Ed Koch makes some excellent points we have not seen elsewhere about the Ahmadinejad visit to Columbia:

the attention of the world, particularly the Islamic world, was focused on Columbia and Ahmadinejad. And what did they see? They saw Columbia University’s president, Bollinger, who had invited Ahmadinejad to his school, do what should never be done - insult the person who is a guest in your home, office or shared podium and stage. Bollinger had said of Ahmadinejad, “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,” adding, “You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.” Bollinger went on, “It’s well-documented that Iran was a state sponsor of terrorism.” The final insult was, “I doubt that you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions.” Ahmadinejad understood this immediately and referred to Bollinger’s insults in his speech, saying, “I shall not begin by being affected by this unfriendly treatment.”

I am also distressed that the heart of Bollinger’s objections related to Israel and Ahmadinejad’s call for its destruction. Of course, that is important, especially to Jews and certainly to me, and to the world as well. But I would have preferred a question on Ahmadinejad’s call for the destruction of the United States. Bollinger could have said, “with respect to the U.S., shortly after your election in October 2005, you called for a global jihad aimed at destroying the U.S., saying ‘Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?’ You went on to say, ‘You should know that this slogan can certainly be achieved.’” Bollinger, a Jew himself, gave Ahmadinejad ammunition to be used among Islamic supporters that the battle at Columbia was primarily a battle between Islam and the Jews, and Ahmadinejad had bravely stood up to the mocking of the Jewish Bollinger.

The Daily News reported, “Ahmadinejad has also revived an old slogan of the Khomeinist movement that had fallen into disuse in the ’90s: ‘Death to America!’ Every meeting he addresses in Iran starts and ends with this cry - chanted by professional demonstrators working for the regime.” Bollinger should have asked Ahmaninejad about his role in the Iranian hostage taking of American consular officials during the Carter administration. Barry Rosen, one of the hostages held for 444 days and released on January 20, 1981, the day President Reagan was inaugurated, recently wrote, “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.” If Ahmadinejad were not protected by diplomatic immunity, he could be arrested for a host of terrorist and criminal activities.

The combination of impoliteness and poorly focused questions and criticisms of Ahmadinejad represents the squandering of an opportunity that should never have arisen in the first place.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 10:51 am and is filed under General, Iran, Religion, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.