I guess since they can't get away with using forged documents to support trumped up stories, producers take solace in airing an interview with a sponsor of terrorism, a Holocaust denier, and a liar.
It was just over a year ago when Mike Wallace interviewed Ahmadinejad. Of course, Wallace was used by Ahmadinejad as a propaganda tool, and Wallace cooperated fully.
This time around, Scott Pelley will be doing the interview.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not press his plan -- just denied by New York City police for security reasons -- to visit ground zero in New York City, he tells 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley in an exclusive interview conducted Thursday in Iran.
The Iranian leader says he's skeptical that most Americans view his visit there as insulting as his intention was only to show respect. The interview will be broadcast Sunday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
...Asked if he intends to press his request to visit the site, Ahmadinejad tells Pelley, "Well, it was included in my program. If we have the time and the conditions are conducive, I will try to do that."
"But the New York Police Department and others do not appear to want you there. Do you intend to go there anyway?" Pelley asks.
"Well, over there, local officials need to make the necessary coordinations. If they can't do that, I won't insist," the president replies.
"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," Pelley says.
"Why should it be insulting?" Ahmadinejad asks.
"Well, sir, you're the head of government of an Islamist state that the United States government says is a major exporter of terrorism around the world," Pelley replies.
Ahmadinejad says: "Well, I wouldn't say that what American government says is a-- is the prerequisite here. Something happened there which led to other events. Many innocent people were killed there. Some of those people were American citizens obviously. We obviously are very much against any terrorist action and any killing. And also we are very much against any plots to sow the seeds of discord among nations. Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects. And-- also to perhaps to air your views about the root causes of such incidents. I think that when I do that, I will be paying, as I said earlier, my respect to the American nation."
"But the American people, sir, believe that your country is a terrorist nation, exporting terrorism in the world," Pelley says. "You must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans."
"Well, I'm amazed. How can you speak for the whole of the American nation?" Ahmadinejad says. "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."
It's interesting that Ahmadinejad believes that he has supporters in America, in spite of what Pelley had to say.
Why would he think that? Why would Ahmadinejad think that Americans are on his side?
He most likely gets that impression from the Democrats. They're on the same page when it comes to Iraq and President Bush.
Naturally, he thinks Americans support him. Some do.
He has an invitation to speak at the prestigious Columbia University on Monday.
Not everyone is happy about that.
From the New York Times:
The university, while standing behind its invitation, came under harsh criticism yesterday from presidential candidates, the New York City Council, Jewish organizations and others for giving Mr. Ahmadinejad a public stage.
...Columbia officials faced harsh criticism yesterday from two Republican presidential hopefuls, Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn urged the university to withdraw the invitation, saying that Mr. Ahmadinejad was “here for one reason: to spread his hate-mongering vitriol on the world stage.”
But William V. Campbell, chairman of the Columbia board of trustees, defended the decision to have the Iranian president appear. “The freedom of our deans and faculty to create challenging and even controversial programs for our students is essential and sets a powerful example to the world about the strength of American universities and society,” he said.
...The only doubts about Mr. Ahmadinejad’s scheduled appearance at Columbia came yesterday from his government. Mohammad Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, said that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s schedule in New York was “still under discussion” and that his appearance at the Columbia forum could be canceled.
Columbia said yesterday that it was expecting a full house of 600 for the Monday forum, and was looking for ways to accommodate a larger audience.
Columbia said Lee C. Bollinger, its president, would introduce the event, which is part of the university’s World Leaders Forum, and challenge some of the Iranian president’s statements, including his call for the destruction of the state of Israel.
I know it's not certain at this time, but for the sake of discussion, let's say that Ahmadinejad does speak at Columbia.
Will there be an opportunity for members of the audience to ask questions?
If so, will Andrew Meyer be there?
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Bollinger's Office
212-854-9970
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Read Hugh Hewitt's column, "Columbia's Disgrace."
Columbia University was once led by Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is easy to guess what Ike would have though of the fanatic who will grace the campus Monday unless the Trustees of that university come to their collective senses and instruct the president, Lee Bollinger, to rescind this outrageous invitation. Ike had experience with Holocaust deniers:When General Eisenhower learned about [Buchenwald], he immediately arranged to meet Generals Bradley and Patton at Ohrdruf on the morning of April 12th. By that time, Buchenwald itself had been captured. Consequently, Ike decided to extend the group’s visit to include a tour of the Buchenwald extermination camp the next day. Eisenhower also ordered every American soldier in the area who was not on the front lines to visit Ohrdruf and Buchenwald. He wanted them to see for themselves what they were fighting against.
During the camp inspections with his top commanders Eisenhower said that the atrocities were “beyond the American mind to comprehend.” He ordered that every citizen of the town of Gotha personally tour the camp and, after having done so, the mayor and his wife went home and hanged themselves. Later on Ike wrote to Mamie, “I never dreamed that such cruelty, bestiality, and savagery could really exist in this world.” He cabled General Marshall to suggest that he come to Germany and see these camps for himself. He encouraged Marshall to bring Congressmen and journalists with him. It would be many months before the world would know the full scope of the Holocaust — many months before they knew that the Nazi murder apparatus that was being discovered at Buchenwald and dozens of other death camps had slaughtered millions of innocent people.
General Eisenhower understood that many people would be unable to comprehend the full scope of this horror. He also understood that any human deeds that were so utterly evil might eventually be challenged or even denied as being literally unbelievable. For these reasons he ordered that all the civilian news media and military combat camera units be required to visit the camps and record their observations in print, pictures and film. As he explained to General Marshall, “I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”
His prediction proved correct. When some groups, even today, attempt to deny that the Holocaust ever happened they are must confront the massive official record, including both written evidence and thousands of pictures, that Eisenhower ordered to be assembled when he saw what the Nazis had done.
Eisenhower understood how propaganda worked, how the Nazis had used it through the '30s and the war, and how evil men would use it again in the future.
One such evil man is Ahmadinejad. It is inconceivable that Columbia will allow this anti-Semitic blowhard a podium, or in any way add to his prestige at a time when the world is attempting to halt this gangster state's illegal acquisition of nuclear weapons.
But what is truly outrageous is that Columbia does not see the deep dishonor it is doing to the men and women killed and wounded by the machinations of this man and the regime he represents. Some of those casualties of Iranian intrigue have come in Iraq just this year.
But Ahmadinejad’s rogue state has been killing Americans for far longer than that, and using terror against us since the presidency of Jimmy Carter.
Hewitt asks:
But what is it about academia that robs its elites of basic decency towards their fellow citizens that he would invite one of their murderers to grace the stage at one of the nation's greatest universities?
Where is the outrage among the faculty and the students? Where are the parents of the students?
Where are the Trustees and the alumni?
This should not stand.
Good questions.
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