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Ahmadinejad, Bad And Dangerous To Know
Here's Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telling students at Columbia University New York that there are no gays in Iran:
It's something that doesn't happen over there, apparently.
The exchange on gays came as part of what newspapers were calling the Iranian President's "Charm Offensive" (though it's hard to see where charm fits in). He wanted to visit Ground Zero, an idea refused by various authorities. Instead, he made his case at the University - noted as being one of the most politically correct in the US.
Anti-western demagogues who dislike Israel and George Bush are more often than not welcomed by university authorities. However, Ahmadinejad's history of Holocaust denial, the ongoing tough line on women's liberty and the fact that homosexuals get a particularly hard time under his rule have made him persona non grata, even among (most of) the student body at Columbia. Crowds protested against his visit, and the University dean, Lee Bollinger, strongly criticised Ahmadinejad before his speech to the sold-out theatre.
He was denounced as a "petty and cruel dictator" who must be "brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated" to question the facts of the Holocaust. Bollinger warned that guests would be treated to views many would find "offensive and even odious."
Ahmadinejad seemed taken aback by the introduction, and accused the Dean of trying to "inoculate the audience" against his views. He didn't do himself any favours by subsequently calling for "more research" into the Holocaust.
The President insisted that while Iran had a right to continue its nuclear program, it wasn't building a bomb. He dismissed rumours that the US and Iran were headed towards war as a "propaganda tool" and argued that US threats were the real danger in the region. The US was rattling its sabre in Tehran's direction, he said, for electoral reasons and to cover up the failure in Iraq.
As for US claims that Iran is supplying Iraqi rebels with weapons: "Are you telling me the US military is defeated as a result of two or three weapons here or there? We think the US military should seek an answer for its defeat elsewhere.”
US leaders queued to condemn Ahmadinejad's presence in the University. Hillary Clinton attacked him as a Holocaust denier and a supporter of terrorism, while Mitt Romney said that he should be charged under the UN Genocide Convention for his support for "wiping Israel from the pages of history."
Toby Harnden of the Telegraph Blog notes that this might be because Iran executes homosexuals. Harnden also takes stock of some messages of support for the Iranian leader's mission to NYC, emanating from the usual suspects.
One poster said that as a Jewish lesbian she wouldn't last long in Iran, but found Ahmadinejad irresistible because of what he says about George W Bush. She added that she found him "cuddly." She might be happy to hear that according to Ahmadinejad himself, Iran's women are the "freest in the world."
The speech at Columbia:
Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust:
The Q & A session
Bollinger's full speech here:
Part two here:
