Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new president of Iran, said "Israel must be wiped off the map."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new president of Iran, said "Israel must be wiped off the map." Since he said it at a student rally called "The World Without Zionism," it was not exactly a surprise. Much critical comment ensued, even a tut-tut from Kofi Annan, and some agencies of the Iranian government tried to downplay the matter: "Iran is committed to its obligations stated in the United Nations charter," said the Foreign Ministry.

Ahmadinejad has gotten off to a boisterous start, but why assume that the mullahs who control him and all Iranian politics are displeased? The president whips up the mob; his colleagues can play the game of good mullah, bad mullah, that the Europeans and the State Department so devoutly hope will work out. Meanwhile Iran marches on with its nuclear-weapons program. When that is complete, it can begin its exercises in Islamist cartography.

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