Iranian President Ahmadinejad WAS One of the American Embassy Hostage Takers In 1978

The Russian website Kommersant has posted an "archive photo" it says shows the current Iranian President Ahmadinejad standing inside the American Embassy in 1978 when the American embassy workers were taken hostage by Iranian radicals. The caption that accompanies this photo reads (translation from the Russian):

In the young person with the automatic (rifle) standing against the wall of the embassy of the USA in Teheran the former hostages have identified the present President of Iran Ahmadinejad.

They also post the second photo (on the right) which is a more recent image of the President of Iran.

It's impossible to not conclude that these photos are of the same person. The vague-ness of the photo's provenance ("archive photo" doesn't cut it with me) raises the possibility of a PhotoShop fake. The face also does not look like someone nearly 30 years younger than he would look today--they look TOO much alike.

Even so, if authentic, the photo shows that this man is a man who has been literally at war with the United States for many, many years. He is now a man who controls a great deal more fire-power than an AK-47 or whatever else that rifle in the photo might be. He is clearly a man who has no respect for the United States, its government or its people. He is a man driven by ideology who sees the world very differently than those of us he strives to suppress. His vision of the world has been clearly and articulately spelled out in chilling detail. It is a world without Israel. It is a world under submission to Islam (the Iranian Shi'ite version, of course). And it is a world where Iran reigns among the elite with both influence and power.

He is already shedding blood in in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. He hopes to shed much, much more in the days to come. He will not rest or be satisfied until the Middle East lies under his feet. He is a fanatic. He is dangerous. He is evil.

We now hear that Tony Blair (and possibly President Bush) wants to talk to him about peace and, if possible, cut a deal with him?

I believe that this man-with-a-rifle has us right where he wants us.

Tonight he will be laughing himself to sleep and, if his dreams come true, they will become our worst nightmares.

ht:Powerline