Iran's president brings political baggage to NY

Associated Press

Dubai : Iran's president will likely swagger into New York next week in much the same style as past visits for the annual U.N. General Assembly: ready to take his jabs at America on its home turf.

But any outward confidence on the big U.S. stage contrasts

sharply with his increasingly public power struggles back in Iran

that could shape the tone of the Islamic republic for years to come.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who was a divisive figure in Iran after his disputed re-election last year is now the great divider among the conservative leadership as the threat fades from the battered and dispirited opposition, analysts say.

"They have generally gotten rid of the Green Movement and now

they are fighting among themselves," Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an expert on Iranian affairs at Syracuse University, referring to the

opposition movement.

Just in the past week, Ahmadinejad was hit with a series of slaps - including the judiciary commandeering the exit rules for jailed American hiker Sarah Shourd. It adds up to more evidence that the old guard clerics and others are pushing back harder against Ahmadinejad's political hungers.

Their complaint basically is that Ahmadinejad is trying to redraw

the political flow chart. Since the Islamic Revolution, it's been

easy to follow: the ruling clerics on top and the elected officials

- including the president - notches lower.

Ahmadinejad appears to be constantly testing the system - and

possibly the patience of theocracy - by trying to expand the

autonomy of his office in policy decisions and filling key posts.

There is also a question of his biggest ally, the hugely influential

Revolutionary Guard, and whether it wants to stretch its portfolio even further.

The Guard already controls almost everything of importance in

Iran - from protecting the nuclear program to directing the Basiji

paramilitary corps. These were the front-line forces set loose

against protesters who alleged that ballot fraud handed Ahmadinejad another term in office until 2013.

The Guard's widening presence in Iranian affairs is nudging the

country - in some eyes - closer to the values of the generals and away from the mullahs. It's been a repeated theme of the opposition and Western officials such as Secretary of State Hillary Rodman Clinton.

Iran's opposition leader, Mir Houssein Mousavi, has warned that

Iranian society is becoming "more militarized." In the coded language of Iranian politics, it's widely seen as another way for Khamenei to send indirect warnings to Ahmadinejad to remember who is in charge.

A much clearer rap came this week when Khamenei forced

Ahmadinejad to cancel the appointments of six special international envoys. But the signs of high-level rifts have wide spillover. They bring questions about whether Iran can continue to speak in a unified voice in its disputes with the West over its nuclear program. Or even how much Ahmadinejad's statements - including his expected interviews and speeches in the U.S. - are freelance policy or sanctioned by the turbans at the top.

This was once a given. Even Ahmadinejad's predecessor,

reform-minded President Mohammad Khatami, did not ruffle the clerics by suggesting he was outside their rules.

"There is only one thing clear: Iran is no longer the topdown

structure it once was," said William O. Beeman, a University of

Minnesota professor who has written on Iranian affairs. "It's much more fluid."