(Boston Globe) Editorial - * Ahmadinejad mocked every country that accepts the UN's principle of respect for the sovereignty of all other member states. For if Iran's president can openly call for the annihilation of Israel without censure or penalty, the bedrock purpose of the UN - to create a world order rooted in collective security - will be emptied of meaning. * It was not merely a rhetorical faux pas. The nations of the world need to take what he said at face value: as a threat. A murderous suicide bombing last week in the Israeli town of Hadera, perpetrated by the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Islamic Jihad, underlined that threat. * What Ahmadinejad said expressed a fanatical mentality, the outlook of a political leader who served as a security boss in Iran's notorious Evin prison after Ayatollah Khomeini came to power and is said by former inmates to have personally finished off executed political prisoners with a bullet to the head. * It is not enough for other governments to call in Iran's ambassador and ask for an explanation of Ahmadinejad's remarks. The UN Security Council should demand that Iran retract Ahmadinejad's threats or be suspended from the world body.
2005-10-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive