Designer monsters

Beware misinterpretations, intentional or otherwise!

Still, Mr. Ahmadinejad should be a little more careful in his speech. This is no time for bluster and controversial speeches.

I will, however, say this: The establishment of a Jewish state, or any other state for that matter, on land which did not belong to them, was a tremendous mistake of the Allied Powers and one for which the world has been paying a price, ever since.

It was a stupid mistake, to believe that we could, essentially, re-locate Europeans, no longer people of the middle-east, into Palestine.

There were Jews living in Palestine, along side Christians and Muslims, peacefully, for the most part, from what I understand, before the western powers joined forces with the Zionists.

The establishment of an Israeli state was a mistake. The only question is how do we deal with it now?

Designer monsters: "12/18/06 'Information Clearing House' --- --

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a man seemingly custom-made for the White House in its endless quest for enemies with whom to scare Congress, the American people, and the world, in order to justify the unseemly behavior of the empire. The Iranian president has declared that he wants to 'wipe Israel off the map'. He's said that 'the Holocaust is a myth'. He recently held a conference in Iran for 'Holocaust deniers'. And his government passed a new law requiring Jews to wear a yellow insignia, à la the Nazis. On top of all that, he's aiming to build nuclear bombs, one of which would surely be aimed at Israel. What right-thinking person would not be scared by such a man?

However, like with all such designer monsters made bigger than life during the Cold War and since by Washington, the truth about Ahmadinejad is a bit more complicated. According to people who know Farsi, the Iranian leader has never said anything about 'wiping Israel off the map'. In his October 29, 2005 speech, when he reportedly first made the remark, the word 'map' does not even appear.

According to the translation of Juan Cole, American professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History, Ahmadinejad said that 'the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.' His remark, said Cole, 'does not imply military action or killing anyone at all,' which presumably is what would make the remark threatening.[1] Readers are advised that the next time they come across such an Ahmadinejad citation to note whether a complete sentence is being quoted, and not just 'wipe Israel off the map'.