Iranian Scholars Strike Back: Ask 10 Questions of Columbia's Bollinger

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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.

reborncareerist wrote:

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?

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!

reborncareerist wrote:

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.