The headline and lede say one thing; the rest of the copy says otherwise. Associated Press reports:
Iran President: Mideast Solution Is To Destroy Israel - Reports
TEHRAN (AP)--Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel, state media reported.
In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-back group Hezbollah.
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate ceasefire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site.
Ahmadinejad called on all Muslim states to cut their "cut their open and secret political and economic ties with the fake and outlawed Zionist regime" in response to its attacks against Lebanon.
He also urged Muslim states to "isolate" the U.S. and the U.K. for supporting Israel's military attacks against Lebanon. ... [Nasdaq]
My dictionary gives eight definitions for 'eliminate' - only one of them, obliterate, is synonymous with destroy. The others signify the idea of excretion, expulsion, removal, getting rid of, etc. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is only saying what he's said before, which isn't that the land occupied by Israel and its inhabitants should be destroyed, only that the migrants from Europe and America should return home, for peace's sake. I think he would view it like this: just as Iran has many religious and ethnic groups, including Jews, so would the new Palestine be home for many Arab Jews, Christians, etc. Really, the only nations keen to use violence to achieve their aims in the Middle East are the US and Israel, supported by Britain.
Tony Blair, in today's unreal press conference, kept referring to Ahmadinejad's statement, and his spin was that 'eliminate the Zionist regime' meant 'destroy Israel'. He lied about Saddam then; he lies about Ahmadinejad now. But note two things Ahmadinejad called for: a immediate ceasefire, which Blair, our leader, refuses to do; and that Muslim states should isolate the UK and US. By our behaviour, Muslim nations would be justified in treating us as enemies - it's a diplomatic disaster for Britain. Blair has led us into our own arc of extremism - the UK, US, and Israel, at war with reason and humanity.
Posted by: anthony paul | 2006.08.10 at 23:23