The Foul Stench

Columbia University is now in a no-win situation - they've invited Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak - citing free speech and an attempt to engage in dialogue with a genocidal-inspired thug, so revoking that invitation isn't going to look good. It's going to take a hit because they extended the invite and/or accepted his invitation to speak.

Consider that before he is scheduled to arrive in NYC, he attended a military parade in Iran, where his country's latest missiles were displayed - complete with signs calling for death to Israel and death to US. He warned that the US must leave the Middle East (the or else death and destruction and mayhem were understood and implicit in his statements).

Columbia's President has said that if they had the chance, they would have invited Hitler to speak. Well, at least he's in the same ballpark. Ahmadinejad alternatively claims that the Holocaust never existed and that he wants to finish the job. In any event, he wants to see Israel destroyed, and it all fits with his religious visions for the region and the world.

I fully expect Ahmadinejad to call for the US to submit to Islam and that is the only kind of dialog that he's interested in. He will also call for the US to get out of Iraq and the Middle East along with a cessation of support for Israel. That's all red meat issues for academics who are largely anti-Israel to begin with and overwhelmingly were against the US actions in Iraq.

It didn't have to be like this. Columbia didn't have to extend an invitation or accept an invitation to speak, knowing exactly what Ahmadinejad is all about. These academics claim that it is seeking dialog. That would necessarily require a two way conversation. Ahmadinejad isn't interested in conversation. He's interested in conversion. You either accept what he says, or you suffer the consequences. There is no doubt about what he seeks to do. He's quite clear on the matter.

What the University fails to recognize is that by giving Ahmadinejad a platform from which to spew his venom, the university is undermining the anti-Ahmadinejad forces within Iran who do not want to see Ahmadinejad's apocalyptic visions come to fruition. Columbia either doesn't care about this, or doesn't think that their invitation to speak will have repercussions beyond the halls of the university.

This is going to be one crazy week in NYC, that's for sure. If you're wondering where the foul stench of saltpeter and sulfur is coming from, one only has to look towards the United Nations and Columbia University.