Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in New York City this week, has been carrying on like a misunderstood child, suggesting that Americans have “incorrect information” about Iran’s intentions and vowing “to set the record straight.”

Well, I think that most people clearly see his regime for what it is: wishy-washy and duplicitous. I wish it a short life and rapid political obscurity. But let the Iranian people usher in that change, not a conflict that springs from the intensifying saber-rattling in Tehran and Washington, D.C.

Iranians have every reason to take to the streets. Although the revolution that swept the repressive Shah from power in the late 1970s extended an enticing carrot – the promise of a better life – and was understandably embraced, the results tell a different story. Iran’s current rulers have saddled their people with as much disrespect and heavy-handedness as the Shah ever did. And they got away with it – temporarily, at least – because of their artful manipulation of Islam and stirring up of nationalism.

Yet, they have delivered little. Indeed, Iran’s rulers could not even follow through with their commitment to inject a dose of democracy into their decrepit system a decade ago. Ahmadinejad’s own election resulted from a plainly orchestrated vote, meaning that he took office with no true legitimacy.

Worse, Iran has squandered resources on expensive nuclear research, in the process edging too close to threatening weapons technology. Further, while publicly claiming to support regional security, Tehran has meddled much in neighbors’ conflicts – especially Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s. Also, Ahmadinejad and his cohorts relentlessly spew anti-Semitism and other hatefulness.

Most Iranians understand that such behavior does not contribute to constructive relations with the outside world. Except for egging on some extremists at home and abroad, it only isolates Iran and spurs tensions. Most, too, are fed up with their limited political and economic options. Thus, the moment is right for them to stand up, just as Iranians did a generation ago, shoulder their responsibility, use their people power and end the abuse.

By so doing, they might well spare themselves and their country an external military solution to Ahmadinejad’s excesses. Not that I advocate such action, but the best time for it would have been immediately after the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq – had that undertaking gone as planned. In fact, I suspect that is precisely what would have happened; Iran was lucky that the United States got bogged down in Iraq.

Still, Iran is hardly safe. Ahmadinejad and his cronies are deluding themselves if they believe that other nations would launch only limited attacks against their country’s nuclear facilities. My bet would be on a much more ambitious approach, along the lines of the rumored Pentagon strategy for a “three-day blitz” that would strike thousands of targets and essentially eliminate Iran’s military capability.

And let us not forget Israel, which has its own plans for Iran. With or without U.S. participation, I cannot believe that Israel would allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.

That outcome need not happen, though. Again, the Iranian people have a say in all this and should not hesitate to exercise it. Every day that Ahmadinejad blathers on, they risk far more than unflattering news coverage. They have at their fingertips the means to fix the problem before it causes their nation untold misery. Will they act before time runs out?