RE: Stalin Ahmadinejad?

Interesting notion. This Haaretz article posits something similar, but with Bush in the role of the Poles and Sadam Hussein in the role of the Nazis.

The only thing we seem to have accomplished in the region is to empower Syria and Iran in ways not even good old Smilin' Jimmy Carter was able to do. That and irritate most of the Western World. All things being equal, I couldn't care less about the latter, but we seem determined to continue pretending that the French and Germans are actually allies. We also seem to be determined to continue pretending that the UN hasn't become a parliament of whores and still has any credibility whatsoever.

It's not like we didn't have history to warn us of danger, either. The French, British, and Russians all provided lessons in the insane complexity of dealing with Islam. It was pure ego on the part of Bush and the neocons to believe we could do any better. The only instances of successful geo-political and military interface between the West and Islam are to be found in the First Crusade and in Byzantium. The only successes to be had by the West in those examples were in cases where the commander in the field and the commander at home dropped all compunctions against brutality.

I know someone with a great deal of firsthand experience who says the only way to successfully deal with a Muslim is to first punch him in the mouth as hard as you can. At that point you will have his attention and he will know you'll hit him again if necessary. Not very civilized, that, but it makes you wonder...