The Misunderstood Ahmadinejad

James Kirchick makes some interesting points about people who go out of their way to argue that Ahmadinejad really doesn't mean it when he calls Israel a dirty microbe, or when he threatens its extinction. It's a odd phenomenon. You don't have to believe that Ahmadinejad is the most powerful person in Iran in order to grapple honestly with the fact that he'd like to see Israel to disappear from the map. To borrow a phrase.