Listening to and reading his comments, Phil, I think his message on the Holocaust is that 'the jury is still out". He simply refuses to say "the Holocaust really happened and millions of people died". He says with regard to the Holocaust "everything is subject to doubt" and yet he also says "there is no doubt that Iran's pursuit of nuclear power is for peaceful purposes only".
It is demonstrably true that Jews in Iran enjoy more freedom and representation than Jews in other Muslim countries. It seems to me that when he says "We love all nations, we are friends with the Jewish
people," he is avoiding saying "we love all nations including the Jewish nation", but he is also showing through his actions that his beef with Israel is
political rather than
ethnic in nature.
One of the cited articles posits that his "softened stance" on the "wiped off the map" comment may have been a result of "backlash" in his own country, even among hardliners, apparently, who feel his statement has hurt Iran's international standing. This is of course utter nonsense, since Iranians are able to read or hear his comment in Farsi and understand that he didn't say "wiped off the map". More likely they see this backlash as coming about because Ahmadinejad was so publicly frank about his (and many of his compatriots') position vis-a-vis the Jewish
nation, with the result that he is being catty about it now.
I note too that the President of Columbia, who accused Ahmadinejad of "astounding ignorance", demonstrated astounding ignorance himself when he accused Iran of persecuting Iranian Jews, and asked the astoundingly stupid question of why Iran is giving material aid to Iraqi insurgents. Bollinger fails to comprehend a fundamental truth about the insurgency: no one in Iraq is protesting against, or taking up arms against, an Iranian Occupation.
Finally, I was astounded to find the results of
this online poll, showing that more than half of respondents thought Ahmadinejad should not have been allowed to speak. I guess, as George W. Bush is quoted as having said about Columbia extending the invitation, "that speaks volumes about America". One reader queried "would they let American leaders come to Iran to talk?" apparently unaware that they would and they do.
