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.

and 1/2 way again

And I agree Bollingers statement was completely uncalled for and showed a complete lack of understanding of the Iranian culture. He was rude and worse did it before he even heard the man out.

the president of Iran did not either question the 9/11 attacks or the holocaust . What i heard him say and so did many others per the news is that perhaps we should look at who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks IE not Iraq or Iran and why they would want to attack us...... I agree.

He admitted the halocaust happened but again he said he has been insulted for saying that more research needs to be done into why the halocaust happened . IE what made hitler want to exterminate the Jews.

The Iranian president offered a olive branch to the christians , the jews , the world and the USA.

Did you even listen to the speech?

You should before you comment you know.

How was he offering an olive branch when in previous speeches he has called for the destruction of America?

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An informed voter scares the Goverment lackeys.

An American first and always a Conservative.

And I do not believe rhetoric and propaganda.

What I heard him say is that Christians , muslims and Jews all pray and worship the same God. And that America is a country filled with good people and he invited American students to come to Iran and visit with Iranian students. He said the American people needed to question the actions of our government, ( I agree) and that we as thinking people and the rest of the world need to come together to promote peace.

That is what I heard him say about america. Now if you could get say Billy Graham or say the pope to say he said at some time in the past he wanted to destroy America I would believe it. But I have never heard that and it is certainly not the message I heard from his speech the other day.

In fact I can tell he is a man of faith and will not lie, so I believe most of what he said . However instead of lying he did dance around a couple of questions and did not really answer them , like if Iran would ever have a nuclear bomb. He did say that he thought nuclear bombs were a horrible thing that they only killed and how many did the world really need to kill all the people in it. But he also did not directly answer the question as to if Iran would ever build one. But I can tell this is not a man who wants to kill anybody! he is a man who is deeply devoted to God.

So, being devoted to Allah makes one peaceful an unable or unwilling to kill?....Please stop, your making my side ache with laughter!

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"Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah." ~ Qur'an:8:39

Muslims aren't dying from war....they're being murdered by members of their own cult.

The truth is that anybody who is truly devoted to God ( allah in Arabic) is unwilling to kill.

It is only the fanatics who misunderstand the bible and quran who are willing to kill. Because God plainly says in his commandments .

Thou shalt not Kill

And christ told us not to return evil for evil and that we should pray for our enemies and not take revenge as revenge belongs to god and he will repay.

Muhammad said much the same things as Christ in this regard.

It is only the fake Christians and fake muslims and the bible warns of this that are willing to disobey God and kill another human.

I do not believe the president of Iran is one of these after listening to him speak a couple of times now. I believe he is a true and devote follower and child of God.

Yeah right....Islam is a religion of peace founded by a man of peace and the qur'an is a book of peace .....care to pull the other leg or blanket another layer of wool over those clouded by religion peepers?

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"Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah." ~ Qur'an:8:39

Muslims aren't dying from war....they're being murdered by members of their own cult.

Bush is just as responsible for the war of words......hell Bush has always referred to Iran as the Axis-of-Evil ever since the the supreme court placed the war mongering fool in office way back in 2001!!!

Sorry Rob.......Bush does not get cart blanche to spew negative aggressive rhetoric w/o expecting a return in kind.

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AMERICA LAND OF THE FREE HOME OF THE BRAVE--BECAUSE OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

Ah, come on, let's say it. The statement reminds them of the last time they had an encounter with a Republican president's idea of president, when the CIA ran operation Ajax to stage a military coup and install a US puppet named the Shah. Of course, he cut the strings and nationalize the oil companies anyway, mooting the point of overthrowing the Iranian democratic government.

The US puppet gone rogue than his political enemies in prison, tortured them, and killed them. He also not only accepted US insistance the he buy US nuclear power plants, he was working toward building nukes, but he got overthrown before he could cut a deal with AQ Khan.

But hey, Bush has reasons to hate the Iranian president; he got much larger share of the votes in the runoff election.

Besides, Bush can't stand that he is younger, fitter, and better looking.

How many nations has it hit with with tons of bombs, cruise missiles compared with the US since 1979, the years the people of Iran overthrew the US installed dictator, the Shah?

How many nations has it invaded since 1979 compared to the US.

How much does it spend on military weapons compared to the US since 1979?

How many nations headed by dictators has it supported and defended in its use of chemical weapons compared to the US?

I put the tally at 0 to maybe a dozen, 0 to five or so, $ to $$$$$$$$$$$$, 0 to 1.

So on the scale of peace loving, Iran is angelic compared to the warmonger Christian-Baptist-Evangelical-Jewish-Mormon USA.