Ahmadinejad Questions 9/11, Holocaust

Iranian President Speaks At Columbia University After Blistering Reception From School's President

(CBS/AP)  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioned the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks and defended the right to cast doubt on the Holocaust in a tense appearance Monday at Columbia University, whose president accused the hard-line leader of behaving like "a petty and cruel dictator."

Ahmadinejad smiled at first but appeared increasingly agitated, decrying the "insults" and "unfriendly treatment." Columbia President Lee Bollinger and audience members took him to task over Iran's human-rights record and foreign policy, as well as Ahmadinejad's statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger's opening was "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here."

"There were many insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," Ahmadinejad said, accusing Bollinger of falling under the influence of the hostile U.S. press and politicians. "I should not begin by being affected by this unfriendly treatment."

"Scolded and shunned at Columbia University, Ahmadinejad was conveying a message back to Iran that the West is creating the confrontation with Iran, not the other way around," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk, "and he will have a few more shots at the media spotlight on the first day of the General Assembly debate, when he gives a speech and holds a press conference."

During a question and answer session Monday, Ahmadinejad appeared tense and unsmiling, in contrast to more relaxed interviews and appearances earlier in the day.

When asked if he believed the Holocaust indeed happened, his answer was classic Ahmadinejad: not a complete denial but enough to provoke, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"I am not saying that it didn't happen at all," said Ahmadinejad. "This is not the judgment that I am passing here. Granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?"

But then he said he was defending the rights of European scholars, an apparent reference to a small number who have been prosecuted under national laws for denying or minimizing the Holocaust.

"There's nothing known as absolute," he said.

He reiterated his desire to visit ground zero to express sympathy with the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, but then appeared to question whether al Qaeda was responsible.

"Why did this happen? What caused it? What conditions led to it?" he said. "Who truly was involved? Who was really involved and put it all together?"

Asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, Ahmadinejad said the judiciary system executed violent criminals and high-level drug dealers, comparing them to microbes eliminated through medical treatment. Pressed specifically about punishment of homosexuals, he said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."

With the audience laughing derisively, he continued: "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this."

Bollinger was strongly criticized for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia, and had promised tough questions in his introduction to Ahmadinejad's talk. But the strident and personal nature of his attack on the president of Iran was startling.

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad about the leader's Holocaust denial.

President Bush said Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia "speaks volumes about really the greatness of America."

He told Fox News Channel that if Bollinger considers Ahmadinejad's visit an educational experience for Columbia students, "I guess it's OK with me."

Other American officials were less sympathetic.

On Capitol Hill, conservatives said Columbia should not have invited Ahmadinejad to speak. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said "there is a world of difference between not preventing Ahmadinejad from speaking and handing a megalomaniac a megaphone and a stage to use it."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said he thought Columbia's invitation to Ahmadinejad was a mistake "because he comes literally with blood on his hands."

Thousands of people jammed two blocks of 47th Street across from the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad's visit to New York. Organizers claimed a turnout of tens of thousands. Police did not immediately have a crowd estimate.

The speakers, most of them politicians and officials from Jewish organizations, proclaimed their support for Israel and criticized the Iranian leader for his remarks questioning the Holocaust.

"We're here today to send a message that there is never a reason to give a hatemonger an open stage," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.

At the Columbia University campus, those who supported Ahmadinejad's appearance and the right to free speech were outnumbered and out-shouted, reports CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts. There was little patience for any difference of opinion.

And many questioned why such a prestigious university would give voice to a man who denies the Holocaust ever happened and has called for the destruction of Israel, adds Pitts.

Protesters stood near the lecture hall where Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak, linking arms and singing traditional Jewish folk songs about peace and brotherhood, while nearby a two-person band played "You Are My Sunshine."

Signs in the crowd displayed a range of messages, including one that read "We refuse to choose between Islamic fundamentalism and American imperialism."

Tensions are high between Washington and Tehran over U.S. accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, as well as helping Shiite militias in Iraq that target U.S. troops -- claims Iran denies.

"Well, you have to appreciate we don't need a nuclear bomb. We don't need that. What need do we have for a bomb?" Ahmadinejad said in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, taped earlier in Iran. "In political relations right now, the nuclear bomb is of no use. If it was useful it would have prevented the downfall of the Soviet Union."

He also said: "It's wrong to think that Iran and the U.S. are walking toward war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing."

