Iran President: Our Nukes Are Peaceful
In U.N Speech, Ahmadinejad Accuses U.S. Of Abusing Security Council
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President Bush addresses the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
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President Bush arrives with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, left, for the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
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Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, president of the 61st session of the U.N. General Assembly, presides over the General Assembly on Sept. 18, 2006. (AP)
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Empty flag poles frame security personnel while scanning the area with binoculars from a roof at the United Nations building, Monday Sept. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
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In a speech Tuesday, Ahmadinejad accused some permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — an apparent reference to the United States — of using the powerful U.N. body as a tool of “threat and coercion.” He reiterated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
“All our nuclear activities are transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eyes” of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Ahmadinejad said.
His speech was sharply critical of the United States and Britain, and focused in large part on what he said was their abuse of the Security Council, on which they are both permanent members with veto power.
“If they have differences with a nation or state, they drag it to the Security Council and as claimants, arrogate to themselves simultaneously the roes of prosecutor, judge and executioner,” Ahmadinejad said. “Is this a just order?”
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in a press gaggle today that Bush did not watch Ahmadinejad's speech last night, and would not engage in point-by-point rebuttal of it.
The U.S. and Britain played central roles in helping craft a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in July that gave Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment and asked the IAEA to report on Tehran's compliance, dangling the threat of sanctions if Iran refused. Tehran made clear even before the deadline expired that it had no intention of suspending uranium enrichment.
"Clearly, Ahmadinejad's speech was an attempt to rally the developing world, not mentioning Iran's role in terror and, on the contrary, scolding the U.S and the U.K, for oppression in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Iran itself," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk from the U.N. on Tuesday evening.
"Although Ahmadinejad's attacks on the world powers may ring true with the developing world and it may buy Iran some more time with negotiations, the Security Council is likely to continue to press for sanctions if Iran does not return to a suspension of its nuclear programs."
The speech comes a few hours after President Bush used his U.N. platform to try to quell anti-Americanism in the Middle East by assuring Muslims that he is not waging war against Islam, regardless of what “propaganda and conspiracy theories” they hear.
Mr. Bush also pressed Iran to return at once to international talks on its nuclear program and threatened consequences if the Iranians do not.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 104 CommentsI realize that Iraq and terrorism are important and need to be discussed, but no more of the flag waving, cheer leading, please. That was old 2 years ago. We need real discussions based on real facts of what is happening, not some rose colored fantasy that only the Bush Admin seems to see.
And refusing to talk to the Iranian president is just plan stupid. Treating the man with this kind of contempt is only going to increase the impression that Bush thinks he is God in cowboy boots and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is some bad guy out of a Grade B western. I don't think that is going to impress anyone and will probably isolate the US even more.
A covenant is only worth anything if parties respect it. Should one of the parties fail to do so, an appeal can be launched at the International Courts, to do justice.
That said, it would be sheer folly to play by the Geneva Convention with an enemy who, not only has no regard for the GC, but, moreover, would benefit from having an opponent who does; interpreting it as yet another sign of western weakness.
Terrorists, it has been said many times, don%u2019t strike with honor and valor, they%u2019ll strike wherever they can, or are allowed to do so, either by inaction or ineptitude; any sign of weakness will only encourage them, seeking to outdo each other in a gruesome game where the victims are innocent men, women and children.
Whereas valiant warriors are emboldened by injustices, of any kind, terrorists are emboldened by pampering attitudes. Treating terrorists with exquisite courtesy will only encourage their young acolytes to do the same; madness! How can you possibly apply the GC to an enemy who decapitates captured soldiers, women and innocent civilians, seriously?
Respect is mutual, never one-sided. One-sided respect for the enemy is fear, or worse!
Look at the popularity of Ahmadinejad,yes he has domestic political rivalries, but the popularity of Khomeini cannot be discarded, and the Iranian people love Ahmadinejad as he carries on Khomeini's legacy. One thing is for sure,he is more popular in Iran, then Bush in the US, and Blair in the UK,even with his 'oppressive regime'.At least he doesnt have problems like high abortion rates,child abuse,drunken violence,drug abuse,rape,teen pregnancy and crime,compared to what rates are like in the West.
Your conduct is poor,removal of Saddam was necessary,but so was international approval,not your we are above the law attitude.Abu Ghuraib is a disgrace,186% appreciation in Iraqi oil exports to raised eyebrows. Why not allow an impartial international force in?What would be your objection?What did attacking Afghanistan achieve?With your wealth,do good,many countries are poor,offer assistance,serve your own people by extending healthcare to all US nationals,$100,000 in wheat to aid Lebanon was disgraceful.
