Israel Celebrates 60 Years

The Dome of the Rock is seen as fireworks light the skies of Jerusalem marking the start of Israel's Independence Day on May 7. Israel launched celebrations for its 60th anniversary after remembering its fallen in successive Middle East wars, with the premier's fate under a cloud and the nation still far from making peace with its neighbours.(AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)


Israelis and tourists watch air force jets fly in formation over the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, during celebrations for Israel's Independence Day, marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state, May 8, 2008. (REUTERS/Eliana Aponte)

JERUSALEM -- A Jewish astronaut greets Israel from space. Revelers try to set a record for the most people singing a national anthem. To celebrate turning 60, Israel is staging fireworks, air force flyovers and a birthday bash for anyone born on the day the Jewish state was founded.

Israel is marking its 60th Independence Day, which began at sundown Wednesday, with a great sense of pride but also uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Six decades after rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish state is still plagued by threats from abroad and an identity crisis at home.

Israel at 60 is a paradox of exuberance and despair — a country enduring near daily rocket attacks from militants while producing scientists who have pioneered Wi-Fi and instant messaging.

Its 41-year occupation of Palestinian territories has invited international condemnation. Yet Israel is a thriving democracy that has provided a haven for the world's Jews.

This Independence Day is marred by a fresh criminal inquiry of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose legal woes are calling his political survival into question just as he is moving to forge a peace deal with the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank.

However, Israelis are putting aside their frustration with politics for what is expected to be one of the most joyous birthday celebrations since the first on May 14, 1948 — a date marked each year in Israel by the Hebrew calendar.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't sending any best wishes Israel's way.

No surprise there.

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said.

"Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

Ahmadinejad further stated that Israel "has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese" - referring to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

What a guy!

Jimmy Carter should go visit Ahmadinejad, just to talk.

I suppose Iran probably holds too many bad memories for Carter.

Bigot Arun Gandhi

UPDATE, January 27, 2008--

From the Tehran Times:

Gandhi grandson falls victim to Zionist lobby
__________________

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Arun Gandhi said he learned at his grandfather's feet that the world's major conflicts can only be tackled by first solving the little problems.

"It's the little problems that accumulate and become big problems," the fifth grandson of revered pacifist Mahatma Gandhi said when he moved his M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence to the University of Rochester last June.

Now, intemperate remarks about Israel and Jews being "the biggest players" in a global culture of violence have gotten Gandhi removed as president of the peace center he launched in 1991.

"My intention was to generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation of violence," Gandhi said Friday, a day after the institute's board accepted his resignation. "Instead, unintentionally, my words have resulted in pain, anger, confusion and embarrassment. I deeply regret these consequences."

The institute offers courses, workshops and seminars on nonviolence and will "continue its mission" at the University of Rochester, which provides office space and staff support, said the school's president, Joel Seligman.

...Gandhi's resignation "was appropriate" because his remarks "did not reflect the core values" of either the university or the institute, Seligman said in a statement.

...Gandhi was on a panel of scholars, writers and clergy who discuss a new topic weekly on the Washington Post's "On Faith" page and his comments, posted Jan. 7, drew a torrent of criticism, much of it unfavorable.

Gandhi wrote that Jewish identity "has been locked into the holocaust experience—a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of (how) a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends.

"The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. ... The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on, the regret turns into anger."

Describing Israel as "a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs," Gandhi asked whether it would "not be better to befriend those who hate you?"

"Apparently, in the modern world so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept," he wrote. "You don't befriend anyone, you dominate them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."

It sounds like Gandhi has a lot in common with Jimmy Carter and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I see a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in Gandhi's future.

Ahmadinejad's Blog and the Disjointed Bubble of Weirdness

This is no joke.

Check out Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's blog.

It's called "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Personal Memos."



He doesn't blog very regularly. He's only written 13 posts. The first is dated August 8, 2006. The most recent is from December 1, 2007. To say it's not a very active blog is an understatement.

Ahmadinejad addresses his commitment to his blog in this post, from November 18, 2007:

To read or to write, that is the question!‎ 2007/11/18
In the Name of Almighty God-the All-Knowing, the Most Lovingly ‎Compassionate

Since my last post on the blog, a few months have passed. But this doesn't ‎mean that I have not been keeping my promise of spending fifteen minutes per week ‎on it. As a matter of fact, I have spent more than the allocated time on the blog. The ‎magnitude of the reception and acclamation from the viewers was beyond ‎expectations. So I had to decide how to spend the limited time that I have allocated ‎for the blog; should I write new notes or respect those viewers who kindly and ‎generously have shared their thoughts and opinions with me and sent messages and read ‎their numerous received messages. ‎

‎***‎

As you know, the purpose of running this blog is to have a direct and mutual ‎contact and communication with the viewers and even though I have received many ‎messages from the viewers to update the blog and write new notes, I preferred to write ‎less and spend more time on reading the viewers' messages – and not let this ‎communication tool become just a one-way medium.‎

‎***‎

I personally have read those messages that are considered to be short. I even ‎have read those messages that have started with a sentence like "I know that the ‎president is not going to read this message, but…." ‎

Also some of my trusted students have shortened the long messages for me ‎and have prepared a statistical report regarding all of the messages which I have read ‎and studied those too. God willing, a portion of the overall analysis of the messages ‎and its interesting results will be posted on the blog in the future.‎

‎***‎

I am apologetic to those who have been waiting for my new posts, but ‎fortunately overall, the analysis of the messages has got to a point that I can start ‎writing here again. ‎

I would like to use this opportunity and ask those of you who intend to send ‎me messages through blog, to make it as brief as you can. Thank you.

Wow. That's so...right.

Ahmadinejad's blog inspired Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld to give his take on blogging.

He writes:

So Iranian President Ahmadinejad has a new blog and it works, in that "senile grandma in the attic" sort of way. But other than realizing how similar it sounds to Keith Olbermann, it dawned on me that when the elderly, squirrels and crazed dictators start having their own blogs, then blogging is dead.

The worst five words you can hear at a party is "have you read my blog?" Blogs, really, used be called diaries, hidden under the pillows by troubled twelve year old girls. They were usually covered with stickers of rainbows and unicorns (Oh I loved those unicorns). But now everyone has a diary, but they call them blogs and they're asking you to read them - it's disgusting. It's like pulling off a band-aid and saying - I made it myself!

I call it the Sylvia Plath Syndrome - the idea that every nuance of your life should endless fascinate everyone else. At least Plath at the decency to provide a killer ending.

Some think that if you don't blog, you don't have a life. But it's the opposite. You should be happy that you don't write for folks who prefer to live in a disjointed bubble of weirdness where their own self-serving cowardice is masked temporarily by online bravery. It's better to go outside and beat up somebody for real, than beat up someone on the web, while sitting in your feety pajamas, eating Cheetos and drinking Mr. Pibb. Six Cans!
If you'd like to hear more about this - go to my blog - dailygut.com.

I agree with Gutfeld's assessment that Ahmadinejad's blog works in that "'senile grandma in the attic' sort of way."

He says, "it dawned on me that when the elderly, squirrels and crazed dictators start having their own blogs, then blogging is dead."

Blogging isn't dead. Gutfeld's biting yet entertaining post proves that, although it's not really just a blog entry. His comments also served as Wednesday's Gregalogue on Red Eye. As usual, Gutfeld's posts tend to do double duty.

Along with the humor, Gutfeld sneaks in some worthwhile insight.

Some think that if you don't blog, you don't have a life. But it's the opposite. You should be happy that you don't write for folks who prefer to live in a disjointed bubble of weirdness where their own self-serving cowardice is masked temporarily by online bravery.

One need look no further than Ahmadinejad's blog to find that online "disjointed bubble of weirdness."

In any event, Gutfeld's blog is exponentially superior to Ahmadinejad's blog. Blogging isn't dead, though "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Personal Memos" is on life support.
__________________

Watch the Greg-alogue.

Iran and Democrats Claim Victory

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Democrats and their mouthpieces in the lib media are all on the same page.

They are all declaring victory, claiming to have defeated President Bush by proving him wrong.

They are slobbering all over themselves.

What did Bush know and when did he know it?

TEHRAN, Iran -- A new U.S. intelligence review concluding Iran stopped developing an atomic weapons program in 2003 is a "declaration of victory" for Iran's nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday.

The U.S. intelligence report released Monday concluded that Iran had stopped its weapons program in late 2003 and shown no signs since of resuming it, representing a sharp turnaround from a previous intelligence assessment in 2005.

"This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people during a visit to Ilam province in western Iran.

"This was a final shot to those who, in the past several years, spread a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons ... Thanks to your resistance, a fatal shot was fired at the dreams of ill-wishers and the truthfulness of the Iranian nation was once again proved by the ill-wishers themselves," Ahmadinejad said, drawing celebratory whistles from the crowd.

Iran has touted the new U.S. intelligence report as vindication of its claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and Iranian officials insist that Washington should take a less hawkish stance and drop attempts to impose new sanctions in light of the report's surprise conclusions.

President Bush defended his approach Tuesday, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it would be a "big mistake" to ease any diplomatic pressure on Iran despite the new U.S. findings.

Ahmadinejad calls the report a final and fatal shot to Bush's policy of diplomatic pressure on Iran.

Not surprisingly, the Democrats, ever useful idiots, are echoing Ahmadinejad.

From the LA Times:

Democratic presidential candidates teamed up during a National Public Radio debate here Tuesday to blast the Bush administration over its policy toward Iran, arguing that a new intelligence assessment proves that the administration has needlessly ratcheted up military rhetoric.

While the candidates differed somewhat over the level of threat Iran poses in the Mideast, most of them sought to liken the administration's approach to Iran with its buildup to the war in Iraq.

"I vehemently disagree with the president that nothing's changed and therefore nothing in American policy has to change," said New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We do know that pressure on Iran does have an effect. I think that is an important lesson."

Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the new intelligence report indicated that Iran dropped its program before international pressure came into play.

"It was like watching a rerun of his statements on Iraq five years earlier," Biden said. "Iran is not a nuclear threat to the United States of America. Iran should be dealt with directly, with the rest of the world at our side. But we've made it more difficult now, because who is going to trust us?"

...Edwards and Obama responded that they believed Iran was a threat to stability in the Mideast but that the administration was moving toward an unnecessary war.

"What I believe is that this president, who, just a few weeks ago, was talking about World War III, he, the vice president, the neocons have been on a march to possible war with Iran for a long time," Edwards said. "We know that they've prepared contingency plans for a military attack."

Obama, who missed the Kyl-Lieberman vote in the Senate because he was campaigning in New Hampshire, also drew parallels to the Iraq war buildup.

"What I've been consistent about was that this saber-rattling was a repetition of Iraq, a war I opposed, and that we needed to oppose George Bush again," Obama said. "We can't keep on giving him the benefit of the doubt, knowing the ways in which they manipulate intelligence."

It really makes me sick that these Dem candidates prefer to bash Bush and the "neocons" for saber-rattling rather than holding Ahmadinejad accountable for his defiance of the world community and his threatening, inflammatory rhetoric.

They treat the U.S. president as more of an enemy and threat to peace in the Middle East than Iran under Ahmadinejad.

While I think it's fair to question the President on Iran, it's reckless and irresponsible of them to take the emphasis off of the danger of Ahmadinejad.

He already has the blood of American troops on his hands.

Are Ahmadinejad's allies, the Dems, really serious about long term U.S. national security and the importance of stability in the Middle East?

They aren't acting like it.

If they are, how can they discount these words from Ahmadinejad?

"The Zionist regime is the standard bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan."

"With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine. By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future."

"Israel is destined for destruction and it will disappear soon."

"As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

Do they think he's just kidding?

Are his statements kind of like those made by James Buss about the Columbine shooters as heroes and the need to take out West Bend teachers "one shot at a time"?

Just silly comments and not meant to be taken seriously?

Ahmadinejad doesn't really mean what he says. He just the master of parody, taking shots at the Bush administration's saber-rattling.

Clever guy.

How to Observe the End of the HOLY Month of Ramadan

SOME faithful Muslims are observing the end of Ramadan by wallowing in hate.

It's been a tradition since 1979, when Jimmy Carter helped usher in the era of Islamic extremist rule In Iran.

Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day was the brainchild of Ayatollah Khomeini. In August of 1979, he said:

"I invite Muslims all over the globe to consecrate the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan as Quds Day and to proclaim the international solidarity of Muslims in support of the legitimate rights of the Muslim people of Palestine." "For many years, I have been notifying the Muslims of the danger posed by the usurper Israel which today has intensified its savage attacks against the Palestinian brothers and sisters, and which, in the south of Lebanon in particular, is continually bombing Palestinian homes in the hope of crushing the Palestinian struggle. I ask all the Muslims of the world and the Muslim governments to join together to sever the hand of this usurper and its supporters. I call on all the Muslims of the world to select as Quds Day the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan - which is itself a determining period and can also be the determiner of the Palestinian people’s fate - and through a ceremony demonstrating the solidarity of Muslims world-wide, announce their support for the legitimate rights of the Muslim people. I ask God Almighty for the victory of the Muslims over the infidels."

The faithful have followed Ayatollah Khomeini's call to "consecrate the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan."

Today, millions of the religious spilled out into the streets to participate in rallies to support Palestinians via the destruction of the "usurper and its supporters" (AKA Israel and the United States).

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency:

On the occasion of the World Qods Day, the Iranian senior officials by participating in a rally condemned crimes of the Qods occupying regime and its supporters and supported the oppressed Palestinians.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Friday condemned the atrocities of the Zionist regime against the oppressed Palestinian people and said, "Why don't you let the black box of the Zionist regime be decoded? He asked supporters of the Zionist regime while addressing ralliers in the World Qods Day rallies.

"If the Western leaders are not members of the Zionist party, they should allow an international fact finding group decode the black box," he added.

"Nations should be allowed to conduct research on crimes of the Zionist regime and decode the black box for its atrocities," Ahmadinejad continued.

"They violate sanctity of prophets and insult human dignity and democracy and say they have nothing to do with these acts.

"You have turned what you call Holocaust into a holy issue and do not let anybody raise any question about it."

Ahmadinejad stated, "Events took place in the World War II.

Later, they committed a historical genocide in Palestine. They ratified unlimited and holy rights for themselves and introduced all nations as criminals.

"They allowed themselves to commit whatever crimes under the pretext of the Holocaust. They even built secret prisons in Europe and attacked and imposed economic sanctions against a nation who did not officially recognize the Zionist regime."

"Today, Qods is not an issue only related to Palestine and the Middle East but a case of world of humanity," Ahmadinejad said.

He stated that creation of the Zionist regime, continuation of its existence, its performance and unlimited support for the regime (by the US) are an insult to human dignity.

...[Minister of Culture and the Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi] said, "Qods Day is a day of confrontation between the whole blasphemy against the whole Islam and a symbol of shouting of the world oppressed people against arrogant powers."

Well, those are inspiring words from Ahmadinejad.

It boggles my mind that the end of the "holy" month of Ramadan is devoted to rallies calling for the annihilation of Israel.

How holy!

What a message!

Love and Peace!

Is this what Islam is really about?

TEHRAN (AFP) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday launched a new tirade against Israel amid growing tensions with the West, vowing to work to abolish the Jewish state and questioning the scale of the Holocaust.

Ahmadinejad said Iran would strive to liberate "all of Palestine" from Israeli hands, in a speech to mark the Quds day, where Iran holds its annual mass protest marches in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Tens of thousands of Iranians turned out for the march in central Tehran, carrying anti-Zionist banners, chanting "Death to Israel" and burning Israeli and American flags.

"The Palestinian people are standing firm. The Iranian people and other peoples will not stop until all of Palestinian territory is liberated," Ahmadinejad told the faithful at Tehran University.

...Despite the heavily politicised nature of the Tehran demonstration, there was a festive mood with the numerous children present having their faces painted as cats and rabbits in entertainment laid-on by the municipality.

"I come every year because the Palestinians are helpless and they cannot defend themselves. I come here to here to attract the world's attention to their plight," said Somayeh Salim, 27.

She was carrying an Israeli flag in her rucksack: "I am going to burn it."

Some photos of the Muslim faithful:


An Iranian demonstrator prays in front of an anti-Israel banner during Friday prayers, after a demonstration to mark Jerusalem Day in Tehran October 5, 2007. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN)


Palestinian supporters of Islamic Jihad burn representations of the American flag, as they march during rally marking Jerusalem Day in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 5, 2007.(AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)


Lebanese women wave Hezbollah and Palestinian flags as they gather at the Fatima Gate border fence with Israel to stage a demonstration for 'Al-Quds Day', Jerusalem day, in the southern town of Kfar Kila, Lebanon Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. Last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is observed in many Muslim countries as 'Al-Quds Day,' as a way of expressing support to the Palestinians and emphasizing the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)


Pakistani women stage a demonstration for 'Al-Quds Day' (Jerusalem Day), in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Jamal Ahmed)


Protesters shout slogans to mark the International Al-Quds Day during a demonstration in front of Fatih Mosque in Istanbul October 5, 2007. The banner reads "Intifada in Palestine, struggle in Iraq will win". REUTERS/Fatih Saribas (TURKEY)


Protesters attend a demonstration in front of Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, October 5, 2007, to mark the annual Al-Quds Day. The banner reads "Killer Israel get out of Palestine. Jerusalem has been under Zionist invasion for 40 years." REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY)


Palestinians children take part in a rally to mark the Jerusalem Day at the Yarmuok refugee camp near Damascus October 5, 2007. REUTERS/Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA)


Afghan students at Kabul University burn an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush, as they shout anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans during an anti-Israel demonstration to mark the Jerusalem Day in Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. Hundreds students show their support to Palestinian people. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)


Afghans carry effigies of the U.S. President Geroge Bush (L) and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during an anti-Israel rally to mark Jerusalem Day in Kabul October 5, 2007. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN)

How are we to deal with this sort of extremism?

FIRST, there should be unconditional denouncement of Ahmadinejad's remarks. No wishy-washy, Dr. Phil-type analysis. None of that "Let's understand what makes them hate Israel and the U.S." stuff.

Ahmadinejad is a thug. Those buying into his philosophy are thugs. There should be zero-tolerance for Ahmadinejad's comments.

ZERO.

SECOND, any world leader or group who sympathizes with Ahmadinejad is as dangerous as he is. Any world leader or group who cozies up with terrorists in the name of helping the Palestinian people is a disgrace. Jimmy Carter comes to mind.

The civilized world cannot look the other way while the ideology of hate and war that Ahmadinejad and like-minded thugs promote gains momentum.

They are evil. There should be no hesitation to designate them as such.

THIRD, absolutely no nukes can be allowed to get in the hands of unstable warmongers like Ahmadinejad.

