Iranian Scholars Strike Back: Ask 10 Questions of Columbia's Bollinger
DriftingByTheStorm
Posts: 8,684
The man who "introduced" Ahmadinejad at Columbia is getting his.
Today, "seven chancellors and presidents of Iranian universities and research centers, in a letter addressed to their counterpart in the US Colombia University, denounced Lee Bollinger's insulting words against the Iranian nation and president and invited him to provide responses for 10 questions of the Iranian academicians and intellectuals."
The letter concludes with an invitation to come and speak to the people of Iran, stating, "You can be assured that Iranians are very polite and hospitable toward their guests."
I'm really warming up to these iranians.
They are a-ok in my book; real swell.
Today, "seven chancellors and presidents of Iranian universities and research centers, in a letter addressed to their counterpart in the US Colombia University, denounced Lee Bollinger's insulting words against the Iranian nation and president and invited him to provide responses for 10 questions of the Iranian academicians and intellectuals."
The letter concludes with an invitation to come and speak to the people of Iran, stating, "You can be assured that Iranians are very polite and hospitable toward their guests."
I'm really warming up to these iranians.
They are a-ok in my book; real swell.
If I was to smile and I held out my hand
If I opened it now would you not understand?
If I opened it now would you not understand?
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Iranian University Chancellors Ask Bollinger 10 Questions
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Seven chancellors and presidents of Iranian universities and research centers, in a letter addressed to their counterpart in the US Colombia University, denounced Lee Bollinger's insulting words against the Iranian nation and president and invited him to provide responses for 10 questions of the Iranian academicians and intellectuals.
The following is the full text of the letter.
Mr. Lee Bollinger
Columbia University President
We, the professors and heads of universities and research institutions in Tehran , hereby announce our displeasure and protest at your impolite remarks prior to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent speech at Columbia University.
We would like to inform you that President Ahmadinejad was elected directly by the Iranian people through an enthusiastic two-round poll in which almost all of the country's political parties and groups participated. To assess the quality and nature of these elections you may refer to US news reports on the poll dated June 2005.
Your insult, in a scholarly atmosphere, to the president of a country with a population of 72 million and a recorded history of 7,000 years of civilization and culture is deeply shameful.
Your comments, filled with hate and disgust, may well have been influenced by extreme pressure from the media, but it is regrettable that media policy-makers can determine the stance a university president adopts in his speech.
Your remarks about our country included unsubstantiated accusations that were the product of guesswork as well as media propaganda. Some of your claims result from misunderstandings that can be clarified through dialogue and further research.
During his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad answered a number of your questions and those of students. We are prepared to answer any remaining questions in a scientific, open and direct debate.
You asked the president approximately ten questions. Allow us to ask you ten of our own questions in the hope that your response will help clear the atmosphere of misunderstanding and distrust between our two countries and reveal the truth.
1- Why did the US media put you under so much pressure to prevent Mr. Ahmadinejad from delivering his speech at Columbia University? And why have American TV networks been broadcasting hours of news reports insulting our president while refusing to allow him the opportunity to respond? Is this not against the principle of freedom of speech?
2- Why, in 1953, did the US administration overthrow the Iran's national government under Dr Mohammad Mosaddegh and go on to support the Shah's dictatorship?
3- Why did the US support the blood-thirsty dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iraqi-imposed war on Iran, considering his reckless use of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers defending their land and even against his own people?
4- Why is the US putting pressure on the government elected by the majority of Palestinians in Gaza instead of officially recognizing it? And why does it oppose Iran 's proposal to resolve the 60-year-old Palestinian issue through a general referendum?
5- Why has the US military failed to find Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden even with all its advanced equipment? How do you justify the old friendship between the Bush and Bin Laden families and their cooperation on oil deals? How can you justify the Bush administration's efforts to disrupt investigations concerning the September 11 attacks?
6- Why does the US administration support the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) despite the fact that the group has officially and openly accepted the responsibility for numerous deadly bombings and massacres in Iran and Iraq? Why does the US refuse to allow Iran 's current government to act against the MKO's main base in Iraq?
7- Was the US invasion of Iraq based on international consensus and did international institutions support it? What was the real purpose behind the invasion which has claimed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives? Where are the weapons of mass destruction that the US claimed were being stockpiled in Iraq?
