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August 07, 2006

Words And Deeds Palestine/Middle East

Much was made of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's publicly quoting Ayatollah Khomeini who said that Israel should be wiped from the pages of history (or, as it was widely mis-translated "wiped off the map"). Sticks and stones, though; it's actions that really count.

Juan Cole:

The difference between Ahmadinejad and [Israeli PM] Olmert is that the Iranian president is a blowhard. The one who had practical plans to wipe a country off the map was Olmert.

He's got a point.

Posted by Jonathan at August 7, 2006 09:31 PM  del.icio.us digg NewsVine Reddit YahooMyWeb

Comments

Actually, according to Cole's translation, what Ahmadinejad said was "This occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." (http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/ahmadinejad-as-w.html)

He wasn't calling for wiping Israel off the map, or even the page of history--he was calling for regime change. (Although we know that regime change can come pretty close to wiping a country off the map--look at Iraq 2003 and the US 2000.)

Posted by: Bob at August 8, 2006 10:41 AM