goldenboy
09-24-2007, 11:55 AM
Ahmadinejad, protestors face off
By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer, Jamshid Mousavinezhad, amNY.com, and Jennifer Barrios, Newsday
Columbia University was a tale of two rallies Monday afternoon, as protestors and students awaited an on-campus speech by controversial Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Hundreds of vocal anti-Ahmadinejad protestors swarmed the sidewalks outside the university's main gates on 116th Street and Broadway, with Never Again signs and Israeli and American flags. The crowd was swelled by a swarm of media outlets.
University security guards were checking anyone who approached the gates, and only allowing those with Columbia IDs to enter the campus.
Inside Columbia, a significantly larger and calmer crowd of about a thousand was attending a free speech rally with an open microphone. Speakers, mostly students, took turns denouncing Ahmadinejad, while supporting his right to speak.
"I think it's important people stop shouting and start listening to each other," said Phyllis Berman, who was holding a sign that read '2/3rds of my family were killed in the Holocaust'.
Berman said she abhorred Ahmadinejad's views, but generally supported free speech.
Gesturing at the contrasting groups, she added, "I don't know which side I'm on."
Ahmadinejad was due to speak as part of Columbia's World Leader's Forum, planning to bring "alternative views" to the United States audience.
Some of those views, such as his position that the Holocaust did not happen and that the state of Israel should be destroyed, have sparked international fury and have made his trip here to attend the United Nations' General Assembly contentious even before it starts.
Last week, Ahmadinejad made headlines by asking for permission to lay a wreath at Ground Zero.
The New York Police Department nixed the request, citing security concerns, but also acknowledging the heated opposition to the site visit from New Yorkers and other Americans who consider Iran to be a state sponsor of terrorism.
Speaking on CBS News' "60 Minutes" program Sunday night, Ahmadinejad said he would not press the issue, saying he merely wanted to honor the victims. But he also obliquely referred to the visit as an opportunity to voice his thoughts about why 9/11 occurred.
"Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects," Ahmadinejad said in the interview. "And also to perhaps air your views about the root causes of such incidents."
The 60 Minutes interview also touched on Iran's alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon, which Ahmadinejad denies, and his country's involvement in supplying weapons used against American troops in Iraq.
"American officials wherever around the world that they encounter a problem which they fail to resolve, instead of accepting that, they prefer to accuse others," Ahmadinejad said.
The Tehran-based Press TV reported Sunday that Ahmadinejad planned to present "alternate views" to the American people during his visit.
"The Americans, have for some reasons, been deprived of access to accurate and transparent information regarding the global developments and are enthusiastic to become aware of alternative views," the news agency quotes Ahmadinejad as saying.
Ahmadinejad's visit sparked outrage from presidential candidates, politicians and the public.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who joined virtually every local elected official last week in rebuffing the Iranian leader's request to visit Ground Zero, took aim at Columbia University President Lee Bollinger for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak on campus.
"If I were a president of the university, I would not have invited him," Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "He's a Holocaust denier. He's a supporter of terrorism. But I also respect the right in our country to make different decisions."
The U.S. Secret Service will provide a security detail for Ahmadinejad.
Because the U.S. has no official diplomatic relations with Iran, which it considers a state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian president and his contingent are restricted to a 25-mile radius of the U.N.
Ahmadinejad, protestors face off -- Newsday.com (http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/am-iran0925,0,5474167.story?coll=ny_home_rail_headlin es)
Honestly, I wanna see the Q&A part. He's just gonna BS, tap dance his way through it I'm sure, but I'd like to hear the questions he gets.
By David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff Writer, Jamshid Mousavinezhad, amNY.com, and Jennifer Barrios, Newsday
Columbia University was a tale of two rallies Monday afternoon, as protestors and students awaited an on-campus speech by controversial Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Hundreds of vocal anti-Ahmadinejad protestors swarmed the sidewalks outside the university's main gates on 116th Street and Broadway, with Never Again signs and Israeli and American flags. The crowd was swelled by a swarm of media outlets.
University security guards were checking anyone who approached the gates, and only allowing those with Columbia IDs to enter the campus.
Inside Columbia, a significantly larger and calmer crowd of about a thousand was attending a free speech rally with an open microphone. Speakers, mostly students, took turns denouncing Ahmadinejad, while supporting his right to speak.
"I think it's important people stop shouting and start listening to each other," said Phyllis Berman, who was holding a sign that read '2/3rds of my family were killed in the Holocaust'.
Berman said she abhorred Ahmadinejad's views, but generally supported free speech.
Gesturing at the contrasting groups, she added, "I don't know which side I'm on."
Ahmadinejad was due to speak as part of Columbia's World Leader's Forum, planning to bring "alternative views" to the United States audience.
Some of those views, such as his position that the Holocaust did not happen and that the state of Israel should be destroyed, have sparked international fury and have made his trip here to attend the United Nations' General Assembly contentious even before it starts.
Last week, Ahmadinejad made headlines by asking for permission to lay a wreath at Ground Zero.
The New York Police Department nixed the request, citing security concerns, but also acknowledging the heated opposition to the site visit from New Yorkers and other Americans who consider Iran to be a state sponsor of terrorism.
Speaking on CBS News' "60 Minutes" program Sunday night, Ahmadinejad said he would not press the issue, saying he merely wanted to honor the victims. But he also obliquely referred to the visit as an opportunity to voice his thoughts about why 9/11 occurred.
"Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects," Ahmadinejad said in the interview. "And also to perhaps air your views about the root causes of such incidents."
The 60 Minutes interview also touched on Iran's alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon, which Ahmadinejad denies, and his country's involvement in supplying weapons used against American troops in Iraq.
"American officials wherever around the world that they encounter a problem which they fail to resolve, instead of accepting that, they prefer to accuse others," Ahmadinejad said.
The Tehran-based Press TV reported Sunday that Ahmadinejad planned to present "alternate views" to the American people during his visit.
"The Americans, have for some reasons, been deprived of access to accurate and transparent information regarding the global developments and are enthusiastic to become aware of alternative views," the news agency quotes Ahmadinejad as saying.
Ahmadinejad's visit sparked outrage from presidential candidates, politicians and the public.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who joined virtually every local elected official last week in rebuffing the Iranian leader's request to visit Ground Zero, took aim at Columbia University President Lee Bollinger for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak on campus.
"If I were a president of the university, I would not have invited him," Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "He's a Holocaust denier. He's a supporter of terrorism. But I also respect the right in our country to make different decisions."
The U.S. Secret Service will provide a security detail for Ahmadinejad.
Because the U.S. has no official diplomatic relations with Iran, which it considers a state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian president and his contingent are restricted to a 25-mile radius of the U.N.
Ahmadinejad, protestors face off -- Newsday.com (http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/am-iran0925,0,5474167.story?coll=ny_home_rail_headlin es)
Honestly, I wanna see the Q&A part. He's just gonna BS, tap dance his way through it I'm sure, but I'd like to hear the questions he gets.