a blow to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rafsanjani's victory over a hardline rival to
become speaker of the Assembly of Experts is a
further step in his political recovery at the
expense of Ahmadinejad, a vociferous critic of
the West who beat the pragmatic, mid-ranking
cleric in the 2005 presidential race, analysts
said.

But the change will not herald a shift in Iran's
foreign or nuclear policy nor would it have a big
impact on the assembly's tendency to stay clear
of day-to-day politics, analysts added.

The assembly is an 86-seat body with the power
to appoint, supervise and even dismiss the Islamic
Republic's highest authority, Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0417001120070904

[ludwigb]

1. Unfortunately, the Legislative body doesn't have a whole lot of power

not unlike the US.

Still.....a more democratic culture than anywhere else in the Middle East, with the possible exception of Turkey. People forget that so easily.

[bemildred]

2. Good, Ahm-an-idjit is a useless warmongering weasel. nt

[LeftishBrit]

3. Many would agree on that!

[happyslug]

4. This is the only group that can remove the Supreme Leader of iran

And the Supreme Leader has the real power in Iran (The Council of Experts also elects the Supreme Leader). The Supreme Leader is even the Commander in Chief of the Army (The President is more a Manager of the Government, a powerful position if your main outlook is HOW the Government runs, but a weak one if your aim is where the Government should should be headed).

For more on the Iranian Constitution see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_Experts

[ohio2007]

5. Another nail in Ahmadinejad coffin

his reelection is being decided by the mullahs.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070903081020.uzkadmfq&show_article=1

his odds are being calculated

[defendandprotect]

6. Isn't Rafsanjani the guy who confirmed the "October Surprise" . . .. ???

Well, Iran was a long time ago . . . . isn't Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani the moderate . . . and didn't he confrim the "October Surprise" pulled off by Bush/Reagan -- with Bush doing the foot work in Paris?

Nightline -- with Koppel at the time said they'd pretty much confirmed it --

And, evidently, that's what Iran-Contra was about --