8- Why do America's closest allies in the Middle East come from extremely undemocratic governments with absolutist monarchical regimes?
9- Why did the US oppose the plan for a Middle East free of unconventional weapons in the recent session of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors despite the fact the move won the support of all members other than Israel?
10- Why is the US displeased with Iran's agreement with the IAEA and why does it openly oppose any progress in talks between Iran and the agency to resolve the nuclear issue under international law?
Finally, we would like to express our readiness to invite you and other scientific delegations to our country. A trip to Iran would allow you and your colleagues to speak directly with Iranians from all walks of life including intellectuals and university scholars. You could then assess the realities of Iranian society without media censorship before making judgments about the Iranian nation and government.
You can be assured that Iranians are very polite and hospitable toward their guests.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
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Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
This part is pure bullshit, the election was boycotted by millions due to the banning of reformist candidates by the supreme council (I bet the neo cons wish it was that easy here).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3475473.stm
Dont let the war mongering neo cons here win sympathy for the neo cons there. I dont believe the US should get involved; the people will eventually get fed up and change will come.
Numbers five and eight are spot on!
I really did think that the Columbia president was in the wrong with what he did.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
The economy has polarized to the point where the wealthiest 10% now own 85% of the nation’s wealth. Never before have the bottom 90% been so highly indebted, so dependent on the wealthy.
Number 2? Wasn't it regime change from a brutal dictator? Or WMD? Something like that. It sure wasn't about control of the people and the oil.
nah, some of those are very good questions. I like the last one.
Do you realize that Iran actually knows the US is just playing stupid little war games?
unbelievable...
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
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High Traffic ART EZI FTJ JSR KPA PCD SYN ULX VLB YHF
Low Traffic CIO MIW
Non Traffic ABC BAY FDU GBZ HNC NDP OEM ROV TMS ZWL
"Neocon Logic 101.
An interview with Satan cough I mean Ahmadinejad Satan
"So Ahmadinejad do you still eat live babies? "
What on earth are you talking about?
"We think you eat babies. Can you prove that you don't?"
You can't prove a negative
"Just answer the question with a clear Yes Or No."
Well I don't like the wording of your question are you a journalist or an operative? You can not prove a negative
We'll take that as a no. So you cannot offer any proof that you don't eat babies."
I don't eat babies.
"Of course you say that, but where is the proof? Everybody says that you do it. If you cannot offer any proof then you must be eating them"
I have never eaten a baby, that is insane and there is no evidence that I have ever eaten a baby.
"We don't have to prove that you did it, only that you could do it. And you could do it. You are large enough and there are babies in your country aren't there?"
Are you saying that the only reason Iran could have babies would be to eat them, and not raise them in families?
"We think you are having them so that you can eat them, so we are passing sanctions until you prove that you don't eat them."
It is depleted Uranium (ammunition) that is killing babies, and that has, and will continue to, poison countless newborn children?
"Well....911 911 911 911 Islamo-fascist 911 911 911 911 We have to get you there before you get us here."
"So when you eat babies do you slap your mother too?"
I told you...
"YES OR NO!"
Well I don't eat babies what is wrong with you?
"Ah but you do slap your mother!"
Replace babies with Nukes. And you have the Nuclear scare argument."
...
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
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pretty much. he tried to cover his ass and ended up looking like a douchebag and now it's biting him like it should. those are good questions they have though.
I think he'd look like more of a douchebag if ... you know ... What he said was actually at all false! He might look a tad two-faced, perhaps. But oh well.
And sure, many of those are good questions. But what's that about cleaning up one's own backyard that some people on here always say whenever we North Americans knock another country's actions?
Of course there are no gay people in Iran ... A great many high-calibre scholars who have the Americans all figured out, clearly ... But gays? Don't be nutty.
Some of what Bollinger said actually was patently false.
I cringed in disbelief when i heard him spew the now thoroughly debunked "wipe israel off the map" rhetoric ...
... there is also very little, if ANY evidence to suggest that Ahmadinejad ever denied the holocaust killed jews ... he only seems to question why the world wishes to use that event to shelter all jews from any scrutiny ... particularly as regards their government and the palestinian displacement ... err ... "conflict" ...
and yes, its funny you suggested it first,
we should clean up our own backyard before attacking a country and a man for ... well ... looks like now all we have is his homophobia ... yes ... that is the new rallying cry ... LET US LIBERATE IRAN FROM THE HOMOPHOBE!
