Iran president says Israel's days are numbered

[sabra]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-12-12T173514Z_01_L1213060_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAN-HOLOCAUST.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

Iran president says Israel's days are numbered

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday told delegates at an international conference questioning the Holocaust that Israel's days were numbered.

Ahmadinejad, who has sparked international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World War Two as a "myth" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map", launched another verbal attack on the Jewish state.

"Thanks to people's wishes and God's will the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards and this is what God has promised and what all nations want," he said.

"Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out," he added.

[still_one]

1. ahmadinejad is an antisemetic pig, who is an embaressment to Iran

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

2. Who Is The REAL Anti-Christ?

Which "leader" is more whacked out?

George or this psychopath in Iran?

Sometimes I wish the world would come to an end, just so God could have the chance to start over with a fresh slate.

[kimmerspixelated]

17. Jeesh, cheer up!

[antiimperialist]

36. Who is worse/ Bush or Ahmadinejad

Tough call there, but as we speak, given that Bush not only talks, but carries out his threats to invade innocent countries, whereas Ahmadinejad has only talked so far, I'd have to give Bush the price of "worst of the two".

[no_hypocrisy]

3. The only thing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hasn't yet said to

provoke * and give him the political cover to bomb Iran is that no one died on 9-11 and if there were an attack, it was American military attacking civilians.

[geek tragedy]

5. No, the Jews did 911 too. Didn't you get the memo?

:sarcasm:

[no_hypocrisy]

11. OK, second to last thing. n/t

[radwriter0555]

50. He didn't say ISRAEL's days are numbered, he said ZIONISTS days are numbered.

Nor did he threaten to wipe israel off the map, according to actual, real, discerning people who translated his specific words and the text he was quoting from.

It's easy to fall prey to the anti-iranian sentiment as the israeli drumbeats get louder.

But, what's being printed isn't accurate or true.

[The Magistrate]

62. What Is Being Printed, Ma'am, Is Quite Accurate

Destruction of Israel is state policy for the Islamic Republic of Iran: people who question that must doubtless look eagerly to the west for the sun to rise at dawn. This can only occur amid great slaughter and expulsion of survivors, and to press for it is to support and look forward to great slaughter and expulsion of survivors. If this makes some people uncomfortable, who are not accustomed to openly embracing the consequences of their views, were they to actually reach fruition, the problem is their's alone.

Your "Israeli drumbeats" comment does intriuge me deeply, Ma'am. Is it your contention that reporting of the official positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the convention of Holocaust deniers it is currently sponsoring, is some concotion of the Israeli secret service, or some similiar Israeli covert manipulation?

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lurking Dem]

69. Why is it even a question, in your mind?

[geek tragedy]

70. Um, if you think there's a chance that Iran will prove that there

were no gas chambers, I've got a ski lodge in Death Valley to sell you.

Teh stupid is strong with this one.

[Lurking Dem]

72. I heard the most appropriate descriptive

from my son today. "Asswhistle".

[The Magistrate]

71. An Interesting Reply, Ma'am, But It Does Not Answer The Question You Were Asked

Which you douibtless will forgive me for repeating: Is it your contention that reporting of the official positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the convention of Holocaust deniers it is currently sponsoring, is some concotion of the Israeli secret service, or some similiar Israeli covert manipulation? Since you spoke of reports on the Tehran conventon of Holocaust deniers as "Israeli drumbeats", it is something that needs clarification.

The rest of this, of course, is simply tenditious nonesense. Destruction of the state of Israel is state policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and has been from its inception. Israel's "provocation" of it largely consists in simply existing.

It also interests me that you seem to consider there is room at this late date to prove or disprove the Hitlerite attempt at extermination of European Jewry. This not, Ma'am, a matter in which there are two sides to a question....

"If a man will continue to insist two and two do not make four, I know of nothing in the power of arguement that can stop up his mouth."

[oberliner]

73. Wow

The world is possibly going to be stunned at their findings proving their were no gas chambers?

I mean, after all, this is the first time any historians have ever tried to do any research about the holocaust.

We all eagerly await the results!

[oblivious]

4. At least this "wiped off the map" comment has been settled. "Just like the Soviet Union."

So the warmongers and propagandists can stop claiming he is planning an attack on Israel.

