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given Ahmadinejad's long list of fanatically hostile quotes, would you (or anyone) mind explaining why you think it can be done? Or how and why there is the slightest reason to suppose that Ahmadinejad will change his mind on what are obviously very extreme and deeply held beliefs?

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Yes, i think i can counter this rather easily.

1) Ahmadinejad's antisemitism stems from political growth. The Zionist statements are what the ignorant masses want to hear in Iran, and thats what he gives them to stay in power.

2) We have no evidence to show that these are deeply held beliefs, his position changed after he went ascended into office so there is no past history to compare to.

sounds like a typical american politician to me, changing with the wind to assure he keeps his job. Isnt it odd that his rhetoric is never as venomous when he speaks to the world body at the UN? Even his open letter to the US a few months ago was rather logical, he tried to say he has no quarrel with the people of the US. Again i think Ahmadinejad is scum of the earth but that doesnt mean he cannot be reasoned with; all men have their breaking points.

PS to John Kilduff : "The Bomb" is not as big of concern that it was in WWII or in the cold war with Russia, non-conventional weapons such as water source poisoning or planes flown into skyscrapers are far more damaging than a nuke can be. 9/11 caused more destruction than a typical suitcase nuke would (the most likely use of a nuclear weapon at this stage), the greatest strength of a nuke bomb is the terror it would spread, not the actual explosion itself. A nuclear bomb is crippled without a delivery method, and unless Iran can fly a series of bombers over American cities (very unlikely) we have little to fear. The most likely candidate for a nuke would be a dirty bomb, which packs enough power to damage a few 1,000 feet at most + radiation sickness.

PS to vulturesrow : Thanks for the welcome, you guys still scare me [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] A little background on my beliefs, I am the sun of a Marine Drill Sargent, the brother of two lifers in the Air Force (one operates a base in the midwest, the other used to fly on Airforce One), and another brother who is in his 12th year in the Coastguard. Surprisingly with the exception of one brother none of us have far right views, and we all believe that we are entering war for the wrong reasons under this administration. All of us feel the current administration has failed in its foreign policy, we long for the days when hawks did not control the country - including the far right brother. I also have an ultra-right wing cousin who is a fund raiser to smuggle weapons to the west bank so Jewish settlers can attack Palestinians, but thats another topic.