Houses urges charges against Ahmadinejad

By · June 20, 2007

The U.S. House of Representatives urged the U.N. Security Council to charge Iran’s president under genocide conventions. The non-binding resolution, initiated by Reps. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), passed Wednesday by 411-2. It cites an Oct. 27 speech in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad allegedly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” in its call for the Security Council to charge him under its 1948 convention for the prevention of genocide. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) attempted to have read into the record alternate translations of Ahmadinejad’s remarks that suggest the Iranian leader was calling Israel to come to an end through democratic means, and not through violence. “I am unequivocal in my support for the security and survival of Israel, and I do have serious concerns with the remarks made by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran,” said Kucinich, a long-shot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. “But I object to resolutions that lay the groundwork for an offensive, unprovoked war.” One of the alternate translations was by the Middle East Media Research Institute.Kucinich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a long-shot contender for the Republican presidential nomination, were the only votes against.