IRAN SO FAR

Iran's Media Have a Point

The Iranian media's coverage of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Monday in New York was typically skewed. There were lies, distortions, and propaganda.

Some of the reporting was outright false, not unlike stories found in the American media by CBS and the New York Times.

Although I am in no way endorsing any of the policies of Iran, I admit that some of the commentary on Ahmadinejad's visit was fair.

TEHRAN, Sept. 25 -- Iranian state television on Tuesday sharply criticized the way President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been treated during his Columbia University talk and asserted that he had triumphed over his adversarial hosts, whom it described as Zionist Jews.

Commentary, interviews and video broadcast in Iran of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s appearance at Columbia on Monday depicted a resolute leader who overcame an ambush of personal insults to present his views on topics like the Holocaust, Israel, the Palestinians and nuclear weapons, views that were described as having been well received by the audience.

“In the end, who was the winner?” asked one television commentator, leaving the answer to a quote from John R. Bolton, a former American ambassador to the United Nations and an outspoken Iran critic, who said Mr. Ahmadinejad was the “big winner” for being able to talk at the university.

The evening news showed scenes of the large crowd that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s talk had drawn inside and outside the university. “Mr. Ahmadinejad was the center of the world news for the past few days,” said the reporter.

“Some media even called on students to boycott the speech,” the reporter added, saying that instead Mr. Ahmadinejad got a warm welcome.

The program repeated scenes that showed the audience cheering Mr. Ahmadinejad, suggesting that a lot of the audience was made up of his supporters. “I saw even Jewish students who walked out of the talk saying Mr. Ahmadinejad was very convincing,” a woman wearing a head scarf told the program in English.

It also pointed out that the president of Columbia, Lee C. Bollinger, had made insulting remarks, without elaborating on them. Mr. Bollinger had said that Mr. Ahmadinejad exhibited “all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” and that he was “brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.”

The television broadcasts also showed video of the audience booing Mr. Ahmadinejad when he said there were no homosexuals in Iran. It added that a protest was orchestrated by a Zionist lobby that had brought schoolchildren.

Mohsen Rezai, a former head of the Revolutionary Guards, denounced on the state-run news channel the inhospitable treatment of Mr. Ahmadinejad. “He is the president of a country,” he said. “It is shocking that a country that claims to be civilized treats him that way.”

Obviously, Iran's media have an anti-Israel agenda. That should come as no surprise.

It's also no surprise that Ahmadinejad would be depicted as bravely and triumphantly standing up to the Zionist Jews.

Regarding the denouncements of how the Iranian president was treated by his hosts at Columbia University, I agree with the assessment that Ahmadinejad was subjected to personal insults that were most definitely inhospitable.

That's not to say that I disagree with what Bollinger said about Ahmadinejad.

However, I don't think it was appropriate for the leader of a foreign country to be invited to a prestigious American university only to have its president rip him to shreds.

How could that have been avoided?

AHMADINEJAD SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN INVITED TO SPEAK AT COLUMBIA.

If President Bush had been invited to speak at a university in Iran and if prior to his address, the university's president had berated him the way Bollinger berated Ahmadinejad, I would consider that offensive and an insult to all Americans.

It was wrong for Bollinger to slam Ahmadinejad the way he did.

If Bollinger and Columbia University didn't intend treat Ahmadinejad with at least some degree of respect and civility, then the Holocaust denier, anti-Semite, liar with the blood of Americans on his hands should not have been invited to speak in the first place.

...“New York is the headquarters of Zionist Jews, and they have control over Columbia University,” he said. “It seems that our diplomacy apparatus had not given complete information to the president.”

Ahmadinejad's Friends in the House

The vote was 397-16.

It was the House of Representatives' way to take a swipe at anti-Semite, Holocaust denier, killer of Americans, liar Ahmadinejad.

WASHINGTON -- Congress signaled its disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a vote Tuesday to tighten sanctions against his government.

The swift rebuke was a rare display of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress bitterly divided on the Iraq war. It reflected lawmakers' long-standing nervousness about Tehran's intentions in the region, particularly toward Israel _ a sentiment fueled by the pro-Israeli lobby whose influence reaches across party lines in Congress.

"Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick," said Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "It is my hope that they will take the carrot. But today, we are putting the stick in place."

The House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, D-Calif., aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions.

This definitely was a bipartisan vote.

Only 16 members voted against the proposal, with 19 not voting.

Of the 16, 2 nays came from the Wisconsin delegation.

What an embarrassment!

Apparently, both Tammy Baldwin and Gwen Moore are supporters of Ahmadinejad's regime in Iran, the one that executes homosexuals.

I Take Back What I Said About Scott Pelley

I was so wrong about Scott Pelley.

I gave him way too much credit for the way he handled his 60 Minutes interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I thought he did a significantly better job than the fawning Mike Wallace did in August of 2006. I stand by that.

I also thought that Pelley didn't seem to find Ahmadinejad as beguiling as Wallace did, that he recognized him to be the nutjob that he is.

WRONG.

From NewBusters, Kyle Drennen writes:

Scott Pelley conducted a very tough interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which aired on Sunday's 60 Minutes, but on Monday’s Early Show Pelley was very generous in his personal assessment of the man. Host Harry Smith and Pelley agreed that Ahmadinejad is "crazy like a fox" while Pelley also hailed Ahmadinejad as "incorruptible" and "modest." Pelley contended the dictator, who denies the Holocaust, wants Israel destroyed and is causing the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, is a lot smarter than Westerners believe and is even a "friendly" guy.

What was I thinking?

How I could be so naive to think that someone involved with CBS News, especially 60 Minutes, wouldn't be a Leftist loon?

Transcript excerpt

Smith: What are we to take away from this? Because this country is so close to Iraq, it has so much influence over so much of the Iraqi government, as we know it right now. We look at this interview, what are we to take away from -- what are we to understand who this man is?

Pelley: The important thing, I think, Harry, to understand, he's described in the West as a madman, crazy, that's not the case. I found him to be as many politicians are, very engaging, very friendly, he's clearly not mad, he's sane. In fact, he's very wily I would tell you-

Smith: Crazy like a fox.

Pelley: Crazy like a fox perhaps. But he's a very, very wily character. Fascinating man in background. He is genuinely religious, genuinely humble, there are no fancy clothes, fancy cars, he lives with his wife and his three children. They live in an apartment in Tehran. He is a very modest man and said to be absolutely incorruptible as well, he's a fascinating character.

Smith: Dangerous?

Pelley: The policies of Iran are dangerous and I think he's capable of pursuing those policies.

Unbelievable.

Pelley is just as bad as Mike Wallace. An argument could be made that he's worse. After all, Pelley isn't pushing 90.

Rest easy, libs. The next generation at 60 Minutes is just as far Left and deranged as its founding fathers.

Ahmadinejad's Very Bad Day

"What's the deal? I thought you liked me."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran speaks at Columbia University Monday, Sept. 24, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)


I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did more interviews and had more face time on TV yesterday than Hillary Clinton did on Sunday.

He was everywhere.

He was on network, cable, and public television.

There was the National Press Club videoconference luncheon and the Columbia University appearance.

Most of the time, he was smiling. He was smiling and lying.

It seemed like he was trying to be charming, fully expecting to be embraced by the American people, bound by their common enemy -- George W. Bush.

It was a bit odd how tough the Lefties were on Ahmadinejad.

It must have pained them to attack the Iranian president, but they did.

They were critical of him. They challenged him. They belittled him. They laughed at him.

In short, they treated him like they treat President Bush.

It was weird for them to acknowledge the madman that Ahmadinejad is because usually they are basically on the same page.

Case in point: Jimmy Carter

ATLANTA -- Speaking at Emory University, Carter, who brokered the 1979 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, said Israel's superior military power and distance from Iran likely are enough to discourage an actual attack.

"Iran is quite distant from Israel," said Carter, 83. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."

...Carter said unease between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is a far greater threat to Israel's security than Iran. He criticized the Bush administration for not doing enough to broker peace in the region.

In other words, Iran is good. The U.S. under George Bush and puppet Israel are bad.

I really don't think Ahmadinejad was prepared to face the challenges he did yesterday from the usually friendly Left.

In his "please don't take our funding away" CYA speech, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger was relentless.

(Full transcript of Bollinger's blistering introductory remarks)

After laying out a litany of questions/ charges, Bollinger closed with this:

Frankly, and in all candor, Mr. President, I doubt that you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions. But your avoiding them will in itself be meaningful to us. I do expect you to exhibit the fanatical mindset that characterizes so much of what you say and do. Fortunately, I am told by experts on your country, that this only further undermines your position in Iran with all the many good-hearted, intelligent citizens there. A year ago, I am reliably told, your preposterous and belligerent statements in this country (as in your meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations) so embarrassed sensible Iranian citizens that this led to your party’s defeat in the December mayoral elections. May this do that and more.

Nonetheless, the Islamic Republic News Agency painted Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia as a triumph. No surprise there.

Despite entire US media objections, negative propagation and hue and cry in recent days over IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's scheduled address at Colombia University, he gave his lecture and answered students questions here on Monday afternoon.

On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.

Before President Ahamadinejad's address, Colombia (Note: The IRNA can't spell.) University Chancellor in a brief address told the audience that they would have the chance to hear Iran's stands as the Iranian President would put them forth.

That's a sanitized version of events.

He said that the Iranians are a peace loving nation, they hate war, and all types of aggression.

Referring to the technological achievements of the Iranian nation in the course of recent years, the president considered them as a sign for the Iranians' resolute will for achieving sustainable development and rapid advancement.

The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.

At the end of his address President Ahmadinejad answered the students' questions on such issues as Israel, Palestine, Iran's nuclear program, the status of women in Iran and a number of other matters.

The truth is Ahmadinejad is an intolerant, warmongering, lying, threat to the world.

And the Left looked so foolish. These people have spent years attacking Bush. Bush is the greatest threat to world peace. Bush is the terrorist. Bush is the enemy.

All of that crap for all of these years.

Doesn't what Ahmadinejad had to say today illustrate that Bush is no Hitler, that he's not the real enemy?

Ahmadinejad echoed much of what the radical Left holds dear -- the 9/11 conspiracy theories, the certain defeat of the U.S. in Iraq, the depiction of Bush as an imperialist or a devil.

The libs are on board with Ahmadinejad when it comes to those matters.

But Ahmadinejad made a fatal mistake when speaking at Columbia.

There is no way that the Left can stay in Ahmadinejad's corner after what he said about homosexuals.

"In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he said. Above the guffaws from the crowd, he continued: "In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."

Good grief. And libs say that Bush and Republicans are hostile to the gay community.

Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier as well as a homosexual denier.

According to Ahmadinejad, "this phenomenon" is nonexistent in Iran.

Big, BIG mistake.

There's a lot that the Left will tolerate.

9/11 conspiracy theories and blaming Bush for the attacks, either directly or indirectly? Of course.

Sympathy for the Palestinians and disdain for Israelis? Absolutely.

Questions about the Holocaust? Not so much, but perhaps.

Iran being a gay-free zone? No way.

Ahmadinejad won't recover from that. His comments on homosexuals reveal that he is truly nuts, even by the Left's standards.


Has Ahmadinejad tripped an epiphany for American Bush-haters?

Did they learn something yesterday?

Unfortunately, probably not.


The nooses are tightened around the necks of two homosexual youths about to be executed in Iran. (Photo/ISNA)

Ahmadinejad: The Evil has Landed

NEW: Columbia University president Lee Bollinger rips Ahmadinejad.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the stage at Columbia University to a blistering welcome from the president of the school, who said the hard-line leader behaved like "a petty and cruel dictator."

Ahmadinejad smiled as Columbia President Lee Bollinger took him to task over Iran's human-rights record and foreign policy, and Ahmadinejad's statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger's opening was: "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here."

"There were insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," Ahmadinejad said, accusing Bollinger of offering "unfriendly treatment" under the influence of the U.S. press and politicians.

Yeah, right.

The suggestion that Bollinger said what he did because he was pressured by the libs that rule the press is laughable.

If there's any pressure on him, it's coming from some alumni and people who write checks to the university. Federal, state, and local officials threatening to "defund" the university got Bollinger's attention. Money talks.

Ahmadinejad is nuts.

Much of what's said in the U.S. press and by U.S. politicians is indistinguishable from many of Ahmadinejad's lines.

Shameful, but true.

If by chance libs were genuinely disturbed by Ahmadinejad and what he had to say, perhaps they need to do a little soul searching. Make that a lot of soul searching.
_________________



He's here.