[lovuian]

6. I think this is a threat to the US also

He definitely is asking for trouble...

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. Who will be doing the wioing out?

[oblivious]

10. Map makers. Just as they did with the Soviet Union. It doesn't mean an attack for heaven's sake.

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. "May God Speed The Mahdi's Return"

goddamn fundyclown.

[truthisfreedom]

9. This guy just isn't very good at making nice.

Tsk-tsk-tsk.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. Every country's days are numbered

We just don't know what the numbers are.

[MADem]

13. This, from the asshole who represents a government that murders teen aged girls

for "crimes against chastity" by hanging them from cranes. And it's not just the young--he'll let his pals, his fellow travellers from the Revolutionary days, who are handpicked like he was by the rabid, backward, sick Ruling Council, sentence any woman to death. Fuck him. His views on ANYTHING, in light of the way he and his government deny rights to children, women, and anyone who is different, are irrelevant. He's a turd, and his words have no weight.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5217424.stm
Execution of a teenage girl (Atefah Sahaaleh)
A television documentary team has pieced together details surrounding the case of a 16-year-old girl, executed two years ago in Iran.


In Iran an 18-year-old named Nazanin is sentenced to be put to death by hanging. Her crime? Defending herself and her 16-year-old niece from being raped by three men. During the attack she drew a knife and stabbed one of the attackers. In doing so she succeeded in driving the attackers off and saved the two of them from whatever fate awaited them at the hands of the three men.
http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/13139/Iranian_Teen_Sentenced_to_Die_for_Self_Defense


http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2006/07/28/stoning/index.html

Death by stoning for adultery
Ashraf Kolhari, 37, has been sentenced to be buried up to her neck and stoned to death in Iran. The mother-of-four's capital crime: adultery, which she committed after failing to be granted a divorce, Ms. Magazine reports. Kolhari was arrested five years ago, and has been awaiting her sentencing in prison, where she is serving 15 years imprisonment for participating in the murder of her husband. It's the cheating, not the participating in murder, that carries the death penalty, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran's penal code. Eight other women in Iranian prisons are currently awaiting the same fate. .... It's very hard to prove rape in Iran, because the age of consent is nine. "Men's word is accepted much more clearly and much more easily than women," according to Iranian lawyer and exile Mohammad Hoshi, told the BBC. "They can say: 'You know she encouraged me' or 'She didn't wear proper dress'."


http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/22/iran14247.htm
Iran: Juvenile Offenders Face the Hangman’s Noose
Despite Two Reprieves, Iran Leads the World in Juvenile Executions
“Although these two youths were spared by last-minute acts of mercy, Iran has earned the dubious distinction as the world leader in executing child offenders,” said Clarisa Bencomo, children’s rights researcher on the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. “The Iranian authorities should abolish this repugnant practice at once.”

When a defendant has been sentenced to death in Iran, the victim’s family members are asked just before execution is carried out if they wish to offer forgiveness. Paymard’s pardon came after he was granted a final request to play the ney, a Middle Eastern flute. According to press accounts, his playing greatly affected those present to witness the execution, including the victim’s family members.

A third youth, who was either 20 or 21 at the time of his execution this week, was not granted a pardon by family members. It is not known whether he was under the age of 18 at the time of the crime for which he was convicted.

Two core international human rights treaties, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for crimes committed before the age of 18. Iran has ratified both treaties.

Iran has executed more juvenile offenders in the last five years than any other nation. It is known to have executed 14 juvenile offenders since 2001, including at least one earlier this year and eight in 2005. About 30 juvenile offenders are on death row in the country.

Overview of their Human Rights posture, here: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/iran12214.htm

[aquart]

16. Now you understand Israel's real crime:

Equal rights for women. Would you want such a horror next door, spreading the plague of independent women?

Patriarchal religion is ALWAYS about controlling women.

[PCIntern]

14. What the hell is it going to take this guy to say

for people to realize that he and his countrymen will not stop until they see that Israel and its people are destroyed? Not the 'map', not the 'theory', not the 'entity', not the 'name', not the 'government', not the 'heritage'...it's the population and the culture which they want to destroy, and then sow the ground with salt in a political, religious, and ethnic sense.

