I'm On Iranian Radio

The title above is a reference to the Wall of Voodoo hit, "I'm On A Mexican Radio." As in a warbly off-key Stan Ridgeway dead-panning, "I wish I was in Tijuana--eating barbecued iguana." At first blush the song has a no connection to Iraq's Mahdi Army leader Moqtada Al-Sadr fleeing to Iran. He was reported to have gone there today out of a distrust of US intentions, and as a public figure he'll probably end up giving some interviews on radio and TV, maybe even sing a few evening prayers. Al-Sadr thought a laser-guided 500-lb. bomb might land on his pillow in Iraq, so he went all topsy-turvy and headed South of the Border. Hey, you're not paranoid if everyone is out to get you. More lyrics:

I feel a hot wind on my shoulder
And the touch of a world that is older
I turn the switch and check the number
I leave it on when in bed I slumber
I hear the rhythms of the music
I buy the product and never use it
I hear the talking of the DJ
Can't understand just what does he say?

The plot thickens past where I can see bottom, but I guess it was time for Al-Sadr to get the hell out of Dodge. In the context of history, this is pretty funny either way. In 1963, the Shah of Iran shipped the undesireable Ayatollah Khomeini to Iraq to fester for about 13 years like an infectious intellectual boil in Najaf. Now it's Iraq's leading Shiite cleric with the martyred forebears who has fled to Iran. If the story is true, then Al-Sadr's eventual return should reciprocally signal something akin to Ruhollah Khomeini's trip back to Tehran. The guy's trouble. Blowback and boomerang, with tons of turnabout, irony, and a big dose of "let my people go."