Iranian Leader Calls Holocaust a 'Myth'

[Kal EL]

Iranian Leader Calls Holocaust a 'Myth'


ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press | December 14 2005

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric Wednesday, calling the Holocaust a "myth" used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

His remarks drew swift condemnation from Israel, Germany, France and the European Commission. Germany said the remarks would affect upcoming negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad last week questioned whether the Nazi destruction of 6 million European Jews during World War II occurred and said Israel should be moved to Europe. He also provoked an international outcry in October when he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

But Wednesday was the first time he publicly denied the Holocaust. Touring southeast Iran, Ahmadinejad said that if Europeans insist the Holocaust happened, then they are responsible and should pay the price.

"Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

"If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price?" Ahmadinejad asked rhetorically.

"This is our proposal: if you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country," he said, developing a theme he raised in Saudi Arabia last week.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the remarks "shocking and unacceptable." He said the German government had summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires to make "unmistakably clear" its displeasure.

"I cannot hide the fact that this weighs on bilateral relations and on the chances for the negotiation process, the so-called nuclear dossier," Steinmeier said, referring to European talks with Iran on its nuclear program.

The German government said Chancellor Angela Merkel would call on the European Union to press for international condemnation at the U.N.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "The repeated outrageous remarks of the Iranian president show clearly the mind-set of the ruling clique in Tehran and indicate clearly the extremist policy goals of the regime.

"The combination of fanatical ideology, a warped sense of reality and nuclear weapons is a combination that no one in the international community can accept," Regev added, referring to allegations that Iran is developing nuclear bombs.

Avner Shalev, the director of Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Holocaust in Jerusalem, said Ahmadinejad's comments required a "stronger response from world leaders."

"Every genocidal statement has to be taken seriously because the Holocaust occurred, and the world knows it. Therefore, we don't just condemn these comments, we believe that the international community and the United Nations should deal with them more seriously," Shalev said.

In Strasbourg, France, European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso said the president's comments were "completely unacceptable."

"It is really shocking that a head of state that has a seat in the United Nations can say such a thing," Barroso said on the sidelines of a European Parliament meeting. "It calls our attention to the real danger of that regime having an atomic bomb."

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei also condemned Ahmadinejad's remarks.

Ahmadinejad said the West had harmed Muslims, invaded their countries and plundered their wealth.

"If your civilization consists of aggression, making oppressed people homeless, suffocating the voices of justice and bringing poverty to a majority of the world's people, we say loudly that we hate your hollow civilization," he said.

Ahmadinejad has been unapologetic about taking Iran on a more openly defiant course, insisting on Iran's right to develop its nuclear program — which it insists is peaceful — and often using rhetoric reminiscent of the 1980s heyday of the Islamic Revolution.

The president's views sharply conflict with those of predecessor Mohammad Khatami, a moderate who used to call for dialogue among civilizations and promoted a low-key understanding with the United States that stopped short of diplomatic relations.

Inside Iran, Ahmadinejad's remarks have been criticized by some of his conservative allies, who fear he is hurting the country's image. Moderate Iranians have called on the ruling Islamic establishment to rein in the president.

But Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say, has backed Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel's elimination.

Ahmadinejad criticized the United States for refusing to sell Iran spare parts for its civilian planes as part of its long-standing embargo against the country.

Iran has suffered a series of plane accidents — most recently on Dec. 6, when an aging U.S.-made military transport plane crashed into a tall building in Tehran, killing 115 people. Iranian officials have blamed Washington for the crashes, saying they are partly caused by the difficulty in obtaining spare parts.

"No country is authorized to impose spare-part sanctions against another country. Nothing can justify this," Ahmadinejad said Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad said the denial of spare parts was a reason why Iran would not trust Western promises to give it nuclear fuel. The country is currently at loggerheads with the West over its insistence on enriching uranium to fuel its first nuclear reactor, which is due to start generating electricity next year.

The Europeans, with U.S. backing, do not trust Iran to have its own enrichment process since highly enriched uranium can be used for nuclear warheads. Europe has offered to sell enriched uranium for the reactor, but Iran has rejected this.

The United States is pushing to have Iran referred to the U.N. Security Council, where it could face sanctions for violating a nuclear arms control treaty.

Ahmadinejad said that if Iran gave in on the nuclear dispute, there was no guarantee the West might not refuse to sell nuclear fuel in the future.

"I assure you that we won't step back one inch from our nuclear rights," the president told the crowd, drawing chants of "Death to America!"

Iran is due to resume negotiations on the nuclear issue with envoys from Britain, France and Germany starting Dec. 21 in Vienna, Austria.

[King Tech Quadafi]

lol...this guy is an entertaining clown

[Kal EL]

How long do you think he will be allowed to say this before something happens?