Do you really think that the Bush administration are the only evil people in the whole damned world? Do you think that they invented war, genocide, and lying about it? What do you really think would happen if Israel proper, not the West Bank, not the so-called 'occupied terriroties', not the Gaza Strip, but the whole of Israel were overrun with Arab armies? Do you believe that even a single Jewish life would be spared?

Look what they do to theri own in their own countries. Look what the Sunnis do to the Shiites, what everyone does to the Kurds. Merciless...utterly merciless.

Wake the hell up already.

[crim son]

15. No offense, but your post sounds exactly like

something a freeper would have posted prior to our attacking Hussein's Iraq. To what degree are we once again being manipulated by the media here? Ahmadinejad gained his place because his predecessor wasn't a true conservative and if he wants to retain control then he must appear to be not only conservative but strongly opposed to both the U.S. and Israel. We cannot obliterate nations simply because we dislike the rhetoric that comes from the mouths of their leaders.

[cali]

25. Hmm. Do you know anything about the political

structure of Iran? Ahmadinejad is largely the mouthpiece of the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council. He doesn't do much without their approval.

Nevertheless, wacky as he is, and wacky as the real leaders of Iran are, that is no reason to assume that they present a danger to the U.S. or Israel.

It does bear repeating though, that your analysis is mostly bunk.

[crim son]

27. I don't believe I presented any analysis.

And you basically repeated what I said.

[Karenina]

28. It would seem he gets his rocks off

getting shriller by the moment and then standing back to watch the West twitch and flip out. Total Psy-ops, as he does NOT control the buttons or football. When he took office, the ex-pat Persians here all said :freak::wtf::freak: So now we're all getting whack-o M$M media hype from a whack-o ME media creation. :puke: O' what a wonderful world...

[PCIntern]

30. No offense to you at all whatsoever

but that was about the most idiotic post I've read in a long time, even by the, shall we say, "anti-Zionist-Imperialist crowd" here on DU.

Stop apologizing for psychopaths.

No offense now...

BTW, do you think that your statement that I sound like a Freeper makes you more credible? As far as I'm concerned, I sound like an American.

[crim son]

40. I don't take offense, seriously.

You are angry at the freeper comment. I apologize.

[Nihil]

54. FWIW, yes, you *do* sound like an American

Be happy.

[MADem]

33. Uh... "Ahmadinejad gained his place " because the Ruling Council disqualified

close to a thousand candidates. REFORM candidates.

No shit.

Do a little research into that "election." It made Bush-Gore 00 look like an exercise in absolute freedom and democracy. http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2612

And that's not "media manipulation." That sad fact is woefully UNDERREPORTED in the media. The Iranian people DID NOT want this asshole. It came down to a choice between this shithead, and Rafsanjani--because all of the Reform candidates were lined off the ballot by a bunch of old bastards in black turbans. Then, to seal the deal, the Ruling Council sent out agents who went into the mosques, and warned the mullahs and faithful that if they didn't vote for the midget bastard mayor of Teheran, that their mosque MONEY would be cut off....quite the faith-based initiative to vote the way the Council of Bastards tells you to, eh?

Now, one can have differences with Israel, one can have differences with assorted nations and factions in the Arab world, and, like Iran, in the Southwest Asian region, but to give the spokesman (and that is all this twit is--a fucking "spokesmodel"--he has NO power of his own) of this murderous regime any fucking weight is insane. Sure, you can say a stopped clock is right twice a day, and that is all he is--a stopped clock. Until those bastards stop murdering children for the crime of being raped, they can just shut the fuck up. They have no credibility to speak about ANYTHING.

Again, I am not saying that one can't have differences with the way nations conduct their foreign policy, and I'm not really interested in discussing that aspect, particularly when the stench of the mayor of Teheran is hanging around up in here, but don't use that shitheel's words or thoughts to bolster any argument. That's like trying to raise money for the SPCA by associating the agency with Hitler, because Hitler happened to like dogs.

More from HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/12/iran11114.htm
In a 17-page briefing paper, “Access Denied: Iran’s Exclusionary Elections,” Human Rights Watch details how election laws prevent candidates outside the ruling elite from running for high public office. Iran’s Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 Sh`ia Muslim clerics and religious jurists, had interpreted these laws to exclude all women as well as all candidates whose views are critical of the current leadership.

Don't be fooled. This asshole makes far rightwingers in the US look like groovy, peace-love-rockNroll hippies by comparison.

