There are no Homosexuals in Iran!

Was there a quid pro quo for Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia?

Of course the poison dwarf invoked the mahdi in the opening statement. Listening to the brutal despot, Glick is right when she said Columbia has disgraced itself beyond repair.

Ahmadinejad proves the power of the Jewish Lobby

Excellent photos thanks to Elizabeth

Enormously talented artist Creative Patriot

Outside of Columbia - no free speech on campus for these folks, they had to demonstrate off campus.

Drum roll for the new Hitler. Columbia awaits the killer.

Useful idiots

Moral Equivalence

Students wait in front of Butler to watch the showdown between Sheriff Bollinger and I'm A Dinner Jacket on the big screen 

"Peaceful" Iran's love of humanity

The leftards are so ......predictable. Evil's handmaiden.

I just got back from the UN (video and pics to come, check the blog) - I couldn't make it to Columbia - had to get my kids off the bus but I did catch the poison dwarf spew his invective on FOX.  What can freedom loving peoples say to such an abomination?

That this huge media opportunity was given to such a madman is tragic. The oppressed peoples of Iran must give up all hope when they see  Ahmadinejad's heralded  appearance at one of the world's leading universities.

His lies, his narrative, his Zionist oppressor bile, his contention that the woman of Iran are the free-est in the world, his despicable homophobic assertion that there are no gays in Iran "no such phenomena" (perhaps because he hung them all) was all to be expected. The really sick part was the uproarious applause of the morally ill in the audience. Columbia is a complete and utter failure.

John Bolton spoke after the evil midget made his speech and was dead to rights when he said of Ahmadinejad, "he got exactly what he wanted."

Hat tip Josef via Hot Air

Ahmadinejad Speaks During Controversial Appearance at Columbia University  FOX NEWS

"How come you have that right and we don’t have it?" he challenged, referring to the development of nuclear weapons capabilities.

During his third visit to New York in three years, Ahmadinejad opened his remarks with an objection to a scolding by Columbia University's president.

After sitting through the blistering introduction by Lee Bollinger — in which he was lambasted for calling for the annihilation of Israel, denying the Holocaust and supporting the execution of children — Ahmadinejad said it was insulting to be spoken about that way.

"At the outset, I want to complain a bit about the person who read this political statement made against me," Ahmadinejad said. "In Iran, we don't think it's necessary to come in before the speech has already begun with a series of complaints ... It was an insult to me and the knowledge of the persons here."

In his scathing introduction to the much-anticipated on-campus event, Bollinger told the leader of Iran that he exhibits "all the signs of a brutal dictator."

Bollinger levied repeated criticisms against Ahmadinejad, calling on him to answer a series of challenges about his leadership, blasting his views about the "myth" of the Holocaust "absurd" and saying that he doubted he "will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions."

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger's opening was full of "insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully."

Ahmadinejad accused Bollinger of offering "unfriendly treatment" under the influence of the U.S. press and politicians.

He did not address Bollinger's accusations directly, instead launching into a long religious discursion laced with quotes with the Quran before turning to criticism of the Bush administration and past American governments, from warrantless wiretapping to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Bollinger was strongly criticized for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia, and had promised tough questions in his introduction to Ahmadinejad's talk. But the strident and personal nature of his attack on the president of Iran was startling.

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad about the leader's Holocaust denial. "Will you cease this outrage?"

Ahmadinejad said he simply wanted more research on the Holocaust, which he said was abused as a justification for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians.

"Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" Ahmadinejad asked. He closed his prepared remarks with a terse smile, to applause and boos, before taking questions from the audience.

President Bush said Ahmadinejad's appearance spoke to the "greatness" of the United States of America.

"He's the head of a state sponsor of terror, and yet, an institution in our country gives him the chance to express his point of view, which really speaks to the freedoms of the country," Bush told FOX News on Monday. "I'm not so sure I'd offer the same invitation, but nevertheless, it speaks volumes about the greatness, really, of America. We're confident enough to let a person express his views. I just really hope he tells everybody the truth."

Bush said that while he's "not sure" he would have offered the Iranian leader a platform from which to outline his agenda, he thinks it's OK that Columbia University did invite Ahmadinejad to speak.

"This is a place of high learning and if the president (of Columbia) thinks it's a good idea to have the leader from Iran come and talk to the students as an educational experience, I guess it's OK with me," Bush told FOX News in an interview. "The problem is Ahmadinejad uses these platforms to advance his agenda, which I suspect in this case ... He doesn't want America to know his true intentions."

[..]

Before his Columbia appearance Monday, the Iranian leader opened his U.S. speaking tour by inferring the Holocaust was a myth, taking a swipe at Israel — it's "a regime based... on racism" — and defending his request to visit Ground Zero.

The Iranian leader, speaking via video from New York City to journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., tossed aside a question about Israel by saying Iran doesn't recognize the "regime," accusing it of killing people and committing various other atrocities.

It was typical of many of Ahmadinejad's responses, which often started with laughing challenges to journalists in which he said, "That's not right," or asked, "Where are you getting that?"

On the Holocaust — which the Iranian leader has called a "myth" — he said that "if the Holocaust is a reality, why don't we let more research be done on it? ... Where did the Holocaust happen to begin with? It happened in Europe, and given that, why is it that the Palestinian people should be displaced? Why should they give up their land?"

He also said that he wanted to "pay my respects" at Ground Zero — the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City, where the World Trade Center once stood — since his visit here last year. But, he claimed, the U.S. government and other politicians prevented that from happening.

"I was interested in expressing my sympathy to victims of tragedy," he said. "It's the responsibility of everyone to understand the root causes of 9/11."

At the Press Club, the Iranian president delivered some remarks through an interpreter, and then answered questions from the moderator. A similar format was used at the Columbia event.

Ahmadinejad said the world needs to build a better future "based on peace and security of all humanity," and he spoke of a world full of love, kindness, beauty and allegiance to God as the ultimate goal.

"No one should prevent love and kindness from flourishing in mankind and turn it into hostility," the Iranian president said. "Family is the center of love and beauty."

He said people should follow God, who would lead them to a "sublime" state.

"When we take a look around us, we are not happy with what we see," Ahmadinejad said. "Threats of war have affected everyone. Continuous wars have in fact hurt the human spirit. If we look at the root cause of some of these problems, we will be able to think about how to build a better future, a more prosperous future based on peace and security of all humanity."

Ahmadinejad spoke of the importance of the press, in spite of the fact that Iran's media is state-run and criticized as tightly controlled by the government.

"The press plays a connecting role. It provides information and can serve as a channel for promoting current thinking," he said. "The role of the press is to disseminate moral behavior ... The press can be the voices of the divine prophets."

The Press Club moderator asked the Iranian leader about Iranian weapons and involvement in Iraq, about his views on whether religions other than Islam have a place in the world and on his country's treatment of women and approach to the freedom of the press.

The Iranian president repeatedly asked where the moderator got his information and challenged the truth of his statements.

And when asked whether Iran was sending weapons into Iraq to fight against American troops, Ahmadinejad replied that "Iraq security means our security." When pressed, he denied that Iran was engaging in that kind of activity.

When asked whether he wanted to go to war, he said he did not.

"Why is there a need for war?" Ahmadinejad said. "Why should they threaten another country? Why should they create more insecurity? I think officials who talk this kind of talk should really be pressured and warn to know what to say and when not to say something."

Ahmadinejad said that the religions of "Christ and Moses" as well as Islam are "all brothers. They all want the same thing."

He defended Iranian women as among the most free in the world, and said they were involved in all walks of life in Iran.

The Iranian president started his speech at the National Press Club by reciting some verses from the Koran. No one on the panel or seated in the audience applauded or reacted in any way when he was introduced.

Amid angry demonstrations on the Ivy League campus and at the United Nations, Ahmadinejad delivered a speech and conducted a question-and-answer session at Columbia, followed by a scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press that Iran would not launch an attack on Israel or any other nation, and he does not believe the U.S. is preparing for war against Iran.

"Iran will not attack any country," Ahmadinejad told the AP. Iran has always maintained a defensive policy, not an offensive one, he said, and has "never sought to expand its territory."

Asked whether he believed the U.S. is preparing for war, he responded: "That is not how I see it ... I believe that some of the talk in this regard arises first of all from anger. Secondly, it serves the electoral purposes domestically in this country. Third, it serves as a cover for policy failures over Iraq."

In a 30-minute interview at a hotel near the United Nations, Ahmadinejad struck a soothing tone. He said Iranian foreign policy was based on humanitarian concerns and seeking justice.

He reiterated his call for a debate at the United Nations on world issues with President Bush.

Referring to fears of a military campaign against Iran, he said: "We don't think you can compensate for one mistake by committing more mistakes."

The Columbia event has spurred an emotional debate about free speech.

Over the weekend, the university said it would welcome any notable figure visiting the United States — even Adolf Hitler — to speak to students and faculty at the Ivy League college.

But there are those who have questioned the New York college's standards. They ask why a school that will not allow an ROTC program to be part of its curriculum would allow Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, one of America’s avowed enemies, onto its campus.

Critics wonder why the leader of a nation that exports terrorism is allowed to speak, but the leader of an American organization that seeks to secure U.S. borders was not.

"It's extremely important to know who the leaders are of countries that are your adversaries," Bollinger told ABC's "Good Morning America." "To watch them to see how they think, to see how they reason or do not reason. To see whether they're fanatical or to see whether they are sly."

The Iranian president addressed students and faculty at a forum only days after Columbia retracted a speaking invitation to the president of the Minuteman Project, a controversial citizens' group that seeks to secure America's borders from illegal immigrants, even going so far as to try building a fence along the border with Mexico.

Minuteman founder and president Jim Gilchrist said he feels "sweet and sour" toward Columbia after an invitation to participate in an Oct. 4 talk was taken away last week. Gilchrist appeared at Columbia last year, but his speech was thwarted when students and other opponents stormed the stage as he took the podium.

"I've always respected Columbia, but I've relegated it to a gutter school after that incident," Gilchrist said in a phone interview. "They've stopped free speech. That's worse than killing people. With that, you can kill an entire nation."

But Gilchrist — an ardent supporter of the First Amendment — actually backs the university's decision to host Ahmadinejad.

"I'm defending his appearance," he said. "I think he should speak. To say no, he cannot speak, is to support exactly the same thing that happened to me."

He believes Columbia's administrators are good about fostering free speech but give too much power to "radical" groups in determining who gets a forum on campus.

Student and faculty group the Columbia Political Union initially voted to ask Gilchrist back this year, but it was ultimately the organization that reversed the vote and rescinded his invitation. The CPU apparently was not a key factor in the Ahmadinejad visit, which is sponsored by Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and is part of the university's annual World Leaders Forum.

Several Columbia students — even some who planned to rally against Ahmadinejad — said they supported the Iranian president's appearance.

"He's a leader of a large nation and what he says is important, even if it's wrong," said Dmitry Zakharov, 25, a Columbia University graduate student.

University officials did not return calls from FOXNews.com seeking comment on the school's public-speaking policies and decisions.

But John Coatsworth, the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, said in a weekend interview with FOX News that just about anyone would be welcome to speak at the university — except the leaders of countries with which the United States is at war.

As for Hitler, he said, prior to the invasion of Poland in 1939, "if Hitler were in the United States and wanted a platform from which to speak, he would have plenty of platforms to speak in the United States. If he were willing to engage in a debate and discussion, and be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him."

"Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas," Bollinger said in a statement issued last week. "On occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. ...

"It should never be thought that merely to listen to ideas we deplore in any way implies our endorsement of those ideas, or the weakness of our resolve to resist those ideas or our naiveté about the very dangers in such ideas."

Bollinger said that the "faith in freedom" is "our nation's most potent weapon against repressive regimes everywhere in the world. This is America at its best."

Click here to read the entire Columbia statement about the Iranian president event.

He also said: "It's wrong to think that Iran and the U.S. are walking toward war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing."

Before leaving Iran, Ahmadinejad said the American people have been denied "correct information," and his visit will give them a chance to hear a different voice, the official IRNA news agency reported.

[...]

Ahmadinejad's scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday was to be his third time attending the New York meeting in three years.

But his request to lay a wreath at ground zero was denied by city officials and condemned by politicians who said a visit to the site of the 2001 terror attacks would violate sacred ground.

Police cited construction and security concerns in denying Ahmadinejad's request. Ahmadinejad told "60 Minutes" he would not press the issue but expressed disbelief that the visit would offend Americans.

Columbia canceled a planned visit by the Iranian president last year, also citing security and logistical reasons.

Iran's president at Columbia University - a transcript | www.azstarnet.com

UPDATE Steve wrote;

The issue is not how it played here. The issue is how it plays in the Moslem world and in Iran. That's the real audience for this show. I don't think he enhanced his reputation in America and I don't think that was his goal. The Moslem street saw him sticking up for the Palestinians and being spoken to crudely by Bollinger. He is just another Moslem victim of Yankee arrogance.

America's relationship with AJ is a zero sum game. He is first and foremost a politician trying to further his cause. If he wants to do something it is probably because he thinks it will help him in his conflict with the US. That is enough for us not to want to play along. He is not doing this for the intellectual challenge or to get us to like him. He is doing it because in some way it helps him maintain or increase his power.

To ascribe any other motive is hopelessly naive.

One of the reasons the Arab/Moslem world is so filled with rage is that they have been goaded for years. Every tyrant who can't take us on face to face tries to enlist the "street" on their behalf. This is the game both Arafat and Saddam played. They whip up the masses and al-Qaeda is there to channel it. It's a game the Islamic tyrants win because they know how to push the buttons in those cultures, just like politicians here know how to push our buttons.

You may well start hearing that we need to be more concilliatory towards AJ so as not to drive more Moslems into terrorism. If we hear that then AJ won tonight.

Below is an article passed on by Naftali of the GetOuttheFacts group.

CNN/Time Magazine Monday, Sep. 24, 2007

Why Ahmadinejad Loves New York By Tony Karon

The Cheshire Cat smile worn by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his address at Columbia University on Monday was no surprise - the event was a resounding victory for the Iranian president. Of course, students and faculty in the hall jeered many of his comments, while protestors outside denounced him as the new Hitler. And Columbia University president Lee Bollinger - clearly stung by criticism of the institution for hosting Ahmadinejad - used his introduction to excoriate the Iranian leader as everything from a "cruel and petty dictator" to "astonishingly uneducated." But all of this was merely grist for Ahmadinejad. The furor it had created ensured that what might have passed as a relatively obscure address in a small Ivy League auditorium turned into a national media event, in which the Iranian president had the microphone, unmolested, for the best part of an hour.

New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, had criticized Columbia for hosting Ahmadinejad, warning that "All he will do on that stage ... is spew more hatred and more venom out there to the world." Not quite. Despite the harsh words of his host, Bollinger, Ahmadinejad stayed on message, appearing relaxed, reasonable, open, even charismatic. Whether or not American TV audiences are seduced is beside the point, because Ahmadinejad's primary audience is not American. The provocations of his New York visit are an integral part of his domestic political strategy, which depends on his ability to hold America's national attention with an unapologetically nationalist message about Iran's nuclear rights, lecturing them about God and their aim to run the world.

It was pure political ju-jitsu, using the momentum of your adversaries to your own advantage. The protestors got him on TV, and he used the platform to grandstand for the folks back home. He will share an even bigger global platform with President Bush on Tuesday, at the lectern of the U.N. General Assembly. The two men won't appear together, of course, but each is making a pitch for international support in the showdown over Iran's nuclear issue. But Ahmedinajad appeared to steal a march on Bush Monday by virtue of his televised propaganda show at Columbia.

