Posted on 09/24/2007 10:30:23 PM PDT by dervish
The president of Columbia University is expressing relief that a Columbia alumnus was released from an Iranian prison -- just days before the Iranian president is scheduled to speak at Columbia University.
Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, who works for George Soros's Open Society Institute, was one of several Iranian-Americans detained by Iran for allegedly conspiring against Iran's national security.
Tajbakhsh was freed on bail last Thursday. Iranian President Mahmoud Amadinejad is speaking at Columbia on Monday, and the invitation for him to appear on campus has drawn widespread condemnation from politicians and ordinary Americans, who view Amadinejad as an enemy of the United States and Israel.
In a statement on the Columbia University Web site, President Lee C. Bollinger said that he was among the "chorus of voices" calling on the Iranian government to free Dr. Tajbakhsh, a graduate of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
"In recent discussions with the Iranian Mission, I communicated that I would raise his case, among many other issues, directly and publicly if President Ahmadinejad came to speak on our campus," Bollinger said in the statement.
"Dr. Tajbakhsh's belated release on bail should not change our determination to challenge the regime's record of unjust imprisonment and repression of such scholars, journalists and advocates working for a freer society in Iran," Bollinger added.
Earlier this month, Iran released another Iranian-American scholar, Haleh Esfandiari, who was detained for eight months (including three months in jail) on the same charge that landed Tajbakhsh in an Iranian prison.
Two weeks ago, Esfandiari returned to her job as director of the Middle East program for the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.
'Committed to confronting ideas'
Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs has invited the Iranian president to speak -- and take questions -- from faculty and students on Monday.
Columbia extended the invitation after an Iranian diplomat "initiated contact" with Columbia through a faculty member who is a specialist on Iran, President Bollinger said.
The head of the New York City Council, Christine Quinn, last week blasted Columbia University for treating Ahmadinejad as an honored guest, calling it "offensive to all New Yorkers."
On the defensive, President Bollinger said students and faculty will have time to "pose questions that challenge the views" expressed by Ahmadinejad.
Bollinger said he will introduce President Ahmadinejad with a "series of sharp challenges" on some of his controversial statements and his government's policies.
Bollinger said his challenges would touch on the Iranian president's denial of the Holocaust; his call for the destruction of the State of Israel; his support for terrorism; Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons; Iranian government suppression of its people, particularly women; and the Iranian government's imprisoning of journalists and scholars.
In response to the uproar that greeted Columbia's invitation to President Ahmadinejad, President Bollinger said Columbia University is "committed to confronting ideas -- to understand the world as it is and as it might be."
Bollinger said fulfilling that mission occasionally will bring the school into contract with beliefs that "many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious."
Bollinger also pointed to freedom of speech as a central value in our society: "That such a forum could not take place on a university campus in Iran today sharpens the point of what we do here," he said. "This is America at its best."
Ahmadinejad arrived in New York on Sunday to address the United Nations General Assembly. His request to visit Ground Zero and lay a wreath at the scene of the 9/11 terror attacks was flatly rejected by New York City police, who cited security and safety concerns.
One New York Assemblyman called the Iranian leader's request to visit the scene of the 9/11 terror attacks "a slap in the face to all New Yorkers."
“Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, who works for George Soros’s Open Society Institute, was one of several Iranian-Americans detained by Iran for allegedly conspiring against Iran’s national security.”
Ironic
I thought you might be interested in this....
No...I smell a rat...
a set up and shake down...me thinks
quid pro quo....
Yeah, Soros' moveon & the NYT placed a full page ad about General Betrayus and Ahmadinajad gets a standing ovation at the end of his speech by leftist acadenicians and their brainwashed students.
What a repugnant cast of characters in this story.
Soros/Open Society is a big contributor to this research project at Columbia: Gulf/2000
http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/about.shtml
Gary Sick, the head of that project, is an an apologist for the Mullocracy, and Carter’s man during the Iran hostage crisis.
You might well be right
One has to wonder if the invitation came first or the release
I smell something fishy!
Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, who works for George Soros's Open Society Institute, was one of several Iranian-Americans detained by Iran for allegedly conspiring against Iran's national security. Tajbakhsh was freed on bail last Thursday... In a statement on the Columbia University Web site, President Lee C. Bollinger said that he was among the "chorus of voices" calling on the Iranian government to free Dr. Tajbakhsh, a graduate of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation... "Dr. Tajbakhsh's belated release on bail should not change our determination to challenge the regime's record of unjust imprisonment and repression of such scholars, journalists and advocates working for a freer society in Iran," Bollinger added. Earlier this month, Iran released another Iranian-American scholar, Haleh Esfandiari, who was detained for eight months (including three months in jail) on the same charge that landed Tajbakhsh in an Iranian prison. Two weeks ago, Esfandiari returned to her job as director of the Middle East program for the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.Soros' Open Society Institute, and the WWIC -- shills for the Dhimmicrats.
My first reaction (after reading this) was a strong concern for the “safety” of the graduates after the attack by the columbia president.
Your scenario sure sounds plausible.
But as much as I detest Columbia U for their treatment of Jim Gilchrist
(of The Minuteman), I’ll also consider this story a possible “fig leaf”
constructed for Bollinger and all the other useful idiots of Columbia U.
Interesting. the invite Might have been part of a deal.
Now THAT makes more sense... now that we know.
Hey, what’s a little blackmail between friends? ;’)
We WILL not bargain with Terrorists...
We will not bargain with terrorists...
We will not bargain with terrorists...
We will not bargain with terrorists...
We will not bargain with terrorists...
We will not bargain with terrorists...
We will not bargain with terrorists...
We will not...er... We will bargain...
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