Columbia Won't Cancel Ahmadinejad Speech

Washington Post ^ | Friday, September 21, 2007 | None Given

[Seabee133]

NEW YORK -- Columbia University said it does not plan to call off a speech by Iran's president despite pressure from critics including the City Council speaker, who said the Ivy League school was providing a forum for "hate-mongering vitriol."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is traveling to New York to address the United Nations' General Assembly. He was to appear Monday at a question-and-answer session with Columbia faculty and students as part of the school's World Leaders Forum.

The State Department calls Iran a state sponsor of terror, and Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust "a myth" and urged for Israel to be destroyed.

City Council speaker Christine Quinn called Thursday for the university to rescind the invitation, saying "the idea of Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our city is offensive to all New Yorkers."

[Seabee133]

More than the outrage of this lout being allowed in our country, is the lack of ccoverage of this event. I first heard about this yesterday on a Conservative talk show and the only thing I could find about it was on Drudge. The link that was on his website was to the Columbia Observer and University newspaper, I am assuming. This is very interesting that no one other than Conservatives wish to talk about how preposterous this is and how much of a slap in the face to our people this is. A-wanna-Jihad should have no forum in this country to its people or its universities. This is as ridiculous as Hitler being the 1938 Time Man of the Year and getting nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize that same year. When are we going to wake up and realize that the world is not comprised of sound bites and editorialized news. These people mean us some serious harm, and would inflict it if they had the means right now. Where does common sense enter into the picture anymore or is that just an antiquated philosophy nowadays.

[edcoil]

need a few thousand people to block the streets to/from the school.

[Seabee133]

This article has already been posted, sorry didn’t see it.

[stm]

Let’s hope it becomes a moot point when he is denied entrance into the country. Man I hate these terrorist enabling liberals.

[Spok]

“the Ivy League school was providing a forum for “hate-mongering vitriol.”

...which makes Ahmadinejad the ideal speaker for Columbia, so long as the hate-mongering vitriol is directed against Jews and America. If, however, the speaker was pro-life, the students would sooner burn the university down than let them on campus.

[SoKatt]

“If, however, the speaker was pro-life, the students would sooner burn the university down than let them on campus”

Or, if the speaker was Jim Robinson.
Absolutely disgraceful.

[SaxxonWoods]

Message to Columbia students:

Take him hostasge, keep him for a year, blindfold him when you move him, and threaten him with death daily. No torture though, because “we’re better than them.”

Turnabout is fair play.

[elhombrelibre]

What a surprise.

[Gritty]

[Argus]

need a few thousand people to block the streets to/from the school.

They're too busy blocking the streets of Jena, LA.

[moonman]

"The State Department calls Iran a state sponsor of terror, and Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust "a myth" and urged for Israel to be destroyed"

Also, he himself claimed to be one of the students who kidnapped and terrorized American diplomats in 1979.

[- Smokestack Lightning]

I probably agree with you but without paragraph breaks your response is unreadable.

[rbosque]

This is insane. That school should be boycotted and the school administration shipped to Iran.

[chessplayer]

State of American Universities;

American troops - Not welcome.

Holocaust deniers - More than welcome.

The future of this country is very bleak.

[Blue Highway]

Anyone wonder if there will be an assassination attempt on him?

What's next Comulbia inviting Osama Bin Ladin to speak? I seriously think they'd welcome him as well.

[G8 Diplomat]

Columbia is nuts.

I can’t imagine speaking with a terrorist-harboring dictator except to say “We’re gonna bomb Iran soon and you’re gonna be toast!”

[Blue Highway]

Message to Columbia students:

Take him hostasge, keep him for a year, blindfold him when you move him, and threaten him with death daily. No torture though, because “we’re better than them.”

Turnabout is fair play.

That would be interesting.

[expatguy]

"...The State Department calls Iran a state sponsor of terror...[sic]"

The State Department is the one who issued a visa to this guy.

I'm all over that. Read here.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[richiehass]

Apparently his visa is on a radius of 25 miles, so, if somebody could drive him 26 miles...

[ExSES]

More than the outrage of this lout being allowed in our country

Get the U.N. Headquarters and all its staff to hell out of the U.S.!

I have long suggested that they move to somewhere like Haiti!!!