Before leaving Iran, Ahmadinejad said the American people have been denied "correct information," and his visit will give them a chance to hear a different voice, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad has appealed to the American people before, distinguishing between the population and their government. Recently, he told a television show that Iran wants peace and friendship with America. Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad also has sent letters to the American people criticizing President Bush's policies in the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad's scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday will be his third time attending the New York meeting in three years.

But his request to lay a wreath at ground zero was denied by city officials and condemned by politicians who said a visit to the site of the 2001 terror attacks would violate sacred ground.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by on_alert247 at 09:34 PM : Sep 25, 2007


The two writers I named are near the top of the ''forward thinking'' heap. Check them out sometime, their stories were written so that young minds could learn a new way of thinking but the more mature could glean substance also.

[toolmangler-2009]

"We live in such a self centered world where the religious are despised, the murderous are righteous and vile ad hominem is called free speech. What was once right is now wrong and a belief in the concept of evil is considered religious. Without wisdom where is morality, and without morality where is the guardian of man''''s spirit?"

Posted by on_alert247 at 09:34 PM : Sep 25, 2007


vile ad hominem is the only thing some posters know how to use and they don''t understand why. They are incapable of sustained reasoning and can only muddy the water when they lose the thread.
I leave you with this.

"TANSTAAFL" There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
ala, R. Heinlein

"F=IW" Freedom equals "I wont"
ala, Eric Frank Russell (men, martians & machines)

[on_alert247]

It astonishes me the lack of wisdom so prevalent in the world today. All that knowledge from a university education but no understanding of human nature, the role of religion or redemption of one''s self through benevolence and humility towards others. We live in such a self centered world where the religious are despised, the murderous are righteous and vile ad hominem is called free speech. What was once right is now wrong and a belief in the concept of evil is considered religious. Without wisdom where is morality, and without morality where is the guardian of man''s spirit?

[mattcbsmatt]

HE IS ONE OF HITLER%u2019S SMALL TURDS
A COMPLETELY LUNY WWII REFERENCE AND STINKY : )
He is not even front-page news More like toilet paper news
Help Me I can not stop : )

[mattcbsmatt]

HE IS ONE OF HITLER%u2019S SMALL TURDS
A COMPLETELY LUNY WWII REFERENCE AND STINKY : )
He is not even front-page news More like toilet paper news
Help me I can not stop : )

[kailumego1]

Part of my post was omitted, the part that stated Bush Jr. supported the repressive regime of Equatorial Guinea, but we, as Americans, are quick to call Ahmadinejad unhumanitarian..

[kailumego1]

What''s amazing to me a majority can follow "blindly" behind Reagan [who almost started WWIII]Bush Sr. and Jr. who both conjured up a bogus war for profit killing thousands of U.S. soldiers, and call Ahmadinejad a terrorist, a violator of humanity, and evil, when this /ruthless dictator of Equatorial Guinea, a man who''s viciously slaughter his countrymen, because they opposed his repressive polices.

"HOGWASH"....

[agnim]

1. The US lost leader invades UNPROVOKED & SLAUGHTERS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HUMANS IN IRAQ; and gets a pass!

2. The misguided leader of Iran MERELY USES WORDS (free speech); and he''s vilified and called "petty and cruel dictator"?

3. Are Americans still asleep as at 911?

We seem to been sent to sleep with propaganda and misinformation.

We are lost as to what ACTIONS are really threatening enough to humans and MERIT THE MOST ATTENTION?

All that is taking place is a BULLYING of the Iranian leader for him to ''sit down and shut up!''
It''s not working. LOL

[ajmarine1]

All this in 8 months coming from a guy that you guys say is stupid?

Have you ever once considered how impossible it would be to pull any of that off and what the dangers would be even attempting it? For what? Oh... for oil. I forgot.

Posted by s1ckd09

I''ve been saying that for years.

[toolmangler-2009]

Oakishpines has morphed into a nebulous waterway.

[rhs648]

you know that there were war crimes trials after wwII. the nazi defendants used many excuses: i was only following orders, i wasn''''t there, i didn''''t know. not one nazi war crime defendant said that the holocaust didn''''t happen.

