Ahmadinejad at Columbia University: We don’t have Gays like you Do.
[Guest post by DRJ]
As I began writing this, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad was speaking at New York’s Columbia University. One soundbyte tonight will be the strong words from Columbia’s President Bollinger calling Ahmadinejad a petty tyrant and cruel dictator and questioning Iran’s treatment of women and gays. In his initial response, Ahmadinejad said that it’s not nice to invite someone to speak and attack them before they’ve even begun. Both received applause.
The other soundbyte will be Ahmadinejad’s claim, in response to the fourth question of the Q&A, that Iran doesn’t have gays like we do in the US. Fortunately the audience did not seem fooled by his response.
Ahmadinejad’s speech was rambling and disjointed and I’ll leave it to others to summarize. Here is my summary of the question and answer portion:
The first question asked if Ahmadinejad recognized the right of Israel to exist and of the Jewish people to exist. The answer began “We love all nations” but, even after a follow-up question, Ahmadinejad refused to answer with a yes or no. Ahmadinejad’s answer primarily involved the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and he instead posed a question to President Bollinger regarding whether the Palestinian question was important. Bollinger answered simply, “Yes” but Ahmadinejad still failed to answer the Jewish question directly.
The second question concerned Iran’s support of terrorism and terrorists. Ahmadinejad gave a lengthy answer that claimed Iran is a victim of terrorism from unnamed groups supported by the US. He denied Iran supported terrorists and said Iran was the first nation to decry terrorism.
The third question involved the Holocaust. Ahmadinejad repeatedly focused on his profession as an academic and his desire to study history. He claims his inquiries into the Holocaust are in furtherance of historical accuracy. Bollinger challenged Ahmadinejad to agree that the fact of the Holocaust was not in dispute. Ahmadinejad said he was not saying the Holocaust did not happen but he continued to call for research, saying “Nothing known is absolute.”
The fourth question concerned Iranian treatment of women and homosexuals. As to women, Ahmadinejad said Iranian women are free and hold high positions in government and society, and other governments have lied about Iranian women to hurt the Iranian government. Iran has a high turnout in voting, including women, which shows they are free. As for gays, Ahmadinejad responded by posing “two questions” regarding illicit drug trafficking – presumably implying that people were not punished for being gay but for illegal actions. (He used this technique frequently during his speech, where he would ask a question in response to a question rather than providing a response.) Ahmadinejad pointed out that the US also has capital punishment for drug traffickers and other criminals.
When pressed by Bollinger to answer about gays and women, not drug traffickers and criminals, Ahmadinejad said, “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.” The audience “enjoyed” a big, disbelieving laugh at that statement, followed by boos. He continued, “In Iran, we do not have that phenomenon and I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”
[PATTERICO ADDS: Well, sure — they don’t have gays in Iran, because they kill them there. By the way, here’s the video of this incredible statement:
Nice.]
The fifth question asked what Ahmadinejad hoped to accomplish by speaking at Columbia, and what would he have said if he could have spoken at Ground Zero. Ahmadinejad responded that he should be given respect for coming, and all he wanted to do was show his respect. He claimed it was “pessimistic,” “selfish” and “self-absorbed” to manage world affairs like this and refuse to let him show his respects at Ground Zero.
Ahmadinejad also wanted to talk to the press at Ground Zero because 9/11 caused insecurity, terrorism and fear in his region following the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. He wanted to use 9/11 to explore the root causes that led to it and to resolve Afghanistan and Iraq.
The sixth question asked why Iran wants enriched uranium. Ahmadinejad responded that the nuclear program is legal and “completely peaceful.” He asked how America, “in the fifth generation” of nuclear power, could question Iran’s right to the peaceful use of that power. He told a “joke” about nuclear weapons: The politicians who want nuclear weapons are “retarded.”
Last, the seventh question asked if Iran was willing to negotiate with the US and Ahmadinejad answered that it was. Iran has always been willing to talk with any nation except South Africa (when it was an apartheid nation) and the Zionist nation of Israel. Ahmadinejad said that talk will avoid conflict.
— DRJ
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Here is the end of his speech. Listen to the applause. Watch the dean walk over and shake his hand. Shake your head in amazement.
DRJ;
Per your comment on previous related thread, do you think sunshine is the best disinfectant, or would you rather he not be given the podium?
Semanticleo (4741c2) — 9/24/2007 @ 11:55 amSemanticleo,
At the risk of sounding like Ahmadinejad, I agree with both. But I’ll stick to my original answer (that you phrased so well:) Sunshine is the best disinfectant, even though it can sometimes be painful.
DRJ (ec59b5) — 9/24/2007 @ 12:01 pmSomeone correct me, please, but I was under the impression that in Arab cultures, and I don’t know if this applies to Persian culture too, there is a fair amount of what we might call gay sex going on, but not a whole lot of what you would call homosexuality. It’s one thing to have sex with men and boys and something else to be a self-identified homosexual.
Fritz (d62210) — 9/24/2007 @ 12:11 pmFritz –
Your point may be technically valid, but it’s a distinction without a difference to the two guys who were hung for homosexuality in Iran recently.
Lokki (36a42f) — 9/24/2007 @ 12:30 pmLokki,
Remind me never to try and defend Ahmadinejad again.
Fritz (d62210) — 9/24/2007 @ 12:31 pm“Two guys who were hung for homosexuality.”
Impressive, were they?
steve (a7a337) — 9/24/2007 @ 12:43 pmI wrote a short take on this speech, a day which will go down in Columbia infamy.
Ahmadinejad was playing to a friendly audience and it took the incredible bungling of the gay issue to offend them. He could have easily dodged it. He’s a dumbass, he just wasn’t the biggest dumbass in the room.
Glen Wishard (b1987d) — 9/24/2007 @ 12:58 pmAhmadi Nejad, fuck off!
zartkoohi (4094c1) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:01 pmZartkoohi, 55 baghkishmish IRAN
Hmmm… who would’ve thought that the call to “wipe Israel off the map” was over-top-political posturing, an appeal to an extremist base, and that Ahmadinejad’s actual views on the subject are nowhere near clear after all?
Oh, wait. Anyone who knows anything about politics.
Leviticus (3c2c59) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:06 pm“Don’t ask, don’t tell?”
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:09 pmLevi – Right. Which position do you think he actually holds. Wipe Israel off the map, or that rambling incoherent non-answer he gave today?
JD (c3bb88) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:17 pmReference the applause that the Columbia children/students gave Ahmadinejad. I would liken it to the actions of high schoolers voting for homecoming Queen/princess and putting down the name of an unfortunate homely girl’s name. I’t their way of trying to get attention and showing their contempt for the system. Most of them will grow out of this phase. Most.
Tregg Wright (b1a8bb) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:33 pmHis answer about gays is technically accurate. He did not say there were no gays in Iran. He said there were no gays in Iran like there were gays here in the US. Which is of course true. Homosexuality in Iran is criminal, period. Homosexuality here is criminal only if it involves an adult and a minor. The gays hide there, the gays here don’t.
His answer to question 7 gives a pretty good answer to question 1. If talking avoids conflict, and he doesn’t want to talk to Israel, that implies he wants conflict with Israel.
And when he said “Nothing known is absolute,” someone should have asked him if that included the Koran.
kishnevi (1a726d) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:54 pm“In Iran, we do not have that phenomenon and I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”
Why Paul Bowles, of course.
There’s a wonderful line in Crag Lucas’ sadly little-known The Dying Gaul delivered by a sinister bisexual studio executive (Campbell Scott) as he seduces a naive gay screenwriter (Peter Sarsgaard) : “You can do anything you want — so long as you don’t give it a name.”
Meanwhile, my boyfriend Bill thinks Ahmadinejad is hot.
David Ehrenstein (b35c9c) — 9/24/2007 @ 1:54 pmkishnevi – Interesting, I had not considered that.
Fritz – Don’t worry, he will have plenty of people defending him.
Your post reminded me of a joke I once heard. I do not recall the body of the joke, but it ended with a QB saying “Throw one TD pass and nobody calls me a TD pass thrower for the rest of my life, but suck one sock, and I am a cock sucker for life ?!
JD (c3bb88) — 9/24/2007 @ 2:05 pmkish,
I think he was comparing Israel now to South Africa during apartheid.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 2:16 pmI think these protests and anger manifest an open society and are properly lauded.
I’m not convinced everything that happened today merits the same praise. His whole trip is aimed at the audience back home, where the economy – and his popularity – are in long, steep decline. Nothing energizes them more than the sight of their leader being excoriated by the hated Americans. He’s obviously staging a transparently political stunt and, less obviously, intends to benefit from this sort of demonization.
Never hurts to wait till he opens his mouth before brickbats from the host fly. He did dodge all direct questions and deserved a contemptuous Bronx Cheer.
steve (a7a337) — 9/24/2007 @ 2:18 pmI would never allow a dangerous animal into my home, regardless of the circumstances.
Sue (be3915) — 9/24/2007 @ 2:31 pmMy dad grew up in Germany during the Hitler years. He left Germany at age 17 by which time he was a firm believer in Nazi-ism. He did not come out of it until about the mid-point of the war when he was transferred as a POW to Canada.
He now watches old movies of Hitler’s speeches with embarrassment and horror. “How could I have ever been fooled by that visible nut, that obvious idiot?”
He thinks that exposing some people to the Hitlers, the Ahmadinejads, has serious risks in the short term, but that long term, sunshine is indeed the best policy. I agree from knowing him and many others from the German side of our family, in Germany and speaking in German.
The willing suspension of disbelief often ends suddenly as a certain she-cow recently mentioned in a completely different context. It often ends for the silliest reasons, in my dad’s case because the RCMP gave him on arrival the biggest pot of wienies and beans he ever saw. Canada was not a poor and half starved nation, and Hitler lied about that. Israel is not worthy of destruction and Ahamanutjob lies about that.
Let him rant and blither, his idiocy becomes daily more obvious.
BlacquesJacquesShellacques (93278f) — 9/24/2007 @ 2:52 pmAre you advocating treating POWs well, BJS?
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 2:55 pmAlphie,
paul from fl (7da085) — 9/24/2007 @ 3:17 pmbefore you rant on about GTMO, I remind you that POWs are those captured members of a soveriegn nations uniformed Military force.
Not whack-job martyrs using the Name of G-d to justify their blood lust.
paul,
I don’t think a big pot of pork and beans would win over our current crop of POWs anyway.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 3:22 pmTrust Alphie to hijack another thread.
SPQR (6c18fd) — 9/24/2007 @ 3:24 pmI’m not the one who brought up the treatment of prisoners, Senatus Populusque Romanus.
I thought the most interesting thing said during Ahmadinejadalooza was on 60 Minutes last night.
He did not seem to be aware that Bush can’t run for President again, which would call into question the theory that he’s just trying to run out the clock.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 3:32 pmNeed I remind all the adults that ignoring the trolls is the best way to be rid of them? They want attention; denying them attention is like cutting off their oxygen.
Just ignore them. They go away when their egos aren’t stroked by attention.
steve miller (0fb51f) — 9/24/2007 @ 3:55 pm“Just ignore them.”
Don’t forget the Trollops. (local idiotarian dittoheads like JD)
Semanticleo (4741c2) — 9/24/2007 @ 3:59 pmSteve:
Ahmadinejad wasn’t trying to rile up the crowd against him and thereby improve his popularity at home. Know how I know? Because he wasn’t repeating his wipe-Israel-off-the-map rhetoric and repeatedly dodged questions. If he really wanted to rile up the crowd, he would’ve openly expressed the beliefs we know he has.
The only thing the Left likes about him–the reason why Columbia invited him–is that Ahmadinejad is an anti-American terrorist, a man who’s responsible for the deaths of who-knows-how-many of our troops. Other than that, there’s nothing the Left likes about him. The Left hates Israel, but it doesn’t want Israel nuked.
Alan (f1706f) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:04 pmHmm, how did that heroic Red Army treat captured POWs? Not only Germans, but they’re own? Gee, let me think.
Or how did these heroes treat just about any female under the age of about 6 in Europe during the war?
Hmm.
SMG
SteveMG (369f95) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:06 pmKnow what? I bet there aren’t two people who read this site who give a shit what you think. One, ya, maybe. You.
Just Passing Through (ff997a) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:07 pmOr there’s another simple explanation, Alan:
Ahmadinejad’s actual views get “lost in translation.”
But that would presume somebody would benefit from distorting his words…
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:10 pmAlphie, you are way out of date.
kishnevi (2b4909) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:11 pmThis is what SPQR means nowadays
Alan, don’t bet the Left doesn’t want Israel nuked.
If they don’t, it’s for one of two reasons:
some of them have enough sense to realize that if Israel gets nuked, the “Palestinian homeland” becomes one big Chernobyl.
it would rob of them of the pleasure of saying the US is the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons in war.
And of course, it would render their appeasement of Iran obviously invalid.
kishnevi (2b4909) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:17 pmAfter all, Bush has declared his intent to wipe Iran out how many times, Leviticus?
Pablo (99243e) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:54 pmalpo,
Oh, that’s fucking rich. Thanks for the giggle.
Pablo (99243e) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:55 pmI have updated the post with a couple of videos.
Patterico (2a8eaa) — 9/24/2007 @ 4:59 pmKishnevi ##13, 32:
Excellent comments. I especially wish someone could/would ask Ahmadinejad your Koran question.
DRJ (ec59b5) — 9/24/2007 @ 5:01 pmThanks for the video links, Patterico. Seeing it is far more effective.
DRJ (ec59b5) — 9/24/2007 @ 5:03 pmIf finding myself in agreement with the likes of Patterico, DRJ, nk, MD, Ric, Scott etal. is wrong, then I never want to be right. lol
Seriously, Miss Cleo. Is your PRE Traumatic Stress Disorder acting up again?
JD (c3bb88) — 9/24/2007 @ 5:22 pmAhmadinejad went to war against America in 1979 when he led the takeover of our embassy in Teheran and has been at war with us since. His “we don’t have gays like you”, in my judgment, means a totally different thing to him than we take it to mean. To him it means, “If I had your power, nobody would take my people hostages”; “I would behead any sailors and marines of mine who surrendered without a fight [as some British recently did]”; “I would never invite my sworn enemy to speak at a university”; “please go on being concerned with the way I treat homosexuals and not with the way I’m shipping IEDs to Iraq to kill your soldiers”. And so on and so forth. I doubt that he felt anything other than contempt for us in this affair.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 5:35 pmKudos. Well said, nk. Mind if I quote you?
JD (c3bb88) — 9/24/2007 @ 5:49 pmMind if I quote you?
Please do. I might steal your comment for the testimonials on my sidebar, as well.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 6:11 pmFree speech doesn’t mean everyone gets to speak everywhere. No one is in doubt about A-jad’s beliefs and opinions because he openly expresses his views every day through this newfangled notion called TV. This event also was not a debate; it was a carefully staged press conference for Al Jazeera. The round of student applause will ring out for days on their newscasts.
Thus it had no educational value and no bearing on the issue of free speech at all. Bollinger is an impotent fool.
Patricia (4117a9) — 9/24/2007 @ 6:17 pmFree speech does not require than one provide a forum. Columbia is not supporting free speech. They are providing an audience. This is not a subtle difference.
Just Passing Through (ff997a) — 9/24/2007 @ 6:25 pmAmen, JPT.
Patricia (4117a9) — 9/24/2007 @ 6:49 pmIf the shah weeq alive how much money would that murderer be making on the lecture circuit? Ferdinand Marcos? Thieu? How long is this list?
blah (c78c78) — 9/24/2007 @ 6:57 pm‘Shake your heads in amazement’indeed.
You didn’t want ahmadinejad even to face questions. And still you feel no sense of responsibility for the destruction of a country.
