Ahmadi-Nejad called 'suicidal'

By James Lewis

The most frightening question today is whether mad-sounding Ahmadi-Nejad, the President of Iran, is actually willing to commit national suicide in pursuit of Tehran's nuclear bombs. If he is, all bets are off for the Tehran regime. Talking martyrdom for Allah is standard operating procedure for the Khomeini cult, and has been since Jimmy Carter allowed Khomeini to take over Iran in 1979. The real question is, do the regime leaders of Iran really intend to follow Khomeini's maddest decree:

"We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah; For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world."

This is the most crucial national security question of our age, barring none. If Iran is becoming a regime of nuclear suicide-bombers, no deterrent will work. They must be stopped.

So American policy makers need to understand the psychology of Ahmadi-Nejad and his boss, Ayatollah Khamenei. If those fanatics really believe Khomeini's decree, regime change is the only answer.

In today's New York Post, Amir Taheri calls the Tehran boss "suicidal." The commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, he argues, "are not as idealistic - which is to say, as suicidal - as Ahmadinejad." [Italics added.]

Amir Taheri is one of the world's experts on the Tehran regime. If he thinks Ahmadi-Nejad is suicidal, and that he could trigger a suicidal nuclear war for the glory of Allah, that leaves civilized countries with no choice but to act.

The one note of hope, in Taheri's view, is that saner voices in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard might overthrow the "idealistic" Ahmadi-Nejad.

They have two years to do that, at the outside.

James Lewis blogs at http://www.dangeroustimes.wordpress.com/