Oh, huh. Well, according to Aljazeera (you know, that Arab news outlet):

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.

So yeah, he said he's for wiping Israel off the map. Full story at:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...CE0E9957EA.htm

However, after some digging, there's a question about that exact translation, and some say he didn't call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" but rather to be "erased from the pages of history". It's the same thing, the same meaning, it's just that their language doesn't have a phrase like "wiped off the map". And he did do some backpedaling after the fact, because that was some extremist shit he was spouting, and said later that what he meant was for the regimes ruling Israel (and by association, the United States) should be eradicated, as you can't really wipe an area of land off a map.

There's lots more info on his insane prattlings, on Wikipedia and aljazeera's website, among other places.

From news I read today, they've apparently found high-grade uranium traces in Iran now, far more refined than what would be needed for simple power generation. They're making bomb-grade uranium now, somewhere. It may take them three or five years to make their first nuclear weapon, but I'm positive they have begun the process.

If Iran is our enemy (and THEY say they are, which is good enough for me), then the clock is ticking if we want to do anything about it without having to deal with nuclear weapons. The scariest proposition is if they start selling nuclear weapons to the highest bidder. A suitcase-sized fission bomb isn't enough to totally wipe out a city, but it'd destroy a pretty good area, a circle of destruction half a mile in diameter or thereabouts. And they aren't THAT hard to build; a Princeton student designed a working suitcase fission bomb for a term paper once (which was immediately classified, and which mysterious Arabs tried to purchase from him). Made for a good book, think it was called "The A-Bomb Kid" or something.

And we don't need to prod Iran. They are a self-prodding regime. They don't care about what other countries think of what they are doing, they don't obey international law, and they've declared themselves our enemy numerous times. Maybe in 18 months, when they say the Iraqi army will be able to fend for itself, OUR army will just gas up the tanks and head north. It's not like Iran is that far of a drive. I wouldn't be totally shocked. If they don't let the atomic energy inspectors do their job, I can't say I'd be very upset either.