Ahmadinejad: Why The Right Is Wrong

The man whose name you can't pronounce is landing in New York. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will address a select group of Columbia University faculty and students on Monday as part of the school's annual World Leaders Forum.

Reactions to Columbia University's decision to invite him have been mixed, and right in line with expectations. McCain, Giuliani and groups including The Anti-Defamation League have come out swinging against the Columbia-Ahmadinejad coupling, armed with terms like "Holocaust denier," "Persian Hitler" and "state sponsor of terrorism." They also make note of what they see as Columbia's other failings: lack of an ROTC chapter, the decision to let Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist speak last year and Columbia Dean John Coatsworth's recent remark that he would also invite Hitler to speak "if he were willing to engage in debate and a discussion."

Supporters, including Columbia President Lee Bollinger, have for their part expressed concern about the dangers of curtailing free speech. In a prepared statement, Bollinger wrote: "That such a forum could not take place on a university campus in Iran today sharpens the point of what we do here."

Once again, the American right is going about things all wrong. Ahmadinejad is their best tool. Rather than working to shut him down, they should sit back and let him speak. Here's why: Sound bites from Ahmadinejad's Columbia appearance will inevitably produce more "evidence" the administration and its hawks can use to push the need for this regime's elimination -- like his incendiary remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations last year. It is Ahmadinejad's words the administration consistently cites as supporting evidence for its cause. If Ahmadinejad wasn't afforded the opportunity to speak, and to offer up more inflammatory remarks, then the right would be without this easy ammunition in its ongoing campaign to invade Iran.

As leading campus free speech and first amendment scholar Robert O'Neil rightly notes: "If you suppress a viewpoint by disallowing or barring a controversial speaker, you make the speaker a martyr."

While all eyes are on Manhattan, precious few are watching what's happening in Washington. On Thursday, Senators Jon Kyl and Joseph Lieberman filed an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill that would make it official U.S. policy to "combat, contain and roll back" Iran and its surrogates in Iraq. Section 5 calls for the United States to formally designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. If passed, this amendment would open the door even wider for military action against Iran.

Why hasn't this bit of news sparked similar debate?

Comments

[GPMango]

America lost an opportunity to start a dialogue with Ahmadinejad last week with regard to his visit to Ground Zero. America (and the NYPD, in concert with the L.M.D.C.) should have granted his wish in exchange for a concession from him and his regime. I would have said yes and then said that what we want is a full team of I.A.E.A. weapons inspectors on the ground in Tehran by October 1st. As I have always said, never turn down an opportunity to do someone a favor, you may need their help someday in the future.

[bhougen]

knowing the dems, I'm sure the Lieberman/Kyl amendment will see no resistance.

[Gerald36]

The dogs bark and the caravan goes on.

[rboylern]

We've run out of Middle Eastern boogeymen, so it appears that The Decider and his coterie of assorted yes-men and crumb-bums have concluded that Pres. Ahmadinejad is fair game. He's Middle Eastern. He's Muslim. In the movies, when there's a boogeyman the first thing the actor does is to emit a yell loud enough to cause people within a 1000 mile radius to pee their pants. Then you start shooting. Seems the Powers That Be are already screaming. Our President wants to bomb Iran so bad he can almost taste it. The man is beneath contempt.

[wars4profit]

From the article:
On Thursday, Senators Jon Kyl and Joseph Lieberman filed an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill that would make it official U.S. policy to "combat, contain and roll back" Iran and its surrogates in Iraq. Section 5 calls for the United States to formally designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. If passed, this amendment would open the door even wider for military action against Iran.


That explains the monopoly media's extreme hostility toward and mistreatment of Ahmadinejad. It appears they're gearing up for a castastrophic attack on Iran and are hell-bent on presenting the Iranian president as an "evil dictator," no matter how much lying it takes.
.

[Roberto2201]

Seeing Ahmadinejad's appearance on "60 Minutes" proves Ms. Ensha's point. Just let him speak and you'll see what a dissembling, evasive, smirking weasel he is, avoiding every attempt by Scott Pelley to get him to answer a straight question. Ahmadinejad can't make Columbia University students "disappear" after asking him tough questions. America has survived Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez speaking before the UN and in countless media interviews. This, too, shall pass, unless the right tries to milk this like it did the MoveOn ad.

[CarmanK]

Unfortunately, The President of Columbia was rude in his introduction of the Iranian leader. He demonstrated that free speech isn't all that free even in an academic environment. Like Iran, America has its elite powermongers who would muffle the constitution when convenient. Certainly, Columbia demostrated its lack of good manners and deplomacy. They need to go back to school, oh wait that is an American University isn't it.

[acudoc]

I can't imagine that George Bush or Dick Cheney would go to Iran and make a speech at a major Iranian university. What would they say? I, for one, salute Ahmedinejad for having the courage to come into the heart of the dragon and attempt to explain Iran to brain-dead, propagandized Americans. I am ashamed to say this but he makes more sense than the President we have in office. The State of Israel, along with many of the other present-day states in the Middle East, were determined by foreign powers at the end of WWI and WWII. Our hubris and constant interventionism of the past 100 years (including our brazen intervention into Iran to secure the flow of oil in the early 1950s) are having their blowback, and I am afraid that we have not learned our lesson, so our children and grandchildren will be paying with their labor and their blood one hundred years hence for our ignorance and inability to think outside the box.

