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Of all the bizarre and intriguing information collected by U.S. intelligenceand revealed by the recent dump of WikiLeaks cables, none has been as surprising as a cable published on Jan. 3 by the German newspaper Der Spiegel. The dispatch, written this past February, relates details of a meeting amongst Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). The council met to discuss the next steps in dealing with an Iranian population still reeling from state repression from the previous summer when citizens took to the streets to protest an obviously corrupted election.

Ahmadinejad, not exactly known for his open-minded disposition, surprised other SNSC members by taking a surprisingly liberal posture during a mid-January post-Ashura meeting of the SNSC called to discuss the next steps in dealing with opposition protests. Source said that Ahmadinejad claimed that "people feel suffocated," and mused that to defuse the situation it may be necessary to allow more personal and social freedoms, including more freedom of the press.

The suggestion didn’t go over so well with those in attendance.

According to a source, Ahmadinejad's statements infuriated Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari, who exclaimed, "You are wrong! (In fact) it is YOU who created this mess... >>>