To Hell With the Zionist RegimeMahmoud Ahmadinejad is the sixth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He began his presidency August 6, 2005 having received 62% of the vote. He holds a doctorate in civil engineering and belongs to the Islamic Society of Engineers political party.
Ahmadinejad received international attention for claims made against the validity of the Holocaust to justify the "Zionist Regime" and for refusing to end Iran's nuclear program.
In August of 2006, he wrote a letter to Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, in an attempt to gain support against Zionism. In his letter, he appealed to her female sensibilities and the accomplishments of Germany, while, acknowledging a 60 million death toll from the Holocaust; he argues the Holocaust is being used as propaganda to justify the violence experienced by the Palestinians. In an attempt to prove this, Ahmadinejad organized a research team to re-evaluate the Holocaust.
Ahmadinejad has no intention of stopping Iran's nuclear program. He supports the program as an intellectual endeavor to amass and advance in scientific knowledge.
The fourth son born to a black smith, Ahmadinejad grew up in Tehran. In 1975, he took his entrance exams placing 132nd out of 400,000. He earned an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and returned for his masters to earn a doctorate in traffic and transport engineering and planning.
In 1979, he joined the Office for Strengthening Unity (OSU) between universities and theological seminaries. He fought in the Iraq war in 1980 and, in 1986, he joined the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC).
He became a senior officer in the Special Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards. He was involved in covert activities against Iranian dissidents at home and abroad.
He was a senior commander of Qods Force of IRGC in Jerusalem. He has directed assassinations in the Middle East and in Europe. In July of 1989, he planned the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou in Vienna. He also been linked to an assassination attempt of Salman Rushdie.
He was governor of the cities Maku and Khoy in West Azarbaijan and advisor to the governor-general of Kurdestan. He served as cultural advisor to the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. From 1993 to 1997, he was governor-general of the northwestern province Ardebil.
In 1997, Ahmadinejad taught at the Elm-o Sanaat University and worked with a violent Islamic vigilante group, Ansar-i Hizbullah (Followers of the Party of God).
From 2003 to 2005, Ahmadinejad was Mayor of Tehran. While in office, he reversed many policies with a religious focus. He's turned cultural centers into prayer halls, closed fast-food restaurants and required males to wear beards and long sleeves.
The populist leader has been accused of receiving considerable and illicit help from the military in being elected and gaining the office of presidency.
In 2005, there was mass speculation in the media linking Ahmadinejad to the american hostage crisis in 1979 based on photo that resembled him. However, the leader of the hostage, Abbas Abdi, concretely stated no affliation with Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad is married and has two sons and two daughters. | 