Regarding the actual reaction of Columbia students…
Read the update
kishnevi (2b4909) — 9/24/2007 @ 6:59 pmI am approaching it from another direction, blah. I see us talking to Ahmadinejad like my white blood cells talking to a bacterium. It only benefits the bacterium and it could very likely be very bad for my body.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:03 pmKishnevi, your link is encouraging. I hope that reaction was widespread.
DRJ (ec59b5) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:03 pmhttp://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2007/09/alterman-iraq-r.html
Here’s a link for you mr frey. But I know, your hands are clean.
blah (c78c78) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:04 pmWow, nk,
If we’ve been at war with Iran since 1979, that means St. Ronnie and his merry band of Iran-Contra pranksters committed treason when they sold Iran weapons in the 80s, right?
And it also means Halliburton is committing treason right now by helping Iran devlop its oil fields.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:11 pmNow, now, Alphie. Did I say that we have been at war with Iran or that Ahmadinehad has been at war with America? Is VOR your sockpuppet or are you his? Or are you both Glenn Greenwald’s?
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:23 pmSo you’re saying David Petraeus is making a mistake by befriending terrorist groups in Iraq that were attacking our troops as recently as January, nk?
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:38 pmIs General Petraeus befriending terrorist groups, Alphie? Please name one.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:41 pmPablo bush has declared that he is willing to bomb Iran at any moment. That is usg policy.
blah (c78c78) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:50 pmNk the army is supporting former insurgents. That’s the armya terminology.you figure it out.
As usual the ignorance/arrogance ratio here is obscene.
Alphie, Halliburton’s contracts in Iran have ended. Your talking points are stale again.
SPQR (6c18fd) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:53 pmnk,
Check out our new best friends forever, The 1920 Revolution Brigade.
SPQR, the Halliburton contracts continue in Iran…they just renamed the subsidiary.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:58 pmNk the army is supporting former insurgents. That’s the armya terminology.you figure it out.
Well, you could be right. Making peace with, and even allies out of, former enemies is really the disgutingest thing ChimpHalliburton-Bushhitler-Generalbetrayus could do. How dam’ stupid of me not to see it. And all those former criminals like Adams and Monroe who made peace with England after we’d been in not one but two shooting wars with them. And Germany and Japan who should be two nuclear glass plains. You’re right, I’m wrong. I’m selling all my property, giving the proceeds to DailyKos and following George Soros from here on.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 7:59 pmAlphie,
I also have my reservations about our former enemies turned allies but they are not the same as yours. I am very willing to believe that they have decided to kiss the hand they cannot cut off about them — BUT NOT ABOUT US. In any case, whenever any people, anywhere, decide not to kill each other anymore it’s a good thing.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:04 pmAlphie takes BlacquesJacquesShellacques salient tale which hints of wartime suffering and devastation and offers us the hope that people swayed by demogogary and evil may ultimately recognize its falsity …. and makes sport of it.
A resoundingly good example of what some could call ‘liberal compassion’ but is really narcisism and shallow personality. It also shows its easy embrace of evil totalitarianism. “Yes Hitler was a persuasive fellow…what about Gitmo?”
Six million jews Alphie..three million Christians…
if you were fully human you would do something to demonstrate your comprehension.
red (9e9332) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:05 pm53 you made a comment and dismissivly asked a question. I anawed it.
Now you go off as it it had been my question and not yours.
And the point is that they’re our new friends only on the assumption that we are leaving soon. This is something you all ignore..according to bush we aren’t leaving.
blah (c78c78) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:13 pmWell, blah, does that mean that you and I are enemies in perpetuity?
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:17 pmnk – Is it better to be known by the company you keep, or the enemies you have.
If ever I am remembered, I hope that somebody notes that alphie, semaenticleo, and blah were always wrong, and always on the opposite side from me.
JD (c3bb88) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:22 pmI’m in a puckish mood tonight, JD.
Thanks for the forum, Patterico.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:37 pmIf you want to impress a fool, praise him. To impress a wise man, improve yourself.
Begin here
blah (c78c78) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:44 pmhttp://crookedtimber.org/2007/09/23/the-people-of-iran-are-asking-themselves-whether-the-un-security-council-is-only-decisive-and-effective-when-it-comes-to-the-suspension-of-the-enrichment-of-uranium/
You’re the greatest, blah. My life has been vastly enriched by this discussion with you.
nk (7c7414) — 9/24/2007 @ 8:59 pmWe don’t have Gays like you Do.
