Mr Ahmadinejad had an interview with CNN’s Larry King recently, and of course, as usual with such people who have no positive plans or serious and constructive policies toward anything, the interview was nothing new. The same old rants complaining about this and that and bragging about this and that! I watched the interview and I’m sure many people did. The guy, Ahmadinejad, must not be taken that seriously, but he’s the president of a relatively large country anyway. So, we have no way out but to take an irrelevant and unrepresentative, and obsessed (about his image mostly), person somewhat seriously, especially that the country (our country) he represents sits on one of the largest oil, and natural gas, reserves in the world.
Let’s look at what he told Larry King and see where are all the lies and misleading answers and of course irrational and irrelevant speeches he gave! From the way he was talking you could say that he himself wasn’t comfortable with his answers, and his gestures and movements, facially and physically, gave him away terribly! He was lying and he was misleading, and he knew it and his body couldn’t hide his feelings. Just look at the videos and you will notice that time to time his uplifting on the chair, and of course his facial expressions, are clear signs of his discomfort about the things he was saying. And Larry King, as usual, as an experienced interviewer, was too kind and did not want to get too deep into controversial issues to prove the president wrong!
Anyway, I would like to bring up many of the things, lies and misleading issues, that Mr Ahmadinejad said, so that readers can make up their mind about this undemocratic leader of an unfortunate country, a rich and beautiful country that is being abused by an unrepresentative and undemocratic, yet expansionist and dangerous, regime! Here are some of the things he said, and some of my rebuttals follow after each presidential rant!
1) Mr Ahmadinejad says that the hostilities have been one-sided, and that it is the US who has been hostile toward Iran.
He forgot to mention the US embassy takeover and hostage taking after the revolution in which he has allegedly been a party!
2) “Keshvare Iran 7000 sal sabegheye tarikhi dare. Hich vaght mellate Iran aleyhe hich mellati harekati ro anjam nanade.”
I don’t know why he felt the need to fantasise something like this! We are living in year 2008 and he is talking about things he probably has no idea about! First of all where did he get the 7000-year figure? That the country Iran has a history of 7000 years. I thought a country called Iran was established almost 2500 years ago for the first time by the Achaemenid. Did anybody live in Iran’s current territories before that? Well, people lived in America (Africa, Europe etc) too some 7000 years ago, but there was no country called America, as there was no country (politically united entity) called Iran, even 3000 years ago. He is also saying that the Iranian PEOPLE (mellat) has NEVER acted against any other people.
Again, why did he need to say something so irrelevant?! Has any other PEOPLE in this world ever acted against other peoples, ever? If so, who? If we are talking about political entities, it is a different matter then! The political entity called Germany acted against its neighbouring political entities during the two world wars. The political entity Iran has repeatedly acted against its neighbouring lands, taking them over and robbing them time and time again. This applies for the Iran before Islam (invasions of Greece, Babylon, Egypt etc), and for Iran after Islam (for instance, the siege of northern India and the total plunder of the area by Nader Shah Afshar says anything?).
3) Mr Ahmadinejad says that Iran did nothing but defend itself against Saddam who was incited and aided by the Western powers.
Of course, the inciting is not accurate, but the aiding is documented. What Mr Ahmadinejad omitted is that Saddam shortly after the war wanted to end the war (he realised he could not win), and it was the Iranians (the Iranian leadership) who did not agree, and thought they were going to conquer Najaf and Karbala.
4) About the nuclear issue the president has some good points, by mentioning the fact that other countries are developing much more sophisticated nuclear technology, and even weapons, and they are not feared, and so carefully and diligently inspected. He says “don’t you think the Zionist regime needs inspections?”
What the president doesn’t understand is that the West (those who are indeed ruling this world, and definitely the democratic world) are fearful of his regime, the fundamentalist Islamic regime of Iran. The fear is genuine and it is based on precedence. The Iranian regime has not stopped interfering in other countries’ affairs to create instability, whether it is in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon, or more recently in Iraq. The Iranian regime is one of the world’s relatively powerful countries openly challenging the democratic world, and desiring to obtain bomb-making nuclear technology. The West is fearful and it is legitimately so. While the same West is not fearful of a nuclear Israel. This is a fact that Iran must understand. Yes, as Mr Ahmadinejad said, it is political rather than legal (Israel has not signed the NPT, so it is not breaking that treaty anyway).
