By Cliff Kincaid ——Bio and Archives--September 30, 2013
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“I have said before that I am not a historian personally and that when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust as such, it is the historians that should reflect on it.”He actually said:
“I have said before that I am not a historian and when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of historical events, historians should explain and discuss it.”CNN claimed its translation was correct, but other sources, such as Politico, consulted a translator who said the term “Holocaust” was not in Rouhani’s remarks. Curiously, Politico called this omission “minor,” when in fact the difference is that the term “Holocaust” suggests acceptance of the fact of Hitler’s genocide of the Jews. Instead, Rouhani treated the matter as something to be discussed and debated by historians, an effort to minimize it. In her own follow-up article, “Why Rouhani may be different,” Amanpour blamed former President Bush for the anti-Americanism of the preceding Iranian president, saying, “I can certainly never forget President George W. Bush’s infamous Axis of Evil speech, which ushered in the harsh period and policies of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.” This is apparently the new version of “blame America first” media coverage. Bush is to blame for the Iranian regime’s anti-Semitism. In that speech, Bush had said, “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian peoples’ hope for freedom.” CNN also ran a piece titled, “Why Rouhani deserves praise,” perpetuating the false notion that Rouhani had condemned the Holocaust and faulting Israel for not accepting this Iranian leader as new and different from the rest. Recognizing reality, at least for a moment, Zakaria concluded that “it remains unclear whether he [Rouhani] has the authority to act on behalf of his government.” He explained, “One has to wonder: If Rouhani does not have the freedom to shake Obama’s hand, does he have the freedom to negotiate a nuclear deal?” This was a reference to Iran turning down a personal meeting between the two leaders. The failure to shake hands, widely reported as a snub of Obama, was followed by a telephone call from Obama to Rouhani, laughably labeled by Politico as “something solid to celebrate on the foreign policy front” for Obama. Ignoring the fact that Khamenei calls the shots, the publication claimed, “Obama became the first American president in 34 years to speak directly with his Iranian counterpart…” This is the kind of coverage we are likely to see more of in the weeks and months ahead as Obama and Iran pursue a deal for a “nuclear-free zone” in the Middle East that will put Israel on the defensive. In fact, this is what Rouhani proposed in his second speech to the U.N. last week to the so-called High Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament. He said, “Almost four decades of international efforts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East have regrettably failed. Urgent practical steps towards the establishment of such a zone are necessary. Israel, the only non-party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in this region, should join thereto without any further delay. Accordingly, all nuclear activities in the region should be subject to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] comprehensive safeguards.” As this plan is developing, the price of a nuclear deal with Iran seems to be shaping up as the nuclear disarmament of Israel, a development that would leave the Jewish state more vulnerable to attack. Whether Khamenei is a Russian agent or not, we can easily see how Russian methods of disinformation and propaganda are already paying dividends for the Iranian regime.
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Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. usasurvival.org.