By Khosrow Jamshidi 

I read Mr. Omid Memarian's article in 12.24.06 issue of Payvand, entitled   "Ahmadinejad: Wrong Man, Wrong Place, Wrong Time!" I thought to drop you a feedback note for him in case nobody else has. I normally do not react to main stream media line of articles, because it seems just too little too late to salvage any thing in the msm.  Even with this article, I would have been mostly fine, had I not spotted this well-poisoning sentence tucked in there. 

"Ahmadinejad's main agenda of developing nuclear technology, denying the Holocaust occurred and wiping off Israel from the map, have not brought any positive change to people’s lives."

Items in this sentence have become well established "shibboleths" of unkosher journalism. It can only be one of the two cases: either he DOES know Ahmadinejad never said "Israel should be wiped off the map" or he THINKS he must have because all msm outlets say so, in other words he DOES NOT. For a journalist, I am not sure which case is worse.

Assuming that he does speak and understand Persian, it becomes particularly troubling that he seems either he has never read the original Persian sentence or he has, but agrees the above translation is correct. Again, I am not sure which case is worse. I would suggest he (if not already) finds out which "Institute" translates middle eastern news for msm outlets. That should give him a hint why translations regarding Iran turn out to be so bizarrely adulterated and journalists are not allowed to correct them even after the truth is out.

Speaking of "wiping" countries off the map, I wonder if he has seen the NATO's New Middle East map? I think he should. It was presented at their last meeting. Here it is:

Middle East Map - Now (click here for high resolution)

Middle East Map - Future (click here for high resolution)

Iran will lose most of its oil, gas, mountains, and water access shores and sources and gets some of Afghanistan's barren deserts (for learning poppy cultivation technology, I wonder!). The new Iran would be just a tad bigger than the new Afghanistan. I would very much be interested to see OM's moral integrity and compassion in defending countries threatened to be wiped off the map, once he sees two continents' coalition active military forces in the region carry a professionally printed map with most useful part of Iran missing on it. I am not sure how this map leaked out, but apparently Turkey's representative in the meeting stormed out of the room after seeing the map for the first time. (I wonder what the bright NATO generals expected Turkey to do; come back with a "counter offer" ?!). What difference does it make that OM's friend thought Ahmadinejad was clean, but now she thinks he is crazy, when 80% of US naval forces is in and around middle east right now? If hating Ahmadinejad a little more cuts this 80% to 60%, I am in.

Nuclear technology industry in Iran started in 60s. In this forty years or so nobody has ever claimed (to my knowledge) to have set it to be his "main agenda", not even Khamene'i, who surely had known he had far longer time than four years, and far more real authority than a president. Now is this a claim that Ahmadinejad has made or is it OM's claim?  Either way a reference or substantiation would have helped. Unlike in msm, in the real world there is a long process between the accusation and the verdict. I certainly hope Ahmadinejad's unrefined speech pattern was not the reason for this claim. It makes far more sense to claim that Ahmadinejad with a PhD in Transportation (whatever that means) has put the solving Tehran's traffic congestion problem as his "main agenda". (I still would reserve my right to sustain a serious doubt he could make a dent in it in four years!) 

May be there should be a certification process for those interested in getting engaged in nuclear technology issues. Something to the effect of taking the individual to Iran, Russia, or France, blind fold him, then take him inside an ISO certified clean room high-tech facility, unfold him, let him look around for three minutes, and then ask him to determine if he is inside a nuclear facility. If passed, give him a certification number to provide along articles or speeches he delivers. That way, I believe, a huge amount of sensationalizing statements will surely be cut down and people will get a chance to think in peace and more rationally, as opposed to be constantly agitated by unverifiable comments by public figures and activist journalists. When was the last time a nuclear physicist from MIT was consulted on national TV in a calm educational environment? It is always the politicians, think-tankers, journalists, consultants, etc. who participate in public discussions, but most likely fail to even tell the difference between an aspirin manufacturing facility from a nuclear one. Some even think "nuclear" is a corrupted spelling for "new killer"!

By the way, if Ahmadinejad is the problem and not just an excuse, then why the same Iran's adversarial countries refused to talk to the more erudite Khatami for EIGHT YEARS arguing that "presidents in Iran do not have power"? And for that matter, another eight years before him with Rafsanjani, who is a businessman and a deal maker?  Now all of a sudden "the Iranian president must be taken seriously" because he wants to make atomic bombs (and needs at least 400 thermonuclear war heads in four years) to wipe other countries off the map. What gives ?

Regarding Holocaust, I do agree that it is not a president's forte to make statements or get the government of a country involved in this highly professional field. This naturally goes for those heads of states who denounced it too, out of fear of being labeled of course. Apparently, the foreign ministry dragged its leg as long as they could.

My purpose of writing this note was not to torpedo Omid's article or his politics, even if I could. I really do not care which side of the aisle he stands, as long as he does not treat his audiences as imbeciles who can not tell AM from PM in a day without looking at their watch.  I am simply frustrated of so much incessant bombardment of sound bite shallow campaign of National Enquirer caliber of opinionated news and analyses; leading me to canceling all my msm sources of TV and newspapers, even 15-20 years subscription of National Geographic, Scientific American, etc., as the virus seems to be spreading into semi professional publications as well. Hard to believe mal-naming Persian Gulf by NG was just a slip of pen. 

I take refuge in a few quality websites on the net. I expect Iranians to be a bit more sophisticated and offer more penetrating insights because they are uniquely qualified to do so. Otherwise I do not see a shortage of tawdry standards of msm reporting that is in dire need of Iranians' help.

Lastly, I would very much like this piece serves as just a small pot hole on the road to help Omid watch the road a bit more attentively, not a hefty traffic ticket or something.