Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Bush and Ahmadinejad - A Tale of Two World Views

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against "Zionist murderers" in a speech to the United Nations on Tuesday and vowed to resist American bullying and defend Iran's right to nuclear power.

"The Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse, and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters," he said, referring to Israel.

This was a few short hours after President Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly. In his address he said, "To be successful, we must be focused and resolute and effective. Instead of only passing resolutions decrying terrorist attacks after they occur, we must cooperate more closely to keep terrorist attacks from happening in the first place. Instead of treating all forms of government as equally tolerable, we must actively challenge the conditions of tyranny and despair that allow terror and extremists to thrive."

Could there be two more different viewpoints? One is being spoken by a man who was involved in the 1979 US Embassy kidnapping in Iran, which resulted in the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The other, is being spoken by a man who, whether for better or worse, has been aggressive against terrorism to the point of alienating himself and the US from other world powers.

Iran and Ahmadinejad are currently in the process of developing a nuclear program, which they say is for energy purposes only. But the world community believes that they are building a nuclear weapons program. Ahmadinejad has many times before stated his desire to see Israel obliterated. In Iran, we can see a fanatical Islamic terrorist who has worked his way into the most powerful position within the government, and is actively seeking a weapon which could do, as Joel Rosenberg says, "in 6 minutes what it took Nazi Germany to do in 6 years - kill 6 million Jews."

In just a few short months, the worlds greatest opponent of terrorism, George W. Bush, will be leaving office. Let me state this clearly: I do not agree with George Bush on everything. In fact, I feel that in many areas, he has failed to live up to expectations. But one thing is sure: he has stood in the face of Islamic terrorism regardless of opinion. So, what does his leaving office mean for the US, Israel, and the rest of the world?

I believe that the result of the coming election will determine that. And I'm not talking about the US election. I'm talking about Israel.

At this time, Tzipi Livni has been named the successor to Ehud Olmert as the leader of the Kadima Party in Israel. She has a short time to build an administration. If she fails, the country will be forced to hold national elections. At this time, it appears that right-wing Likud party leader, and former Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu would win that election. If he does (and I believe he will), Israel will strike Iran.

You see, it is built into the mindset of the modern Israeli that under no circumstances can they sit back and wait for the world to annihilate them. For 2,000 years they have said, "It won't happen again." However, they were wrong. When Israel became a nation in 1948, they believed that the world would never again allow for hatred of the Jew to become so powerful that it would call for the extermination of the race. Yet today, that very thing is happening in Iran.

So we wait. Ahmadinejad speaks of hatred, death and destruction. The world economy sits on the edge of total collapse. President Bush prepares to leave office. And Israel selects a new leader.

We can only wonder what will happen next.

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