"I've been asking "what the hell does this guy want?"
He wants us all dead. Every man, woman and child. History is my witness."
But he (The President of Iran) is not choosing the course of action that will maximize deaths of his enemies. He is pushing to a course that may maximize Iranian deaths.
You assume rationality on behalf of one who has none. That's where we in the West get ourselves into so much trouble.
From almost all that he can see in our news and media and the statements of most politicians, America will back down, as it has in every nontrivial war since World War II.
We are clearly saying that we will back down again, though almost every channel visible to a far away and deeply deceived lunatic. Only the words and actions of George W. Bush and a few of his hand picked aids have shown a will to resist. And Bush is only supported by some thirty odd and decreasing percent of the American people, if you believe the polls. All the other major powers, including Europe, Russia and China are already bought off. The United Nations is so irrelevant even a lunatic can see that much.
The backbone of America, so evident on this thread, is not visible to the President of Iran.
He's looking to pick a fight, to have the final passionate excuse to nuke Tel Aviv, to remove Israel from the inhabitable universe, and to finish the Holocaust that he denies Hitler began. Either he will wait to take action until Bush is out of the White House, or he will have enough nukes secreted away that can be gotten to Tel Aviv that he expects a couple to make it, even if his military and much of his nuclear capacity is decimated.
He's willing to loose many Iranians doing it.
He expects to win. He is willing, even eager, to destroy a nation and a people. He has many good reasons to doubt that America has the stomach for that, and even more good reasons to know that no other country left standing other than perhaps Israel has both the means and the stomach to stop him. China and Russia have the means but are more with him than against him in this war against the Great Satan - us.
We are writing an interesting chapter in future history books.