News Release: Ahmadinejad at Columbia University

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Hope
by Hope
23-Sep-2007
 

Ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak at Columbia University tomorrow and there are already news trucks lined up on Broadway. Protesters are getting ready for a rally, and there are pictures of hangings and people who have been lashed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. President Bollinger states:

"On Monday, September 24, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is scheduled to appear as a speaker on campus. The event is sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs (see SIPA announcement), which has been in contact with the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. The event will be part of the annual World Leaders Forum, the University-wide initiative intended to further Columbia’s longstanding tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate, especially on global issues.

In order to have such a University-wide forum, we have insisted that a number of conditions be met, first and foremost that President Ahmadinejad agree to divide his time evenly between delivering remarks and responding to audience questions. I also wanted to be sure the Iranians understood that I would myself introduce the event with a series of sharp challenges to the president on issues including:

  • the Iranian president’s denial of the Holocaust;
  • his public call for the destruction of the State of Israel;
  • his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;
  • Iran's pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;
  • his government's widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly of women's rights; and
  • his government's imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia’s own alumni,
    Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh (see President Bollinger's statement on Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh's release).

To read his entire comment go to: //www.columbia.edu/cu/news/07/09/ahmadinejad2...

Despite his statement, many people are up in arms and horrified that Ahmadinejad has been extended an invitation. There is a Jewish protester right in front of the main gates on 116th and Broadway with a poster showing Ahmadinejad and the words "Go to Hell."

I would think that the people who despise him the most would be happy that he has been invited to be challenged. If he is an evil person, then shedding light on to his evilness is a good thing. Ignoring him is not the solution, dialogue is necessary to break barriers and create change.

The Columbia Iranian Student's Association made this statement:


I. CISA EXECUTIVE BOARD Statement – 9/22/07

The Columbia Iranian Students' Association (CISA) is a non-political and non-religious organization that is open to all members of the Columbia University community and the community at-large, regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion. The purpose of CISA is to organize functions, meetings and other events that promote awareness, understanding, and appreciation of Iranian history,culture and traditions.

As a point of clarification, the invitation extended to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was extended by the University, not CISA. CISA is comprised of individuals with various opinions and beliefs. Our Association supports organized and constructive discourse and debate in an academic setting. Regarding this specific event, our organization's focus is to support the united students' efforts to provide a safe and productive outlet for the expression of students' views.

CISA would also like to take this opportunity to remind our community that many Iranian students on our campus are being placed in a sensitive position. CISA would like to ask all members of our community to be respectful of our peers and not make assumptions about their personal, political, or philosophical perspectives based on their race, ethnicity, or national origin both today and everyday.

Lastly, we would like to remind the Iranian community that we are always available and that you should feel free to reach out to us with any concerns or for any support you might need.

II. On Monday, a non-partisan group of students, the Columbia
Coalition is organizing a forum for student groups and individuals to express their views in ten-minute slots at a podium on Low Plaza. This will be starting at 11:30am and going until 5:30pm (with a gap during the actual event from 1:30-2:30pm). The campus will only be open to Columbia affiliates on Monday, if you would like to attend the forum please remember your CUID. If you would like the opportunity to speak at the forum, send an email to the Coalition (although do not assume you have a slot until you receive confirmaton).

III. CISA will be holding a discussion section for Columbia students on Monday at 6:00pm in 569 Lerner. This will be a safe and comfortable environment for any of you who want to express your opinions and feelings to each other.

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TO: nonofurbiz

by YO (not verified) on

What breed of idiot are you to think that all Iranians are anti-US? Did you just pop your head out of your ass or what?!! Looks like you're the one who's aniti a lot of things...


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all iranians are pathetic,

by nonofurbiz (not verified) on

all iranians are pathetic, they are in the USA living here, making the good old buck, living fake lives as millionaires want to be, yet with very anti-american sentiments, and are happy inside to see thir president make a mock of the USA, yet why don't they go back to iran? if the usa is such an evil force, why are you still living here? why is it so easy tot talk bad about the Usa here? why don't you go back to iran and try to talk bad about them, there? God please, if America is oo bad, what are you doing here? they will hang you there? you couldnot affor the benz? then move to a third country or shut up, you are living on borrow soil and still critizing your host?
please guys why dont you all get on the benz and leave?????


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"Iranian President Mahmoud

by hahahah (not verified) on

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a scathing welcome from Columbia President Lee Bollinger before addressing students and faculty at a highly controversial question-and-answer forum. Ahmadinejad, who interestingly enough received a round of applause as he walked onto the stage, responded by saying Bollinger had insulted him.

Watch the webcast on top of the screen.

//wcbstv.com/

Please lobbyist for the regime show your support on this site for the regime.


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To no name: You're afraid of

by anti-no-name (not verified) on

To no name: You're afraid of the truth being revealed. Who's mouthpiece are you? Are you the chief propagnadist for the Islamic Republic? Do you support the Islamic fascism Iran is exporting throughout the region? Tell us you're supporter of the regime.


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Ex-Hostage and Jewish SPY

by no_name (not verified) on

Barry Rosen and NYPOST are nothing but Israeli Soundbite machines. Barry Rosen grew up in a Jewish family and was part of Peace Corp (well established CIA front at the cold war).




NYPOST is a well established Israeli lobby machine, that makes it's money for Murdoch by playing along the Israeli lobby fervor in NY.




Both are one sided and biased opinion at best.




Ahmadinejad should have never come to speak. All he is doing is fueling the Israeli lobby funding machine. The same people who extorted millions in the name of holocaust survivors but gave very little to the survivors (read Finkelstine book on holocaust industry).


Bavafa

To anonymous009

by Bavafa on

Is this being a trick question? I have no idea, though imagine the Iranian government since I saw a picture that he is traveling with Iran air and that he is the head of the government. A sovereign nation I might add and the fact that he was elected or selected for that matter just as GW was and just as both are the same hate mongers. But I don't see many protest when GW gives speeches, where he has much more blood on his hand and advocating war/hate much more then Ahmadinjat is doing. Now that I would call double standard, wouldn't you?

Mehrdad

P.S. I am no fan of Ahmadinejad or the regime in Iran, but I won't advocate war and destruction against Iran or towards any people/nation for that matter.


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To Ramin Tehrani: Your

by anony (not verified) on

To Ramin Tehrani:

Your beloved mullah regime has been bending for Russia, the Eu, China, and whole other host of foreign nations since its inception. Iran is practically a client state of those countries and you talk about the coup of 1953? How about the coup of 1978 by the murderous opportunists mullahs? How about the coup against Bani Sadr? The domestic enemies of Iran are much worst than the foreign one. And you are one of those domestic enemies through your ignorance.


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Mehrdad: Who is paying for

by Anonymous009 (not verified) on

Mehrdad:

Who is paying for Ahamdinejad, the representative of the biggest Islamofascist lobby in the world to come to US and spew his venom?

Mehrdad, you people live in denial if you think other people don't see through your double standards.


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HOSTAGE TELLS Ahmadinejad:

by Ex-Hostage (not verified) on

HOSTAGE TELLS Ahmadinejad: SHUT UP!

NYPOST: September 23, 2007 -- Barry Rosen, executive director of public and external affairs at Borough of Manhattan Community College, was a hostage in Iran from 1979 to 1981. He studied Iranian culture at Columbia University.

I wonder what the Founding Fathers would think of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University tomorrow.

They instilled the belief in all of us: Everyone has the right of free speech.

But I believe they'd be in a quandary about this one. I'd certainly like to talk to James Madison, who drafted our Bill of Rights, and ask him whether Ahmadinejad deserves that right.
Ahmadinejad is a reprehensible leader who violates free speech in his own country and cracks down on those Iranians who attempt to open up his repressive regime.

He uses speech to spread age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes in the Middle East, denying the existence of Israel, and denies that the Holocaust ever happened.

Ahmadinejad was one of those outrageous Iranians who took me and more than 50 other Americans hostage for 444 days, violating international law and making us suffer indescribable moments of terror.

There is simply no reason to give him a platform to spew his venom.

No matter how hard-hitting Columbia's president questions Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader is a winner.

Every word he utters is meant for his radical constituents at home and legitimizes his standing among other dictators like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

It's only when Ahmadinejad permits his own people to march and speak freely, that I believe Columbia President Lee Bollinger would be justified in giving the Iranian president an open forum.

Not before then."

//www.nypost.com/seven/09232007/news/worldnew...


