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| Axis of Evil |
| Vitriol Watch: Khamenei rejects talks with US |
| 2002-03-18 |
Well, doesn't that come as a surprise? He's always been the voice of sweet reason... "Negotiations are not a solution. It won't remove any problem and all those who, when menaced, think about dialogue, in fact shows their own weakness and servility, that is very negative", the staunchly anti-American Khameneh'i told officials, including military commanders and high-ranking clerics, among them Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, the President. But he did not explain how one could solve problems and overcome difficulties without negotiations. "Negotiations are a sign of weakness. We Iranians would rather die than negotiate. You go first." He warned his American counterpart George W. Bush not to mistake Iran with the now defeated Afghan Taleban. "Though no one here welcomes war and consider a duty to avoid it, yet, in case the enemy declare war, we shall defend ourselves with all our forces and capacities, considering it a national and religious duty", Mr. Khameneh'i pointed out. Yes, the turbans are entirely different. And they're Shi'ites instead of Salafists. And Iran used to be a great country until it was ruled by theocrats, while Afghanistan never really amounted to much even without them. "The eyes of the next generations are fixed on the Iranian people, alert and capable of creating epics", he said. Ummm... Ali? I think the next generation's the kids out in the street demonstrating against you... His comments came after both the government and most reformist lawmakers and politicians welcomes Senator Biden’s proposal. Y'see, being Persians, they resent being lumped with riff-raff like Iraq and the North Koreans. "The United States is against Islam and the very nature and essence of the Islamic Republic and has times and again expressed its opposition to theocratic regimes. Whatever it does, it is a tactical move aimed at luring and deceiving. Therefore, and based on these facts, talking with the Americans is futile, meaningless", he added. Yep. He's got a point there. We have in fact time and again reiterated our opposition to theocratic regimes, preferring instead to let each man or woman make his/her/its own mistakes in this life. On the other hand, we're not against Islam, we're against nut bags, thugs and killers. "President Bush tells us to return to the international community. But does he not knows that we have good relations with all countries and it is America that, because of its hegemony policy, is isolated", he said, in reference to European Union’s backing of Iran. We're unilateralists at heart; comes from our devotion to the rights of the individual. They're social democrats; comes from a belief that bureaucracy works. You're religious extremists who've abused your women specifically and individual rights in general, along with ruining what used to be a prosperous economy. When push comes to shove, who do you think they're going to support, Ali? President George W. Bush angered the Iranians when, in his State of the Union address to the Congress on 29 January, had labelled Iran, Iraq and North Korea as forming an "axis of evil". That was tactless and unilaterist of him, wasn't it? Terrible, calling a spade a spade. The spade's feelings get so hurt. The remark came after Ayatollah Khameneh'i had denounced American military intervention in Afghanistan and used strong words against the American president, whom, in the words of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the regime’s number two man, has "a brain of swallow into the body of a dinosaur". Now, speaking of tactless... For the most part, Khamenei is correct: we have very little reason to talk to a theocratic oligarchy about who's primary purpose has been to enmire its people in regressive economic and social policies. The one thing that Khamenei may wish to talk to any Americans about is GW's physiology, and I'd recommend Terry McAuliffe as his DNC point of contact. In a quiet weekend chat over dates and sweet tea, I'd figure that McAuliffe and Khamenei would be able to come up with a surprizing variety of implausible animal combinations to treat their public audiences with. How does their creationist book reconcile itself with the existence of dinosaurs? Didn't you know? They wouldn't fit on the ark! |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |