Ahmadinejad: "Israel" likes Plane without an Engine

Source: Al-Manar TV, 23-9-2008
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday justified his policy of confronting the West by saying US troops are surrounding Iran. Interviewed by National Public Radio (NPR) about his stance, Ahmadinejad replied: "I'd like to ask you, is it the Iranian (army) that's around the territories around the country, or is it the US troops that are around?
"It is the US troops around our borders. It is not ours around the American borders. So what exactly are they doing over there?" he asked.
He also asserted, in an interview with The Times, that "Israel" was doomed like "an airplane that has lost its engine" and that Western intelligence documents questioning the peaceful purpose of Iran's nuclear program were crude forgeries.
Ahmadinejad was interviewed in a midtown Manhattan hotel suite heavily guarded by agents of the Department of Homeland. Several blocks away, across from the UN headquarters, demonstrators gathered to protest his threats toward "Israel" and Iran's human rights record.
The rally, organized by several North American Jewish organizations, was attended by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, Natan Sharnasky, and Elie Wiesel, among others. But Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin didn't attend it.
'WALL STREET TURMOIL IS BECAUSE OF US MILITARY ENGAGEMENT'
Ahmadinejad declared that the turmoil on Wall Street was rooted in part in US military intervention abroad and voiced hope that the next American administration would retreat from what he called President Bush's "logic of force."
"Problems do not arise suddenly," he said. "The U.S. government has made a series of mistakes in the past few decades. First, the imposition on the U.S. economy of heavy military engagement and involvement around the world . . . the war in Iraq, for example. . . . These are heavy costs.
"The world economy can no longer tolerate the budgetary deficit and the financial pressures occurring from markets here in the United States, and by the U.S. government," he added.
Ahmadinejad, who is expected to address the UN General Assembly's annual session on Tuesday, told the daily that he would present the proposal to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with whom he met later Monday.
'IAEA MUST ACT INDEPENDENTLY'
The UN atomic watchdog began its traditional September board meeting in Vienna on Monday to discuss the current stalemate in its long-running investigation into Iran's atomic drive.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has said Tehran stalled the investigation, refusing to provide access to documentation, individuals or sites which could reveal the true nature of its activities.
In the interview, Ahmadinejad said the agency was pressing its inquiry under pressure from the US. "All the documentation was forged," he told the LA Times. "In fact, it was so funny and superficial and not in depth that a school kid could laugh at it." The IAEA must act independently," he said.
Foreign ministers of a six-nation group monitoring Iran's nuclear program, which also includes Britain, France and Germany, are to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly debate.