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...yet stupid people still send their kids.

Red Robin

Well-known member
Columbia Dean: We'd Welcome Hitler
Sunday, September 23, 2007 10:29 PM

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A Columbia University dean said the school would let Adolf Hitler to speak on campus.


"If he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him," John Coatsworth, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, told Fox News.


Columbia has drawn intense criticism for agreeing to let Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad give a lecture on campus.


Columbia has a history of providing a forum to provocative speakers. It once welcomed Hitler's ambassador to the campus.


Then-President Nicholas Murray Butler invited Nazi Germany's U.S. ambassador, Hans Luther, to speak at Columbia in December 1933, triggering a student revolt. Butler then held a cocktail reception for Luther.



© 2007 NewsMax. All rights reserved.
 

jigs

Well-known member
good for Columbia, we need this kind of open forum to discuss things. now, get guys in the towers and bombs in the stage. here is our chance toi take this a hole out!
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
If the colleges keep doing this stupid stuff, employers should put a premium on kids that don't attend college. They'll be exposed to less stupidity.
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
Seems to me, that the best way for these kids to learn the enemy is to have a chance to hear and question the enemy leadership. It is a great opportunity to inform, not only our kids, but our nation...........now if we can keep the cops from tazering a kid who asks an uncomfortable question or goes over his time limit a minute or two, we will be able to maintain the moral ground.
 

katrina

Well-known member
I have a real problem with this man.........

Wasn't he one of the hostage takers of our guys in Iran????

He says the holcaust isn't true......... Hello!!!!!!!!

And he wants to destroy Isreal............

He is everything I am against......... Like Satan...........

The questions will be monitored so we all know that there will be no hard questions asked........ It'll be all cupcake crap...........

Sad deal.........


edited for spelling........... the wind has blown so much here the last to days It's having an effect............
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
To me, it would be inviting the devil himself into my home.

I imagine the "kook" students will be there to "fire up" their anti-American attitudes.

You can bet my kid won't be going there.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Ok..here we go! :lol: :lol:

I don't think the Pres of Iran is a bad man( eg. Hitler/Stalin etc)...I think he's too stupid to do the thinking it takes to be a truly " bad person". He seems to just kinda plunk along into stupid situations.

BUT....I think an invitation to speak--anywhere-- may be a good thing. How other can you know the so called " enemy" unless you actually see him/her live and in person and hear what they may have to say.

I know GW is against what I'm about to say....but ya just might learn something about how the ol boy ticks and how to handle him.

As far as going to the Twin Towers site...I don't think ANYONE , be you the Pres of Iran or the Pres of the local flower club, should be allowed there now as it's a construction site...not a tourist site.

As far as him being one of the hostage takers...no one on either side has ever proven that..so who knows???

Besides if we..no GW...started a war with Iran...who'd fight it? jigs, Mike, Soapweed, etc??? The military is strapped and can't even rotate their people out on a time line...who then???
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Red Robin said:
There is NO benefit to the fool even coming to our country.
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/4115


Well get yerself up there to NYC and put some Cope in his eye and he'll settle right down!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I just watched the last half of his speech....kinda rambling but at the end most of the students booed him.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
I would of said, "Fine, come on over and give a couple of talks. As we're allowing you to speak, I'm sure you'll reciprocate and allow one of our officials to speak at your universities".
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
Well get yerself up there to NYC and put some Cope in his eye and he'll settle right down!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

.
180 grain hollowpoint would suit me better.
freedomswatch1.jpg
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I still say we should take this opportunity to give him a tour of a couple of our nuclear bomb storage bunkers--show him part of the supply we have already available.... Show him the "big one" with his picture already pasted on it so he knows how he can obtain martyrdom and ask him how soon he wants it...
 

Cal

Well-known member
To his credit, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger put the Iranian dictator basterd on the defensive:
-the Iranian president’s denial of the Holocaust;
-his public call for the destruction of the State of Israel;
-his reported support for international terrorism that targets innocent civilians and American troops;
-Iran's pursuit of nuclear ambitions in opposition to international sanction;
-his government's widely documented suppression of civil society and particularly of women's rights; and
-his government's imprisoning of journalists and scholars, including one of Columbia’s own alumni, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh (see President Bollinger's statement on Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh's release).

Ahmadinejad Speaks During Controversial Appearance at Columbia University
Monday , September 24, 2007



Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday questioned why Iran can't have a nuclear program when the United States does and repeated his inference that the Holocaust is a myth in animated remarks before students and faculty at Columbia University.

"How come you have that right and we don’t have it?" he challenged, referring to the development of nuclear weapons capabilities.

On the issue of the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad said more "research" was needed on what took place, but he seemed to acknowledge that it did exist because he repeatedly said "it happened in Europe."

"Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" he wondered.

During his third visit to New York in three years, Ahmadinejad also told students and faculty that his country didn't take part in terrorism, and suggested that it was the United States that supported terror.

"We don't need to resort to terrorism. We've been victims of terrorism, ourselves," he said. "Within six months, over 4,000 Iranians lost their lives, assassinated by terrorist groups. All this carried out by the hand of one single terrorist group. Regretfully, that same terrorist group now, today, in your country, is operating under the support of the U.S. administration, working freely, distributing declarations freely, and their camps in Iraq are supported by the U.S. government."

And the Iranian leader denied that homosexuality existed in his country when asked to explain the execution of homosexuals in Iran.

"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he said, to laughter and boos from the audience. 'In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this."

Ahmadinejad opened his remarks by objecting to the scolding he got from Columbia University's president.

After sitting through the blistering introduction by Lee Bollinger — in which he was lambasted for calling for the annihilation of Israel, denying the Holocaust and supporting the execution of children — Ahmadinejad said it was insulting to be spoken about that way.

"At the outset, I want to complain a bit about the person who read this political statement made against me," Ahmadinejad said. "In Iran, we don't think it's necessary to come in before the speech has already begun with a series of complaints ... It was an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here."

In his scathing introduction to the much-anticipated on-campus event, Bollinger told the leader of Iran that he resembled "a petty and cruel dictator."
Bollinger levied repeated criticisms against Ahmadinejad, calling on him to answer a series of challenges about his leadership, blasting his views about the "myth" of the Holocaust "absurd" and saying that he doubted he "will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions."

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger's opening was full of "insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully."

Ahmadinejad accused Bollinger of offering "unfriendly treatment" under the influence of the U.S. press and politicians.

He did not address Bollinger's accusations directly, instead launching into a long religious discursion laced with quotes with the Quran before turning to criticism of the Bush administration and past American governments, from warrantless wiretapping to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Bollinger was strongly criticized for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia, and had promised tough questions in his introduction to Ahmadinejad's talk. But the strident and personal nature of his attack on the president of Iran was startling.

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad about the leader's Holocaust denial. "Will you cease this outrage?"

Ahmadinejad said he simply wanted more research on the Holocaust, which he said was abused as a justification for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians.

"Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" Ahmadinejad asked. He closed his prepared remarks with a terse smile, to applause and boos, before taking questions from the audience.

President Bush said Ahmadinejad's appearance spoke to the "greatness" of the United States of America.

"He's the head of a state sponsor of terror, and yet, an institution in our country gives him the chance to express his point of view, which really speaks to the freedoms of the country," Bush told FOX News on Monday. "I'm not so sure I'd offer the same invitation, but nevertheless, it speaks volumes about the greatness, really, of America. We're confident enough to let a person express his views. I just really hope he tells everybody the truth."

Bush said that while he's "not sure" he would have offered the Iranian leader a platform from which to outline his agenda, he thinks it's OK that Columbia University did invite Ahmadinejad to speak.