[crim son]

44. I am not fooled. I am not apologizing for Ahmadinejad.

This is the essence of what I think: I don't believe it's a good idea to go to war with Iran. Do you? And while Bush is being battered by what Americans and the world believe is his complete failure in Iraq, do you believe that he no interest in provoking Iran such that we will have an excuse for aggression?

I don't dispute the facts, only the judgement and panic evident in our recognition of those facts. Do you think sanctions will work? Do you believe Iran will respond to worldwide pressure? Do you think the current Administration will care either way?

[MADem]

47. I don't think we will go to war with Iran. And I don't think Iran will pull any more of that

shit, in the near term, like they did with Nasrallah's Hizb'Allah in Lebanon.

The Council is sending the whackjob midget mayor Spokesmodel out there to rattle the cage and act like a crazy man, to keep Bush away. But Bush doesn't have the military to win-hold-win. We have Afghanistan, Iraq, and now these clowns to worry about? Fuggedaboutit. The reason Insaneamenijad can get away with this crap is because he's like the nutty guy that lives down the street; standing on his stoop, talking crazy. He's harmless, he does the same shit constantly, and after a while, you just don't pay any attention to him. He's a doofus.

They're both playing tough guy, but neither wants to do anything, really. If regime change happens in Iran in the next two years, it will be along the lines of how they slid Mossadeq out of there back when the Shah did his Gloria Swanson farewell to Rome-- a CIA con job with money flying everywhere, and maybe a few clever exiles stirring the pot from the "young Reza Pahlavi" crew here in the US. But troops, in force? Naaaaaah. They'll have to grow it completely from within, or not at all.

If Iran decides (foolishly, suicidally) to get adventurous, the Saudis will pump oil like mad and crash the price. That'll force Iran to increase production to pay the everyday bills, and leave less money to fund adventurism.

Mark my words--when the Ruling Council decides that they WANT to talk to the US, they'll make this idiot resign. He's a fucking TOOL, you see. And then, they'll put someone halfway sane, like Rafsanjani or someone else who is a middle way type, in the job. We will leap through our own assholes for joy, simply because he'll be LESS of a jerk.

I think this might happen SOONER than we think, too. Get a load of this "bad publicity" that came out about "Mister Religious" recently: http://eursoc.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1262/Private_Dancer.html

You're a religious fundamentalist devoted to ridding your nation of impure and improper conduct. On your watch, women can't dance or sing for male audiences. They can be stopped in the street for wearing costumes your religious police disapprove of. Books, websites and films believed to be likely to corrupt the morals of youth are banned.

So what's to stop you enjoying a spot of fancy dancing girls when you're on a jolly abroad?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come under fire in Iran following a broadcast which appeared to show the president enjoying a display by unveiled dancing girls while on a trip to Qatar. The women's performance was part of the opening ceremony for the Asian games, which Qatar is hosting. It included veiled and non-veiled dancers from Egypt and India, the Guardian reports.

Iran's officials are expected to excuse themselves from such decadent displays of wickedness. However, Ahmadinejad was pictured sitting with president Bashar Assad of Syria and Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya while the show continued....



Elections will still be meaningless in Iran, though, so long as the Council rules...

But suppose Iran DOES get foolish, and damn the expense? What are they gonna attack? A ship in the Gulf? Great. That will give us an excuse to completely decimate their miitary bases from way on high and far, far away. And it would be very easy to do that without harming a whisker of the civilian population (I know, I've been on some of those bases--they aren't near population centers). And who would blame us? Pootie Poot? Hell no. He'd cluck, get all sympathetic with the Iranians, and offer to mediate a peace. Same with the Chinese--they'd tell the Persians "Oooooooh, that's BAAAAAAAD" and advise them that they'll wag their finger and tell us to stop, and we would--after we completely fucked their military capability.

They wouldn't pull that shit. We just don't have to invade to hurt them. And the Air Force has been "off duty" since the start of Iraq and the Stan, for the most part. As has the USN, save the docs and the corpsmen, and to some extent the MAAs and a few battle groups. So even though our Army and Marine Corps are exhausted, the USAF and USN could do that quick little chore.

Sanctions will work about as well as they worked in Iraq under Saddam (i.e., a joke, really, at least for the elites). Import-Export houses in third nations like Yemen and Dubai will take a cut of the total, pass on the merchandise, and make a bundle.

