Columbia President To Ahmadinejad: "You Exhibit All The Signs Of A Petty And Cruel Dictator"

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began his speech at Columbia University by saying that criticism from University President Lee Bollinger was an insult to the audience. Bollinger had told Ahmadinejad he exhibits "all the signs of a petty, cruel dictator."

Earlier today, Ahmadinejad defended his nation's human rights record as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the U.N. and Columbia University to protest appearances by the hard-line leader.

Read the full story here.

Watch the video from CNN below.

Comments

[ProudPrimate]

07:13 PM on 09/26/2007

"for he might be a god in disguise."

As Baucus & Philemon were visited by Jove & Mercury, dressed as beggars.

Have you noticed that no railer and false accuser ever comes back to respond to us who provide factual proof that A. never said the things he is accused of?

Dead silence.

[Pontefract]

07:48 PM on 09/25/2007

What frightens me in this ugly and somewhat shameful episode is the effortless methods with which people can be made be so hateful. I'm referring not to the Iranians but to the Americans. Where does this hatred and anger come from? These folks can't all have family in Iran. All those hysterical sign wavers in front of the UN -- are they burning the midnight laptop battery educating themselves about the middle east? I doubt it.

No, Iran wasn't on anybodies radar until Bush proclaimed them a member of the axis of evil. Since then, it has suited the administration's agenda to feed the press with arguments positioning Iran as the threat-to-worldpeace- elect.

Now, I'm not trying to defend Iran. It's the underlying mechanism that I'm interested in: The gov't tells the press who we're going to hate. The press dutifully and uncritically disseminates the information, adding some juicy visuals and out-of-context sound bites to pump up the drama, and presto -- the masses are marching.

Why isn't anyone asking questions like these? --
Is iran any more oppressive to women or gays than Saudi Arabia?
Is Iran a greater threat to world peace than Pakistan?
Is it any more fanatical in the pursuit of its interests than Israel?

So why are these countries our allies, and Iran a sworn enemy?

Where are the nation's critics? Are we really this helpless as a nation against this mechinery of propaganda?

[JohnBryansFontaine]

07:00 PM on 09/25/2007

Lee Bollinger said exactly the right thing to the Weasel Skank Puke Monkey Ahmadinejad

[cdnnewsjunky]

07:24 PM on 09/25/2007

"Lee Bollinger said exactly the right thing to the Weasel Skank Puke Monkey Ahmadinejad"
- JohnBryansFontaine

Very insightful commentary! Any other hate issues you want to get off your chest while were listening?

[ghostsofamerica]

06:48 PM on 09/25/2007

I have been thinking of the President of Iran's speech, and the moment when he took the bull by the horns and decried the lack of hospitality, and the anti-intellectual attack on the speaker, as well as the attack on the audience, for not letting them make up their own good minds.

It was brilliant.

But what I grasped instantly when Ahmadinejad's reminder of what the ancient Greeks called the highest virtue, Hospitality. The Greeks would slaughter an ox, and lay out the best of fruits and breads for a stranger come to town, for he might be a god in disguise.

And I think, in some funny way, that the self-proscribed "teacher" first, and politician second, may have been some form of a saint. It was with Christ-like common sense, he asked for peace and connection, and to follow the laws of the land. He did not beg to stop the US from bombing back to the stoneage his country, nor to stop the Neandrathal Cheney, Bush, Israel, Neocons, and the Devilworshipping Pentagon and the accompanying war lobbyists, and tentfollowing whores of war. Ahmadinejad's tack was to say "We are a good people, and so are you, remember? We must follow paths of peace, or we will be heathens doomed to hell on earth. The things of the spirit, and truth, like science are what are true and good. Let us be brothers and sisters."

He even quoted the Old Testament stories, in his sermon on the mount.

[JohnJames]

07:28 PM on 09/25/2007

The noble amd saintly Ahmedinejad's country is already a hell on earth for its gay citizens. And I'm sure the rulers of fundamentalist Islamic Iran have no end of respect for science, nuclear physics excepted.

[JohnJames]

04:26 PM on 09/25/2007

Conservatives have conveniently forgotten that Christian fundamentalists before 9/11 in this country were trying to make common cause with equally intolerant Muslims, much as Ahmadinejad does when he points out the reasons for unity between monotheists and their duty to rule the world. They even invented a snappy catch-phrase - people of the Abramamic tradition. They were beating the drums for war with China at the time, remember?, but the terrorists changed those plans and their little unifying catch-phrase was immediately scrapped.

[MalgreLui]

04:17 PM on 09/25/2007

he exhibits "all the signs of a petty, cruel dictator."

And you, Mr. Bollinger, exhibit all the signs of having a bad barber.

[forpeace]

04:33 PM on 09/25/2007

*

"MalgreLui
he exhibits "all the signs of a petty, cruel dictator."
And you, Mr. Bollinger, exhibit all the signs of having a bad barber."
==========================

LOL..............he looks like wearing piece of carpet on his head.

*

[wars4profit]

04:02 PM on 09/25/2007

CBS’s Scott Pelley acquitted himself just as badly as Bollinger when he interviewed Ahmadinejad Sept. 20 in Tehran. Ahmadinejad compared Pelley to a CIA investigator and calmly reminded him, “This is not Guantanamo Bay. This is not a Baghdad prison. This is not a secret prison in Europe. This is not Abu-Ghraib. This is Iran. I am the president of this country.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

Click on “President Ahmadinejad.”
.

