Yeah - I'm referring to his "Holocaust is a myth" comment. For the Columbia discussion to start out with that preface is certainly an act of speaking out against the Holocaust comment.

Here are some Google searches, and the number of results produced:

http://www.google.com/search?q=holocaust
27,000,000

http://www.google.com/search?q=holocaust+Germany
2,850,000

http://www.google.com/search?q=holocaust+Iran
2,620,000

http://www.google.com/search?q=holocaust+Nazi
2,560,000

I'm so shocked that I will make a graphic and post it to the main page.

My point is that this seems like appropriating the Holocaust to do political damage to Ahmadinejad, and by extension, to Iran. I don't know - his anti-Israel comments might justify doing such a thing, but it could also appear to be exploitative of the Holocaust for something that isn't historically comparable.

I think it's completely appropriate to censure Ahmadinejad for such statements, because I suspect at its roots were hateful, disrespectful, exploitative intentions. It's obvious Ahmadinejad hoped to play off of certain racist beliefs held by part of the Iranian population. It's a tired anthem, and it's pretty naive to play the old "anti-semite" card. I mean, totally naive. He's fucked, as a result. The Columbia forum demonstrates that.

However, I'm more concerned by the response. The Google searches suggest that Iran has a stronger association with the Holocaust than the Nazis, and that's bizarre. I predict that the Nazi-Iran gap will continue growing, as Iran becomes a more frequent news topic in the run-up to the election. I have absolutely no idea what, specifically, this signifies.

Can you provide an example of the Holocaust being used to get people riled up against Iran? Unless you are referring to Ahmadinejad saying that the Holocaust is a myth, which seems like something that people should speak out against. As far as I'm aware people aren't talking about the Holocaust and Iran (in the US) except when they are responding to Ahmadinejad's comments.

Agreed.

I suspect Ahmadinejad does privately acknowledge the Holocaust, but there's no question that both sides are using the Holocaust as a political tool.

I guess I would oppose any reference to the Holocaust for the purposes of escalating a conflict - whether the reference was Iranian or US.

I consider the existence of the Holocaust to be a fact.

I also consider the 9/11 attack to have been directly conducted by 19 Saudis, operating out of Afghanistan, coordinated by Al Qaeda, and supported most directly by the Taliban. According to the FBI, this is also fact.

I don't see what the Holocaust has to do with Iran, and I don't see what 9/11 has to do with Iraq. I don't consider these facts to be relevant to the thing they are applied to.

I don't appreciate it that Ahmadinejad uses the Holocaust to get people riled up against Israel, but the same can be said of those who use the Holocaust to get people riled up against Iran.

I am happy to fault Ahmadinejad, but there needs to be caution in using his statements as pretext for war.