Ahmadinejad Goes to Columbia, Veracifier Does Too
Just as Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad desends on New York for the UN General Assembly and a speech at Columbia, Iran has closed its border crossings to Iraq's Kurdish region in what is being called a punitive response to the U.S. detention of an Iranian official last week. This will surely come up this afternoon when Ahmadinejad addresses students and faculty at New York's Ivy League university, a hotly contested event that will serve as a crowning conversation in Columbia's World Leaders Forum. Despite calls from all walks of society - from the Anti-Defamation League to students themselves who have canvassed campus with photos of Iranian death penalties - to cancel the speech, Columbia has stood strong in its decision to invite the contentious leader to campus.
"Iran is an important country. And like it or not, we are going to have to deal with it," said Dean John Coatsworth of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, in defense of his school's speaking invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We are not giving him a platform. He has plenty of platforms. We are going to have to deal with people like this in the real world," Coatsworth continued. "We need to know more about this guy and what he stands for. And we need to challenge him when we can."
Hillary Clinton, however, has made clear that if she were President of the university (where this reporter saw her speak seven years ago this week), she would certainly not have invited the Iranian leader to speak on campus. "Well, if I were a president of the university, I would not have invited him," she told CNN. "He's a Holocaust denier. He's a supporter of terrorism. But I also respect the right in our country to make different decisions."
Meanwhile, the Israeli Ha'aretz says let him speak. "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is simply one of Israel's premier diplomatic and security assets," they reported Sunday. "His expressed views make Israel look pragmatic, clear-eyed, non-paranoid." Are we really going for politics by comparison?
We'll be covering Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia live this afternoon. Be sure to check back for more.
oops- just happened- no tasering- good to know its safer to challenge (as did Columbia president Bollinger) Iranian politicians than American ones.
Tasering a college president would look bad, anyway..
to me it is somewhat amazing that this Leader feels safe (if he does) being questioned by students after the protests against his speech. I wondered how he could do this, without fer, and first thought he must have his own armed bodyguards along. Then I thought, in order to prevent a possible incident they would be searched for arms, and a large contingent of police, campus and otherwise, would be there to ease his mind about speaking at all...Then I wondered- will several students feel the Taser's bite today? Hope it comes off without any violence, including strogarm police tactics.
If you were Iran's president, and knew the US was planning to bomb your country (on TV of course) it would seem less than fair not to be allowed to speak here, where freedom of speech is a basic right. Let's see if police protect Am... can I call him Mahmoud? as "well" as they treated Kerry's questioner the other day.Or will it be a sombre respectful gathering? Allah knows.