I don't see Iran responding to 'worldwide' pressure. I could see them responding to Saudi Arabian pressure, like, say, making those non-Arab Indo-European baaaastids pay a huge 'visa' fee to go to SA, and maybe even more during the Hajj....??? Or SA getting other OPEC nations to jerk them around in some fashion or another....

I think the current administration is a lame duck. Thus, to paraphrase the Monkey it 'really doesn't matter what they think'--they aren't gonna go into Iran, not with Dems owning the Hill, and Poppy's boy minding the store at Defense.

OK, now, from Iran's perspective, get a load of THIS Presidential story--the Persian 'spin' on this Presidential "failure to communicate" is as pathetic as Tony Snowjob's efforts: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/11/iran.students/

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian students have staged a rare demonstration against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setting off firecrackers and burning pictures of him as he delivered a speech at Tehran university, reports said.

Iran's semi-official FARS news agency and a student news Web site reported that a group of students Monday briefly interrupted Ahmadinejad's speech at Amir Kabir University by booing and chanting "Death to the dictator."

A student who attended the speech but did not want to be named confirmed those reports to CNN.

But Iran's official state-run news agency, IRNA, said the students "expressed their views in a cordial atmosphere," and chanted "Down with dictators," which was met with agreement by Ahmadinejad, who denounced the "dictatorships" in the United States and Britain. :rofl:

A spokesman for Ahmadinejad's office downplayed the incident, saying that the students burned some papers but it was not clear if they were pictures of the president, as others reported.

:rofl:

The ENTIRE article is a real eye-opener. It rips off the bullshit veil and shows a glimpse of how normal college kids feel about the asswipe spokesmodel-in-charge.

Bottom line, IMHO: The Council is watching the US. So long as Bush is lame, and there's no need to talk, they'll leave Midget Mayor in the job and let him try to continue to rile the base (that shit is getting old, though, as seen in the above protest article). The minute they need to speak with us, they'll find a way to get rid of the guy, or they'll just marginalize his ass and send someone that we can do business with, who has the Council imprimatur, to talks.

It wouldn't surprise me if the talks do end up to be multilateral, with this guy http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050131/contenders/2.html representing Iraq at the table and weighing in on our side when it really counts. I have a feeling he's on our payroll....at least for now. We'll see how long THAT lasts!

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

23. The Enemy Of Your Enemy Is Not Necessarily Your Friend

Just because he hates King george, doesn't make him someone worth looking up to.

With all the nutjobs around, running all these different countries, it's only a matter of time before the world self destructs.

I'd feel better if we had an intelligent leader at our helm, but we don't. That's how a wacko like the Iranian leader is able to become more prominent and respected, because given the choice between him and george, it's a toss up as to which is the more insane.

But make no mistake, they're BOTH INSANE.

[crim son]

45. If my original post makes it look as though I "look up to"

Ahmadinejad, then I apologize for the dreadful lack of clarity. I'm saying that the purpose of words on both sides is to coerce a confrontation and I don't want that. Not with King George at the helm, not with our resources and morale stretched to the limit as they are. My point was that a hysterical response to Ahmadinejad's ridiculous public comments is exactly what would suit George Bush. We're falling into the same trap as we have already, twice before. That and only that is my badly-expressed point.

[Strawman]

60. What do you propose we should do then?

Beyond condemn his remarks and this horrible conference? Invade? Nuke them becuase he says Israel will collapse like the Soviet Union did? I'm curious.

I'm not going to defend this p.o.s, but I'm not so convinced he is an existential threat despite his rhetoric.

[BushOut06]

18. He's a nutcase for sure - but a serious threat?

There's no doubt that he's a whack-job. This whole Holocaust conference is a sham, and having David Duke as one of your keynote speakers further illustrates that.

But I honestly don't see him as a serious, existential threat to anyone.

[democratic]

19. No surprise

Where are the mis interrupted crowd? This is like the hundredth time he has said this. How many hundred times can someone get mis interrupted? hahah!

[Buck Rabbit]

22. Actually, it appears Reuters got the interpretation right this time.

The problem Juan Cole and others had with the previous interpretation was the huge difference between wiping out a system of government (a regime) versus the killing of all the people in a country, and leaving out the analogy of the former Soviet Regime.