Not everyone is happy about it.

Some defend him. I won't.

The Iranian president, in his own words:

"The Zionist regime is the standard bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan."

"With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine. By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future."

"Israel is destined for destruction and it will disappear soon."

"Today, it has been proven that the Zionists are not opposed only to Islam and the Muslims. They are opposed to humanity as a whole. They want to dominate the entire world. They would even sacrifice the Western regimes for their own sake. I have said in Tehran, and I say it again here - I say to the leaders of some Western countries: Stop supporting these corrupt people."

"There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world."

"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury, (while) any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world."

"As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

"We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them."

"Do the removal of Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations."

"Some 60 years have passed since the end of World War II. Why should the people of Germany and Palestine pay now for a war in which the current generation was not involved?"

"We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot not logically continue to live," he said.

"Despite the barbaric and criminal nature of the occupiers of Jerusalem, the regime and its Western supporters do not even have the power to give Iran a nasty look."


"Behold, the rage of the Muslim peoples is accumulating. The rage of the Muslim peoples may soon reach the point of explosion. If that day comes, they must know that the waves of this explosion will not be restricted to the boundaries of our region. They will definitely reach the corrupt forces that support this fake regime."

What a guy!

Ahmadinejad's propaganda arm, the Islamic Republic News Agency, reports on his New York visit:

The Iranian nation favors peace and sustainable security based on justice and spirituality, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday after his arrival in New York.

Speaking to IRNA at the hotel of his residence, the president said Iran had a clear message for the world and effective solutions for the present international problems.

"We believe that sustainable peace does not mean to impose tranquility. We believe that the world can be run much more better than the present situation. We can avoid wars, threats, bloodshed and hostilities," said the president who is here to attend the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Criticizing the present "inhuman acts" at the international scene and the existing "unfair relations" imposed by certain countries on other world states, the president said, "All nations like to have friendly ties with each other."
Referring to the mounting pressures against Iran, President Ahmadinejad said, "They (certain powers) cannot damage the ties between Iranian nation and other countries because nobody believes them for their wrong behavior and impolite approach towards other nations.

"They have no friend in the world," noted the president.

Stressing that Tehran "is not concerned," President Ahmadinejad added, "Our strategy is very clear. We say that justice should be for everyone and everybody should be equal before the law. No one is priveleged to others and no one has the right to impose his ideas on others.

"No one has the right to use force in international relations, occupy others' lands or resort to terrorism. These are the clear stands of the people of Iran and this course will continue," stressed the president.

Liar.

AP reports:

Before leaving Iran, Ahmadinejad said the American people have been denied "correct information," and his visit will give them a chance to hear a different voice, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad has appealed to the American people before, distinguishing between the population and their government. Recently, he told a television show that Iran wants peace and friendship with America.

That's not consistent with this:

"Today, it is the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime which are doomed to disappear as they have moved far away from the teachings of God. It is a divine promise."

I may be going out on a limb here, but I don't think Ahmadinejad shares our definition of "peace and friendship."

60 Minutes: Liar Ahmadinejad

Scott Pelley did a much better job interviewing Iranian president terrorist supporter Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than the fawning Mike Wallace did in August of 2006.

Pelley didn't seem to find Ahmadinejad as beguiling as Wallace did.

He was tougher; not hostile, but tougher.

Ahmadinejad smiled through most of the interview. It was weird, the smile of a madman.

Responding to a question, Ahmadinejad said, "I'm a Muslim. I cannot tell a lie."

LIAR!!!

So much of what he said was lies.

Pelley started things off with the Ground Zero controversy.

When Pelley said that it would be an insult to Americans to have Ahmadinejad go there, he started talking about what a peace-loving man he is.

Ahmadinejad claimed, "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."

LIAR!!!

This from the man who gets up every morning thinking up new ways to say he wants to destroy Israel.

Moving on to Iran's role in Iraq--


PELLEY: It is an established fact now that Iranian bombs and Iranian know-how are killing Americans in Iraq. You have American blood on his hands. Why?

AHMADINEJAD: Well, this is what the American officials are saying. Again, American officials wherever around the world that they encounter a problem which they fail to resolve, instead of accepting that, they prefer to accuse others. I'm very sorry that because of their wrong decisions taken by American officials Iraqi people are being killed and also American soldiers. It's very regrettable.

PELLEY: The American Army has captured Iranian missiles in Iraq.... There's no doubt about that anymore. The denials are no longer credible, sir.

AHMADINEJAD: If I may, are you an American politician? Am I to look at you as an American politician or a reporter? This is what the American officials are claiming. If they accuse us 1000 times, the truth will not change.

PELLEY: Are you saying that it is not the policy of Iran to send weapons into Iraq. Sir, forgive me, you're smiling, but this is a very serious matter to America.

AHMADINEJAD: It is very serious for us as well. I dare say it's serious for everyone. It seems to me it's laughable for someone to turn a blind eye to the truth and accuse others. It doesn't help.

And the reason that I'm smiling, again, it's because that the picture is so clear, but American officials refuse to see it.

This guy is all lies. It's nauseating.
_________________________

Video and transcript here.

Ahmadinejad to Meet with 9/11 Families, War Critics

Anti-Semite, Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on his way to the United States.

From the Islamic Republic News Agency:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heading a high-ranking delegation, left Tehran for New York on Sunday to take part in the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

During his stay in New York, the president is scheduled to address the assembly and hold talks with the UN secretary general as well as presidents and senior officials of several countries on the sidelines of the UN meeting.

Delivering a speech at Colombia University, and holding discussions with a number of American Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders will be among his other programs.

The president will also have interviews with a number of leading US media.

Meanwhile, he is to hold talks with Iranian expatriates residing in New York.

The head of the Supreme Leader's Office, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi and a number of ministers saw the president off at Mehrabad International Airport.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki left Tehran for New York on Friday to take part in the UN General Assembly session.

Minister of Justice and Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, several Foreign Ministry officials and a number of MPs are accompanying the president in this trip.

Note that the IRNA doesn't know how to spell "Columbia." What a top notch news agency!

The IRNA isn't really a news outlet. It's Ahmadinejad's propaganda outlet. It's like what NBC - CBS - ABC - CNN - MSNBC - New York Times - Washington Post are to the Democrats in the U.S.

Check out this report:

Report: Iran's Ahmadinejad to meet 9/11 survivors

After having been rejected by the United States administration to visit the site of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now planning to meet the families of the 9/11 victims, Fars news agency reported.

