Scoring Some Nuke Points
by BlaiseJanuary 12th, 2006 3:23 pm
I’m going to run the risk of being dubbed a Holocaust denier, but some recent comments by Iranian president Ahmedi Nejad beg for clarification, especially since Sheriff Bush and Deputy Blair have been using them to justify stern action against this member of the Axis of Evil. First, let’s examine what he actually said, why he said it, and who he said it to. The controversial remarks went something like this:
“If somebody in their country questions God, nobody says anything, but if somebody denies the myth of the massacre of Jews, the Zionist loudspeakers and the governments in the pay of Zionism will start to scream,” he said. “Our proposal is this: give a piece of your land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska so they (the Jews) can create their own state.”
It doesn’t seem to me that he himself declared the Holocaust a myth. The first part of the sentence sets his comments in the context of what he perceives as Europe’s accepted culture of atheism/agnosticism, then stating that “screaming” about Holocaust is given precedence. In his reference to God, he is appealing directly to the hardline clerics and religious-minded Iranians moreso than he is trying to engage in moral muckraking with Western audiences. His logical conclusion is that, if Europeans and Zionists are so keen to scream about the Holocaust, then they should host the Jewish state rather than punish the Arabs.
 Why did he make these remarks? Just like his Western counterparts who condemned him, Ahmedi Nejad is scoring some points. In his case, he is appeasing the hardliners in the clerical establishment and appealing to the broader Islamic world for support in Iran’s pursuit of nuclear technology. Bush and Blair were quick to respond, citing the “firebrand’s” comments as stark proof that Iran is a sick, extremist country who can only be stopped by military intervention. For only the reason that it will strengthen Bush’s claim to militaty action, Ahmedi Nejad should have known better. But if history does not elude us entirely, he did have a point: Europeans committed the Holocaust, not Arabs, so why should Arabs be forced to suffer as recompense?