I don't think he or the others that had a problem with the previous interpretations will argue against this being a more accurate representation of whats his names position.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

24. So Taking Away The Country Of Israel From The Jewish People Is OK?

Well, so long as he's only talking about destroying the only Democratic country in the region, there's no need to be concerned.

And I suppose the fact he doubts the deaths of 6 Million+ in the 30's and 40's is no big deal either.

But the U.S. is so neutered now, thanks to our own incompetent leader, we have absolutely no collateral built up to even attempt dealing with him.

[Buck Rabbit]

26. I didn't say that at all.

I said this interpretation is almost exactly how Juan Cole had interpreted his statement before. Which is different than how it was previously presented in the press.

I dislike all religious zealots of all breeds, this one included. (Except those enlightened to the one true god, Rabbalah, peace be upon him, who created rabbits in his image.)

[democratic]

29. Okay

Wiping Israel off the map would still include relocating the people in the lightest terms it does not just mean doing away with the government it means the government and relocating the people because the country will no longer exist. It has not been since Hitler since a leader has said we need to wipe out a government *AND* do away with the country - it does not matter if he does not mean kill all the jews relocating them and taking their country is bad enough.

[Andrushka]

20. Think about what he said

And what he has said about this subject. The Soviet Union basically wiped itself out, did it not? We have some saying that he is threatening Israel, but sorry - was the Soviet Union "wiped out" in some nuclear war? Did I miss something?

The Reuters article fails to say what he said next:

"The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom," Ahmadinejad said during Tuesday's meeting in his offices, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He called for elections among "Jews, Christians and Muslims so the population of Palestine can select their government and destiny for themselves in a democratic manner."
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2006/12/12/ap/international/d8lvi2ao0.txt (AP byline)

But of course, this won't change some people's blinkered knee-jerk reaction to everything the man says.

[democratic]

21. Okay

So then why cant Iranians themselves pick their own future? How come every single reformists and all women are disqualifed from running for President? And how come all power in Iran is vested in an UNELECTED Supreme Leader Khamenei?

If this is about freedom then why are Iranians themselves excluded where sympathy for the oh poor Palestinians for democratic freedom?

[LynnTheDem]

51. nt

Not worth it.

[Contrite]

75. Too bad because I'd really like to hear what you say.

I have always admired and respected your posts. You have a great research capability and a very logical mind.

[LynnTheDem]

76. That's very kind of you to say, thanks! My own opinion matches

what the majority of the world's opinion -outside the USA- is in regards to this issue.

But that's not an opinion popular within the USA.

And that's a tragedy, as it's a huge part of why we're in the total mess we're in.

[PCIntern]

31. DEMOCRACY IN ACTION!!

In Iran...who knew?

this is just specious, lying, bullshit.

Let's have Iranian Laws here, then. Got any daughters whose chastity is in question? Hope not.

"Elections" my ass.

[cali]

32. You are the one with blinkers on.

Big thick ones. He may not be directly threatening Israel, but he is engaging in rank anti-semitism with this bogus conference. He has made statement after statement, including calling the Holocaust a myth, that make that very clear. If he (and the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council) aren't trying to stir shit up, what are their goals by holding this loathsome conference? If South Africa, during the height of Apartheid, held a conference to "examine" whether or not blacks were really enslaved in the U.S. for nearly 200 years, what would your reaction be?

[MADem]

34. You listen to that asshole when it comes to discussions of elections? PLEASE!!!!! That is absurd!!

Do a little research on how Iran conducts elections first.
Read, weep. From HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/12/iran11114.htm

(New York, June 12, 2005) — Iran’s discriminatory election laws and the Guardian Council’s exclusion of candidates prevents Iranian voters from freely electing candidates or standing for public office, Human Rights Watch said today ahead of Friday’s presidential election....Human Rights Watch details how election laws prevent candidates outside the ruling elite from running for high public office. Iran’s Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 Sh`ia Muslim clerics and religious jurists, had interpreted these laws to exclude all women as well as all candidates whose views are critical of the current leadership.

“Iran’s elections for all practical purposes are pre-cooked,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division. “The Guardian Council appoints a few candidates, and then Iranians get to choose from this very restricted list.”

