(Sunday Times-UK) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's combustive rhetoric about wiping out Israel, denying the Holocaust, and asserting Iran's inalienable right to nuclear power - a potential cloak for developing nuclear weapons - have triggered alarm bells around the world. The president is believed to be devoted to the cult of the 12th Imam, the Shi'ite savior better known as the Mahdi, whose return would usher in an apocalyptic revolution of the oppressed over the forces of injustice. In September, he told Newsweek: "Our religion prohibits us from having nuclear weapons." After his recent outbursts, nobody takes him at his word any longer. We have been here before. History would have been different if Hitler had stuck to painting and Pol Pot to teaching. Once again, it's three minutes to midnight.
2005-12-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive