EDITORIAL: Iran's reckless leadership

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/17/6 | Editor

[SmithL]

THE PRESIDENT of Iran is playing right into the hands of the hawks within the Bush administration who have designs on a military strike against the country.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began the week by trumpeting advancements in Iran's uranium-enrichment program. Then on Friday, for anyone who had any questions about Iran's fitness to be experimenting with nuclear materials that might be converted to weapons use in the future, Ahmadinejad gladly connected the dots.

Last fall, he provoked outrage from responsible nations of the world by suggesting Israel should be "wiped off the map." On Friday, he was even more inflammatory.

"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation," he said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."

[SmithL]

The Comicle is only unhappy with Iran because it gives the administration an excuse for military action.

[rhombus]

he United States needs to isolate him from the world, not fuel his world of delusion with talk of a war that will only give him resolve and more allies than this reckless leader deserves.

Then why are YOU talking about war? Why is the NY Times talking about war? Funny, the only advice offered is to "isolate" Iran from the world. OK, how would you do that first? Perhaps we could have direct talks with them and set up a phony baloney sanctions program (or whatever you want to call it) to funnel more tribute money into Iran. We could follow the North Korean model. Sure, that'll work. Thanks for your advice, editor.

[CaptRon]

Classic. They're complaint with Ahmadinejad is that he is 'playing right into the hands' of the President, not that he is a dangerous nutbag who means everything he says and would be just happy making the Chronicle ground zero as any other infidel target.

[Unam Sanctam]

I heard a clip of Barbara Boxer the other day. She was already blaming Bush for a war with Iran. It is always Bush with these people. Iran is never a problem itself that needs to be dealt with by the international community. The US and Bush are the only problems in the world to the Democrats.

[DustyMoment]

THE PRESIDENT of Iran is playing right into the hands of the hawks within the Bush administration who have designs on a military strike against the country.

When the Bush bash is the first sentence, it reveals the agenda and purpose of the "editorial. I didn't need to read further.

[Edgerunner]

They are limited to the points covered in their indoctrination...

[Richard Axtell]

If they wish to blame a person or leader, particularly an American, for in effect starting or enabling the Islamo-Facist war on the West, they need only look to Jimmy Carter for that dubious honor. So much that Carter did as a matter of misguided policy enabled both the Soviets and the Islamo-Fascists to begin what may well be disaster for humanity. Ronald Reagan saved us from the idiocy of a Carter-Mondale surrender in the Cold War, and now Bush is actually opposing the enemy in the new world war. Those who deliberately blind themselves to these realities are a burden to all of us, the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle are no exception.

[pabianice]

Ahmadinejad is crazy. The United States needs to isolate him from the world, not fuel his world of delusion with talk of a war that will only give him resolve and more allies than this reckless leader deserves

Yes, yes; send him cross notes and deny Iran any more hula hoops or slinkys. Bay Lib Idiots know how to stop a madman.

[defenderSD]

All we said was that we wouldn't rule out the use of force as a last resort. Iran responds to that soft-spoken warning with constant threats, fiery rhetoric, and a big show of military hardware in the Persian Gulf. Our mild statements are not fueling their world of delusion. But those are mere facts, and what are facts compared to the opinion of liberal editorial writers at the Chronicle?