"This is a place of high learning and if the president (of Columbia) thinks it's a good idea to have the leader from Iran come and talk to the students as an educational experience, I guess it's OK with me," Bush told FOX News in an interview. "The problem is Ahmadinejad uses these platforms to advance his agenda, which I suspect in this case ... He doesn't want America to know his true intentions."

Ahmadinejad began the first full day of his controversial New York City trip Monday amid mounting protests and air-tight security, with his first appearance beginning just after noon EDT via video before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., followed by his highly publicized visit to Columbia University in New York City, which began after 1:30 p.m.

Before his Columbia appearance Monday, the Iranian leader opened his U.S. speaking tour by inferring the Holocaust was a myth, taking a swipe at Israel — it's "a regime based... on racism" — and defending his request to visit Ground Zero.

The Iranian leader, speaking via video from New York City to journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., tossed aside a question about Israel by saying Iran doesn't recognize the "regime," accusing it of killing people and committing various other atrocities.

It was typical of many of Ahmadinejad's responses, which often started with laughing challenges to journalists in which he said, "That's not right," or asked, "Where are you getting that?"

On the Holocaust — which the Iranian leader has called a "myth" — he said that "if the Holocaust is a reality, why don't we let more research be done on it? ... Where did the Holocaust happen to begin with? It happened in Europe, and given that, why is it that the Palestinian people should be displaced? Why should they give up their land?"

He also said that he wanted to "pay my respects" at Ground Zero — the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City, where the World Trade Center once stood — since his visit here last year. But, he claimed, the U.S. government and other politicians prevented that from happening.

"I was interested in expressing my sympathy to victims of tragedy," he said. "It's the responsibility of everyone to understand the root causes of 9/11."

At the Press Club, the Iranian president delivered some remarks through an interpreter, and then answered questions from the moderator. A similar format was used at the Columbia event.

Ahmadinejad said the world needs to build a better future "based on peace and security of all humanity," and he spoke of a world full of love, kindness, beauty and allegiance to God as the ultimate goal.

"No one should prevent love and kindness from flourishing in mankind and turn it into hostility," the Iranian president said. "Family is the center of love and beauty."

He said people should follow God, who would lead them to a "sublime" state.

"When we take a look around us, we are not happy with what we see," Ahmadinejad said. "Threats of war have affected everyone. Continuous wars have in fact hurt the human spirit. If we look at the root cause of some of these problems, we will be able to think about how to build a better future, a more prosperous future based on peace and security of all humanity."

Ahmadinejad spoke of the importance of the press, in spite of the fact that Iran's media is state-run and criticized as tightly controlled by the government.

"The press plays a connecting role. It provides information and can serve as a channel for promoting current thinking," he said. "The role of the press is to disseminate moral behavior ... The press can be the voices of the divine prophets."

The Press Club moderator asked the Iranian leader about Iranian weapons and involvement in Iraq, about his views on whether religions other than Islam have a place in the world and on his country's treatment of women and approach to the freedom of the press.

The Iranian president repeatedly asked where the moderator got his information and challenged the truth of his statements.

And when asked whether Iran was sending weapons into Iraq to fight against American troops, Ahmadinejad replied that "Iraq security means our security." When pressed, he denied that Iran was engaging in that kind of activity.

When asked whether he wanted to go to war, he said he did not.

"Why is there a need for war?" Ahmadinejad said. "Why should they threaten another country? Why should they create more insecurity? I think officials who talk this kind of talk should really be pressured and warn to know what to say and when not to say something."

Ahmadinejad said that the religions of "Christ and Moses" as well as Islam are "all brothers. They all want the same thing."

He defended Iranian women as among the most free in the world, and said they were involved in all walks of life in Iran.

The Iranian president started his speech at the National Press Club by reciting some verses from the Koran. No one on the panel or seated in the audience applauded or reacted in any way when he was introduced.

