Ahmadinejad serves up bitter-sweet world view

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Building atom bombs is stupid. America must ditch Israel to gain friends in the Middle East. We need love and spirituality, not failed capitalist consumerism.

The world according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not without surprises. He expounds his views with rhetorical flourishes, jabs at his foes and occasional flashes of humor.

If he lies awake at night fretting about domestic discontent at his disputed re-election in June, international pressure to alter Iran's nuclear policy, or even an Israeli military strike, the 53-year-old leader betrays no such worries in public.

Ahmadinejad, in an open-necked shirt and jacket, pre-empted, parried and sometimes answered questions at a lengthy news conference on Monday night after an Islamic summit in Istanbul.

He opened it with a homily on the evils of poverty due to capitalism and accused the West of using "so-called democracy," liberalism and humanism to mask a drive for world dominance.

Belying his often-demonized image, the Iranian leader evoked universal values, not just Islamic ones, to call for a new world order based on friendship and solidarity, saying: "Without spirituality, a human being is no different from an animal."

Ahmadinejad gave little away under questioning about nuclear policy, reiterating that this was a "closed file" -- referring to what Iran says is its right to enrich uranium for civilian use regardless of outside suspicions of its nuclear aims.

Iran plans to install 50,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium at its Natanz site and a recently disclosed facility near Qom, Ahmadinejad said, to be used in as yet unbuilt power plants.