They will bow at our feet and thank us ... their gaydom will shine from sea to flaming sea!
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Ha! Classic material, the gay stuff.
Anyhow, I think its pretty clear that no such debunking has occured. I've seen that debate before, and suffice to say that the truth behind what the Iranian president said lies somewere on a continuum from "Clearly Israel should be wiped off the map" to "Perhaps we should consider wiping Israel off the map". His basic intent was clear, even if he'd never act on the threat.
Hey, whatever you need to believe. Describing the guy as a petty dictator is not inaccurate, by most standards.
a. Describing BUSH as a "petty dictator" is not inaccuarte by "most standards".
b. HE NEVER SAID "WIPE ISRAEL OFF THE MAP" ... you can pussyfoot around that all you want, but it base LIES and lack of journalistic and scholarly integrity when people repeat not only what is NOT TRUE, but what also is DANGEROUS PROPAGANDA ...
the man said, and what he said was a quote of Ayatollah K, "the regime in israel must fade from the pages of history" ... READ THAT AGAIN ... is there ANYTHING in that quote which involves FORCE applied to a nation? NO! IT was given in a speech which references other "regimes" around the world (like the soviet regime) that are no longer around ... he suggests that the current regime in Israel must also fade from the pages of time.
Does that represent any threat of force?
NO!
The man lives in an Arab world.
In case you haven't noticed there isn't a lot of support for Israel in that world.
Why?
Because palestine is an arab "nation" that was stolen by the west when we plopped a bunch of jews down there. Yeah, it was well intentioned, but it caused a lot of problems. Are the jews to blame? Well, they didn't put israel did. Our post WWII agreement did. But are they the ones expanding their teritory through force and agression and causing misery for an entire peoples? YES.
If russian had a holocaust. And the world decided that russians needed a new home, and it should be in Minnesota, so the world stole minnesota, and then 30 years later, the russian minnesotans decided that they also needed part of Indiana and Ohio ...
Do you think most americans would be pissed?
What about canadians? You think they may start to worry that they would want a piece of canada too? Probably.
What about any democratic country in the world?
Come on.
Give me a fucking break.
I don't support agression for any reason.
But i can understand when anger has some base in reality.
And as far as i can tell, Iran has not threatened ANY agression.
Feel free to prove me wrong.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Bush has nothing to do with the topic at hand, my friend. Did you see me jump on here to defend anything that man does? No? Ok then.
As for this guy's intent when he made that comment .. Who knows for sure? You seem pretty sure that he did not mean "use force", and maybe you know something most of the rest of us don't. My personal opinion, based on reading a little about the Iranian president's past and world view, is that it probably WAS a veiled threat. Again, though, I cannot prove it. Honestly, trying hard to prove this one way or the other is wasted breath. Iran is a theocracy, and its president is a hard-liner. Lots and lots is wrong with Iran's government and many's seeming willingness to embrace dangerous fundamentalism. Maybe that's what what's-his-nuts should have said that instead of picking at this Israel wiped off the map issue.
WHat are these billions spent that he speaks of while talking of Canada, the US, and the UK in the same breath when it comes to nuclear power?
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While the numbers aren't here, i think you will find much of the meat of their beef in the article.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Interestingly, Bush and this administration have done quite a job in pushing extremist Christian views/beliefs into the public eye and into a lot of our social and political programs.
Hmmm........wonder what the difference is, here.
you dont get stoned to death if you are gay or non-Christian
http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta
Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
http://www.wiredstrategies.com/shepardx.html
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Published: September 30, 2007
AMERICANS might be forgiven for thinking they have heard everything there is to say about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University, but the story occupied Iranian bloggers at least as much as it dominated the American news cycle. Although Iranian authorities have introduced laws requiring citizens to register their blogs and Web sites with the government, Persian is the 10th most widely used language on blogs worldwide, according to Technorati, the blog-tracking service.
Despite official harassment and intimidation, Iranian blogs remain a vibrant source of debate and provide a valuable insight into popular opinion inside the country. Bloggers tend to be young, well educated and not very supportive of President Ahmadinejad, who typically attracts followers from the urban poor.
Here are excerpts from the conversation as it unfolded in Iran last week. They have been translated by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center from the Persian.