[King Tech Quadafi]

I dont think his comments will directly lead to action....but it will place an intervention/armed response in a much more favourable context....


hes a tool of the Mullahs anyways...hes only sayin out loud what the Iranian regime have been mumbling to themselves for decades.

the problem is the Iranians already see themselves as isolated diplomatically....their perception is an aggresive tone will force the intl community to back down, i dont think this will work tho....



somewhere in Tel Aviv motherfuckers are smiling and rubbing their hands anxiously

[Kal EL]

i think that there will eventually be a confrontation between Iran and Israel. I do not know how far that is from reality currently.

[7even]

One thing is for sure; Iran can not fuck with Israel.

Israel has the support of the US, which kind of support does Iran have? Unless they mobilize China or some unrealistic shit, there's no way in hell they can win a war against them.

[Kal EL]

no doubt Iran will get rocked. but i think that eventually things in the middle east will get heated to the point that Iran and even the Russians will conspire to attack Israel. just my humble opinion.

[King Tech Quadafi]

Iran will get knocked out but not before they catch Israel slippin with a shot to the face.....

[ZILLA THA GOODFELLA]

This guy's losing it. But do y'all really think he'd have the balls to say all this if he didn't have something up his sleeve? He's just talking irrelevant shit rite now, he's trying to spark shit up, why would he do this if he knew it was suicide? He's either really dumb or a genious.

[nibs]

maybe this is an indication that iran is close to developing nuclear weapons.  increasing the tensions between the u.s. and israel only further justifies their continued blocking of iaea oversight over their nuclear program.

iran with nukes has little to fear from israel.

[Kal EL]

the irony in a way is that the U.S. has known for YEARS that the Russians have been arming Iran and various other countries. the wierd thing is North Korea continually tells us (the U.S.) to go fly a kite while they commit every atrocity known to civilization and arm themselves to the teeth. iraq has no WMD's and we are all on it. China worse than North Korea and so on and son. The conflict with Iran WOULD not in my HUMBLEST opinion not be one sided. We know who's been arming them. Anyone smell a rat???

[nibs]

the irony in a way is that the U.S. has known for YEARS that the Russians have been arming Iran and various other countries.

this is not an illegal practice.  the soviet union could use the money, and one thing they do have is weapons technology.

the wierd thing is North Korea continually tells us (the U.S.) to go fly a kite while they commit every atrocity known to civilization and arm themselves to the teeth.

when did the u.s. become the world's police???  north korea also has missile technology that they can sell, and if they look at history they know the u.s. has already jumped in their business and attacked them during a civil war once before.

iraq has no WMD's and we are all on it.

iraq was low hanging fruit.  the country was decimated with a decade of u.n. sanctions, and president hussein's military basically rolled over.  knocking over that govt was easy.

China worse than North Korea and so on and so on.

what are you suggesting be done about china?  that's a hard fight to pick, the u.s. benefits from china buying their debt, u.s. companies do big business in china, the rest of the world isn't going to agree to sanctions on china...etc  what are you suggesting be done to china?

The conflict with Iran WOULD not in my HUMBLEST opinion not be one sided.

that's a double negative.  are you saying conflict with iran would be one-sided?

We know who's been arming them. Anyone smell a rat???

it's really not illegal for russia to sell arms to iran.  and looking at what happened to iraq, countries like syria and iran definitely should arm themselves and try to acquire nuclear weapons as a deterrent.  is it self-righteous for the one country that has ever nuked another country to protest the loudest anytime any other nation pursues nuclear weapons?  especially considering this nation has now demonstrated itself to be a preemptive aggressor?

so where is the rat you are smelling? 

[Kal EL]

the hyprocisy of the U.S. is what i was hinting at. The U.S. should not have given China "Favored Nation" status. that was my point there. the build up to Iraq or at least part of it was that Sadaam commits atrocities....yeah and China, North Korea, Saudia Arabia, Cuba etc... don't???

as far as Russia's arms deals my point was that the U.S. foreign policy is total crap and as an American I have long been disgusted with it. does Russia need money? Oh yeah. But at the same time look at what and who they have been selling to. Give it time there will be a "new monster" that we will have to deal with.

there are many people that say that any conflict with Iran WOULD be one-sided. My point is that it would not be. it could lead to a wide spread conflict in the region drawing other countries into it.

[King Tech Quadafi]

^ aint none of the big dogs gonna sacrifice a single pubic hair over Iran...

But as for itself...Iran has the potential to not win anything but go out in a blaze of glory

really if they wanted to, they could turn Iraq and Lebanon into even greater hell holes...wipe Kuwait off the map, blow up every single Persian gulf oil refinery and send a parting shot to Tel Aviv before it signs its own death certificate



i gotta stop with the political fantasies

[Kal EL]

i gotta stop with the political fantasies

dude you could be the next Tom Clancy.