Challenged on his statements questioning the Holocaust, for example, Ahmadinejad cleverly turned the issue around, asking, "Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" That argument may not get much sympathy with an American audience, but championing the Palestinian cause helps Iran's strategy of undermining the moderate Arab regimes allied with Washington.

Ahmadinejad's primary audience, however, is in Iran, because - despite Bollinger's assertion that he is a dictator - the Iranian president faces reelection in 2009. As things stand, his failure to deliver on the economic promises he made in his first campaign and the deterioration of Iran's global position puts him at substantial risk of losing to the more pragmatic elements in the Iranian leadership, who are already campaigning against him. Playing the nuclear card as an expression of Iranian national pride has always been part of his domestic political game, and the breathless television coverage his visit has prompted in the U.S. won't do his domestic prospects any harm.

hat tip Washington Times via Malkin

UPDATE: J to the B (hat tip Josef)

UPDATE: The agenda at Columbia has been evident for a long time.  From April 2004 hat tip Hal

Columbia Probing Mideast Studies  Presidential panel, meeting in secret, has heard testimony about anti-Israel activity.  Adam Dickter - Staff Writer A committee appointed by the president of Columbia University for months has been quietly probing allegations of bias and intimidation by faculty, particularly in Middle East studies, The Jewish Week has learned.

The panel convened by President Lee Bollinger comes at a time when Jewish students at the Ivy League university have complained that some Middle East classes are unbalanced and that faculty members have used their authority to promote anti-Israel activism.

Secrets, Donors and the Edward Said Chair By Jonathan Calt Harris, Frontpage Mag

Khalidi Is Offered Chair at Columbia Pro-Palestinian Professor is Vocal Critic of Israel by Jacob Gershman New York Sun

UPDATE: Worthless

photo hat tip Zhanna

UPDATE: What it's was really all about - how it's played in the Muslim world via LGF

On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.

Before President Ahamadinejad’s address, Colombia University Chancellor in a brief address told the audience that they would have the chance to hear Iran’s stands as the Iranian President would put them forth.

He said that the Iranians are a peace loving nation, they hate war, and all types of aggression.

Referring to the technological achievements of the Iranian nation in the course of recent years, the president considered them as a sign for the Iranians’ resolute will for achieving sustainable development and rapid advancement.

The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.

All the talk about Bollinger's tough opening.  Bollinger is a full of shitnik. That was a CYA opening. The poison dwarf bitch slapped him down though. Bollinger was trying to save his rep and his ass but most importantly the largess of alumni dollars. He gave this despot a mass media opportunity that is damaging in ways we can't begin to know. It was never about America. It was all about the victory over the West.  And  this will be exploited and served up in the Muslim world.

Comments

[Thomas Carney]

For the woman holding the orange sign, "We Refuse to Choose between ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM AND AMERICAN IMPERIALISM" I have just ONE THING to say:

NO ONE is forcing you to stay in America, ma'am.

[Vince]

This whole thing is a disgrace.

From Bush to Columbia to the Leftards.

Can't wait for the demonspew awaiting us tomorrow when he's at the UN.

[AubreyJ]

Great footwork on this story, Pamela...
Thanks...
AubreyJ.........

[Josef K]

Anytime Pamela - you and John Bolton/J to the B make one heck of a one-two punch!

[Pero]

Great stuff, Pamela. Couple things:

1. I hope you don't mind if I use a few of your pics on Friday's "This Week in Pictures" post.

2. Gotta love the moronic students cheering Mahmoud when he rips Israel or the "real terrorists" (U.S.), but going bananas when he said there are no Normos in Iran.....No live ones he knows of, anyway.

3. As sick as it made me while listening to the twerp, I admit to enjoying listening to Prager's comments. I think he almost vomited............Prager conceded Bollinger's comments weren't weak, but he was sick over the fact Mahmoud was allowed to speak at his alma mater.

Keep up the good work.