Slate: Cole continues to present himself as an expert on Shiism and on the Persian, Arabic, and Urdu tongues. Let us see how his claim vindicates itself in practice. Here is what he wrote on the "Gulf 2000" e-mail chat-list on April 22:It bears repeating as long as the accusation is made. Ahmadinejad did not "threaten" to "wipe Israel off the map." I'm not sure there is even such an idiom in Persian. He quoted Khomeini to the effect that "the Occupation regime must end" (ehtelal bayad az bayn berad). And, no, it is not the same thing. It is about what sort of regime people live under, not whether they exist at all. Ariel Sharon, after all, made the Occupation regime in Gaza end.
There are two separate but related matters here. For a start, let us look at the now-famous speech that Ahmadinejad actually gave at the Interior Ministry on Oct. 26, 2005. (I am using the translation made by Nazila Fathi of the New York Times Tehran bureau, whose Persian is probably the equal of Professor Cole's.) The relevant portions read:Our dear Imam [Khomeini] said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. … Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. … For over fifty years the world oppressor tried to give legitimacy to the occupying regime, and it has taken measures in this direction to stabilize it.
Ahmadinejad then denounced the recent Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over Gaza as a sellout and added, "If we get through this brief period successfully, the path of eliminating the occupying regime will be easy and down-hill."
It's par for the course that the only critigue that Cole can make when someone attacks his facts is a personal one, what a Jackass.
4 comments:
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide our selves with proper medical attention and care.
It should come as no suprise that Cole's response was to call Hitchens a "drunk."
Such is the level of discourse from the left.
So, basically the two responses here are Molly's, which is an unintelligible mass of words with rants here and there and no facts to back them up, and Senor's which has nothing to do with the post. How typical of the deluded left, and no I don't mean everyone on the left is deluded.
Sounds like Cole was translating in a way to support his own agenda, not to convey the truth of the statements made. He should be ashamed of himself, but there I go assuming he would think of someone other than himself. Nice post, Rick.
~Wayne
I looked so freaking hard for an actual copy in Arabic or Farsi of what Ablahblah said so I could verify Cole's assertion - and I really thank you for reading that article - I had a really funny feeling about Cole's "translation."
Post a Comment