Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in his own contradictory words

Iran's president knows how to deliver a headline-grabber.

But like a lot of politicians, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also tends to contradict himself (sometimes within the same speech), often leaving the audience to decide for themselves where he stands on an issue.

Addressing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation meeting at the UN headquarters in New York City this week, President Ahmadinejad said nuclear weapons are “a fire against humanity.” But is Iran building the capability to make one of those fires? That's what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it can't rule out without full cooperation from Iran.

Iran has a history of making "confusing, contradictory, and inaccurate statements,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself told reporters Monday.

At an October 26, 2005, conference in Tehran entitled "The World without Zionism," he offered remarks that both denied and supported the reality of the Holocaust.

On the one hand he said governments in the West “have invented a myth that Jews were massacred.” He then said that, regarding the extermination of 6 million Jews during World War II, “it seems [Europeans] are right in their claim because they insist on it and arrest and imprison those who oppose it.”

Here are six more issues that the leader of Iran has contradicted himself on.

On weapons:

• “The nuclear bomb is a fire against humanity, rather than a weapon of defense. The possession of nuclear bombs is not a source of pride. Its possession is disgusting and shameful.” – Monday at the NPT Review Conference

• “Iran can recruit hundreds of suicide bombers a day. Suicide is an invincible weapon. Suicide bombers in this land showed us the way, and they enlighten our future.” – April 1, 2007

On attacking others:

• NPT members should consider "any threat to use nuclear weapons or attack against peaceful nuclear facilities as a breach of international peace and security." – Monday at the NPT Review Conference

• “As soon as the new [Iran] government is established, with power and authority, ten times more than before, it will enter the global scene and will bring down the global arrogance. … we will not allow the arrogant [powers[ to even have one night of good sleep." – July 16, 2009, addressing a crowd in the northeastern city of Mashhad

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