Iran is now racing to attain a nuclear capability. The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for and

The cliche parallel with Adolph Hitler does apply in some ways.

threatened repeatedly the destruction of Israel. Iran's other Islamic leaders also aim for the destruction of Israel. Yet, there is a major difference between Ahmadinejad and the other leaders. This is pointed out by Barry Rubin in a July 14, 2008, article in the JerusalemPost:


"Ahmadinejad is so extreme, adventurous, demagogic and seemingly irrational that his threat to use nuclear weapons against Israel is credible.... Others, like Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; former president, now Expediency Council Chief Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani; and former presidential candidate, now Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (whom Ahmadinejad fired as nuclear negotiator) are also bad guys - but much less mad guys."


In other words, Ahmadinejad constitutes a unique danger. He is the one obsessed with the destruction of Israel; and he is the one whose Messianic ideology might push him to risk the catastrophic results an Iranian attack on Israel might bring to Iran. Ahmadinejad is also a danger to other regimes in the Middle East, to the United States to the European Union, to worldwide non-proliferation agreements and to energy supplies.


For Israel, however, the danger is most immediate and apparent. The cliche parallel with Adolph Hitler does apply in some ways, for here again is a charismatic leader capable of moving more boldly to destruction than other leaders. Here is a leader so intensely obsessed with destruction of that which is Jewish that he would throw aside calculations of self-interest to do so.


It is impossible to go back and rewrite history. But there is always the thought that had the Jewish gangsters who intended to assassinate Hitler done so, six million Jews might not have been murdered. The assassination of Ahmadinejad will not overthrow the regime of the mullahs, nor will it stop them from working to attain a nuclear capability; it may, in fact, accelerate their efforts to do so. But it would most likely bring into power those who will put Iranian interests - and not the obsession with Israel and the Jews - first.


The assassination of Ahmadinejad could, of course, backfire.



The assassination of Ahmadinejad could, of course, backfire and lead the regime in Tehran, perhaps through its allies and surrogates, to attack Israel and other American allies, causing much damage and many casualties. But a war fought without nuclear weapons and without a Messianic leader in command would most likely be far less destructive than the war Ahmadinejad would wage.


Ahmadinejad - who has claimed that the US tried to assassinate him once in Rome and once in Baghdad - intends to visit the United Nations and put on another show for them this September. He will be surrounded by phalanxes of bodyguards, but his arrogance will no doubt lead him to expose himself in any number of different locations.


My sense is then that if some organization or individual should have the guts to knock him off, they would do not only Israel but the world as a whole a very big favor.