By Fred Alexander Santa Monica
We have difficulty understanding the mentality of Iran’s newest ruler. Then again, we don’t understand the mentality of those who flew into the World Trade Center or the mobs who chant “Death to America.”
It’s not just that Iran’s ruler denies the Holocaust and has called for the destruction of Israel, it’s that he is a believer in the imminent appearance of the 12th Imam. He has said that the end of history is only two or three years away, that the Islamic Revolution is to prepare for the messianic redemption, which he believes it to be preceded by worldwide upheaval and chaos.
How better to light the fuse of eternal bliss than with a nuclear flame? A fanatic infatuated with the next world has nothing to lose by destroying this one. Unfortunately, the cost to stop this fanatic will be very grave both economically and in terms of loss of life, but what choice do we have if Iran refuses to stop the enrichment of uranium?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 24, 2006. Read the original PDF.