Posted by bigsk8fan

You may have noticed that there are a number of posters who deny the holocaust, talk about Zionism, talk about how the Jews control everything, etc. No amount of proof changes their antisemitism. They simply dispute the facts. After following these posts for months, it is difficult to know whether these people are foreign or American, America haters, KKK sympathizers, skin heads, American Nazis, or Arab apologists. All of these groups have their rallies, meetings, newspapers, and books that spout hatred. Now they have the internet.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by s1ckd09 at 09:14 AM : Sep 25, 2007


zooty does not want to be confused by the facts. In his dream world Bush killed Muhammad and raped his nine year old wife.

[whispyseas]

'' ... dared girls, having learned what the good rapist dare boys are all about, grew up to drag their kids kicking and screaming to the dare houses for their own educational salvation ... most girls raped though were raped by their own familys, and too have no qualms about not freeing the children as were freed the women ... ''


'' ... most folk most time don''t dance get well feed world songs, they dance get sick tax world songs, and not rallied around the hundreds millions sick beds drifting but around the hundreds millions well beds racing, amoung the tens millions spore bloom weed dragon trail fickle first aid lunch farm cottage studio trail groups ... ''

'' ... the devil laughed at how she warred and warred gods eternitys secure, and god just disappeared into the mist and the devil decided to let go, to gods eternitys fall, and when they had all gone, god laughed from the back ground as the eternitys all reemerged and the lord laughed some more: hold my bombs and tax my eternitys all over again ... ''

[agnim]

People can disbelieve and deny the existence of god with no problem; but disbelieving and denying the existence of a holocaust is problematic?

Make sense; the Jews are superior to even god. LOL

[signof4]

If you don''''t like them, do not invite them and state your reasons for doing so.
Posted by nikosk1 at 10:00 AM : Sep 25, 2007

That would have been preferable. But leftwingers, hiding behind the cloak of ''academic integrity'' and ''free speech'' just didn''t see it that way. It was a HUGE dog and pony show with no academic value what so ever.

[dirtydog55]

NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Posted by lars008 at 10:10 AM : Sep 25, 2007
-----------------

So who killed the children of Beslan, lars? Was it the terrorists? Or was it the bungling by the Russians?

And what does that have to do with this topic?

[dirtydog55]

Does changing the title of the story make it a NEW story?

LOL!!!

[dirtydog55]

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Only if you are a Jew.

As far as I''m concerned the "most UN-documented" event in my human history is when Reagan signed a bill giving my ex-wife a large portion of my military retired pay--for life, wiping out my 28-years of military service.

I''m sure, to the Japanese, that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the "most documented" event in their human history.

And I''m sure, to the poor people in this country, that the lack of proper health care is the "most UN-documented" event in their human history.

And I''m equally sure, to the descendants of slaves, that slavery, and then emancipation, and then the ensuing 100 years that it actually took to get freedom are the "most important" events in their lives.

And I''m sure, to the Arabs, the "most UN-documented" event in human history is the anglo take-over of the oil fields in the early 1900s...and "Operation Ajax."

So, you see, it''s all relevant. A few million Jews were killed in the holocaust and now the survivors want the U.S. to support them in their attempt to take over the world. Well, they are well on their way to achieving that--they have taken over the U.S.

LOL!!! Bolinger and other Jews are NOT an important part of my life. It just an unfortunate happenstance that part of the taxes I pay go to support them.

[lars008-2009]

COMING TO AMERICA,,, COMING TO AMERICA,,, COMING TO AMERICA,,,

NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!

Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094

RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html

Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html

Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html

Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm

[prinzowhales]

Lieberman is the vile creature with blood on his hands. Bush could not have carried out the Holocaust in Iraq if it were not for willing corporatists and Zionists like Lieberman, Clinton, Edwards and their ilk.

We''ve seen what the Zionists of Israel-first organizations like the ADL and AIPAC have done to quelch the truth in this country--how they have fougth to remove Professor Finkelstein from his post for having exposed the "Holocaust industry". We have seen the treatment of Walt and Mearsheimer when these brave academics exposed the ''Israel Lobby''. Over the years Americans have been exposed to the most outrageous lies regarding the extent of the Holocaust and elements of it--including entire books of alleged survivors that have been exposed as complete lies, like Binjimin Wilkomirski''s FRAGMENTS.

Its time for Americans to wake up and stop being manipulated by the Zionist rabble and the Anglo-American financiers whose interest they really serve.

Its time for the people of the world to know what has happened to the billions allocated for survivors that never got to them but was hijacked by the Zionist states while the survivors received merely a pittance.