Ahmadinejad: Israel will disappear

[democratic]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881801325&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday Ahmadinejad saying, "As everybody knows, the Zionist regime was created to establish dominion of arrogant states over the region and to enable the enemy to penetrate the heart Muslim land."

Saying the Israeli regime was inherently a "threat," and was "on the verge of disappearing"
Haniyeh praised the support of the Iranian government and nation for the cause of the Palestinian nation. "The Iranian nation's brilliant stand in the rightful battles of the Palestinians encourages them and signifies their deep understanding of Islamic principles," Iran's official state-run news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad went on to say that, "Today scores of Western politicians are in doubt as to the future of this illegitimate regime and its existence has come under question.

[David Dunham]

1. This idiot should shut up. Statements like this make Mid-East peace impossible.

[aquart]

2. That's the goal.

Would you want peace with a western-style democracy that recognizes women's rights if you were a patriarchal theocracy? Please.

[liberalhistorian]

18. Too bad that he can't

just "disappear" himself!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. You know he's a front man

with no real power-the Supreme Ayatollah is the one who can push the button. What I don't get is why they let Ahmadinejad to go on and on about all this if, as I have heard, the Ayatollah is taking a more conciliatory stance towards Israel.

Edited to add this, something that should give us all pause:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20061130/bs_ibd_ibd/20061129issues

And it seems likely to get worse. Another significant piece of news -- the ominous one -- surfaced earlier this month in media reports on the rise of Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi.

Mesbah-Yazdi, an ideological mentor to Ahmadinejad, is an extremist cleric who endorses the use of suicide bombers against Israel and for confrontation with the West.

He is also campaigning to succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini as head of the Iranian Islamic state, and his ties to fellow fundamentalist Ahmadinejad give him a leg up. If he wins, as appears all too probable, Iran will be taking another step away from democracy and toward war.

Source is Investors Business Daily, so I don't know how reliable it is. Will look some more online and see what else is to be found.

[PCIntern]

4. Maybe you know he's a front man...

I take these people at their word. Sorry...I know it's against some DU principles to quote the Holocaust which this 'front man' says didn't occur, but when someone threatens, I for one, listen. There are three kinds of people:

1. those who MAKE things happen

2. those who WATCH things happen

3. those who say, "What happened?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Check out my post again

While you were writing your reply to me, I googled some more information about internal Iranian politics, which may explain why things are happening the way they are.

[independentpiney]

9. There's an excellent BBC article here on the complexity

of the Iranian system of government.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/iran_power/html/default.stm

[IntiRaymi]

11. Aaaaargh!!!!

Imagine the poor students, in grade school, being forced to learn THAT in Civics class!

[rockymountaindem]

13. Let me see if I can figure this out just by looking at it:

Tell me if I get it right...

The Electorate votes for the President, Parliament and the Assembly of Experts. The President and Parliament confer on the formation of the cabinet, while the Guardian Council is selected by the Parliament in conjunction with the Supreme Leader, the Judiciary and the Expediency Council. The Guardian Council, in turn, vets candidates for the elections which create its parent institutions, its members thus exercising a form of self-perpetuating control.

On the righthand side, the Supreme Leader either comes from among or is chosen by (the diagram doesn't specify) the AoE, thus providing some link to the electorate, even though it is filtered out through the Assembly. The Leader then designates the lower three unelected branches of government, as well as having a major say in the Guardian Council directly and indirectly through the Judiciary which he appoints. Thus, the Leader can install loyal acolytes to some degree (unspecified) into the body which selects candidates for elected office. Thus, there seems to be both a modicum of control over elections by the Leader, while at the same time some form of electorate control over him through the AoE. However, I can imagine that whoever comes to power has little to fear from voters, as he can install loyalists into the seemingly aptly named Guardian Council and thus keep undesirable candidates out of the AoE and other branches.

How'd I do?

[cool user name]

20. Huh?

:dizzy:

:crazy:

[msmcghee]

7. I wonder if the religious dimension of this . .

. . has to do with Shia vs. Sunni. Hisb'allah in Lebanon is Shia which is also the dominant religion in Iran. The Palestinian Arabs are Sunni Muslims. Most of the carnage in Iraq right now is due to this Sunni / Shia power struggle.

I suspect that encouraging the Sunni Muslims in Palestine to continue attacking Israel as they have been - where they continue to lose territory, GNP and bargaining power - may work to Iran's advantage in the long run. Especially if such continuing confrontation demoralizes Israel, reduces Western support for Israel (which can be observed firsthand in I/P as we speak) and makes Israel any less effective at defending her northern border where the Shia Hisb'allah are concentrated right now re-arming and preparing for the next attack.

