Rough reception for Ahmadinejad at ColumbiaIranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial appearance at Columbia University Monday began with harsh, combative words from protestors, politicians and even the university president -- who introduced the hard-line leader to a packed auditorium as \"a petty and cruel dictator\" with \"a fanatical mindset.\"
\"Today, I feel all the weight of the modern civilized world yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand for,\" Columbia University president Lee Bollinger said in a stinging rebuke of Ahmadinejad that also defended the university's decision to invite him to speak. \"We do not honor the dishonorable when we open our forums to their voices.\"
Combative and engaging, Ahmadinejad was quick to respond, contending that Bollinger's introduction contained \"many insults and claims that were incorrect\" and that the audience should be allowed to draw its own conclusions after hearing him speak.
\"I think he was affected by the press and the media and the political pressure,\" the Iranian president said of Bollinger's remarks.
The appearance by Ahmadinejad, along with his request to visit Ground Zero, drew hundreds of protesters to Columbia and to the United Nations, where he is scheduled to speak to the General Assembly Tuesday. Police denied Ahmadinejad's Ground Zero request, citing security concerns.
Critics say that the university's invitation legitimizes Ahmadinejad's views, which include questioning the Holocaust and calling for the destruction of Israel.
\"Columbia is giving the impression that there's actually something to negotiate here,\" said Dana Sasouness, 20, a junior English literature major at Yeshiva University. \"He's just a crazy man.\"
Thousands of people jammed two blocks of 47th Street across from the UN to protest, as did several hundred people outside Columbia's main gate at 116th Street and Broadway. Inside the campus gate, students denounced the Iranian leader, but rallied for free speech.
\"It was for things like this that I came to Columbia,\" said freshman Anna Malkan, 18, who plans to major in Middle Eastern studies. She watched a simulcast of the speech on the campus' South Field. \"Free speech is important, because it's the only way we can change injustice in the world.\"
In his speech, Ahmadinejad described himself as an academic who continues to teach graduate and doctoral students at least once a week. He said that further study of the Holocaust was necessary as an academic pursuit, and suggested that he had never denied its existence.
\"I'm not saying it [the Holocaust] didn't happen at all,\" he said. \"I said, 'The Holocaust, granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?'\"
He also cast doubt on the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks, explaining that in his attempt to visit Ground Zero, he wanted to pay his respects to the victims and also encourage research into \"who truly was involved.\"
Often, he skirted questions. Asked whether he supported the destruction of Israel, he said: \"We love all nations. We are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security.\"
He said that those who questioned Iran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology and to execute criminals, sometimes in public, were hypocritical.
\"Don't you have capital punishment in the U.S.?\" he countered when asked about the brutality of his regime. \"In Iran, too, there is capital punishment. We have laws; people who violate these laws ... are sentenced to execution and some of these punishments, very few, are carried out in the public eye.\"
Later, when asked about his government's treatment of women and gays, he said women are revered in Iran. When pressed on accusations that the country treats gays brutally, Ahmadinejad said it was not an issue. \"In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country. ... We don't have that phenomenon.\"
