Kamangir (Archer)

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A Date With a Liar

Kamangir | September 21, 2006 | Category Iran

TIME: Did you visit the site of the World Trade Center?AHMADINEJAD: It was not necessary. It was widely covered in the media.

This is the second question in Ahmadinejad’s interview with the Time Magazine (see). Giving no tribute to the victims of the attacks, he makes is clear that he does not have a good attitude when it comes to winning the heart of the average man in the US, and other places around the world.

At the end of the interview he is asked about his “wipe-off” speech.

TIME: You have been quoted as saying Israel should be wiped off the map. Was that merely rhetoric, or do you mean it?

AHMADINEJAD: People in the world are free to think the way they wish. We do not insist they should change their views. Our position toward the Palestinian question is clear: we say that a nation has been displaced from its own land. Palestinian people are killed in their own lands, by those who are not original inhabitants, and they have come from far areas of the world and have occupied those homes. Our suggestion is that the 5 million Palestinian refugees come back to their homes, and then the entire people on those lands hold a referendum and choose their own system of government. This is a democratic and popular way. Do you have any other suggestions?

To me, this is like asking “is 1+1=2?” and getting the answer “you know, sin(pi)=0″. His response has a good idea in it, which may be extremely not practical or unimplementable. Anyhow, he is not answering the question and I am wondering why the reporter does not look at him asking “Mr President, you are not answering my question”. At the end, the answer is either Yes or No, and I think we all know he really did ask for the destruction of Israel.

Reader's Comments

Mahi | September 21st, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Actually he was answering the question but in his own way he was sorry about what he has said and named it his own idea seprate from Iran’s . I think the “wiping speech” and the concequences tought him not get excited when see people cheering for him and tell something which can’t wipe it up easily. I just support Ahmadinejad::)
Amir | September 21st, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I should say that he is smarter than you. You didn’t get what he is trying to say. Of course he is not very experienced in expressing himself (and he is a very bad politician), but this does not undermine his smart line of thinking.

Let me help you with the steps from â€œ1+1=2â€ to â€œsin(pi)=0â€³:

- 5 million Palestinians should return to their homes.
- Everyone in that region (current Israel + former Palestine territories) should take part in a democratic election to choose a government. This government may be called Israe-line or Pales-rael. (I made these names up!)
- Use your imagination or take a wild guess as to what the result of that election would be. (bear in mind that the region has is a muslim majority). Whatever it is, there is not going to be any Israel anywhere on the map.

Would the use of a PASSIVE voice istead of an ACTIVE voice make sense to you now? (he has said that “Israel SHOULD BE wiped off the map” and not “I/we will destroy Israel”.)

I have to tell you that you probably don’t hate this guy as much as I do. (I really do; because of the damage he has made to the public image of Iran and Iranians). You have to hate him for a proper reason: understand him and hate HIM, rather than what others say about him.
rahele | September 21st, 2006 at 5:05 pm
salam. i’m here .because i am (khosham omade ) from your qustion. it is intersting for me . but i am can’t understand why you sum Religion and tradition . perhaps when it light for me , i can thought beter .( va age betoonam harfam ro farsi bezanam chon engilisim ziad khoob nist :d )
Amir | September 21st, 2006 at 5:08 pm
BTW, you didn’t mention anything about him being a LIAR?

In fact, I was fascinated by the fact that in his interview with Mike Wallace (CBS, 60 minutes, Aug 14, 2006), when he was asked about the “beacon of light” statement, he never lied. He said I heard about the issue in the news. He was asked few times, but he never lied and never denied that he has actually said it.

That is impressive, isn’t it?
kamangir | September 21st, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Mahi,
Why do you think he was sorry about what he has mentioned earlier? I did not see any clue to get to that conclusion.
kamangir | September 21st, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Rahele,
Glad to meet you. As you see this is an English blog.
kamangir | September 21st, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Amir,
You are trying to show that he mentioned the same idea through a not very straight-forward approach. I can live with that. Still, he did not answer the question. That’s my point.
You are actually right. He is not a liar, at least in this incident. He just does his best to not to give understandable answers. That’s a very good skill for a politician. I selected this title because he has done the same thing many other times, too. And when he is cornered he lies. So, I kind of went a bit fast.
By the way, how do you know how much smart I am?
bucket | September 21st, 2006 at 5:48 pm
I heard that recently a very popular paper in Iran was shut down for criticizing Ahmadinejad, I think they said they drew a picture of him as a donkey.

