Word: akbar
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...ongoing tumult of Iranian politics, Ayatullah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has made few public pronouncements - even though he is said to be the main guiding force behind the scenes for those in the regime who are opposed to the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, and President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But on Tuesday, Rafsanjani, looking fatigued and thinner than in recent months, made a rare semi-public speech, covered in part by Iran's official television news. Ostensibly, he called for harmony and promoted unity - notions that probably do not sit well with the activist elements of the protest movement...
...legend that many Iranians hold as truth, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini on his deathbed joined the hands of his chief disciples, Ali Khamenei - who would become Supreme Leader - and Ali Akbar Rafsanjani - the cleric who is now Khamenei's most powerful rival - and warned that if the two should ever be divided, the Islamic Republic would fall. Since the controversial presidential election in June, the growing rift between the two men has been playing out not only on the streets but also, just as important, behind closed doors in a game of chess that their adherents follow but the moves...
...Gates plotted with President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan and toured the mujahedin camps, befriending some of the guerrilla leaders who now live in Pakistan's tribal regions and dispatch suicide bombers to blow up American and Afghan forces. Ex - CIA officer Milt Bearden recalls crowds shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is great) in honor of Gates. Afghans who fought the Soviets still refer to him as "General Gates." (See Obama's personal touches to the Oval Office...
...Despite the looming confrontation, behind the scenes, Iran's opposition appears to be exploring the possibility of a compromise. Much of the speculation has centered on the possibility that former President Akbar Hashemei Rafsanjani - a wily power broker who's managed to hold the ever narrowing middle ground between the two camps - might mediate between the opposition and Khamenei. At least one opposition leader, former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, has openly mooted the possibility, though another, former president Mohammad Khatami, publicly denied having sent a letter to that effect to the Supreme Leader. But all three of the highest-profile...
...without a motive, there would have been no murder. Hasan wore his radical Islamic faith and its jihadist tendencies in the same way he wore his Army uniform. He allegedly proselytized within the ranks, spoke out against the wars his Army was waging in Muslim countries and shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is great) as he gunned down his fellow soldiers. Those who served alongside Hasan find the Pentagon review wanting. "The report demonstrates that we are unwilling to identify and confront the real enemy of political Islam," says a former military colleague of Hasan, speaking privately because he was ordered...