Iranian President called 'cruel and petty dictator' in NYC visit

[bradm]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/09/24/ahmadinejad-visit.html

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced tough questions on Monday over his hardline leadership and his country's human rights record as he made a controversial appearance at Columbia University in New York.

"Mr. President, you show all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," said Lee Bollinger, the president of the Ivy League school, citing imprisonments and executions of dissidents and academics in his stinging opening remarks.

As well as the full article linked to above, the full text of Bollinger's speech (which is a very worthwhile read, in my opinion) is available here; you may have to look at an ad before you get to the page (if you see an ad, wait for the "Enter Salon" link to pop up, which takes a few seconds; click on it when it shows up).

Aloha,

Brad

Edited September 25, 2007 by Guest
Shortened subject.

[bradm]

Test reply.

Aloha,

Brad

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Pretty hard-hitting stuff all around. I have no respect for Ahmadinejad's politics or worldview, but the performer in me has to admire his ability to do what he did in front of such a hostile audience. And yes, there's no shortage of hypocrisy these days whenever folks in the US try to paint themselves as some kind of alternative to the moral bankruptcy "over there"; they've totally forfeited the right to do that, imo, and who knows how they'll ever recover that. Imagine, a country succumbing to a conservative religious regime....

If anything, this speech is an important test of those values that Americans claim to hold as important - viz., if nothing else, the ability to actually listen to people who have different beliefs and values without clubbing them over the head.

The scary thing is that there are Iranians in power who are far more whacked than Ahmadinejad (just as, not to Godwin the thread, there were Germans in the 3rd Reich more whacked than Hitler). Here was a chance for dialogue, however stunted; it's a pity not more was done with it.

[Kanada Kev]

Thanks for the transcript of Bollinger's opening comments. What I found fascinating is that it's not easy to find a transcript of Ahmadinejad's comments/responses. In all the articles i've sifted through, they are regurgitated in sound-bytes via the writer. For somebody who is cursed by translation and out-of-context issues, why can't the media just fucking put the full text up and let those of us intelligent enough to read make up our OWN MINDS!! This is how propaganda is perpetuated. I was impressed by this anonymous response to the transcripts on the Salon site:

Disgusted

I cringe in embarassment for Mr. Bollinger for the tone of the speech towards the Iranian President. Frankly, it's unbecoming for a man of his stature to stoop to that level and I think in a couple of years he'll be cringing as well. I suspect he wrote that speech to counteract the criticisms he was receiving about extending the invitation in the first place. It was a CYA move.

Between the frothing 60 minutes reporter yesterday, Mr. Bollinger today and the whole hysterical reaction to the visit of the Iranian president from the American media and select populace the unthinkable has happened...the "petty dictator" came off as a rational, articulate, level-headed person. And in actually facing, and responding to hostile reporters, presidents of universities, demonstrators and college audiences he has shown more spine that G. W. Bush who has never been subjected to anything less than fawning interviews, carefully vetted audiences and v.limited questioning.

Why all the fuss re this visit?. Are these more diversionary tactics to take away the focus from the quagmire of Iraq and the abysmal state of the American union?. Last week it was Moveon.Org and now it's the visit from Iran's president?.

Iran had nothing to do with 9/11. They actively helped the US in trying to smoke out al-Qaeda in Pakistan before Bush decided to give up and instead pursue Saddam and yes, their human rights record is abysmal but no more than Saudi Arabia's, Egypt and China and countless others and I don't see us going all insane about our so-called allies abuses. His anti-semitism is repugnant (par for course in the Middle East) but he knows that if he dares points so much a a bb gun towards Israel his nation would be carpet-bombed to hell.

We are treating Iran, a mere third-world country, as if it was Nazi Germany and it is not, no matter what the neo-cons want you to think. There are rational and diplomatic ways of dealing with them and we all have to step back and look at the situation with rational minds, clear eyes and no cant. Unfortunately, that won't happen until this administration is out of power and it might be too late then.

--Anonymous

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Iran had nothing to do with 9/11. They actively helped the US in trying to smoke out al-Qaeda in Pakistan before Bush decided to give up and instead pursue Saddam

This is so screamingly important; I wish NA media would work with it. Al-Qaeda types utterly loathe and despise Shi'a Muslims and would like to see them permanently disappear. Iran could have been a major player with the US in dealing with them, but I'm guessing that the US is so compromised in its dealings with big Sunni players (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, etc.) that it's hamstrung. And this is a pity, if it means that the US lost a chance to be a participant in where Iran is headed.