The Japanese mistreated prisoners of war in WWII. We did not. We won that war. Why did we win? Because of our moral highground, a group of German scientists wrote a letter to the President of the US, informing him of the amount of energy possible in fission of Uranium which they had just amazingly discovered through some calculations. They could have written to the Japanese, or the Germans, but they chose the United States. They thought it was the only country that could be trusted with the atomic bomb.
It is a fantastic story, read it if you get a chance, my friend. It was our moral high ground, our refusal to be petty and violent, that gave us victory in WWII.
If Bus & co really want to battle terrorism, they will STOP AT ONCE all the covert activities of the CIA, they will pull the troops out or Iraq and they will join with the UN to bring international attention to the problems of the middle east.
If this were to happen (which I doubt because it would mean the US will lose what hold it has over their oil) I guarentee that the threat of terrorism attacks would drop dramatically. Sure their would still be resentment, but it would be against the world, not just us.
And I can't imagine what would happen if we shut down the CIA and pulled out of Iraq. The death toll would be astronomical, both in Iraq and in America. We saw that in Vietnam. No, the only way to solve anything is to assume that most citizens of the world aren't terrorists and put them in power. Democracy. These countries, whether they like it or not, are part of the world community. We're not living in the 14th century any more. It's time for these countries to evolve or find another planet. I'm tired of sending aid to oil-rich countries.
This is the fault of US foreign policy towards the middle east over the last 50 years. I am not even blaming gw for all of it. This problem goes back to Ike. However, shrub has made a bad situation even worse by the invasion of Iraq. The time has pasted where the US can simply meddle in another country's affairs and not have serious trouble for it.
We must re-evaluate our foreign policy from the ground up and work more with and through the UN. Simply claiming that democracy will heal all is naive and takes no account of current political situations and differing cultures.
They hate OUR FOREIGN POLICY OF INTERVENTION.
Shrub & co have done a job of diguising this by making everyone feel that all the rest of the world wants to be like us. THEY DON'T. They would be happy to live as they want WITHOUT THE INTERFERENCE OF THE US IN THEIR POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
But read about US foreign policy. Don't think it is dry and boring. It is really interesting stuff and will help with the understanding of the root problem.
I am not making this stuff up. I have a lot of reading (not as much as some) but enough to know that this policy of constant interfering with other countries is not a good idea.
Bush is dead WRONG on the insane islam!
The destruction of the signs and symbols of the islamic insanity should be the target, and not the unfortunate HUMANS who have been brainwashed into islam over the generations!
Islam is just a dam ideology, people, a bunch of ideas!
Islam IS NOT a sentient being.
Attacking islam and destroying the inimical ideology should be the target, not humans.
We SHOULD NOT be targeting humans! We should not be raining bombs on women and children.
Instead, EMPTY and level the mosques and burn the korans, starting with any found in the US.
There should not be a mosque or koran allowed in the US. Let these sick symbols of the insane islam remain on the Arabian Peninsula if the inhabitants wish them there.
And touche to the Arabs for not allowing any churches in Arabia. Can't say I blame them either.
Do you want to talk about the root problem, or are you just trying to make America look bad? You can't just pick a year and say don't look at anything before that. You want to make it look like we just decided one day out of the clear blue sky to start bothering people, and everything was just groovy before World War II. Well the reason they call it World War II is because there was a World War I.
So when the bad guys said they would be blowing up polling stations and the voters went anyway, what was that? Stupidity?
A statement from Iraqi President Talabani, today:
PRESIDENT TALABANI: "Thank you. <b>Today we were honored to meet President Bush, who we consider him as the hero of liberation of Iraq, and who we are very much appreciate the sacrifice of brave American army, those who gave their life to liberate our country from the worst kind of dictatorship</b>, which left behind mass graves with hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis in it. And the liberation of Iraq from this kind of dictatorship opened the door for Iraqi people to enjoy democracy, human rights and all kinds of liberties, and to have free election, the national assembly then elects the presidency and speaker and prime minister, and to have national unity, a government headed by Dr. Maliki."
"This government is representing main portions of Iraqi people, of course Arabs, Sunnis, Shias, Turkomans, Christians, Muslims, everyone represented in this government, and is working well for national reconciliation. I briefed his Excellency, President, about the steps we have taken towards implementing -- implementation of national reconciliation program, and also I told him that we are trying to do our best to remove all obstacles in the way of national reconciliation to try to review, some of those like de-Baathification and look to the amendment of a constitution and also try to have some kind of discussion, free discussion about federation and some other issues. We have also our roadmap in Iraq, which was decided by a political council of national security for solving other problems of Iraqi people.
<b>We, again, expressed our gratitude to his Excellency, our dear friend, President George Bush, and to American people. We hope that America also understand that we are grateful to them, to the America, and we will never forget those friends who helped us in the difficult days of Iraq, and Iraq will be always in the future in very good relation and be the friend of the United States and partner of United States in fighting against tyranny, dictatorship and terrorism. You can count on the Iraqi people, Mr. President, in fighting against terrorism and for democratization of whole Middle East"</b>.
Do the Iraqi people want freedom ? Yes of course they do, it just might not be the same western version that we have or see. We say we want them to have freedom, what if they freely choose a fundemental Islamic goverment?
You think that a bunch of ideas (insane islam) has more value than one sentient HUMAN?
You think that the insane islam and its signs and symbols are worth more than the least among HUMANS?
If your answer to the above is the affirmative, then know why we have a certified idiotic leadership that values an inimical ideology over HUMANS: People like yourself elect or allow such a misguided leadership.
Islam should be the target along with its signs and symbols.
Islam needs to be eradicated from the planet so that it ceases to be used as a mental poison for insane islamic minds and so incline them to perpetuate even greater evil on the land.
What we do need is for the non-extremist Muslims to stand up to the extremist who have hijacked their religion and expoilted it for another political agenda. This extreme view of Islam cannot be defeated from the outside, only from within. Only exposing these charlatans for what they really are can bring them down.
We could also use the help of our friends the Saudi and Pakistani and others in shuting down the madrassas which are furthering the spread of the wahhabism sect.
No, it was a vain display of hope, which, despite our claims, we have helped trash though sheer ineptitude. While Iraqis hope for better conditions, most Iraqis-- and probably al Maliki and Talabani, as well-- believe that day will not arrive ahead of a US Army convoy. Iraqis want us out.
One_American, even you understand no "proof" rests on official speeches, especially the captive "leader" of an occupied country. But do you object to the term, "occupied" instead of "liberated"? Then thank Bush-- in addition to all his other blunders, he characterized Iraq in exactly those terms.
But if official speeches count, what makes them official? The American Third Infantry Division?
But to return to the painful question, what makes such official pronouncements true? Or should we alao hail Chalabi for his "contributions" to Bush pre-Iraq invasion intel as a loyal Iranian agent-- just because Bush and Cheney were taken in and feted him and the INC so grandly?
Can someone be more idiot than the writer of the above. Level the mosques and ban Quran. Well Soviets did just that in Central Asia and some administrations of Turkish Republic did close the mosques and banned the Quran. It did not work. AGNIM why is all this inferiority complex. Can you not fight with your "sane" ideology ? is not your "sane" ideology enough, may be not huh? That's why you are all for physical force and bombing etc. Your desperate cry and crazy ideas mean clearly that you lack the intellect and knowledge to defend your thoughts and arguments and, whatever you believe is loosing against Islam so that you are crying for waging war against a religion. AGNIM You sound very pathetic to say the least. We are in 21st century and there is no place in the world for religious nutcases or Neo-con fascists like you.
Reason, dialog are our only means for World's peace and Muslims must work hard to get rid of the extremist minority that represent them in the World arena. Muslims if you think you are being misunderstood speak up.
Joe
Talk about a wasted, hopeless PR campaign-- not to mention real proof that official speeches never prove anything near what they intend to prove.
If Bush were only a comedian for gallows humor, this statement would leave the Islamic world laughing. No American president in history has been more despised and reviled than Bush, in the MidEast or beyond. Heckuva job, Bush!
"In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, [.....] Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female ***, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST.- TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE.... Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant ... While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men."
It's 4.7%. I'd love to know what you thought it was.
"Why wouldnt Bush sit down and talk with Ahmedinejad? Tell me give me one good reason?"
What on Earth would they chat about? wiping Israel off the map? the holocaust myth? cartoon contests? It's hard to believe you think Bush is an idiot but this guy deserves respect.
don't waste your breath - they are idiots! they are so blurred by trying to bash bush and the US they actually think these people are peaceful! they will be the same ones who are begging bush for more money to rebuild their city after some peaceful muslim wanders in to it with their little suitcase filled with the "peaceful" nukes the little iranian idiots so desire and blows up some catholic church and the rest of the city and "christian" people with it (it's ok to say blow up christian people - but I sure won't mention blowing up muslims)
and god forbid that these (poor muslim loving) idiots have a job of any importance whatsoever and say they have to make a speech one day in which they decide to tell a story about something that happened in the past and they offend say the polish population and then all of a sudden they are going to be murdered! I wonder how they would feel about the polish people......
or here's a good one how many polish jokes have you heard in your life time or north american indian jokes or pakistani or.......... how about the next time anyone tells one we just cut them into pieces right there in the middle of the office....
WOW now THAT would be peaceful!! I could get on board with that program....
and my house price is STILL going UP.....
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