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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Ahmadinejad wraps up US visit with broadside against Washington |
| 2007-09-26 |
| UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad wraps up his third visit to the United States Wednesday after using his platform at the United Nations to downplay Tehran's nuclear ambitions and attack Washington. The Iranian president's visit and notably his appearance at a top US university on Monday had sparked outrage among US politicians and the Jewish community over his outspoken comments on Israel and downplaying the Holocaust. Despite being derided as a "petty and cruel dictator" while appearing at Columbia University, the Iranian leader used his visit to try to calm the international community over the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions. "We do not believe in nuclear weapons. Period. It goes against the whole grain of humanity," he said at Columbia on Monday, where a small group of demonstrators gathered to protest his appearance. Ahmadinejad used his address to world leaders gathered for the UN General Assembly Tuesday to say Iran considered the controversy over its nuclear program closed and to launch a broad attack on arch foe the United States. In a wide-ranging speech, Ahmadinejad accused Washington of arrogance and human rights abuses, speaking at the same spot where US President George W. Bush had earlier spoken of the primacy of human rights and freedom. Not very guest-like, is he? That violates my cultural norms. I am deeply offended. As deeply offended as Iranians are for the US being a bad host. In his 40-minute speech, the Iranian leader went on to accuse Washington of human rights abuses in its "war on terror," with allusions to CIA programs of rendition and detention in camps such as Guantanamo Bay. "Unfortunately human rights are being extensively violated by certain powers, especially by those who pretend to be their exclusive advocates," Ahmadinejad said, without mentioning the United States by name. Iran has come under two waves of international sanctions for its nuclear program, which Ahmadinejad insists is only for energy production. He has repeatedly insisted the Islamic republic has no need of nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the international community has taken scant consolation from his comments and is expected to push for a third round of UN sanctions. Ahmadinejad used his speeches to the National Press Club in Washington and Columbia University on Monday to say Iran had no need for nuclear weapons and to downplay talk that Iran and the United States are on the path to war. "I think the politicians who are after atomic bombs or are testing them, making them, politically, they are backward, retarded," he added. "We think that talk of war is a propaganda tool. Why is there a need for a war?" But he suffered the rare indignity of a public dressing down at the university. Booed and strongly challenged on his views on the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad seemed to take the criticisms in his stride but complained of "unfriendly treatment" at the hands of the New York university. Before he even spoke, Ahmadinejad was forced to sit through 10 minutes of broadsides from university president Lee Bollinger, who had been heavily criticized by Jewish groups and US politicians for inviting the Iranian leader. "Mr President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad, accusing him of brutal crackdowns notably on the country's academics and homosexuals and for stifling dissent. "Why are you so afraid of Iranian citizens expressing their opinions for change?" he asked, challenging the leader of the Islamic republic to explain his comments downplaying the Holocaust. "When you come to a place like this, this makes you quite simply ridiculous. You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," he said. Ahmadinejad accused Bollinger of a "wave of insults and allegations" while largely avoiding any direct answers to Bollinger's challenges. After initially seeming a little flustered, Ahmadinejad grew more relaxed as he got into his stride to accuse the United States of trying to block Iran's legitimate desire to achieve scientific progress in its atomic program. Smiling and occasionally laughing as he talked of Iran's culture and outlook on the world, Ahmadinejad drew the biggest jeers from students for stating that homosexuality did not exist in the Islamic republic. "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he said to a chorus of howls, laughter and boos. "In Iran we don't have this phenomenon, I don't know who told you this." Ahmadinejad was due to fly to Bolivia on Wednesday and to later visit fellow firebrand and US pariah, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #5 Have faith in the wonders of Inshallah aircraft maintenance... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-09-26 18:51 |
| #4 This bastard's plane should be shot the moment it leaves our airspace. |
| Posted by: Crusader 2007-09-26 18:48 |
| #3 Don't be nervous flyin' home, monkey-boy. We'll give ya a nice escort out to international airspace. |
| Posted by: Bugs Grang9248 2007-09-26 13:58 |
| #2 Sigh. Is he done yet? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-09-26 11:47 |
| #1 Hmmm, Maybe in Bolivia some Argentinian Special Forces could induce him to visit that country to answer the charges of terrorism leveled against Iran there. Just sayin' DanNY |
| Posted by: DanNY 2007-09-26 08:09 |