Wide stance Ahmadinejad gives me the impression that he has done a lot of time toe-tapping in public restrooms.
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 9/24/2007 @ 9:07 pmMy comprehension of what, red?
That slaughtering innocents for political and financial gain is wrong?
You don’t stop that with mindless hatred.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/24/2007 @ 9:10 pmThis blah character has overdosed on the Kool Aid. Does he post anything other than talking points?
daleyrocks (906622) — 9/24/2007 @ 9:58 pmSure, daleyrocks, he does a mean AJL impression too.
SPQR (6c18fd) — 9/24/2007 @ 10:00 pmEvil has landed. And the mother ship dropped off Alpho. Do tell us about mindless hatred there Alpho. And don’t get any more spittle on the computer screen while your braying please.
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 9/24/2007 @ 10:47 pmI’m beginning to see that alphie’s ability to mentally masturbate results in multiple orgasms. I am impressed. Given that he keeps going and going and going better than the Energizer Bunny, I’m also wondering why the vibrations between his ears don’t drive him crazy. Oh wait…
Horatio (55069c) — 9/25/2007 @ 4:48 amWhose political gain are we discussing, oh Vibrating Bunny?
Horatio (55069c) — 9/25/2007 @ 5:19 amWhat is Going On at Columbia University?
Columbia University has been in the headlines this week over the speaking appearance yesterday of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The university and its president, Lee Bollinger have taken a lot of heat for providing Ahmadinejad a platform. Probably due to the the fact that he had placed himself in such a public spotlight, Mr Bollinger publically rebuked Ahmadinejad in strong terms in his introduction. Yet, to many, including those who demonstrated against the speaking appearance, Ahmadinejad’s appearance was totally inappropriate. While I defend the principle of free speech, I don’t think any institution or entity has an obligation to provide such an offensive figure with a speaking platform. Thus, I tend to be on the side of the demonstrators as long as they didn’t disrupt the event itself. Where do we draw the line on who gets invited to a university event to speak? Would Columbia have invited Adolf Hitler to speak as well? Larger questions also exist. Did Columbia invite the controversial Ahmadinejad to speak in order to provide an open forum for debate? Or did they invite him to appear because there was some degree of sympathy for the man, his country and his ideals?
Given President Bollinger’s remarks to Ahmadinejad, it would be easy to say that Columbia was right in its invitation, and that it was only to provide an open debate, especially since many of the questions were pointed and that Ahmadinejad, in his anwers, demonstrated what a fool he is. One example was his answer to a question about persecution of homosexuals in Iran; he stated that, unlike the US, there were no homosexuals in Iran, a statement that drew laughter from the audience.
But what about the idea of providing a forum to a man who questions the Holocaust and has made statements about Israel being wiped off the face of the earth? Senator Charles Schumer of New York, in criticizing Columbia’s invitation, asked if a university would invite a representative of the “Flat Earth Society” to come and argue that the world is not really round. Nice analogy, but is Senator Schumer aware that Columbia already employs a professor, one Joseph Massad of the Middle Eastern Studies Department, who not only defends Palestinian suicide bombers, feels that Israel has no right to exist, but who also has argued that the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre was carried out not by Palestinian terrorists, but by Israeli agents? Sen. Schumer, the Flat Earth Society is alive and well at Columbia. Massad is not the only terrorist sympathizer at Columbia. There is also professor Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Chair, Middle Eastern Studies Dept. at Columbia, who holds similar views as Massad. In fact, many have charged that Columbia, like so many other universities, is noted more for its faculty of radical leftists than for a faculty of true scholars, especially in Middle Eastern Studies.
Meanwhile, if speakers like the Minutemen happen to be invited to Columbia by conservative students, what happens? Not only is their presentation disrupted, but the stage is stormed by no-nothing students, egged on by their radical professors, something that did not happen to Ahmadinejad. Does the US Military enjoy the opportunity to come to Columbia to recruit? No, but the president of Iran, who is sending bombs and weapons to Iraq to kill our soldiers, is invited. Kind of shows you where Columbia is politically, spiritually and intellectually.