The Guardian Council enjoys arbitrary powers, known as “approbatory supervision ,” allowing it to disqualify candidates even if they meet the discriminatory criteria stated in the election laws.

In practice, the Guardian Council has consistently approved only candidates that are “insiders” from within the ruling circle. More than a thousand candidates registered for the June 17 presidential elections, but the Guardian Council approved only eight, all of whom former or present government officials. .....

[antiimperialist]

38. No observers are invited to Iran's elections

Those elections are not fair.

[MADem]

43. And if they were, it probably wouldn't make much difference, when the choice is between

Asshole and Assholier....and all the good candidates are ordered off the ballot.

[antiimperialist]

35. Ahmadinejad is emboldened by the Iraq mess

Not being able to win in Iraq makes us look weak.
Iran can make the civil war in Iraq even worse, and by starting a war anywhere right now it (Iran) could force a military draft in our country immediately, since we would not have enough troops to contain Iran while thousands of our troops are stationed in Iraq.
Going to Iraq unnecessarily has strained our military to the extent that we now have to beg other countries to be nice.
We lost leverage. And if we add Kim Jong Il to the mix, well...you know where I'm going.

W. Bush is the worst president we've ever had.
He is making an attack on Israel and/or us more likely by not targeting those who really represent a threat to us.

[antiimperialist]

37. Definition of "Regime"

Regime: government: the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit

Looks like he did not speak about Israel itself, but about its current government.

[Lurking Dem]

39. He often refers to the "Zionist regime"

instead of "Israel" because he doesn't recognize the nation as legitimate.

[antiimperialist]

41. .

.

[The Magistrate]

63. Quite Right, Ma'am

The usage is simply a code to indicate the place is viewed, lock, stock and barrel, from highest official to newest Jewish babe in arms, as a criminal mostrousity so vile it cannot even named.

[antiimperialist]

42. Bush threatens to wipe out Al-Jazeera

November 23, 2005
link

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

46. Al-Jazeera Is A Network, Not A Country

King george is a LUNATIC. But that's besides the point.

Comparing wiping out a Media Outlet, is slightly different from wiping out a country, or refusing to admit it's existence.

[antiimperialist]

48. If your daughter worked for Al Jazeera

maybe you wouldn't downplay the fact that Bush wanted to not only curtail free press, but kill many innocent lives.
If the president of Nicaragua sent his air force into London and bombed the BBC, he would receive the same punishment as he would if he nuked Israel.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

52. What Does One Have To Do With The Other?

* is an IDIOT. I'm not defending him.

But you're a Moron if you're comparing bombing a station with destroying an entire country.

[sweetheart]

49. Why does anyone repeat it?

He's clearly a wind bag, a shit talker just like bush, and we cede our brains, our airwaves
to these bloody idiots bleating to their sheep.

He knows that US and Israeli moral capital is all spent after recent wars, as well as the budgets,
and neither country can afford to take substantive offense, so he gets a free round of shittalk;
why do we all listen?

[Jennicut]

53. He's an idiot. George is an idiot. They are both idiots.

Goergie has already taken us on a wonderful joyride through hell, perhaps Ahmadinejad will do the same for his country. He is an anti-semetic jerk who treats women like dirt. But Israel is not free from blame either. I hate this whole region of the world. Well, I don't hate it, I'm just sick of it. My 2 daughters, 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 seem to know how to work their differences out better than anyone in the middle east. What a bunch of whiny, bratty babies. Enough already. The Holocaust happened. The government of Israel has taken innocent lives. Leaders and insurgents in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and many more countries have taken innocent lives. All have abused their prospective religions in the names of their bloody, ill-concieved wars, Georgie included. What really bothers me is the lack of notice, lack of recognition Africa gets. I am white as the day, so pale I have to avoid the sun but it pissed me off to see Darfur and many other places in Africa get no help from the world. We are all too busy playing games in the middle east over OIL! Darfur has oil too. China has bought some there and is very uniterested in ending the suffering in Darfur. It is sickening. In fact, I guess I'm pretty much sick of the entire world and people's actions towards other human beings. After all, we are all the same underneath. I know that is idealistic but damn we need some hope and idealism right now.:(

[HuffleClaw]

55. and yet again folks fall for another media manipulation

iran is the latest designated asshole of the bush REGIME, which doesn't care one whit for iranians' civil rights or anything else in the least, though they'll sure pretend to. as usual, its about the OIL.

