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Originally Posted by Skybird
Shooting Hitler when there still was time would have saved our ancestors a lot of suffering. Same could be said about so many: Mao Tse Tung, Stalin, Tamerlan, political leaders here, religious icons there... Millions and millions would have been saved from experiencing the worst of what man is capable of. Ahmadinejad does not hide his intentions,a nd speak them out loud and clearly, so why giving him the the benefit of doubt? He puts himself beyond the rules of humanitarianism and tolerant coexistence, so why allowing him to pick the freedoms and escape the duties from this? A not small, but significant amount of Iranians deliberately choose to follow him, and brought him to power. Why not holding them responsible for the choice they made? Isn't the latter a key part of democracy - that you are free to choose, but must accept to bear the responsibility for the consequences?
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But as you say, Ahmadinejad has a significant following back in Iran - and probably in other Arab countries, as well. If he was killed on American soil or even with implication of American involvement, do you suppose the discontent of his type towards the West would get better or worse? Pressing further U.S. hegemonic doctrine (which I think many in Ahmadinejad's camp would be quite happy to use as fuel for their fire) is not going to make many angry people change their minds about war with the West.
If you believe Ahmadinejad is an erratic and dangerous leader, then maybe it's better to have him in power. Plans to assassinate Hitler were ultimately scrapped because it was decided by British intelligence that it was better for the Allies to have Hitler alive and in charge - he was such a terrible strategist that if he was killed, not only would the Nazi party have more propaganda to throw at the Allies, but someone better and more competent in the affairs of war would take his place. I assume that if Ahmadinejad were assassinated, more invigorated and aggressive leadership would replace him.
I still favour dialogue to expose him for the rest of the [Arabic] world as the menace that we are confident he is. Then perhaps the Iranian public, and maybe even the Ayatollah, will rethink the direction they are headed in. If it fails, at least we can say that we tried, and that we did not repeat the same expedited mistakes as in Iraq.