As I said, I believe in free speech. I simply question whether everyone is entitled to a public platform to mouth their insanity. We have plenty of street corners where Ahmadinejad could have said whatever he wanted and no one would have arrested him. Personally, with everything that is going on in the world right now (emanating out of the Middle East), I feel it would have been more appropriate to escort Ahmadinejad from the airport to the UN and back to the airport. As Americans, we need to tell him and his ilk that they are not welcome in our country, we are up to here with their nonsense, that we will stand up to them, we will stand up for Israel, and if his 3rd rate country tries any military or terroristic action against the US or Israel, that we will crush them like the bugs that they are.
gary fouse
fouse, gary c (d4c79c) — 9/25/2007 @ 1:02 pmfousesquawk
The visit to Colombia University, the Press Club and 60 minutes is not about how you feel. It is about how the foreign media portrays the events.
The Irania press has already used what it needed to show the guy as being well liked and the subject of standing ovations. I have not seen any other reports but I would imagine they would be in the same category.
The US people involved in these events have been used to feed the political spin in the East.
davod (5bdbd3) — 9/25/2007 @ 1:37 pmhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054074.php
Here’s the proper response, which you all seem to cowardly to make.
blah (85b8bb) — 9/25/2007 @ 9:00 pmBlah,
That link has nothing to do with Ahmadinejad. Did you get confused and put it on the wrong thread?
DRJ (ec59b5) — 9/25/2007 @ 9:02 pmDRJ – blah has shown the propensity to be perpetually confused.
JD (4c1b7c) — 9/25/2007 @ 9:12 pmhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/054106.php
The link was at the top of the post not the bottom. My mistake.
blah (55d03b) — 9/25/2007 @ 10:38 pmAnd as to my level of confusion, coming from people who don’t know a god damn thing about Iran and more specifically about the powers and limits of its president that’s a bit much.
You don’t talk about egypt and civil liberties for the same reason you don’t talk about France and health care policy.
Your arguments are ad hoc and its all personal.
Its stupid
Blah,
I wasn’t being sarcastic. I thought you might have put it on the wrong thread. Now that I’ve read your corrected link, I agree that Josh Marshall makes some valid points about Ahmadinejad.
DRJ (ec59b5) — 9/25/2007 @ 10:47 pmBlah – I thought it was great that France said Iran should be attacked if they don’t stop their nuke program. The only problem was that they backed off the statement later.
There’s another thread on healthcare, but you probably wouldn’t understand it.
daleyrocks (906622) — 9/25/2007 @ 11:20 pmHmmm, so the US “encouraging” a young Saddam Hussein to try and assassinate Mossadegh (who had the country up and coming with some self respect)in the ’50’s and then putting the “puppet” Shah of Iran (who tortured and suppressed his “subjects”) had nothing to with them hating us…this only happened post 1979??!? Vehhhly intehvesting!!
ButtonHole (c1d1d7) — 9/26/2007 @ 5:57 pm“a young Saddam Hussein” would be right. Saddam Hussein would have been all of fourteen when Mossadeqh came into power and sixteen when was overthrown.
nk (7d4710) — 9/26/2007 @ 6:17 pmnk, you forgot about the CIA’s time travel machine, again. Sheesh, didn’t you know that George W Bush was on the grassy knoll?
SPQR (6c18fd) — 9/26/2007 @ 6:18 pmSPQR,
😉
nk (7d4710) — 9/26/2007 @ 6:33 pmYou are really Bavarian Illuminati, aren’t you nk? That little smiley secret recognition signal gave you away.
Fnord.
SPQR (6c18fd) — 9/26/2007 @ 6:53 pmColumbia University claims they are America’s best and brightest?
Did you see the way they applauded Ahmadenijad?
They are just a bunch of filthy Little Eichmanns.
It is too bad that Cho Seung-hui didn’t go to Columbia University!
Steve (4af310) — 10/7/2007 @ 1:38 am