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Burn in Hell Mahmoud

by Keshvaram (not verified) on

I hope we will soon see the day that this anti-iranian bastard and the rest of thieves and criminals that have occupied our beautiful country brought to justice. They've killed and imprisoned tens of thousands of our beautiful young and robbed the wealth of our country for their own or sent to arab groups. May this whole gang join their emam in hell very soon.


Bavafa

NY Times will run

by Bavafa on

I wonder who is paying for the ad in NY Times. Could it be AIPAC!!!!

Mehrdad


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Bush is the terrorist and America the master of terror!

by Ramintehran (not verified) on

Before you dumb ass Iranians bash on Ahmedinijad, maybe you should first read for yourself what he talks about, instead of blindly following the reports on your Fox News.

America the bully wants a regime change no matter what in Iran, that is why they rejected Irans offer of peace in 2003, when Ahmedinijad wasnt even the president!

Anyways, you Iranians living abroad are pathetic anyways. You say you love Iran and would die for it and listen to Dariush and his "vatan bla bla " songs, but you dont have the balls to live in your own country. Instead you chose to live in a country (Friggin America) that has been using us since 1953.


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To Hope

by AAA (not verified) on

Hey Hope,

The first two questions in your post ie denial of holocaust and destruction of Israel would make good questions if Ahmadinejad had actually claimed those. The has neither called for "Israel to be wiped off the map" nor has he denied the holocaust even though the claim is repeated in US media ad nuasium. It is absurd for an Iranian organization at an "elite" university to make these claims when they have been throughly debunked in the academic world (see Juan Cole of University of Michigan). The only people who still claim these are the mainstream media, those with an agenda and propagandists.
.
I am no fan of him but for crying out loud read what he said in Farsi before you post such crap.
.
btw take out the "I" out of CISA, you don't deserve the "I".


Majid

A massive JERK from Alabama!!

by Majid on

Your comments say a lot about you! Just like your masters in IRA,your entire brain( if you have any), hovers between knee and naval "naaf va zanoo"! get a plastic doll and get some releife for a while!


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Ahmadi nut job is the biggest disgrace to our community...

by Mahmoud (not verified) on


Sahar

That is the only thing

by Sahar on

Fortunately, that is the only thing you could do.


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New York Times Will Run

by NYTIMES (not verified) on

New York Times Will Run Anti-Ahmadinejad Ad Tomorrow
"Ahmadinejad Is a Terrorist"

//bp0.blogger.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/Rvcv0t9Z5vI/AA...


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F*ck Columbia and Ahmadi nut job

by Ron (not verified) on

I wipe my ass with toilet papers of Ahmadi nut job printed on it....


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Let the guy talk....

by no_name (not verified) on

What is all the fuss....




America through Saddam has killed more Iranians than they have lost in all the wars combined from and including WWII till now.






Israel has wiped out Palestine off the map an their control over media has literally denied all other genocides and mass killings. From Stalin in Russia and onward.






Menachim Begin was a terrorist identified directly responsible of killing many innocent brits in the Kind David hotel, yet he won the noble prize.






Saudis were the main people behind 9/11 yet they came and put on a show at ground zero. Rudi didn't take their check, but big deal.






Jewish spies stole america's nuclear weapon secret and sold it to the soviets, yet no one can mention that anymore....






In contrast this guy is just a joker at best. Let him give his talk, so we can all move on


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Shame on Columbia

by Omid Parsi (not verified) on

It is a tragedy that the left liberal hijackers
of one of our most prestigious academic
establishments have decided to dignify a truly
evil character like Ahmadinejad by giving him a
tribune to work his "charm offensive" and make a
mockery of our most basic principles.

For those ignorant enough to think this sort of
transgression is no big deal see here:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_executions_of_Ir...

and let us know if you can name any other
"wolrd Leaders" guilty of greater crimes against
humanity to be invited for our enlightenment.
I wonder if Columbia would invite Osama Bin Laden
for a "dialogue" to give us a chance to see the
world from his rather "different point of view".
How about hosting Charles Manson for a special
seminar on "counter-culture" studies?!

Do the spineless left-liberals have no clue?

Omid Parsi
New York


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TO Mash Ghaasem

by Prof. (not verified) on

These are all the crimes the Islamic Republic inflicted on the Iranians and the rest of the world.

I think you are an idiot and are confused.


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Bombing of the Islamic Republic is a win-win situation is for...

by A Massive Man From Alabama (not verified) on

It is good for America, it is good for Iran, and it is good for business.

