NBC News anchorman got his reward yesterday for comparing the Iranian hostage-takers to the Founders last year and elite American forces to suicide bombers last month: an exclusive interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a Midtown Manhatton hotel.

Here are the interesting exchanges as reported by Williams:-

Brian Williams: How do you think the discussion has been allowed to get that far, that we’re discussing possible war between the U.S. and Iran?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I think we need to ask this question from American, U.S., politicians. The world has changed. The time for world empires has ended. The U.S. government thinks that it’s still the period after World War II, when they came out as a victor and enjoyed special rights. And can rule, therefore, over the rest of the world. I explicitly say that I am against the policies chosen by the U.S. government to run the world. Because these policies are moving the world towards war.

Brian Williams: What was your reaction to the pope’s speech? And do you accept his apology?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I think that the people who give political advice to the pope were not well informed.

Brian Williams: Do you accept his words of apology?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I think that he actually takes back his statement, and there is no problem. He should be careful that those who want war do not take advantage of his statements and use it for their own causes. People in important positions should be careful about what they say. What he said may give an excuse to another group to start a war.

Brian Williams: The president of the United States, speaking to the United Nations today, said to the people of Iran he looks forward to the day when America and Iran can be good friends. And close partners, in the cause of peace. How do you react to the statement of the American president today?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: We have the same desire, to be together, for the cause of world peace. But we have to see what the impediments are. Is it Iranian forces that have occupied countries neighboring the United States, or is it American forces that are occupying countries neighboring Iran? If Mr. Bush is saying that he can create the distance between the Iranian nation and the Iranian government, he is wrong.

Brian Williams: If I was President Bush, sitting here across from you, what would you say to him? President to President, but more important, man to man?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I think that the situation would have been better here, if you were Mr. Bush. I sent him a letter.

Brian Williams: I’m aware of it.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: I raised some very serious issues. I really expressed my thoughts and beliefs. You know that I am teacher. I am interested in talks and in dialogue. I like to understand the truth. Facts. And in that letter, I raised very important subject. I invited him to peace, brotherhood and friendship. But we did not receive an answer.

Brian Williams: And the American president says, “It’s OK, keep your nuclear program to keep your homes warm. Stop enriching uranium toward weapons.” How do you react?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Who is the judge for that? Any entity except for the IAEA? Reports indicate that Iran has had no deviation. We have said on numerous occasions that our activities are for peaceful purposes. The agency’s cameras videotape all the activities that we have. Did Iran build the atomic bomb and use it? You must know that, because of our beliefs and our religion, we’re against such acts. We are against the atomic bomb. We believe bombs—are used only to kill people.

Brian Williams: Why keep them in your arsenal if you don’t someday hope to tip them with a nuclear weapon?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: So are you thinking of the possibility of a danger? Is that what you’re speaking of?

Brian Williams: I’m asking about your arsenal.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Yes, we are powerful and strong in defending ourselves.

Brian Williams: There is something you said that upset and scared a lot of people. It upset a lot of Jews in the United States and around the world when you called the Holocaust a myth. There are people, some people I know, who escaped Hitler’s reign. There is research. There are scholars who teach you about it. And yet, you’ve expressed doubt about the holocaust, why?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: In the Second World War, over 60 million people lost their lives. They were all human beings. Why is it that only a select group of those who were killed have become so prominent and important?

Brian Williams: Because of the difference humankind draws between warfare and genocide.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Do you think that the 60 million who lost their lives were all at the result of warfare alone? There were 2 million that were part of the military at the time—perhaps altogether 58 million civilians with no roles in the war—Christians, Muslims, they were all killed. If this event happened, and if it is a historical event, then we should allow everyone to research it and study it. The more research and studies are done, the more we can become aware of the realities that happened. Historical events are always subject to revisions, and reviews and studies.

Brian Williams: Is that a change in your position that Israel should be wiped away? And second, would you ever be willing to sit down with Jews, with scholars, with survivors of Hitler’s camps where 6 million died? Our American film director, Steven Spielberg, is one of many collecting the stories of those still alive, who will tell you of the dead, and the program to kill the Jews in Germany and elsewhere.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: The main question is, if this happened in Europe, what is the fault of the Palestinian people? This is a problem we have today, the root cause of many of our problems, not what happened 60 years ago. The Palestinian people, their lives are being destroyed today under the pretext of the Holocaust. Their lands have been occupied, usurped. What is their fault? What are they to be blamed for? Are they not human beings? Do they have no rights? What role did they play in the Holocaust?

(End of report)

This was far from the most opaque television interview with a foreign pol.  Nejad is intellectually disciplined and economical in his use of words here (unlike that letter he sent Bush).

It is quite possible to read an admission on the nuclear issue into Nejad’s words.  It depends, really, where in the argument you rank his statement that Iran is “against the atomic bomb”.  Before he gets to that he says, “our activities are for peaceful purposes”.  That would indicate that, far from an interest solely in the civilian aspects of nuclear development, the Iranian government is building a bomb ... but for defensive (ie, peaceful) purposes.  Nejad doesn’t want to be clear about it anyway ...

Very simple question: “I’m asking about your arsenal.”

Very detached answer: “Yes,  we are powerful and strong in defending ourselves.”

... Obfuscation and the creation of doubt is part and parcel of the nuclear game.  No nuclear-armed state eschews first use, for instance.  But it goes without saying that everyone is “against the atomic bomb”.

Elsewhere, he doesn’t prolongue the furore over the pope’s little faux-pas, which is admirable.  Williams obviously didn’t want to press him on the identity of “those who want war”.  I am a little surprised that Nejad didn’t use the opportunity to inform Republican America about that.

When Williams did venture on the subject of “another group” it said more about him and the media focus than about Iran’s President.  Williams works hard to transit from the latter’s famous statement that “the Holocaust is a myth” to the equally undiplomatic “Israel should be wiped away”.  He gives us the 6-million thing and even genuflects to America’s most famous and richest Holoschlock director.  The needle on Nejad’s mythification meter must have been spinning like a top.  But he isn’t provoked.  He has a much bigger figure of his own to quote, and comes back with a damn good question: “Why is it that only a select group of those who were killed have become so prominent and important?”

Answers on a postcard, please, to NBC News.