— Tom Parker, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.
Someone who denies the Holocaust and promises the downfall of the Western world will inevitably remind Westerners of bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
Ahmadinejad comes from a country that burns the American flag, the symbol of American identity, and shouts its desire for the death and destruction of the government and its president.
American anger is understandable. Maybe it comes from the same source as the anger of the Iranian students at Amirkabir University in Tehran who confronted Ahmadinejad and his entourage.
— Republic, jomhour.ir, Sept. 23
Can anyone imagine George Bush coming to Tehran and then criticizing the Islamic Republic’s policies in a speech? Is it plausible to imagine George Bush speaking about wiping Palestine off the map? Could George Bush talk about sending democracy to Tehran in Tehran? Would George Bush even be provided with security or would plain-clothed operatives be sent to “spontaneously” attack him?
— Street No. 11, 11ave.blogspot.com, Sept. 24
The most important part of the speech is the very positive message that Iran has sent to America. In response to the question “Are you willing to have a dialogue with America and what do you expect?” after some explanations, he said, “We think that America can be a good friend for Iran.” He repeated the sentence and the phrase “good friend” one more time to show that it did not slip out accidentally.
— Word of Wisdom, harfehesaaby.blogspot.com, Sept. 24
Most Western news agencies like CNN and Fox News, which are branded by the regime as the agents of a Western cultural war, broadcast the speech of President Ahmadinejad live. It is interesting that none of the channels inside our country did that. What does this mean? Does it mean we don’t trust ourselves? Does it mean that we worry we might let something slip? Does it mean that we fear that our president might let something slip?
It means that knowing is not a right our people have! It means that other countries abide by democracy more than we do. It means that even we don’t believe ourselves, even that we fear ourselves. We fear that we might say something by mistake and that our lies would be revealed to the people. Really, why are the state officials against open access to information? Why don’t the people even have the right to hear the speech of their elected president? Why can’t they hear his reasoning for issues like nuclear power, democracy in Iran, and so on?
What is interesting is that we claim the Americans want to prevent our voice from being heard, so why do we censor ourselves?
— Poor Iran, yaghiha.blogfa.ir, Sept. 24
When you, the Iranian president, don’t understand how to criticize Israel and Zionism so your criticism is taken seriously, and not ridiculed by all, what kind of treatment do you expect from others?
I understand that your intentions were honorable. I know that you really meant that the Holocaust should not be used as an excuse to oppress the Palestinians. But if you expected others to grasp your meaning, you should have just said it plain and simple.
— Kingdom of Heaven, blog.malakut.org, Sept. 24
I was reading the news reports of the American media. I am truly dumbfounded. They have focused on Ahmadinejad’s response to the homosexuality question and are analyzing it. What has the world come to that, with innocent people dying in Iraq every day, the rights of the homosexuals have become the most important issue of the day?
Insulting the president of a country, no matter how unacceptable his point of view, is synonymous to insulting a nation.
— Cure, shefa.blogspot.com, Sept. 25
Dude, someone should take Ahmadinejad’s hand and take him to Daneshju Park in Valiasr Crossing. No need for explanation. Just hold on firmly to his hand so that he does not get too excited. We all know that when he is among different people and ethnic groups, he tries to blend in and considers becoming one of them as his undeniable duty. So be careful, God forbid, that when he is in Daneshju Park, this feeling of duty might arise and cause him trouble! Unlike those boys who have gender confusion in that godforsaken park, a president cannot pluck his eyebrows, or wear tight-fitting clothes, or put on blusher.
— Messiah, masih.malakut.org, Sept. 25
During the speech of my favorite president, I felt broken. The belittling killed me little by little. He thought Columbia University was just another visit to the provinces and everyone would applaud him. How could he stand all the insults to his people?
Last night, before the speech of my knowledgeable Ahmadinejad, I was so worried. O Lord, how are we going to be ridiculed now?
How did we become who we are? The year of dialogue between civilizations seems so far away!
— Until the Polytechnic Students Are Released ... (formerly To Watch the Cleansing Waters), abhayesepid.persianblog.ir, Sept. 26
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/30parker.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
You might ask him why there are 80 (or more) Iranian youths (under the age of 18) on Death Row awaiting execution in Iran. This goes against established International Law.
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