I Read the News Today.....

This morning I read an article by Patrick Goodenough for the Cybercast News Service. He wrote that during a Monday morning news conference in Beirut, the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said that Iran was “a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region."

Anybody who's given the smallest amount of interest about the turmoil in the Middle East knows that Iran has been playing a big role in supporting Lebanon's attacks against Israel. It's so blatant that CNN has had to report it; much to their chagrin I'm sure.

How can a nation as unstable as

Iran play a stabilizing role?

Let’s look at the facts and see if we can find out whether or not there is any reason to accept the French foreign minister’s statement.

• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called repeatedly for Israel's annihilation.
• Iran also is at odds with the international community over its nuclear programs.
• Hizballah's representative in Iran, Abol-Hassan Zo'aiter, told a gathering in Tehran that his organization would put into effect the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's call for the "cancerous tumor" (Israel) to be eliminated.

Maybe the minister means that Iran is stable in that it wants Israel wiped off the face of the earth. I think he's nuts. He should stop reading fiction and start listening to Fox News.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli officials were bewildered by Douste-Blazy's remarks about Iran, and quoted one diplomatic source in Jerusalem as asking "what planet is he on?"

I’m wondering the same thing.