Ahmadinejad's Interesting Visit

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Columbia University in New York on Sunday. The Iranian president, not terribly popular in the eyes of many Americans, was watched with a wary eye by many who felt the invitation to speak in New York was a poor decision by Columbia's personnel.

In an article in AFP, Ahmadinejad's speaking engagement was described as beginning with a 10-minute introduction by Columbia President Lee Bollinger, who showed more backbone than expected when presenting these ideas to the controversial Iranian leader: "Mr President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator... Why are you so afraid of Iranian citizens expressing their opinions for change?" Bollinger also added, "Frankly, in all candor Mr President, I doubt you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions."

According to AFP, Ahmadinejad responded to Bollinger's opening remarks by characterizing them as a "... wave of insults and allegations." He also did not directly address Bollinger's questions on Ahmadinejad's shoddy and discriminatory record on the Holocaust and on Iranian treatment of homosexuals. One of the President's most embarrassing moments may have been upon his denying of Iranian homosexuality: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country... In Iran we don't have this phenomenon, I don't know who told you this." Students jeered and booed his response.

Ahmadinejad is a very controversial figure. In recent times, he has denied the occurrence of the Holocaust, holding summits to declare as much. At his speaking engagement at Columbia, he also claimed that under his leadership Iran was not looking to create nuclear weapons, but didn't provide a great reason as to why his government continued to be provocative in the face of global disagreement over his country's motives.

Originally Ahmadinejad planned to visit Ground Zero in New York, but those plans were "nixed," by NY security, according to AFP, for "security reasons." According to AFP, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "... said such a visit would have been a 'travesty.'"