HOW TO DEAL WITH AHMADINEJAD'S HOLOCAUST DENIAL?

In my column yesterday, I discussed how Israeli bellicosity toward Iran actually amplifies Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's insane Holocaust-denial, and suggested that the Israeli government and its supporters tone down their rhetoric. A thoughtful reader, Mark Welsh, sends in the following idea on another way to combat Ahmadinejad's historic revisionism -- through taking him up on his suggestion to re-"investigate" the Holocaust:

I ... would like to point out one very important aspect of this whole Ahmadinejad/Holocaust denial controversy. The West's refusal to take up the Iranian president's challenge, call his bluff, and agree to an investigation plays right into the hands of people like him and all other anti-Semites/revisionists.

Simply saying, as does George Stephanopoulos, or rather, inferring that the Holocaust has been studied/documented so very thoroughly so as to preclude any questions or debates on its historical veracity is, in my opinion, a serious mistake. It feeds the conspiracy theorists and their 'Protocols of Zion' mentality. The revisionists continually point out that truth should fear no inquiry. If anything, that is probably one of the only fair statements they make. They try to point out inconsistencies in witness testimony and technical and engineering issues regarding the actual exterminations, which no respected source ... ever tries to refute. The silence of contempt, regularly employed in this respect, is doing nothing to curtail the growth of the revisionist movement. And putting its protagonists in jail is even worse. Nothing is more guaranteed to foster the growth of further revisionism than the Holocaust Denial Laws. They are insane and counterproductive.

The fact that no respected source is open to the idea of debate or further investigation of this great historical tragedy is, to me, as serious blunder as is the unscientific and hysterical reaction to such an idea. Fact will always triumph over fiction and if the facts of the Holocaust must be reinforced with additional confirmation, that process should be allowed to continue. That and only that will silence and discredit the revisionists.

I'd counter that the facts of the Holocaust are constantly being studied and re-studied by historians the world over. Thousands of books and dissertations are published on the topic annually. But is there a better way to popularly disseminate this information, specifically with the goal of combating Holocaust denial?--Dana Goldstein