There He Goes Again

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, is certainly consistent in one respect. He is again calling for the West, and the US in particular, to either submit or die. In this, he is echoing the latest propaganda tape al Qaeda released recently, of course.

Iran is embroiled in a nuclear stand-off with the West, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Tehran dismisses. Ahmadinejad says Western powers use such accusations as a ploy to hold back Iran's development.

Washington has said the call for a debate is a diversion.

"We requested a face-to-face debate (with Bush) to assess the problems of the world … We will let humanity choose between us," he told a meeting on the 12th Muslim Shi'ite imam, who disappeared in the 10th century AD but who Shi'ites believe will return to implement Islamic justice.

"We oppose the fact that America and Britain intend to impose themselves on every other nation," he said.

"Those who do not respond to the invitation (to follow God's will), as we said, will have no good fate," said Ahmadinejad, the second non-cleric to be president of the Islamic Republic.

"I do not threaten anybody, but the whole universe threatens you. The current of life in the universe opposes you, as it opposes tyranny," he added.

RESPONDING TO BUSH

A presidential official told Reuters that Ahmadinejad's remarks were partly to rebut Bush's speech on Tuesday in which he said Shi'ite "extremists" were subjecting Iran to "a regime of tyranny," backed terrorists, sought atomic bombs and threatened the United States.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Bush was trying to cover up his failures. "We don't know why Mr Bush insists so much on using this odd language in international relations," he said in a statement.

In letters Ahmadinejad wrote this year to Bush and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he blamed many of the world's problems on leaders who failed to follow divine teachings.

"The time has passed for the use of force … All of the discrimination, wars and problems have a root in such an arrogant spirit, the idea of 'Mahdaviat' opposes that school of thought," Ahmadinejad said.

Mahdaviat refers to the concept of belief in the Mahdi.

This, of course, fails to address the issue that that most Muslims are being killed by other Muslims these days.