Fars, which is close to the presidential office, further reported that Ahmadinejad would also meet US war critics and give a speech at the University of Columbia and answer to questions by students and lecturers.

The Fars report has not yet been officially confirmed.

I hope it's officially confirmed as inaccurate.


(h/t Dad29)

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger Flip Flops on the Invitation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

What a difference a year makes!

Statement by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger on the Invitation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

On Monday, September 24, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is scheduled to appear as a speaker on campus. The event is sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs, which has been in contact with the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. The event will be part of the annual World Leaders Forum, the University-wide initiative intended to further Columbia’s longstanding tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate, especially on global issues.

In order to have such a University-wide forum, we have insisted that a number of conditions be met, first and foremost that President Ahmadinejad agree to divide his time evenly between delivering remarks and responding to audience questions. I also wanted to be sure the Iranians understood that I would myself introduce the event with a series of sharp challenges to the President on issues including:

·the Iranian President’s denial of the Holocaust;

·his public call for the destruction of the state of Israel;

·his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;

·Iran's pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;

·his government's widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly of women's rights; and

·his government's imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia’s own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.

I would like to add a few comments on the principles that underlie this event. Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas—to understand the world as it is and as it might be. To fulfill this mission we must respect and defend the rights of our schools, our deans and our faculty to create programming for academic purposes. Necessarily, on occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most, or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. We trust our community, including our students, to be fully capable of dealing with these occasions, through the powers of dialogue and reason.

I would also like to invoke a major theme in the development of freedom of speech as a central value in our society. It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas, or our naiveté about the very real dangers inherent in such ideas. It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open the public forum to their voices. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible.

That such a forum could not take place on a university campus in Iran today sharpens the point of what we do here. To commit oneself to a life—and a civil society—prepared to examine critically all ideas arises from a deep faith in the myriad benefits of a long-term process of meeting bad beliefs with better beliefs and hateful words with wiser words. That faith in freedom has always been and remains today our nation’s most potent weapon against repressive regimes everywhere in the world. This is America at its best.

What I don't get is why Bollinger did the 180 on having Ahmadinejad speak at Columbia.

The anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying Iranian president with American blood on his hands was not allowed to speak at the university in 2006.

Bollinger withdrew the invitation.

Mr. Bollinger said he canceled Mr. Ahmadinejad's invitation because he couldn't be certain it would "reflect the academic values that are the hallmark of a University event such as our World Leaders Forum." He told Ms. Anderson that Mr. Ahmadinejad could speak at the school of international and public affairs, just not as a part of the university-wide leader's forum.

Ms. Anderson's assistant cited an inability to arrange for proper security as the reason for the cancellation.

Mr. Bollinger told Ms. Anderson that while he finds Mr. Ahmadinejad's views "repugnant," she has the "right and responsibility to invite speakers whom she believes will add to the academic experience of our students."

Now, in 2007, Bollinger has decided that Ahmadinejad belongs at the World Leaders Forum.

He says, "This is America at its best."

Really?

I guess last year Bollinger was behind America at its worst.
_______________________

Ahmadinejad isn't making it any easier for Bollinger.

Iran President Ahmadinejad rips U.S.

A day before flying to New York to speak directly to the American people, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a confrontational tone Saturday with a parade of fighter jets and missiles and tough warnings for the United States to stay out of the Mideast.

Three new domestically manufactured warplanes streaked over the capital during the parade marking the 27th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Iran, which sparked a 1980-88 war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The parade also featured the Ghadr missile, which has a range of 1,120 miles, capable of reaching Israel.

Some of the missile trucks were painted with the slogans "Down with the U.S." and "Down with Israel." The parade also featured unmanned aerial surveillance drones, torpedoes, and tanks.

..."Those (countries) who assume that decaying methods such as psychological war, political propaganda and the so-called economic sanctions would work and prevent Iran's fast drive toward progress are mistaken," Ahmadinejad.

..."Those who prevented Iran, at the height of the war from getting even barbed wire must see now that all the equipment on display today has been built by the mighty hands and brains of experts at Iran's armed forces," Ahmadinejad said.

...At the parade, Ahmadinejad repeated his demand for foreign forces to leave the region and urged the United States to acknowledge it has failed in Iraq. Outside the 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, there are 40,000 troops on U.S. bases in Persian Gulf countries and another 20,000 in Mideast waters.

"Nations throughout the region do not need the presence of the foreigners to manage their own needs. Foreign presence is the root cause of all instability, differences and threats," he said.

On the sidelines of the parade, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said the event highlighted the "might of Iran's armed forces to its enemies," adding that Iran is ready to retaliate if attacked.

"Iran has drawn up plans to confront enemies in the face of any possible attack," the official IRNA news agency quoted Jafari as saying.

____________________

At least Bollinger isn't hosting a luncheon in Ahmadinejad's honor.

Iranian President to Speak at NPC's First-Ever Videoconference Luncheon

60 Minutes: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Scott Pelley

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is making another appearance on 60 Minutes.

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?
____________________

Bollinger's Office
212-854-9970
____________________

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.

Ahmadinejad at Ground Zero

Flowers left by friends and families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center float in a reflecting pool at the base of the site on the sixth anniversary of the attacks in New York, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Mike Segar, Pool)

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes me sick.




It's unthinkable that anyone would even consider that it would be appropriate to allow this scumbag lowlife sponsor of terrorism to lay a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center.

As we speak, Iran is working to kill Americans in Iraq.

I don't like the idea of Ahmadinejad being on American soil let alone having him go to the hallowed grounds of the 9/11 attacks.

NEW YORK -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked permission to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site when he comes to New York City next week, but the request was denied, a police official said Wednesday.

The U.S. also has denied a visa to Iran's United Nations ambassador in Geneva to attend next week's General Assembly meeting because he was involved in the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis, a U.N. official said.

Ahmadinejad, who is arriving Sunday to address the United Nations' General Assembly, had asked this month for permission to visit the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, police spokesman Paul Browne said.

The request to enter the fenced-in site was rejected because of ongoing construction there, Browne said.

"Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be opposed by the NYPD on security grounds," Browne said.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters Wednesday that the United States would not support Iran's attempt to use the site for a "photo op."

...Browne said Ahmadinejad had asked permission from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, U.S. Secret Service and police department. The police and the Secret Service provide security to visiting heads of state.

