If anyone doubted the intentions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he once again laid them bare Tuesday.
“The Zionist regime (Israel) will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom,” the radical leader said at the close of a two-day gathering in Tehran of “scholars” who claim the Holocaust never happened or was exaggerated.
Ahmadinejad has fashioned himself into one of the world’s most dangerous figures since Adolf Hitler. And he may soon have nuclear weapons.
Most of the civilized world rose up quickly and forcefully to condemn Ahmadinejad’s conference. At least the guest list had the virtue of transparency – it included beyond-the-fringe characters like former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. This was a crowd of hateful nut jobs, their preposterous arguments easy to refute.
But they mustn’t be dismissed. One of the chief lessons of the Holocaust – in which some 6 million Jews and millions of others were exterminated by Hitler’s Nazi Germany during World War II – was what can happen when good people stand by and do nothing.
Ahmadinejad has long been upfront about his desire to wipe Israel off the map. His goal in hosting this revolting meeting is just as clear: bring the notion that the Holocaust is a myth into the mainstream, at least in much of the Middle East, to undermine Israel’s existence and foment support for his brand of Islamic fanaticism.
Did we mention this guy could soon have nuclear weapons?
The world must engage in an urgent discussion of how to deal with this menace, but the U.N. Security Council should start by finally slapping Iran with long-threatened economic sanctions for ignoring agreements it made regarding nuclear inspections. Russia and China, in particular, must recognize this growing threat and join the rest of the world in stifling it.
The Iranian regime is working hard to destabilize the Middle East for its own geopolitical gain, an aim that’s been advanced by the deteriorating situation in neighboring Iraq. The Bush administration faces a set of poor options regarding Iran – continue trying to isolate it, an effort that leaves the U.S. with little or no influence over Tehran; or follow the Iraq Study Group recommendation and engage Iran in discussions over Iraq, knowing that Iran is supplying Shiite militias there, as well as factions that have been attacking Israel.
Perhaps back-channel talks on stabilizing Iraq could serve both U.S. and Iranian interests, but it’s hard to see how visible diplomatic overtures to the radical Ahmadinejad can be justified. How do you work constructively on the world stage with a modern-day Hitler?
Especially one who’s developing nuclear weapons.
To learn more about the Holocaust, visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Web site, www.ushmm.org.
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