Some real questions for Ahmadinejad...

Mona Charen has some questions for Ahmadinejad that the press should have asked.

1. On Sept. 5 of this year, you called for a purge of liberal and secular teachers from Iran's universities. How is the campaign to impose religiously acceptable teachers going?

2. In your speech to the United Nations, you mentioned that "some" countries, "relying on their superior military and economic might," were performing a great disservice to the cause of peace. You added that "even the interests of citizens of powerful countries will be jeopardized -- as was seen in the recent crises and even the natural disaster such as the recent tragic hurricane." Was God punishing the United States by sending Katrina to the Gulf?

3. You seemed to imply that U.S. intelligence and security services must have had a hand in the September 11 attacks. What do you think happened that day?

4. Human Rights Watch has described your cabinet as "Ministers of Murder." Interior Minister Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi, for example, was reportedly responsible for the extra-judicial killings of opposition figures, political activists and intellectuals. Gholamhussein Mohseni Ezhei, the minister of information, was said to be responsible (in his last post) for prosecutions of reform-minded clerics. He also cracked down on the press, closing at least 100 newspapers in the past six years. He has been implicated in the kidnapping and murder of Pirouz Davani, a critic of the Islamic regime. How do you square this with your claim that you represent a "perfect democracy"?

5. In your speech to the General Assembly, you declared that "in accordance with our religious principles, pursuit of nuclear weapons is prohibited." Yet just one sentence earlier, you threatened that if the "hegemonic powers" attempt to "impose their will on the Iranian people through resort to a language of force and threat with Iran, we will reconsider our entire approach to the nuclear issue." Can you reconcile this flat contradiction?

6. You have dedicated yourself to reviving the spirit of the Islamic Revolution. When Ayatollah Khomeini took power, he reduced the marriageable age for girls from 18, as it had been under the shah, to 9. It was later raised to 13. What age do you consider proper for marriage?