Date: February 2, 2007
To: Ombudsman, The Washington Post
Patrick J. Buchanan

Open Letter: 'Israel Should Be Wiped Out'

The President and news media keep repeating that President Ahmadinejad of Iran said "Israel should be wiped out." According to our sources what President Ahmadinejad said is entirely different.

Arash Norouzi writes at http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=19590 that the full quote translated directly to English is "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time".

A word by word translation: Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

Professor Juan Cole explains the quotation further at http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and- hitchens.html.

President Ahmadinejad was, apparently, quoting a statement by the late Ayatollah Khomenei the gist of which is that in time Israel, like the USSR, would disappear.

Not only is Ahmadinejad incorrectly quoted, he can't order an attack on Israel - the decision to attack would have to be made by the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council.

News media spend considerable time parsing what Senator Allen said (the "macaca" comment), and what Senator Biden said (about Senator Obama), about much less important issues. Correcting the record on what President Ahmadinejad said is vital - it may help avert a war with Iran.

Enver Masud
Founder and CEO
The Wisdom Fund

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Arash Norouzi, "Caught Red-Handed: Media Backtracks on Iran's Anti-Israel 'Threat'," Dissident Voice, July 17, 2007