I thought of you and your blog and how it has been my impression that Iranians have an open mind about their government and enjoy criticizing it as much as Americans, so this is not only a restriction of freedom of speech but likely unhappiness for the inability to act like humans act…to say what they think and feel.

Then he comes here to the US, and he does this massive media blitz, taking all kinds of questions, doing TV interviews..ohh so free with his words, so accommodating. And I think why does he not act like this at home!? Isn’t that the true indication of a person, how they behave in their own home?

It must be that he enjoys being asked questions about nuclear power, Palestine, Jews, Holocaust. He has all kinds of reasonings, thought out answers, these are all questions he enjoys making comments on. But I was deeply unhappy with the lack of questions regarding his own people, his own home. Again if how one acts at home is any better of an insight into their mind, why are Americans not asking him about what he goes on in his own nation?
Sirus | September 22nd, 2006 at 3:52 am
If you realy left Iran one year ago, so you should know that nobody in Iran wants to destroy Israil and these types of speaking in public (like ahmadinejad’s speech)is just for political reason and have just “in-land usage”. So now he is trying to correct his mistake. becuz he did not expect that his normal speech in front of some semi-milishia and some ball-sucking university students (i mean basijis), could produce this mess. But really i get nervious while watching his interviews, stupid smiling to the interviewer, answering the question by asking another unrelated question from interviewer, trying to attack to interviewr and making him nervious and so on. He is an asshole in interviews.
Qasem | September 22nd, 2006 at 6:54 am
He quoted that “Israel should be cleared from the map” and now he clearly illustrated the means to achive this task. Whats wrong with it? The means are civilised and they are so democratic. Needless to say that the means are in harmony with the fourth geneva convention - the right of return- to which both the state of Israel and the united states are signatory. Also the right of the return has been highlighted couple of times by the International Court of Justic, the judicial organ of the UN.
nishanejamhurieislami | September 22nd, 2006 at 8:20 am
“By the way, how do you know how much smart I am?”

engalizi-e hazrat-e `ali khayli khoshgel neest

Translation: Your English is not that nice.
Amir | September 22nd, 2006 at 8:50 am
I know you from SUT.

What I am trying to say is that he is not able to express himself in such a way that ordinary people can understand. Have you ever been in a situation where you try to teach somthing to someone and he doesn’t get it, whereas it is obvious to you?
kamangir | September 22nd, 2006 at 12:50 pm
Bucket,
Yes, it was. You can see the donkey here: http://kamangir.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/holy-donkey-sends-a-newspaper-to-exile/
I am not in Iran. So, you can not conclude that Iranians can argue about the government’s decisions as simply as I do here. I would have not dared to do so if I were inside Iran.
I think he does not like real interviews by Iranian journalists because then he has to answer hundreds of very serious questions.
I agree with you. The journalists can obviously find serious questions to ask him. In his last interview he was asked about Iran’s financial situation and he tried to find an answer for it. Still, I think a more rigorous interview with be quite fascinating. If you have followed the news you probably know that he was asked for an uncensored interview by an Iranian journalist after he asked Bush for one. Obviously, he declined.
kamangir | September 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Sirus,
Yes, I know that not many people in Iran want to destroy Israel, except for some Basij members. I think you and I agree that these people are also brain-washed and some of them are paid to think so. However, my impression is that he did not try to correct his mistake. What he did was covering up, and not answering to the question.
He is a shame for all of us and I think we both agree about this.
kamangir | September 22nd, 2006 at 12:54 pm
nishanejamhurieislami,
Pardon?
kamangir | September 22nd, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Amir,
Yes, I’ve seen some people like that. But, I do not think being a politician is a good job for them. Even they can not make good lawyers or teachers or perhaps even cashiers.
So, I have done some pretty dubm things so you have a good estimate of my IQ. Right?
kamangir | September 22nd, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Qasem,
The Persian word “Mahv” means “wipe off” to me. Furthermore, Israel is also called in the Islamic Republic literature as a “cancer”. I do not think these words are very much democratic. By the way, I do not support Israel. Neither I think it should be “cleared from the map”.
What you are saying is absolutely correct. But, I think it is a bit too simplistic to use the language of conventions in this matter. I think you agree with me that this problem is more complex than how Ahmadinejad formulates it. After all, I do not think the “clear” (or “wipe off”) speech is towards any solution.
Qasem | September 23rd, 2006 at 7:04 am
0- The words are unwise and uncivilised. However providing the refugees with their unalienable right of return is just.

1- Uncivilised people in the glob call each another as cancer. The states of Israel and Iran often use this word. Fast forward to 2:35 in (http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/sc/so060720am3.rm) to find how the representative of Israel uses cancer.