Ahmadinejad espouses 9/11 truther theory
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the 66th session of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. / AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Making reference to what he called the "mysterious September 11th incident" and the "slave masters and colonial powers" of the West, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad excoriated Western member nations in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Ahmadinejad said after the speech that as an engineer he's sure the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York were not brought down by jetliners.
Ahmadinejad, in an interview with The Associated Press, says it would have been impossible for two jetliners to bring down the towers simply by hitting them. He says some kind of planned explosion must have taken place.
Ahmadinejad stopped short of saying the United States staged the disaster 10 years ago. But he says there are questions the world should resolve, and noted there are doubters in the United States as well.
The Iranian leader's appearance before the U.N. on Thursday was met with protests by groups infuriated with his past comments calling Israel a "tumor" that should be wiped off the map and suggesting that the Holocaust did not occur.
Ahmadinejad attacked the United States for its history of slavery, causing two world wars, using a nuclear bomb against "defenseless people," and imposing and supporting military dictatorships and totalitarian regimes on Asian, African and Latin American nations.
He said that the U.S. used the 9/11 attacks as a pretext for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the wars were in fact motivated by imperialism and a thirst for oil.
"By using their imperialistic media network which is under the influence of colonialism they threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and the September 11 event with sanctions and military actions," Ahmadinejad said in his General Assembly speech.
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When the idea of an independent fact-finding investigation of "the hidden elements" involved in the Sept. 11 attacks was raised last year, he said, "my country and myself came under pressure and threat by the government of the United States."
"Instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator and threw his body into the sea," Ahmadinejad said, referring to the U.S. military's killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in early May.
In a frequently-seen diplomatic snub, the U.S. delegation walked out of the speech minutes after Ahmadinejad began speaking. The French representatives left shortly thereafter, when Ahmadinejad made reference to the Holocaust as a decades-old "excuse" for subservience to "Zionist" interests.
Dozens of other diplomats followed the French.
"Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories," said Mark Kornblau,, a spokesman for the United States Mission to the United Nations.
At a protest outside the U.N. headquarters, former U.S. envoy to the U.N. John Bolton condemned Iran but also criticized the Obama administration is doing "almost nothing" to protect Iranians from the violence of their own regime.
As Ahmadinejad was about to address the General Assembly, Bolton told The Associated Press that the United States has failed to stop Iran from torturing and killing its own people.
Ahmadinejad's appearance comes a day after Iran freed two American hikers imprisoned in Tehran for more than two years.
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So, I guess it is time to come clean -- the towers were destroyed by an invisible alien phaser beam which leaves no trace on its target.
*****I have stated this in a blog, so it is true.*****
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is no pushover, and certainly, not the easiest person to talk to, I am sure, however, it is not by turning your back and running that you bridge the gaps between cultures. If they really had any sense, they would invite him to visit a few of the WWII concentration camps that still exist.
Some of the things he said were not accurate . . . but some were the plain and unadulterated truth.
Americans, however, unlike the people in Germany, are not very good at dealing with the truth.
By the way, Ahmadinejad never said Israel should be "wiped off the map", that was proven to be a mistranslation.
These diplomats do not even deserve to have a job cleaning toilets. They are not doing their duty and should be replaced.
To gain public sentiment to join WW1 our government let a cruise ship sail in seas Germans had warned of attack by u-boats.
The whole US involvement in Vnam was the result of a staging of Viet Cong fishing vessels firing on US destroyers, a fabrication officers later admitted to.
We are involved in a decades long so-called war on drugs in which facts point to CIA flooding LA with crack cocaine.
The violent war on the other side of the Mexican border that fixates americas attention can trace its roots directly to military arms allowed to flow into Cartel hands on behalf of the CIA.
I guess it is pretty far fetched to think that our government would sacrifice a few 1000 lives in order to have reasons to gain control of oil fields worth trillions.
Our hands are covered in blood and most Americans refuse to look at the truth. Pretty sad actually.
When a country that has not attacked us on our soil goes to the UN and makes claims against us, we stand up and walk out.
I am disappointed in the United States representation at the UN. Be courageous and like Ronald Reagan confront your opposition if you disagree with him.
If we win the war of words, we won't have to fight the war of arms.
I believe Ron Paul would actually debate the man face to face so I would vote for him.