[MI6troll]

05:34 PM on 09/25/2007

Poor raise. F*cker up as a peach orchard pig.

Call her a b*tch and she spams about misogyny for hours.

Yet she supports the butcher of Teheran.

[wars4profit]

08:10 PM on 09/25/2007

Count on MI6troll to regularly reveal his true nature.

[dukeman]

03:45 PM on 09/25/2007

One think can be said of Iran's president. He was not afraid to stand in front of a group of ordinary Americans and answer their questions. America's president hasn't done that!

[Fuji]

03:48 PM on 09/25/2007

Yup, that point has been made plenty of times. As if that somehow diminishes the crimes his state has perpetrated.

[wars4profit]

04:04 PM on 09/25/2007

Fuji--Yes, and that point should be repeated as many times as necessary.

[cdnnewsjunky]

06:54 PM on 09/25/2007

Fuji, they have a sequel to all that old testament kill em all and hang em high routine, called the new testament where everyone chills out. And there is line from that about let those without sin cast the first stone.

[innerpeace]

03:33 PM on 09/25/2007

I confront a hate monger and then have the far left jump on me.The far left is sterile and irrelevant and I guess their love of hate mongers is,in part,why.Of course,the far right has more than their share of hate mongers that they defend,also.Hate mongers cause wars so if you're going to defend them then don't claim to be anti war because you aren't.You cause wars.

[Fuji]

03:41 PM on 09/25/2007

As a moderate conservative, I welcome your comments. They at least have reason and calm behind them.

[wars4profit]

03:50 PM on 09/25/2007

outerwar and Fuji--The topic is Bollinger invited the Iranian president to speak at Columbia then proved himself a bad host by insulting his guest. What's your opinion/s? Did Bollinger behave appropriately?

[JohnJames]

03:54 PM on 09/25/2007

I'm a liberal and I have total contempt for anyone on the left or anywhere else who doesn't recognize the brutal despotic nature of Middle Eastern theocracies or who tries to make excuses for them, but the fact is such people are few and far between. They're largely a straw man concocted by demagogues on the right.

[wars4profit]

04:05 PM on 09/25/2007

JohnJames--Yeah, you're a liberal. I think what you have total contempt for is the English language.

[MaxTaylor1]

03:11 PM on 09/25/2007

Hmmmm. Alot of bitterness I see towards your President Bush. Not surprising, coming from blinded fear mongers of the far left. Tell me, my lil' tree hugger friends, why not move to Tehran and increase the gay population by 1000000%? Ahmehdinejad and Pinkos make odd bedfellows, don't you think?

[JohnJames]

03:34 PM on 09/25/2007

They certainly would make odd bedfellows. On the other hand, the theocratic authoritarian base of the Republican party ought to get along swimmingly with the Iranian mullahs - different religion, but the same goals.

[wars4profit]

03:38 PM on 09/25/2007

MaxTaylor1--Another reichwing wannabe immigration official. Since you anti-Iranian propagandists are clamoring for a Pentagon attack on Iran, why not take up residence in Tehran yourselves? That way you can watch the "shock 'n' awe" action you so desire from close up. If you're lucky, you might look up at the sky and catch a glimpse of a bomb falling right on you!

[MaxTaylor1]

03:55 PM on 09/25/2007

whore4profit,
Who says I want a war with Iran? Either way, I'm sure you won't go to Tehran, with the way they treat your "rainbow" kind.

[cadawa]

02:45 PM on 09/25/2007

The president of Colombia is making the US appear crude and ignorant. Ahmedinejad is the leader of a nation and his guest.
My guess is that his insultng behavior is sop for AIPAC who are threatening economic reprisals.
Cruel dictators have never bothered the US before. Why we even have one ourselves. Who else would murder a million innocent people and go looking for more but a cruel dictator?
Who else would lock people up without due process and take away our civil rights?

[ZenJu]

02:08 PM on 09/25/2007

Articles like this never fail to move me to laughter. Anything even remotely involving Jews or Israel will draw out the anti-Semites like Boobaloo and BuyRubles and their neo-Nazi/KKK racist ilk; on the other hand, it puts the wanna-be leftists in a bind because they WANT to support Ahmadinejad in his anti-Israel rhetoric, yet he is part of a regime that's hateful to gays and women. Articles like these are a brilliant litmus test to draw out the Jew-bashers of all stripes.

[Fuji]

03:40 PM on 09/25/2007

PRECISELY.

[wars4profit]

03:42 PM on 09/25/2007

Zenju--The regime that is hateful to gays and women is the Bush-Dick regime that wants to bomb innocent Iranian gays and women the same way it bombed innocent Iraqi gays and women.

[Fuji]

03:47 PM on 09/25/2007

Give it up. The target wasn't homosexual individuals. You're stretchinnnnnnnnng.

[BWonka]

02:00 PM on 09/25/2007

Bollinger gave Ahmanutjob exactly what he deserves. It was great to see the little tyrant gringe as Bollinger's comments were translated and when everyone laughed at his Craig-esgue comment about gays.

THAT is why it is a GOOD thing to have 'nutjob' face the American people - to hear what he won't let his own people ever say.

[wars4profit]

03:24 PM on 09/25/2007

BWonka--How do you feel about the fact that Ahmadinejad is a 9/11 skeptic?

[gakabani]

01:32 PM on 09/25/2007

Someone has the e-mail for mr. shit Bollinger?

[smartstuart]

01:31 PM on 09/25/2007

Shame on the Columbia Prez talking aboutBush and Cheney that way!!!!