Is he mad?

[daviejones]

It came across as very bad manners, not sure what he hoped to achieve

I think he was expressing his amazement at comments made regarding the holocaust...so in that case I think he was justified in his remark. The Iranian President denies the holocaust ever happened so therefor qualifies as a lunatic in my book.

[daviejones]

[QUOTE=Troll;307100]

I personally find it unacceptable and Western civilisation also finds it unacceptable... but unless you want to re impose colonial rule you will have to accept that others have different views on the subject.
You can hope that over time a more enlightened attitude evolves, but Islamic civilisation IMHO is several centuries behind Western in terms of human rights,
unless of course you would propose a regime change and an imposition of a Westernised value system ...

I also said it was wrong, I expressed no opinion on how we were going to educate these civilisations...merely stating that a man who openly says that there was no holocaust, sanctions public hanging for gays etc, is a lunatic and should not be in a position of power.

[TheFaQQer]

I think he was expressing his amazement at comments made regarding the holocaust...so in that case I think he was justified in his remark. The Iranian President denies the holocaust ever happened so therefor qualifies as a lunatic in my book.

Ah - I'm not sure that lunatic is the right description, though.

Certainly, I think that he needs to have a better look at the historical evidence, and perhaps be a bit more broad-minded in his approach to Iran's neighbours, but I'm not convinced that he has demonstrated lunacy.

[daviejones]

Ah - I'm not sure that lunatic is the right description, though.

Certainly, I think that he needs to have a better look at the historical evidence, and perhaps be a bit more broad-minded in his approach to Iran's neighbours, but I'm not convinced that he has demonstrated lunacy.

He also was reported to say that Israel should be wiped from the map if I recall...that is surely bordering on lunacy...

[PRC1964]

The word "myth" is just the translation we have for what he said. He could easily have been saying that holocaust stories are exaggerated. Wikipedia says this of Myths "Use of the term by scholars does not imply that the narrative is either true or false. See also legend and tale."

The holocaust is used by some as a blanket reason for never criticising Israel, and as that article states "At one point he demanded to know why raising issues about the Holocaust or the existence of Israel was not compatible with freedom of speech".

Ahmadinejad is trying desperatly to hold onto power in Iran where he is not particularly popular. By demonising him the West run the risk of making him more popular at home.

[Churchill]

I'd like him to make the Holocaust Denial statement in Belgium...

[DBA_bloke]

"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you we have it."
-- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University

Agreed, World Class Nutjob.

I believe he said this whilst he was bumming his brother.

[realityhack]

He also was reported to say that Israel should be wiped from the map if I recall...that is surely bordering on lunacy...

No - that was a mistranslation - he said Zionism wiped from the Earth/Map - which has an altogether different meaning.

[OwlHoot]

wasn't so long ago that we used to jail them

Wasn't that long ago (the 1860s) we used to top them, like in Iran, and until 1817 oral sex counted as sodomy for the purpose of the 1534 Sodomy Act.

P.S. I vaguely recall reading that those Iranian guys received a capital sentence because they kidnapped and raped a 12 year old (or some similar age) boy.

[Cowboy Bob]

I believe what he actually said with regards to the holocaust is that he wished that Israel would stop using the holocaust as emotional blackmail to prevent criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and that people should forget about the holocaust in that context.