America should offer a reward program for the young Iranians. For every mullah identified by an Iranian citizen, the American forces offer a mullah wife, sister, or daughter for the Iranian youths to pock or pork.

This will minimize the blood shed.

God Bless America


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A Few More Questions

by Mash Ghaasem (not verified) on

Dear Hope:

I suggest that you also include the following question into your list:

(1). Organizing a military Coup in Iran in 1954, killing of 100,000s of Iranians and changing the course of Iranian history by western governments.
(2). Killing of nearly 10000000 Iranians in a war that was designed by the West and carried out by their puppet Saddam Hussein.
(3). Killing of 350 Iranian passengers of a civilian airline by a western millitary ship.
(4). Killing of 750000 civilians, displacement of 4000000 people, looting of national treasures, and destruction of most of infrastructure in Iraq by westerners.
(5). Killing of over 2000 civilians and destruction of several cities in Lebanon.
(6). Killing of 100s of Iranian border guards in Iranian Baluchestan by terrorists sponsored by the West.

My final request: It is highly appropriate if you change the name of your organization to Columbia Iranian Spies for America (CISA). Shame on you and on your organization.


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Solid Proof that Israelis

by Anonymous911 (not verified) on

Solid Proof that Israelis are Paranoid

//kamangir.net/2007/09/23/solid-proof-that-is...


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Today, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

by Anonymous911 (not verified) on

Today, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hopped on his lil' jet plane to head for U.S. turf, with an aim of telling us what's what. "Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions," Ahmadinejad told Iran's state-run media.

//www.realite-eu.org/site/apps/nl/content3.as...

Ahmadinejad's opinions that we're supposedly so eager to hear include (props to Realite EU):

"We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world.“
"The countdown for the destruction of Israel" has begun.
"Iran does not give a damn about resolutions."
"Them (the West) invented the myth of the massacre of the Jews and placed it above Allah, religions and prophets.”
Yesterday in Paris, legendary mime Marcel Marceau -- a French Jew who escaped deportation to a death camp and whose father died in Auschwitz -- died at age 84. Though he would become famous for his wordless art, as the horrors of the Holocaust unfolded young Marceau was anything but silent:

"With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance, altering children's identity cards by changing birth dates to trick the Nazis into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton's army.

His father was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944.

'Yes, I cried for him,' Marceau said. But he said he also thought of the others killed.

'Among those kids was maybe an Einstein, a Mozart, somebody who (would have) found a cancer drug,' he told reporters in 2000. 'That is why we have a great responsibility. Let us love one another.'"

Ahmadinejad and Marceau. The coward, and the hero. The man who would wipe out an entire Jewish nation, and the man who celebrated life and saved children from death camps. The man who denies the Holocaust, and the man who survived.

How can we properly honor the victims of the Holocaust? By listening not just to what Ahmadinejad says on American TV or to Columbia students, but to what he said before he left Iran and what he'll say when he gets back. He is about domination, destruction, and death. And if we are silent in return, we're just inviting a Holocaust sequel


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That old "wipe Israel off the map" lie again

by Anonymous00 (not verified) on


Sahar

hunters of shadows

by Sahar on

You, poor hunters of shadows, keep on screaming. Ahmadinejad will go on his way.

Morgh parraan dar havaa o saayeh-ash

Mi-davad dar khaak parraan morgh-vash;

ABLAHi sayyaad-e aan saayeh shavad,

Mi-ravad chandaan keh bi-maayeh shavad.


ahvazi

Hope: When you ask Ahmadinejad questions.

by ahvazi on

 

Anytime anyone from the West asks Ahmadinejad about civil rights he talks about Abu Gharib and G'Bay and civil rights violation in America and how 3 million are in prison. When you ask him questions make sure you say, "Sir I am asking you about Iran, things related to America I will ask the American leaders."

All the best...


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Please excuse the propagandist

by Qumars (not verified) on

there are a few people (in this case just one) who want to make this a referendum on Islam. This is not about Islam bashing. This is about preventing a war on Iran.


Bush does not give a rats ass about Islamic rule in Iran. He's tolerating a much more severe version in Saudi Arabia just fine. America helped Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, do you think he cares about Iranian lives? This whole "anti-islam" is a vicious manipulation of people through fear and racism. It is a way of justifying war with Iran, and anyone dumb enough to think it's genuine is a tool of the establishment.


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Jihad

by Anonymous911 (not verified) on