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Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York is sure going to be a doozey. He may have decided not to visit Ground Zero anymore, but his appearance at Columbia University, to participate in a World Leaders Forum, has many people upset.
The Daily News takes on the story on the front cover again ("Access of Evil") and has an excoriating editorial: "By extending an invitation to Ahmadinejad, the leaders of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs damaged the university's standing as a moral beacon and premier New York institution, insulted the Jewish community and spat on all those who are risking, and losing, their lives at war." The News also catalogs other instances when hateful speakers have been invited to Columbia, lumping Ahmadinejad with Minutemen Project founder Jim Gilchrist, ex-Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist Walid Shoebat, and Nazi ambassador Hans Luthe.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn criticized Columbia as well, saying, ""The idea of Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our city is offensive to all New Yorkers. He can say whatever he wants on any street corner, but should not be given center stage at one of New York's most prestigious centers of higher education." But Mayor Bloomberg said, "I think who Columbia invites is up to them and that's what academic institutions do."
Bloomberg did clarify his feelings for Ahmadinejad himself, when discussing the Iranian president's attempt to visit Ground Zero: "I find his views abhorrent, I think it would be an outrage if he were to go, and we do not expect him to go. Couldn't be more clear about it." Ahmadinejad himself seemed to play coy when asked about the controversy during a 60 Minutes interview (which will air on Sunday) with Scott Pelley.
PELLEY: Sir, what were you thinking? The World Trade Center site is the most sensitive place in the American heart, and you must have known that visiting there would be insulting to many, many Americans.Ahmadinejad had said earlier that he would try to visit Ground Zero, with or without NYPD help, but now he says he will not insist on visiting.AHMADINEJAD: Why should it be insulting?
PELLEY: But the American people, sir, believe that your country is a terrorist nation, exporting terrorism in the world. You must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans .
AHMADINEJAD: Well, I'm amazed. How can you speak for the whole of the American nation?
PELLEY: Well, the American nation--
AHMADINEJAD: You are representing a media and you're a reporter. The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there.
Columbia president Lee Bollinger spent yesterday morning speaking with students about Ahmadinejad's visit. According to The Columbia Spectator, besides the usual concerns about the Iranian leader's views and how students would be involved in the discussion, the questions also included "why there was so little advance notice, what provisions had been made for protesters, if students not able to attend the event could ask questions, and how students could weigh in on future invitations to controversial leaders." Students are planning an on-campus protest rally on Monday.
And the Bwog has the scoop on how the Iranian leader's Columbia appearance was arranged: Professor Richard Bulliet got a call from the Iranian ambassador the U.N. who asked him to "convey a request for a renewal of the invitation." Bulliet said, "There was ample time to make arrangements. Columbia responded positively."
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Gosh yes, let's protest some other country's warmonger - can't be bothered to protest our own.
I love this hairy lil guy, he really has media savvy .
quinn should shut his pie hole.
is ahmadinejad wearing a leisure jacket?
i support columbia in letting him come and speak at an academic forum.
free flow of ideas. adn i dont think by letting him come means that columbia supports any of his views at all.
besides the presdient of columbia made it clear that he would be asking him specifics on terrorism, why he didn't believe the holocaust happened, etc...
I want to visit Iran. I hear it's a great place. I hear a lot about how great the people are to guests.
I hate the post and the daily news.
It's quite a curiousity how Columbia selectively supports freedom of speech and diversity of opinion.
Gilchrist? No way!
Ahmadinejad? Come on in!
Weird.
6: Gilchrist was invited and allowed to speak, Moron. There were protesters that basically jeered him off the stage. That's not the school, but the audience participants.
Some of you people are so fucking dense.
what's insulting about a powerless president who resides over a country where every major decision is made by the highest clerics have to do with new york or september 11th. if i remember correctly almost all the hijackers were of arab descent. it's disgusting how little understanding most americans have of the muslim world.
the first sentence was a question ^^^^^
I'm proud whenever my Alma Mater proves that it still has a pair.
he's the elected leader of a nation we obviously don't fully understand. i'm thankful there are institutions independent enough to let world leaders tell their side. we've heard the jewish and american side loud and clear. now i want to hear him respond to hard questions.
The more I hear about the uproar the more I'm getting mad - AT NEW YORKERS. Sure the guy is a total whackadoo and he calls our president all sorts of stuff and calls America worse, but don't we do EXACTLY the same thing to him? Iran isn't the only place that is intolerant of other cultures. Can anyone say 'Christian Right?' and that's just to start.
