WASHINGTON - The White House scoffed on Tuesday at an Iranian university’s invitation to US President George W. Bush to address its campus, saying he was “not taking it too seriously.”
“If Iran was a free and democratic society that allowed its people freedom of expression, and wasn’t pursuing nuclear weapons, and wasn’t advocating to destroy the country of Israel, the president might consider that invitation,” said spokeswoman Dana Perino. “But I think that we’re not taking it too seriously,” she told reporters.
Earlier, the head of Ferdowsi University in Iran’s second city of Mashhad, one of the oldest universities in the country, said Bush should visit to answer questions from students and lecturers on human rights and terrorism. “President Bush is invited to give a speech and respond to numerous questions, must notably about human rights, terrorism and the Holocaust,” said university president Alireza Afshour, according to the government daily Iran.
| There's a part of me that says Bush should go (assuming security would be absolutely certain) and do what Ronnie Reagan did in his speech to the students of Moscow State University -- explain, clearly, why totalitarianism is destined to fail. Beard the lion and let people compare Short Round's speech at Columbia to what Bush would say in Iran. |
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