Posted on 12/10/2006 3:20:05 AM PST by MadIvan
DEFYING international condemnation, Iran will open a conference tomorrow questioning whether the Holocaust — in which millions of Jews and other minorities were killed by the Nazis — really happened.
An official at the Iranian foreign ministry claimed that delegates from 30 countries, including Britain, would attend the conference, initiated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The president, who claims the Holocaust is a myth used to justify the occupation of Palestinian land, has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and suggested that its citizens could be resettled in Alaska.
Among the first arrivals in Tehran for the two-day forum, called Studying the Holocaust: An International View, was Frederick Töben, who describes himself as an “expert”. Töben, an Australian Holocaust denier, brought his own model of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. He claimed that it proved there would have been no room for the Jews — at least 1.1m — whose deaths there were documented in Nazi records.
Asked why western countries were so outraged, he replied: “The Holocaust equals a lie. Therefore Israel is built on a lie.”
The agenda is chilling. The Iranians have presented the forum in the banal manner of international conferences where experts examine evidence in open debate.
The seminars could have been designed to cause maximum pain to Holocaust survivors and their descendants. Gas Chambers: Denial or Confirmation, is the title of one. Others are entitled Freedom of Speech and the Stance of Holocaust Deniers in the West, and The Current Laws Against Holocaust Deniers.
With no trace of irony, Iranian officials said the conference — sponsored by the Institute for Political and International Studies, a foreign ministry think tank — would include archives, photographs and demographic evidence to establish whether the number of victims was exaggerated.
“Our aim is scientifically to study the Holocaust and listen to both sides before reaching a conclusion,” said Manouchehr Mohammadi, the foreign ministry spokesman for research. “We weren’t involved in this event so we can be a neutral judge. If we conclude that the Holocaust happened, we will admit it, but we are still going to ask why the Palestinians have to pay the price.”
Iranian sources said the conference emerged from a behind-the-scenes struggle. Foreign ministry officials are well aware that it will have a negative impact on the country’s image at a time when Iran is already under pressure at the United Nations over its nuclear programme, support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shi’ite groups in Iraq.
Hence, although Ahmadinejad has been publicly flagging the conference for almost a year, foreign ministry officials who were supposed to organise it have been dragging their feet. Forced to go ahead by the president, the foreign ministry tried to portray the conference as an exercise in free speech. It was at pains to point out that Iran has a community of 25,000 Jews. who are protected by the government.
One foreign ministry official said: “Does this conference make sense politically for Iran? No. The conference is being held to answer the questions of the president.” Tony Blair, who was invited, called it “shocking, ridiculous and stupid”.
The Holocaust was real. Kneel amongst the tall reeds around the compound and you'll find flecks of bone which were spewed out by the crematoria chimneys.
Iran's regime is evil in suggesting that it didn't happen, and should be destroyed.
Regards, Ivan
I think Tony Blair's response fits the whole Iranian leadership.
Shocking Ridiculous and Stupid.
How did any intelligent country end up being run by the clowns. Imams Mullahs, ahmadinejhad and the whole of the leadership ,if brains were dynamite they couldnt blow their noses.
Regards, Ivan
Ahmadinejhad can have the Palestinians if he wants them. Iran like evry other tin pan country out there always cries for the Palestinians, but none of them want them in their country. The p[alestinioans are a band of ne'er do wells that cant make it no matter where they go.
Lazy slovenly, arrogant , belligerent. They wouldnt work in a pie shop. Reminds me of many from New Orleans. They would fit right in there.
Sounds like the Iraq Study Group talking.
Shhhhhhh!!!
Its Christmas time ya know...
I still like yer thinkin'!
You should post a vanity titled, "If I ruled the world".
You know, if the media could muster up 10% of the hatred for this mad Iranian wanker that they have reserved for President Bush, the man would be in a lot of trouble.
"...with Yoko Ono "music" piped in 24 hours a day"
There are somethings too terrible even for the evil duo
Thank Jimmy Carter. The Shah of Iran always liked us. Jimmy dumped on him.
"The president, who claims the Holocaust is a myth used to justify the occupation of Palestinian land, has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and suggested that its citizens could be resettled in Alaska."
Science World Alert! Ahmanutjob is proof that a parallel universe actually exists and he's the first bizarro crossover.
Whoa, a whole 25,000 Jews in a nation with a population of 70 million.
A cruise missile aimed at the conference would do a world of good. Afterwards we can tell their families that it never happened and they're conspiracy kooks for thinking so.
Your suggestion makes a lot of sense.
Among other ideas I have, such as forcing the French to adopt English as their national language, are things perhaps too much to contemplate.
Regards, Ivan
Americans just voted in people who think that going to Iran and begging for help/forgiveness will bring peace to the Mideast. The same dolts who were offended that George Bush said he was influenced by Jesus are all cheering for the Iranian dictator who denies the Holocaust and who wants to create a world religious war to usher in the Islamic "messiah." It seems the left is determined to commit suicide and bring as many others with it as possible.
Is Jimmy Carter scheduled to be a guest speaker?
He should be well regarded in Iran anyway - he played as crucial a role in the Iranian Revolution in 1979, as the French did in the American one.
Regards, Ivan
Disagree. We should send a large delegation to this, armed with photos, physical remains, the few remaining survivors (they were not all jews) and any nazis who can be found who will corroborate it. It would be good to usurp their platform and throw the truth in their faces. Besides, nuking it would make the rest of them believe we did it because they were right.
Carter is a double-plus-good Useful Idiot. He enabled the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and he's a deeply committed anti-Semite. From the point of view of an Iranian dictator building nukes and promising to wipe out Israel, Carter is "the Best of the West".
Works for me!!!
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