[mpgarr]

Having Ahmadinejad speak at Columbia University--was as they say--"a teaching moment."

If anyone had any illusion about this guy not being a whack job--his speech at the school today made that point loud and clear.

On NPR's "All Things Considered" this afternoon-they had a reporter on the Columiba campus where a jumobtron was set up to show the speech to Columbia students who could not secure tickets to see him at the lecture hall.

When Ahmadinejad made his comments to the effect that "we have no homosexuals in Iran like you do here..." you should have heard the howls and jears---if Ahmadinejad had anyone on his side by that point--he lost them big time with that bozo remark.

I was thinking that as Ahmadinejad was speaking---he has some weird and unrealistic view of reality that he seems to really believe--but wow--we have had the same thing coming from our dear leader and his crowd almost since day one--so-I guess one's view of "reality" really is dependent the place one is viewing it from.

[Big "T"]

Hey DudeE No, the US Government was Not complicit in 9/11 but by their actions (doing nothing) the Clinton Administration was!

...more later

[Semper]

When you have an enemy, you watch him. You talk to him. You have constant dialog with him to. If you are walking in the jungle, you look down on the ground to see the snakes. Not talking to Ahmadinejad is the most asinine comment I have heard from anyone in a long time. As much as you hate your divorced wife, you talk to her, because if you don't the end result will be worst.

[Ginn]

"Reactions to Columbia University's decision to invite him have been mixed, and right in line with expectations. McCain, Giuliani and groups including The Anti-Defamation League have come out swinging against the Columbia-Ahmadinejad coupling, armed with terms like "Holocaust denier," "Persian Hitler" and "state sponsor of terrorism."

The United Nations Human Rights Council on June 18, 2007, on Iran racial discrimination:

1. Convening international conference "questioning the truth of
the extermination of the European Jews by Nazi Germany"

2. Ahmadinejad"s repeated calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Secretary-General Ban condemned Ahmadinejad for inciting the "destruction of the Zionist regime."

Ahmadinejad continues to violate the Genocide Convention"s Article 3 prohibition against incitement to destroy a national group.

I agree wholeheartedly with on your point about Free Speech. It is essential and must survive in order for us to survive.

Your last point:

"While all eyes are on Manhattan, precious few are watching what's happening in Washington. On Thursday, Senators Jon Kyl and Joseph Lieberman filed an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill that would make it official U.S. policy to "combat, contain and roll back" Iran and its surrogates in Iraq. Section 5 calls for the United States to formally designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. If passed, this amendment would open the door even wider for military action against Iran."

You seem to question this action.

New evidence on exporting of Iranian arms to Syria
http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/3616/152/

Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban
http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/3634/152/

Your article is titled, "Why The Right Is Wrong." Is the Right "wrong" about the rampant Anti-Semitism of Ahmahdinejad? Wrong about his quest to revise the history of the Holocaust to claim it was kinder and gentler Nazi Germany? Wrong that Iran wasn"t caught arming the Taliban in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, sending arms to Syria.

http://deathby1000papercuts.blogspot.com/2007/09/ahmadinejad-at-columbia-when-left.html

[plutorage]

You got it backwards. The establishment in the USA has been hiding Ahmedinajad so they can make up a villain that will justify invasion of Iran.

I would like to have a discussion with Ahmedinajad and ask him, since he has nothing against Jews as individuals, how we should proceed with an arrangement that allows Jew and Palestinian individuals to live in peace together on the land they now are fighting on.

Once the discussion is joined, I think you will see that we are on the road to peace, whether it suits Ahmedinajad or not.

Naturally, the USA and some elements of Zionist state would rather not open the discussion because they want war.

[janmB]

It serves NO GOOD purpose for one country or one of its leaders to purposely insult another country or its leaders. It results in KIDDIE-GARDEN exchanges when the one attacked responds in the like.
Is Ahmadinejad a GOOD person-- NO HE ISN'T but there are lots of bad leaders in our world today and Talking is better than WARS.
The biggest outrage for Ahmadinejad's visit appears to be because he claims if the Holocost existed - it warrants MORE investigation. ( kind of like we want 911 investigated more thoroughly perhaps ? ) And the jews in our country are outraged because he stated IRAN considers ISRAEL an enemy because they feel they have taken lands not belonging to them and that Israel bombs its neighbors.
The problem is for the USA right now ---we need to get our own credibility back in the world so we can justify and back our criticisms of the bad guys by the way WE live and the way our govt conducts itself.

[gingershot]

Guess what Israel and Neocons? - it ain't ALL about the Holocaust

Ahmadinejad's visit wasn't really about the Holocaust though you tried to make it so. It IS about your violation of UN Sec Council Resolutions 224 and 338 demanding you get back behind the 1967 lines and stop stealing Palestinian lands. It IS about your 4th Geneva Convention and International Law violating occupation of Palestine. It is about your AIPAC bought US Congress that you are goading into assaulting Iran

I accuse YOU Israel. You always hide behind your accusations of others - and that is always how you've escaped your crimes.

Free Palestine and we will free ourselves from our illegal war on terror. Of course, that's the big, huge, leviathan, sickening lie - what we are actually fighting is our 'War of Terror for Israel' - that is how bought we are