5) The president, when asked about Israel, and its supposed prospect of annihilation, complains about the dire humanitarian state in which the Palestinians are living under the “Zionist” regime. Then when asked about the possible solution, Mr Ahmadinejad says that he wants a free referendum in which Israelis and Palestinians would participate in order to choose their system of statehood and leadership.
Mr Ahmadinejad is the man of an unrepresentative ruling clique who have taken 70 million people hostage for about 30 years and they are concerned about 3-4 million non-Iranians? No, they are not. So, listening to what they say is a waste of time. Why not let YOUR OWN people participate in a referendum, a free referendum, and choose their own form of government? I know they got screwed 30 years ago and voted the Islamic constitution, but maybe, just maybe, they are a bit more experienced now! It is also true that most of the same Islamic constitution has not been respected.
6) When asked about the Holocaust, Mr Ahmadinjead says that it is not even allowed to question, and to research, the possibilities, and whether it did take place the way it has been portrayed by the West.
Again Mr Ahmadinjead is either terribly uninformed or simply playing dumb. The Holocaust has been researched and studied extensively and what the official Western history is saying is pretty much the result of the studies that have taken place after the event. However the president is RIGHT in saying that further research and study must be done. And the European laws that forbid questioning the Holocaust are not doing anything good either for the victims or for the future generations, by giving room and possible credibility for people like Ahmadinejad.
7) Mr Ahmadinejad, again, says that he thinks that IF the Holocaust took place in Europe and because of the crimes of the European regimes, then why didn’t they set up Israel in Europe?
He is quite right in his simply putting the words in a short and rational response. But then again, if he is the ‘representative’ of justice and speaks for human rights, then why not apply it first in his own court? Well, he is NOT speaking for anybody’s good. He is just wasting our time to try to fool a few, and he has quite a success among many Muslims (actually Sunni Muslims) in countries, mostly other than Iran.
8) Mr Ahmadinejad seems to ignore the threat of an Israeli attack altogether by saying that Israel is weak and irrelevant compared to Iran.
I wouldn’t be so sure he is NOT genuinely worried about an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Israel has not only a very powerful army that can match the Iranian army by ease (even putting the atomic bomb aside), but it also enjoys the support of the world’s most powerful country, America.
9) When Asked about homosexuals Mr Amadinejad did not stay that polite and ambiguous any more and stated a clear response regarding the homosexuals, that homosexuality is disliked by the vast majority of Iranians, and that there are laws which punish homosexuality.
Mr Ahmadinejad is right to say that “kasi tazahorati nakarde” (no one has demonstrated) in his attempt to minimise the plight of homosexuals in Iran. Well, I guess they would either be hanged, or somehow disappear altogether if they dared protesting in the streets asking for their rights inside Iran. And he is also right that the vast majority of Iranians are against homosexuality and dislike it. This was true even in the US a few decades ago. Even Iranian Bahais, to this date, are disliked by the vast majority of Iranians, who are Shia Muslims. Even Sunni Muslims are not much loved I must say. So, Mr Ahmadinejad is rights about some of the odious realities of the mostly backward Iranian society he continuously brags about. In Mr Ahmadinejad’s ‘logic’ if the vast majority of Iranians dislike something then the regime is obliged to hang, or oppress, or mistreat, those who LIKE that something? Why not start at the top and do something about the regime itself? Why not ask the Iranian people whether they like the ruling regime or not?
I really don’t see much of a reason to sit and talk with people like this, whose legitimacy are seriously questionable. The actions of the Iranian regime are out there for all to see, and their apparent soft talking when they come to the West are nothing but attempts to buy more time for whatever they may be up to, against their own people and against the interests of the democratic world.