I agree with hrm10 and think he should be allowed to speak at Columbia. Maybe if we all started listening to each other instead of flinging around infantile insults on the covers of our newspapers we just might stop targeting each other.
Everyone seriously needs to get over it and open their small clam shell minds for a change. Maybe the man actually has something sensible to say. If he pulls a Kruschev and bangs on the podium with his shoe, then rip him apart all you like, but give it a chance.
P.S., #3, Quinn is a woman.
Charming Man: Can't tell if you're being serious or not. You think you'd be treated well in Iran if you said you were American? Or Jewish? Give it a shot.
I would love to, I love Iranians in Iran.
MT said it all.
Don't believe everything you hear about the man, folks.
The majority of 9/11 jackers were Egyptian and Saudi--leaders from those countries come over all the time, no?
columbia is a moral beacon?
Do you think he would mind if someone blew themselves up next to him..?
Get a grip: the U.S. is attacked by Osama Bin Laden -who is hiding in the Afganistan/Pakistan region- and the US invades IRAQ instead.
Remember when tiny GRENADA wanted to elect a socialist government?. The US invaded it!.
Remember when Noriega -the leader of Panama- lost favor with the US?. He was KIDNAPPED and taken to a jail in Miami!.
Remember when the Chilean PRESIDENT elect Salvador Allende was elected along with his socialist government in Chile?. The US helped plan and back his ASSASINATION!.
Remember when the US wanted to end its war with Japan in 1945?. It used NUCLEAR WMD's to achieve it!. The ONLY country in history to use atomic weapons on civilians to date!.
Back to Panama, remember when Panama was part of Colombia but Colombia refused to cede the rights to build a canal across its istmus?. The US backed Panamanian rebels with weapons and gunboats to help it secede from Colombia and thereby make possible the Canal!.
Remember the GENOCIDE the US government carried out against its native Indian population?.
Remember how American woman were only granted the right to vote in 1920 while woman in other countries had the right to vote DECADES before that?.
Remember how the US treated (and treats) it black citizens as if they were second-class humans?.
Remember how the US denounced the Nazi concentration camps and torture centers yet now has its OWN worldwide concentration camps & torture centers ..wherein prisoners lack ANY rights or representation?.
Of course you don't!. You're Americans and have the memory-span of an 8 year old RETARD!. Just like your president.
Fortunately for the rest of the world, the US economy is about to go bust and we'll soon be rid of you forever.
yeah Bloomie and Ghouliania will trip over their skirt to bring the Crown Dictator of Saudi Arabia or Abu Childrape to the WTC but not a Persian. remember, it was Iran and Iraq that did 9/11. I know because I think I heard someone on Fox say it over and over again.
oh, #19, you were doing so well until the last two stanza where you dropped to the level of another hopeless, hateful, anti-american nihlist cliche. yawn.
a news program did a list of people who visited and toured GZ, meaning some dignitaries were with them.
A playboy playmate and martha stewart was on the list.
Let the guy visit New York at his own leisure. There's no reason to spend millions of dollars escorting him from point to point. Let him take the subway or a cab and let him fend for himself.
MOVE THE UN TO A NEUTRAL COUNTRY!
each day since 9/11 ive become more and more ashamed of my city and my country
excellent post #19
#19 you've forgotten about South Africa and ties to the U.S.
i hate both the daily news and the post
I am with ThisCharmingMan...I would visit Iran in a heartbeat. Just like the Iranian leader said about America, in Iran there are different points of view amongst the people. You can't think they all hate us and don't want us to visit their country. Be realistic people.
I have done research into visiting Iran. Getting a visa to go there is possible, though it does take a while. And, once there, the people are very hospitable and friendly. We are all brainwashed by our government and media to think Iran is a crazy place where they would drink the blood of all Americans if they could. Don't believe the media, and don't believe a single word our government tells us.
I am also with #24...more ashamed of the country than this city, but this city does disappoint at times.
zomg, 19, you're soooo right. we'd be so better off living in and supporting a country like Myanmar or North Korea or...Iran.
I'm sorry this place isn't perfect (no place and nobody is... everybody makes mistakes) but it's a heckuva' lot better than most of the alternatives...
