Iran and world super villains

Re “Take Ahmadinejad with a grain of salt,” Current, Nov. 19

Ray Takeyh must be living in the same fantasy world that Neville Chamberlain was when he returned from Munich in 1938 and told the world that there would be “peace in our time.” At what point don’t we take a world leader’s words at face value? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Israel should be “wiped off the map.” He’s made other inflammatory statements about Israel being a “mistake” that will be corrected. And now he wants nuclear weapons and espouses a fanatical worldview that calls for establishment of the Islamist Caliphate.

But, according to Takeyh, we shouldn’t take any of this seriously. I can imagine Takeyh writing another Op-Ed after Israel has been incinerated saying that he misread the intentions of the Iranians. Let’s not give Ahmadinejad the chance to let Takeyh write that piece.

LAWRENCE ROSENSHEIN

Montclair, N.J.

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In an otherwise interesting cautionary note about Iran’s nuclear program, Takeyh makes the astonishing statement that in America’s search for the next supervillain, Josef Stalin and Mao Tse-tung cannot compare to Hitler. Tell that to the relatives -- to the extent any exist -- of the tens of millions of people these heinous leaders murdered.

Contrary to what Takeyh argues, Hitler was not the “uniquely evil politician” of the 20th century.

BENNETT RAMBERG

Los Angeles