President Mohammed Khatami strides across the Mehrabad Airport tarmac to the salute of soldiers in ceremonial sashes. Mullahs in dark robes, bearded aides in suits with tieless shirts and militiamen carrying Kalashnikovs trail him up to Iran's equivalent of Air Force One--an old American-made Boeing 707 from before the Islamic Revolution. In minutes he is roaring off to a speech--it is an anniversary in the Iran-Iraq war--near the Iraqi border. There is no mistaking Khatami when he slips back from the front of the plane, wandering down through a cabin decorated in late-1970s style. In contrast to his entourage's rough-edged, revolutionary...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