The Port Authority, which owns the trade center site and is the only agency that could grant permission to go inside, said it attended a meeting with police regarding dignitary visits, not specifically about Ahmadinejad. At that meeting, it was determined that no dignitaries would be allowed inside the site due to ongoing construction, said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.

It wasn't clear whether Ahmadinejad wanted to descend to the base of the trade center site, where the twin towers once stood, or lay a wreath on a public sidewalk outside the site.

Mohammad Mir Ali Mohammadi, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the U.N., said he was not notified officially that Ahmadinejad would not be allowed at the site, but said it was unfortunate.

"President Ahmadinejad intended to lay a wreath at the site of ground zero in order to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorists attack of Sept. 11, 2001. We are hopeful that we can still work something out with the police department," he said.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said a visit to ground zero "is a matter for the city of New York, but it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit ground zero."

I suppose the likes of Democrat presidential candidates Barack Obama and terrorist Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's buddy Dennis Kucinich would jump at the opportunity to meet with Mahmoud.

During a Democrat debate on July 23, 2007, Obama said that he would be "willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of [his] administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea."



If as president Obama promises to meet with Ahmadinejad, he must be willing to spend some time with him while he's in New York.

I'm sure Kucinich would love a photo-op with the Iranian president.

They may have second thoughts about appearing with Ahmadinejad at Ground Zero, but they surely would have no problem meeting with him.

While in Syria and speaking about President Bush, Kucinich said, "[O]ur president is not understanding the mountain of evidence which indicates what a failure the policy in Iraq has been. Not only failure but how totally wrong it was from the beginning. Because you can talk about something being a failure and perhaps the cause may have been correct. But in this case, the cause was wrong from the beginning."

Yes, Ahmadinejad shares a lot of common ground with the Democrats.

The Dems hate Bush, just like Mahmoud. The Dems insist that the U.S. has failed in Iraq, just like Mahmoud.

That would be the mother of all Lefty photo-ops -- The Dems locking arms with Ahmadinejad at the WTC site.

I have an idea.

Jimmy Carter should play host to the Iranian president while he's in the U.S. He should invite Ahmadinejad to his farm. They could talk about the evil Israelis.

I don't think Ahmadinejad would try to take Carter hostage or anything.

I could be wrong.
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Ahmadinejad: In his own words--

ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM:

"If anyone shows aggression to the Iranian nation’s rights, Iran will wipe the dark stain of regret on their foreheads."

"If the world accepts Iran’s desire then fine, but if it wants to ignore the rights of the Iranian nation then Iran will know what path to pursue."

"If we stand strong the enemies will be defeated in the face of the Iranian nation’s will."

"Those who get sad at the progress and happiness of others are suffering from mental and psychological problems, so they should find a way to cure themselves."

"More than two billion people were happy and celebrated when they heard the news about Iran's nuclear achievement."


ON U.S. FORCES IN IRAQ:

"They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice. These passive activities are the acts of a group of defeated Zionists and occupiers who intended to hit our emotions."

"You (the United States) have to know that such an act will not save you from the anger of Muslim nations."


ON THE HOLOCAUST:

"How comes that insulting the prophet of Muslims worldwide is justified within the framework of press freedom, but investigating about the fairy tale Holocaust is not?"

"The real Holocaust is what is happening in Palestine where the Zionists avail themselves of the fairy tale of Holocaust as blackmail and justification for killing children and women and making innocent people homeless."


ON THE DANISH CARTOONS DEPICTING MOHAMMED:

"Those who insulted the prophet should know that you cannot obscure the sun with a handful of dust. The dust will just get back and blind your own eyes."


ON ISRAEL AND AMERICA:

"Today, it is the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime which are doomed to disappear as they have moved far away from the teachings of God. It is a divine promise."

"They become upset when they hear any voice of truth-seeking. They think they are the absolute rulers of the world."

"My words were the Iranian nation's words."

"Westerners are free to comment, but their reactions are invalid."

"The fighting in Palestine is a war between the (whole) Islamic nation and the world of arrogance (U.S. and Israel)."

"Today, Palestinians are representing the Islamic nation against arrogance."

"Despite the barbaric and criminal nature of the occupiers of Jerusalem, the regime and its Western supporters do not even have the power to give Iran a nasty look."


ON ISRAEL:

"The Zionist regime is the standard bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan."

"With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine. By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future."

"Israel is destined for destruction and it will disappear soon."

"Today, it has been proven that the Zionists are not opposed only to Islam and the Muslims. They are opposed to humanity as a whole. They want to dominate the entire world. They would even sacrifice the Western regimes for their own sake. I have said in Tehran, and I say it again here - I say to the leaders of some Western countries: Stop supporting these corrupt people."

"There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world."

"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury, (while) any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world."

"As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

"We ask the West to remove what they created sixty years ago and if they do not listen to our recommendations, then the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them."

"Do the removal of Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations."

"Some 60 years have passed since the end of World War II. Why should the people of Germany and Palestine pay now for a war in which the current generation was not involved?"

"We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot not logically continue to live," he said.

"Despite the barbaric and criminal nature of the occupiers of Jerusalem, the regime and its Western supporters do not even have the power to give Iran a nasty look."


ON DEMOCRACY:

"We did not have a revolution in order to have democracy."


ON WAR AND PEACE:

"Behold, the rage of the Muslim peoples is accumulating. The rage of the Muslim peoples may soon reach the point of explosion. If that day comes, they must know that the waves of this explosion will not be restricted to the boundaries of our region. They will definitely reach the corrupt forces that support this fake regime."

Should President Bush and the United States embrace this madman?

Should we allow Ahmadinejad to exploit Ground Zero?

The answer is obvious.

No. Never.

He's evil. Libs don't like to use words like good and evil; but Ahmadinejad is evil.
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UPDATE:

Ahmadinejad's plan to visit Ground Zero may go forward.

Read more.

Rudy Giuliani released this statement:

"Under no circumstances should the NYPD or any other American authority assist President Ahmadinejad in visiting Ground Zero. This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring bin Laden's son and other al-Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons. Assisting Ahmadinejad in touring Ground Zero - hallowed ground for all Americans - is outrageous."

I agree completely.

Ahmadinejad should receive no assistance from any American authority if he insists on going to Ground Zero.

My feeling is he can go to Columbia University or hell.