I'm genuinely surprised to see that Columbia's President Lee Bollinger is actually slamming Ahmadinejad and his country's record on human rights, Holocaust denial, and other related issues. Given the way that Bollinger has acted throughout this whole affair, it is surprising to see him take such a harsh tact.
Of course, he has to prevaricate and qualify matters
"You exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator."No. He is a petty and cruel dictator. Killing political opponents, executing minorities and religious groups and persecution along religious and political grounds is a fact.
Bollinger continues talking about Iran's proxy forces attacking US forces in Iraq. Iran is supporting enemies of the US, and who are engaged in attacking US interests in the region. Iran is the enemy.
Ahmadinejad will simply claim that Bollinger's facts are wrong and that this is nothing but propaganda. Ahmadinejad will ignore all this and say whatever he wants to. Bollinger gets to claim that he did all he could to hold Ahmadinejad accountable, but the fact is that this opening statement is done for the benefit of the alumni who were righteously pissed at Columbia allowing Ahmadinejad to speak there at all.
So, Ahmadinejad starts off by blasting Bollinger for going after Iran and Ahmadinejad's position. He's already holding to form, attacking Bollinger and claiming that Bollinger's facts are wrong.
Ahmadinejad continues by lecturing on how the world works. He goes back to the story of God and Adam. He's going into a theological discussion of how he is on the side of the righteous - a Muslim.
UPDATE:
Hot Air and LGF are both live blogging this rambling and nearly incomprehensible speech. It is a religious discourse, and doesn't even address any of the substantive points raised by Bollinger.
That's the point, of course. Ahmadinejad wasn't there to address Bollinger - he is there to teach of the nature of Islam and the need to submit to Islam.
UPDATE:
Ahmadinejad is busy talking about how religion and science come together - but you have to be sufficiently spiritual for the science to be used for proper purposes. In other words, he's laying out the justification for Iran's nuclear program because he's using science for a desired goal - furthering the spiritual.
He's busy trying to spin wiretaps and US national security measures as though this is somehow an anathema to our way of life. Protecting our country from foreign terrorists is a bad thing.
UPDATE:
Ahmadinejad is now busy slamming US use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and use of depleted uranium in US weapons systems. He's now complaining of the monopoly of power - nuclear power in particular. Figures. He wants that very power for his own country, so this is an appeal to democratize nuclear weapons and nuclear power to those who have no intention to use them for peaceful purposes.
UPDATE:
Science is a divine gift, and Ahmadinejad is making a religious argument in favor of having access to nuclear technology.
UPDATE:
Ahmadinejad is now complaining about Israel and the Palestinians. For 60 years, Palestinians have been trying to kill Israelis. To Ahmadinejad, it's all violence one way.
This interpreter is completely kludging the Holocaust subject. It's incomprehensible. He's questioning the arrest of holocaust deniers and "researchers". Holocaust denial is a criminal act in some European countries, including in Germany, originators of the Holocaust in the first place. He's claiming that the Palestinians are paying for a European crime - that they're victims.
Let's just ignore jihad and the terrorism inflicted by those Palestinian terrorism.
More to the point, Ahmadinejad is laying the groundwork for supplying Palestinian terrorists and proxy forces to attack Israel.
UPDATE:
The crowd is mixing cheers and boos at the completion of Ahmadinejad's lecture.
First question: Do you or your government seek the destruction of Israel: "We're friends of all nations." Ahmadinejad is sidestepping the question - talking about those few Jews living in Iran, rather than address the question. He is pushing the Palestinian point of view, which itself calls for the destruction of Israel. He's calling for a "free referendum", even as the Palestinians have repeatedly voted for the destruction of Israel - they voted for Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction.
Ahmadinejad talks about self-determination of Palestinians. Right. And the crowd cheers.
Bollinger wants a clearer answer. Yes or no.
He questions the question, ignoring the question. And the crowd cheers.
Question two: Aid to terrorists.
Again, he's questioning the question. He now claims that the Iranians are a victim of terrorism. He's claiming that the US is supporting terrorists that have attacked Iranian leaders. He's busy deflecting the question and now brings up root causes - the root cause being the US and Israel's very existence.
UPDATE:
Questioning need to do further research on Holocaust research? For what purpose. That was an awful question.
Ahmadinejad is questioning the Holocaust's existence, and supports holocaust deniers. This question only opened up the opportunity for Ahmadinejad to claim that he's demanding alternative approaches to studying the Holocaust as an academic pursuit - namely addressing Holocaust denial through the mirror of the Palestinians. He says what does the Holocaust have to do with the Palestinian people.
UPDATE:
The crowd takes exception to the assertion that homosexuality doesn't exist in Iran. Well, considering that the punishment is death, if you were gay in Iran you wouldn't want to go out of your way to go public with that knowledge. It would be a fatal decision.
Women are treated like crap in Iran, and yet Ahmadinejad says that they're fully respected.
UPDATE:
What a farce. Ahmadinejad was not engaged in debate, but instead lectured the audience over what his worldview is and what ours should be. He complained that we do not have free speech, but Iran does. He complains about the restrictions on his country to seek nuclear power, while the US and the West restricts such information.
It was nothing more than a way to push the Iranian agenda, and no one held Ahmadinejad to account for his government's actions - whether it was terrorism against the US directly, such as the 1979 invasion of the US embassy in Tehran and the hostage incident, or indirectly via proxy groups such as the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks and the ongoing issue with Iranian weapons used against US forces in Iraq.
UPDATE:
A full transcript of the event is now available.
UPDATE:
Instapundit has a good roundup of reactions from around the 'sphere, as does Pajamas Media, American Digest, and Michelle Malkin.
As for why Ahmadinejad can claim there are no gays in Iran, here's a photo expose to show the real reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment