Ahmadinejad: Holocaust? What Holocaust?

So how is today’s speech playing in Peoria … er… Mecca ?? Here is an excerpt from Al-Jazeera which appears to have a fairly balanced accounting. There is no doubt however that the speech given at Columbia University today will be picked apart and used to further Ahmadinejad’s agenda both within Iran and in the Middle East in general. The platform provided his a level of legitimacy that he could not refuse. What’s next Columbia… an invitation to Hugo Chavez ???

Holocaust denial

Ahmadinejad rejected accusations that he has denied the Holocaust actually happened, but argued for more research to be conducted on the subject.
“I’m not saying that it didn’t happen at all,” he said. “I said, granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?”He used his 30-minute speech to repeat Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear programme was focused on meeting the country’s electricity needs.

Washington says Iran is seeking to produce nuclear weapons.

“We do not believe in nuclear weapons. Period. This goes against the whole grain of humanity,” Ahmadinejad said.

During the question-and-answer session he denied that homosexuals were persecuted in Iran.

“In Iran we do don’t have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you we have it,” he said, sparking laughter from the audience.

Some, however, were not amused:

“This is a sick joke,” said Scott Long of Human Rights Watch, saying Iran tortures gays under a penal code that punishes homosexuality between men with the death penalty.

US targets Iran force

Separately, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, ratcheted up the pressure on Tehran, telling the Reuters news agency that the US was considering sanctions against the entire al-Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Such a designation would enable Washington to target the force’s financing. The US accuses the Quds force of inciting violence in Iraq and of training and equipping fighters who have attacked US troops. Iran has repeatedly denied this. The US is increasing diplomatic pressure on Iran to stop uranium enrichment, which can produce nuclear weapons, and targeting the al-Quds force would be part of that strategy. “Remember that the problem with the Quds force is that it has a network of activities in support of terrorism but it also, we believe, has a network of activities in support of proliferation,” Rice said.— Excerpt from Al-Jazeera More….

The pressure can be turned up on Iran without military action. Regime change from within may still be possible but if we flat out attack the Iranian people whatever hope there would be for an internal regime change would be lost. There are voices that say that we would be welcomed with open arms… sorry… been there, done that. It’s doubtful that the Imams of Iran will ever allow a return to a more secular society within Iran.

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