I imagine that if the Shia ever were successful at causing Israel to abandon parts of Israel or even throw in the towel (both highly unlikely) - I'm sure that Hisb'allah would take over Israel proper and leave the Sunnis to the conflict ravaged wastes of Gaza and the less developed areas of the West Bank where they now reside.

Thanks to the amazing Bush debacle in Iraq I suspect that not just Iran, but several Muslim Arab regimes in the ME are right now dreaming of the glory that would accrue from being the regime that finally rids the ME of Jews - and the everlasting glory in the eyes of Allah and the rest of the Muslim world that would bring.

[independentpiney]

12. I think the reason he's allowed is to put up distractions

for both international and domestic consumption. According to this article there is serious discontent in the under-30 demographic that makes up 2/3rds of the population:

While the world focuses on Iran's nuclear ambitions, Iranians focus on the unmet aspirations of the two-thirds of the population that is younger than 30. Nearly three decades after a revolution that swept aside a monarchist system grounded in privilege, the typical Iranian has seen average income shrink under a religious government that has cultivated an elite of its own atop a profoundly dysfunctional economy.

It explains the stunning landslide victory 10 months ago of a relative unknown named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the only candidate in the presidential race who campaigned against the rich.

Dissatisfaction also accounts for much of the public support for Iran's nuclear program, despite widespread disdain for the ruling mullahs. In a country where time has seemed to stand still for a quarter-century, the public associates nuclear energy with economic development.

"Opium, yes. You can smell it in the evening," Shalde said of the drug many people in Iran -- more than in any other country in the world, according to U.N. figures -- use to fill days not filled by jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/20/AR2006042002253.html

I agree the possibility of Yazdi replacing Khatami is disturbing. He supported Gharanis' fatwa supporting nuclear weapons as permissible for self defense over the Khamenei fatwa that they are un-Islamic. For now, Khameneis' takes precedence, I'd hate to see that change.

[goforit]

5. This guy is using Islam the same way Bush has USED the Christian Right.

These guys are like two peas in a pod.

Threats, threats and more threats.

[independentpiney]

10. I've always felt if there's a case for instant karma,

Ahmadinejad is it. Just like Bush was the regular guy you could sit down and share a beer with, he was the regular guy you'd sit down and share a hookah with:

Ahmadinejad, who surged ahead on the strength of a half-hour campaign video. Broadcast nationwide in a nightly candidate showcase, the video made no mention of wiping Israel off the map or even nuclear power -- issues that have since defined Ahmadinejad for the outside world.

It simply showed that he lived in a modest house, worked long hours as Tehran's mayor and clearly savored contact with the common folk.

"I saw him on television," said Shalde, in the stillness of his shop. "I didn't vote for his promises. I just looked at him and saw he was just like us. So I told everybody I knew -- for example, my kids -- I told them to vote for him."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/20/AR2006042002253_2.html

[applegrove]

8. He's insane.

[Andromeda]

14. When will this silly little man

learn to STFU?

[Swede]

15. I'm sure his anti-semetic speech was mistranslated like the other 2 dozen.

He's goofing around.

[cali]

16. Yep.

Poor, poor misunderstood Ahmadinejad. The flavors of excuses for this guy are abundant.

[liberalhistorian]

17. Yes, and he will continue to be

"misunderstood" right up until the time he aims nuclear missiles at Jerusalem. And even then, there are some who will still insist that he is just a "misunderstood" man of "peace and freedom." :eyes:

[newyorican]

21. The aiming is not the problem...

...or there would be an equal problem of where Israels nuclear missiles are aimed.

[Andromeda]

23. Oh, sure. That's it.

Geesh, the excuses people make for this dirtbag.

[everythingsxen]

19. Kick

[Porcupine]

22. What if he's right?

What if the United States is defeated in the Persian Gulf? What if Peak Oil and Climate Change and the massive trade imbalance bankrupt the US to the extent that we can no longer guard Israel's back?

Israel can no longer defend itself from endless barrages of rockets. It has erected monuments to bigotry and apartheid in the form of the walls. It's existence will rely on daily threats of the use of it's atomic weapons. How many children are born each day in Israel? How many in the surrounding nations?

The existance of Israel depends now upon a return to justice that has not been demonstrated in a dozen years. They have no local allies and no hope of any.