"The Devil is and always has been a gentleman"

This quote by Diane LaVey, given today's letter from Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seems apropos.

"Give the devil his due" by Cervantes also comes to mind.

"Ahmadinejad to Americans: Stop 'blind support' for Israel" Where does this guy get off? He can "blindly support" Hamas, Hezbollah, Shiite militias, and any other radical Islamic faction that he pleases, but the United States should back off from defending the only stable, Democratic country in the region [Israel]?

Israel is a country that could easily wipe all its neighbors off the map if it chose to... the exact fate Iran's President has been calling for of Israel itself. He should be careful what he wishes for.

But let's return to Ahmadinejad's defense of Palestinian's right of return to their homes in Israel. There is no doubt Palestinians have had a difficult time since the creation of Israel after World War II. Their plight became even worse after the 1967 (3rd Arab-Israeli War) and 1973 (4th Arab-Israeli War), in which the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula were lost in defeat after crushing defeat at the hands of Israel. The Palestinians took up arms with Egypt, Syria and Jordan against Israel and lost. All's fair in love and war, time to move on.

It should be noted that Isreal acted pre-emptively in 1967 in anticipation of an imminent strike from its surrounding neighbors, led by Nasser. It should also be noted that the Palestinians were stateless prior to the creation of Israel; citizens of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt, if they were citizens at all.

So here we are, 35+ years later, and the President of Iran continues to call for a right of return of the Palestinians to the homes they lost when they took up arms and were defeated. I say give them their land back. On one condition. The 200,000 Greeks that were forced out of Turkey between 1923 and 1955 should also be given their homes back. After all, what's fair is fair.

Let's not waste time debating whether the Greeks would want their land back... they would no doubt be reluctant to return and find themselves inundated among a sea of poor Turks. Nor should we be troubled by the fact that the Greeks have moved on, found new homes, and prospered since the Istanbul Pogrom, where thousands of Greeks were forced to flee for their lives. In stark contrast to the Palestinians, whose lot in life seems be relegated to that of a beggar looking for handouts from wealthy Arab neighbors bankrolling their human suicide missions, the Greeks have turned the other cheek and chosen a better path.

Ahmadenijad is one to talk. In his 5 page "open letter" to the American people, he shakes his head, and his finger, at the United States' wasteful spending on war in Iraq. How much better, he reflects, it would be for us to spend our money at home, instead of on the poor Iraqis. In between his deep breaths, no doubt salivating at the prospect of an Iraq free of U.S. influence, ready for Iran to sweep right in, I can't help but wonder about the Iranian people's own plight. Iran, a country run by firebrand ayatollahs and a senile President, who seems determined to squander every extra penny of the country's oil wealth on a half-baked idea to build a Nuclear bomb, despite the fact that 40% of the country lives below the poverty line, and over 11% are unemployed. Mr. Ahmadenijad has somehow determined that his country's interests would be better served by stockpiling weapons.

If the mullahs, ayatollahs, despots, firebrands, zealots, nationalists and terrorists have learned nothing in the past 100 years of fighting, it is this: They have a losing formula. Poor, unstable, uneducated, ideological, fanatical religious regimes with little to no regard for human life, and a long, unflinching memory for venom, hatred and violence (but not, apparently, schooling, pragmatism, learning and prudent thought or restraint) will never win the day.

They will not win against a strong, united, prosperous and progressive Israel. And they will certainly not win against a strong, prosperous, innovative United States of America, which by the grace of its good will, and mild concern with international cry-babies, allows regimes like Iran to exist.

Don't come over here and lecture us, Mahmoud, clean up your own backyard first. Then maybe you can hang with the big boys.