TEHRAN, Iran - Iranians expressed dismay Tuesday at the tough reception given to their president in New York, saying his host was rude and only fueled the image of the United States as a bully.



Columbia President Lee Bollinger's statement — including telling Ahmadinejad that he resembles a "petty and cruel dictator" — offended Iranians on many levels, not least that of simple hospitality. In traditions of the region, a host should be polite to a guest, no matter what he thinks of him.

Another customer in the store, Rasoul Qaresi, said Bollinger showed that even Americans "in a cultural position act like cowboys and nothing more."

At the Columbia speech, Ahmadinejad fell into the same sort of rhetoric, questioning the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks and defending the right to doubt the Holocaust.

Columbia University faced criticism for hosting Ahmadinejad, and Bollinger had sought to fend off calls for a cancellation of the event by promising to take a tough line with the Iranian president.

Iran's state-run radio said Bollinger's comments were "full of insult, which was mostly Zionists' propaganda against Iran."


All this from a country whos avowed goal is the destruction of another whole country of people who have a different religeon, but who come from the very same racial heritage.
There is an old song about people like the Iranian President. It says beware of the handshake behind the snake. I think this is what we should be reminding ourselves when people like him try to make us think they are such nice cultured people.