19: Good job ending a fairly decent argument by making blanket and misinformed statements regarding the entire population of an enormous and diverse country. I'd be the first to agree that America sure has more than its share of ignorant, narrow-minded assholes all but you are doing is proving that we are not alone in that respect. And did you fail to notice that most of the Americans posting on this thread are SUPPORTING Columbia's decision? Nope, you just read the Daily News headline and looked no further, again putting yourself in the same category as the Americans you bash.
[19] You sound like another obnoxious, self riotous, pre-Madonna from another country, living and working in the U.S. even though you can't stand Americans
Pre-madonna?
Self-riotous??
I for one love Pre Madonna's stuff, borderline? damn that was a great song.
seeing what people have to say makes me so upset. people need to be better educated and think about what they're saying.
the daily news and the post can go hump a thornbush.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that #31 meant prima donna. I don't know whether to be overjoyed or horrified by that slip-up.
I can't believe what I am seeing here. Not just the bizarre collective self-flagellation but that there is not one single expression of outrage...
Do any of you people even realize that the world is watching you?
Lao
An American Expat in Southeast Asia
Hey 14,
Actually Iran has a by far the largest population of Jewish people of any Muslim country. If things were really that bad I think they might have left, don't you? How about being a little less presumptuous about who is and who is not welcome in Iran..
I don't read anything from an "expat"
I see that word and I spit on it. we're not going to your blog, you brown dummy.
Fortunately for the rest of the world, the US economy is about to go bust and we'll soon be rid of you forever.
We're taking you down with us. Who are you going to sell all of your crap to if you don't have the market of last resort? Talk about deflationary spirals.
And I knew everything on your list so my memory is just fine. But your list is irrelevent. Does is really matter who gave women the right to vote first? I don't know where you're from but it's worth pointing out that most of our customs were derived from European practices that predated the colonies so I hardly think it makes the rest of the world more righteous. Remember that most of the European countries did nothing during the prelude to the Holocaust and did nothing to help. As was put so eloquently in a fil, the French were rounding up the Jews before the Germans even asked them to.
iran doesnt like israel and vice versa
what does that have to do with 9/11 and the US....
nothing - the post and daily news obviously have an agenda
I believe the lack of outrage is because of the Holiday this evening. give it time.
They should rush the stage like they did when....
Why are there urinals hung in the back?
#19 good list I would love to hear George Bush respond to that. Oh that would be funny
Its amazing how the media echoes AIPAC's stance.
be careful there or you'll be branded an a-s.
you can't bring that up.
First of all , the news clearly manipulate people into have an opinion , their job is to report NOT to push a side of the story .
and Hey ... Bush has been in a lot of countries where people were upset with his visit , did he stop his destruction for power agenda? NO ...
You dont know NOTHING about what is really going on in politics , they smear lies after lies on your face and the majority of people just swallow and smile . All they want is people to fight for whatever controversial subjects are in the news , (gay marriage , stem cell research , Iraq war , terrorism etc..)
Nothing is ever changed , and they use people to vote for them using the leverage created by the arguments with these subjects.
Think of how much power do you have ... people even voted for aL Gore and they , surprized with the numbers , did whatever was in the agenda ... We have absolutely NO POWER and the most amazing thing is that they trick EVERYBODY into thinking you are free .
We are completely dominated by the power and we will continue to be , nothing can be done and people aren't strong enough to turn it round or to understand how their brain is being washed ... SAD !
Columbia is a private university, so they can invite who they want... as those of us that don't hate America can voice our horror at their poor judgement!
Unbelievably disgraceful.
I forget why I'm supposed to fear and hate him.
Muslims Against Sharia condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the decision of Columbia University to provide a speaking venue for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Apparently letting Akbar Rafsanjani speak at the National Cathedral was not the height of American Dhimmitude, because providing a venue for the world's foremost anti-Semite, whose proclaimed goal is the destruction of the USA and Israel, definitely takes the cake. What is surprising is that we don't hear any complaints from Columbia alumni who should be ashamed of their silence.
More on the subject: Why Does Columbia host Ahmadinejad?
we're not clicking on your link. you post that somewhere else.
#39,
Well put.
#19,
Funny, I can remember--and certainly regret and continue to protes-- all the U.S. atrocities you mentioned (and plenty more that you apparently forgot) ... but somehow Ahmadinejad can't even remember the Holocaust.
Israel = WMD
don't forget that.