Religious nutcase leaders, only one of which has nuclear weapons (so far)

"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."

— George W. Bush, quoted by Mahmoud Abbas

In November, the country was startled by a video showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September.

— from an article in the Telegraph about Iran's President

The Telegraph goes on to say:

All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days... His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.

Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying.

Well, yes, that is a worrying prospect. It's worth noting that one of these religious nutcases already has access to nuclear (or, as he says, "nukular") weapons.

Technorati Tags: Ahmedinajad, Bush, Iran, Nuclear weapons, Religion, US