[cali]

56. Gee, maybe Ahmadinejad

shouldn't be making it so easy for bush (and much of the rest of the world) to demonize him, by holding this high profile little gathering? And for the umpteenth time: Condemnation of Ahmadinejad and the Holocaust Denial Conference, he's hosting, can and should be distinguished from any nefarious plans bushco has, re attacking Iran- not that I think bushco has much of a chance to do that at the present time.

[geek tragedy]

57. Is Ahmadinejad a CIA plant? If not, how is it

media manipulation to report what this guy says?

[leesa]

58. I think he has a point. The US is weak and we are Israel's only supporter

They will go down like Russia did. Basically an implosion. Why does he need to be a madman to point out the obvious?

[cali]

59. The comparison between

Israel and the U.S.S.R. is absurd. As far as his being a madman, I think most extreme religious fundamentalists are nutjobs, don't you? In addition, he's a nasty little piece of work, and a world class hater.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

61. he is an asshole. an anti-semitic piece of crap.

however if we are virtually the only supporters of israel. israel does need to rethink its blatant violations of U.N. laws for her own survival.

[jeffrey_X]

64. Why does the western media listen this guy??? He is insignificant!!!!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/ritter

<snip>
For all the attention the Western media give to Ahmadinejad's foreign policy pronouncements, the reality is that his effective influence is limited to domestic issues. The citizens of Tehran I spoke with, from every walk of life, understood this and were genuinely perplexed as to why we in the West treat Ahmadinejad as if he were a genuine head of state. "The man has no real power," a former Revolutionary Guard member told me. "The true power in Iran resides with the Supreme Leader." The real authority is indeed the Ayatollah Sayeed Ali Khamenei, successor to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

According to the Iranian Constitution, the Supreme Leader has absolute authority over all matters pertaining to national security, including the armed forces, the police and the Revolutionary Guard. Only the Supreme Leader can declare war. In this regard, all aspects of Iran's nuclear program are controlled by Khamenei, and Ahmadinejad has no bearing on the issue. Curiously, while the Western media have replayed Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel statements repeatedly, very little attention has been paid to the Supreme Leader's pronouncement--in the form of a fatwa, or religious edict--that Iran rejects outright the acquisition of nuclear weapons, or to the efforts made by the Supreme Leader in 2003 to reach an accommodation with the United States that offered peace with Israel. While Ahmadinejad plays to the Iranian street with his inflammatory rhetoric, the true authority in Iran has been attempting to navigate a path of moderation.

The Supreme Leader's powers are impressive, but they are not absolute. Iran has a system of checks and balances that is played out through two primary bodies: the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council. Until recently the Guardian Council had absolute veto power over parliamentary legislation and was unchecked in the exercise of its oversight responsibilities. However, in 1997 Khamenei beefed up the role and responsibility of the Expediency Council, and it was further strengthened last year; now the decisions of the Guardian Council, if challenged by the Iranian Parliament, can be overturned by the Expediency Council. The Guardian Council is still a dauntingly authoritative body, especially when one considers that the Supreme Leader has the power to appoint half its members (and all of the Expediency Council's). Iran, after all, remains an Islamic republic, which means that the political pulse is generated not in Tehran but some fifty-five miles to the south, in the holy city of Qom.
<snip>

[geek tragedy]

65. He's their puppet and the nominal head of state there.

He's the public face for the theocratic power structure.

[cali]

66. One reason

is simply that Ahmadinejad is the public face of Iran- speeches in front of entire body of the U.N. give him the spotlight. In addition, he is the mouthpiece, in many ways, for the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council.

[grassfed]

67. Ahmadinejad's chess move

The neocons have been very careful to shroud their Middle East plans in terms of protecting Americans or promoting American values. Ahmadinejad's anti-Zionist comments make a US military action against Iran look more obviously like a fight for Israel. This would create profound pr problems for the neocons in the face of the catastrophic bloodshed (and $10 gal gas) that would result.

[Bakunin]

74. And dont foget

Iran has not invaded anyones embassy in years! Some may take the old ' the enemy of my enemy is my friend' line a bit over the line just because some nut is our Embarassment in Chiefs nemesis. A pox on both houses I tell ya!