A few devil's advocate thoughts from a political science guy here
- Ahmadinejad is actually very unique leader of Iran. He's an academic with a master in Engineering (although I imagine there would be less beer involved in the Engg program in Tehran 
). Most of his actions and speeches are heavily edited by the Ayatollah, so to even be in his position, he has to be by default a hardliner. I can’t remember the source, but he studied with Soviet policy people in his early days. His model is similar to the traditional USSR model (Brezhnev) with fiery speeches and threats with the thought that the US (mainly) won’t act. However, he doesn’t have the actually ability to carry out those threats. He just pushes the envelope but one day, the West will have enough and push back.
- I remembered reading a report that I haven't been able to find again that showed that it was through the Pakistan border, that the majority of weapons and explosives are brought in from and used against Western Forces in Afghanistan. This is contrary to what is mostly being reported.
- Iran armed forces have been involved in poppy eradication activities on its borders with Afghanistan, and has been cooperating with Western Allies on this front
- Iran’s biggest supporter is China due to Chinese interest in Iran’s Oil reserves. The Chinese have been quietly providing Iran with military expertise, intelligence, and more importantly, political veto power
- With N.Korea having the bomb, and the subsequent backing off by the West Militarily, Iran maybe hoping for the same bargaining power. Granted, if they were close, Israel has a precedent of pre-empt attack
- Most Middle Eastern countries don’t want the bomb not to destroy Israel, but as a counter to Israeli (and by de facto the US) <IMO>. With MAD, country like Iran knows that it’ll literally be wiped out if it ever tried. Israel was able to beat 3-4 (I forget) countries simultaneously in the 50s (barely, but they did), but now with a modern air force and armour corp., Middle Eastern countries feel the need to balance the scale.
- It’s amusing from an outside perspective in that the US first created the conditions in Iran by installing an unpopular Shah into power via coup. After the revolution in Iran, the US went to Iraq, and trained and equipped them to fight the Iranians. Soon, power got to Saddam’s head, and he had to be taken down. Now with the mess over in Iraq, Iran has the ability to sympathize with the Sunni population it couldn’t under Saddam. However, it stops being amusing when you think of all the people who died in this tug of war between these 2 countries.
- I believe if the US were really to attack Iran, it may be more of an air war a la Bosnia conflict due to current troop levels. Pre-empt strikes on their nuclear capabilities, Iranian National guard units, and government structures would be the plan, and then they hope that brings the Iranians to the table (or creates an internal government change). I’m not convinced yet (unless a sudden multinational support for providing additional forces) that they can put “boots on the ground”
- Lastly, just a really interesting article. The speech that got everyone mad at Iran was about how Israel should be wiped off the map.
“I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world."
However, when the speech is read in the context (remember it was translated into English) he never demands the elimination or annihilation of Israel. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) analyzed the speech, and came out that the meaning was
"I have no doubt that the new movement taking place in our dear Palestine is a spiritual movement which is spanning the entire Islamic world and which will soon remove this stain of disgrace from the Islamic world"
From that article, he may be apparently referring to the dispairing way of life for the people of Palestine. The article can be found here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse....ticle12790.htm
Granted, this site usually has its articles taken from a left spin, so take everything with a grain of thought.
Anyways, sorry for the long post. It’s been awhile I’ve been able to talk Politics.