From His Own Mouth
Lally Weymouth interviewed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Washington Post. If you want to get a feeling for where the world is heading if we do not get our collective act together, you need to read this. There are real hints in here as to Iran's beliefs and intentions. There is also a great deal of evidence that Mad Mahmoud pays attention to what the Western left says and thinks and echoes it right back. He's is a sharp enough propagandist to know how to play that game to the max. Some of what he says could have come right off the HuffPo or the Daily Koz.
Why don't you let the IAEA inspectors back in, as the U.N. Security Council demanded last summer?
The Security Council's involvement is, in fact, illegal. We are working under the framework of the IAEA, and the cameras are on our sites. Could you please show me at least one report by the IAEA on the United States' nuclear facilities?
Are you really serious when you say that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
We need to look at the scene in the Middle East — 60 years of war, 60 years of displacement, 60 years of conflict, not even a day of peace. Look at the war in Lebanon, the war in Gaza — what are the reasons for these conditions? We need to address and resolve the root problem.
Your suggestion is to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth?
Our suggestion is very clear: . . . Let the Palestinian people decide their fate in a free and fair referendum, and the result, whatever it is, should be accepted. . . . The people with no roots there are now ruling the land.
You've been quoted as saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth. Is that your belief?
What I have said has made my position clear. If we look at a map of the Middle East from 70 years ago . . .
So, the answer is yes, you do believe that it should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
Are you asking me yes or no? Is this a test? Do you respect the right to self-determination for the Palestinian nation? Yes or no? Is Palestine, as a nation, considered a nation with the right to live under humane conditions or not? Let's allow those rights to be enforced for these 5 million displaced people.
If the Palestinian people decided that they wanted a two-state solution, would you support that decision?
The politicians in the United States should allow the Palestinians to vote, and then we'll all respect the results. They won't even accept a small Palestinian state. That's why we think the root cause of the crisis must be addressed. Jews, like other individuals, will have to be respected. It's not necessary to occupy the land of others, to displace them, to imprison their young people and to destroy their homes and agricultural fields and to attack neighboring countries.
You really should read this. These are the words straight from his mouth. He is hell bent on making Iran a "powerful country" (his words). And when he thinks Iran is powerful enough, hell will be unleashed. The left may want to Pooh-pooh or ignore Mad Mahmoud and Iran. The words from his own mouth show that to be a deadly foolish position to take.
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The Real Ugly American.com » Blog Archive » From His Own Mouth — Sunday, 24 September , 2006 @ 7:22 am
By Lemming Herder, Sunday, 24 September , 2006 @ 7:59 am
I have no doubt that Iran is a danger to others. But I think we need to worry about other things. We are already fighting two wars, no need for a third. pArticularly when it will be bloodier than Iraq, and no end to it either.
http://dontbealemming.com/2006/09/24/is-america-the-worlds-bully.aspx
Posted by the Lemming Herder at Don’t
Be A Lemming!
By David, Sunday, 24 September , 2006 @ 6:41 pm
It reads to me very much like Ahmadinejad can take silly questions like “Do you really want Israel wiped off the face of the Earth?†and flip them back very effectively.
( In the interview, you can just sense the desperation of the journalist, who no doubt sorely wanted to see his own byline on a story headlined “Ahmadinejad Repeats Call for Israel’s Destruction!â€)
Instead, Ahmadinejad turned the repeated question back on his interrogator, making the interiview turn on addressing the injustices of the European imperialism which after WW1, gave sanction and support (tho’ not always) to Zionist settlement of the Palestine, and then turned an increasingly blind eye to full-scale occupation from the late 1930s.
Iran *is* already a Great Power (in the geopolitical sense) in the M.E. There’s no way around that. It’s population, resource control, and wealth make it so.
Ahmadinejad is certainly a demagogue–he’s seen how support can melt away from “moderates†such as his predecessor Mohammed Khatami (whose expressed values I admired more than I do Ahmadinejad’s). But if you ignore the realpolitik of the geopolitical situation in the M.E., and ignore the genuine historical grievances of the Palestinian Arabs, you’re just not going to have a better situation in that region.
In short: of *course* Ahmadinejad wants Iran to be recognized as a major player in the M.E. It already is! And we, by destroying Iraq, have dramaitcally tilted the balance of powers there in Iran’s favor. One more “unanticipated†consequence of BushCo’s terrible failure to think through the warplan.
If I were a politician in Ahmadinejad’s shoes, you can damn well bet I’d pay attention to what the Opposition in the U.S. thinks about Bush. What politico in his right mind wouldn’t? This is, among other things, a battle for world public opinion, and Bush plays it extraordinarily badly. I would fear for Bush in a debate with Ahmadinejad. It’s times like this that we suffer for having an unintelliegnt president. The ability to articulate to the world, the reasoning and legitimacy behind a policy is one of the most important skills required of a president, and ours is just very very poor at doing that.
But after re-reading the BlueCrab comments introducing the interview, I have to ask: why such superficial comments? You could have commented on the interview in much more intelligent way than simply acting “as if†there was some “Super Stupendous Secret Code to Ahmadinejad’s Intentions!!!†Good lord.
(Here’s a hint, a bit of spoon-feeding: You’d be on stronger grounds if you actually responded to the issues Ahmadinejad raises.)
By Gaius, Sunday, 24 September , 2006 @ 6:49 pm
Ah, I see. You are the arbiter of all things and are much more wise and smart than the rest of us. Thanks so much for deigning to swoop in and spoon feed us the true wisdom.