Amid angry demonstrations on the Ivy League campus and at the United Nations, Ahmadinejad delivered a speech and conducted a question-and-answer session at Columbia, followed by a scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

Thousands of people jammed two blocks of 47th Street across from the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad's visit to New York. Organizers claimed a turnout of tens of thousands. Police did not immediately have a crowd estimate.

The speakers, most of them politicians and officials from Jewish organizations, proclaimed their support for Israel and criticized the Iranian leader for his remarks questioning the Holocaust.

"We're here today to send a message that there is never a reason to give a hatemonger an open stage," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.

Protesters also assembled at Columbia. Dozens stood near the lecture hall where Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak, linking arms and singing traditional Jewish folk songs about peace and brotherhood, while nearby a two-person band played "You Are My Sunshine."

Signs in the crowd displayed a range of messages, including one that read "We refuse to choose between Islamic fundamentalism and American imperialism."

Ahmadinejad said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press that Iran would not launch an attack on Israel or any other nation, and he does not believe the U.S. is preparing for war against Iran.

"Iran will not attack any country," Ahmadinejad told the AP. Iran has always maintained a defensive policy, not an offensive one, he said, and has "never sought to expand its territory."

Asked whether he believed the U.S. is preparing for war, he responded: "That is not how I see it ... I believe that some of the talk in this regard arises first of all from anger. Secondly, it serves the electoral purposes domestically in this country. Third, it serves as a cover for policy failures over Iraq."

In a 30-minute interview at a hotel near the United Nations, Ahmadinejad struck a soothing tone. He said Iranian foreign policy was based on humanitarian concerns and seeking justice.

He reiterated his call for a debate at the United Nations on world issues with President Bush.

Referring to fears of a military campaign against Iran, he said: "We don't think you can compensate for one mistake by committing more mistakes."

The Columbia event has spurred an emotional debate about free speech.

Over the weekend, the university said it would welcome any notable figure visiting the United States — even Adolf Hitler — to speak to students and faculty at the Ivy League college.

But there are those who have questioned the New York college's standards. They ask why a school that will not allow an ROTC program to be part of its curriculum would allow Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, one of America’s avowed enemies, onto its campus.

Critics wonder why the leader of a nation that exports terrorism is allowed to speak, but the leader of an American organization that seeks to secure U.S. borders was not.

"It's extremely important to know who the leaders are of countries that are your adversaries," Bollinger told ABC's "Good Morning America." "To watch them to see how they think, to see how they reason or do not reason. To see whether they're fanatical or to see whether they are sly."

The Iranian president addressed students and faculty at a forum only days after Columbia retracted a speaking invitation to the president of the Minuteman Project, a controversial citizens' group that seeks to secure America's borders from illegal immigrants, even going so far as to try building a fence along the border with Mexico.

Minuteman founder and president Jim Gilchrist said he feels "sweet and sour" toward Columbia after an invitation to participate in an Oct. 4 talk was taken away last week. Gilchrist appeared at Columbia last year, but his speech was thwarted when students and other opponents stormed the stage as he took the podium.

"I've always respected Columbia, but I've relegated it to a gutter school after that incident," Gilchrist told FOXNews.com in a phone interview. "They've stopped free speech. That's worse than killing people. With that, you can kill an entire nation."

But Gilchrist — an ardent supporter of the First Amendment — actually backs the university's decision to host Ahmadinejad.

"I'm defending his appearance," he said last week. "I think he should speak. To say no, he cannot speak, is to support exactly the same thing that happened to me."

He believes Columbia's administrators are good about fostering free speech but give too much power to "radical" groups in determining who gets a forum on campus.

The student/faculty group known as the Columbia Political Union initially voted to ask Gilchrist back this year, but it was ultimately the same organization that reversed the vote and rescinded his invitation. The CPU apparently was not a key factor in the Ahmadinejad visit, which was sponsored by Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and was part of the university's annual World Leaders Forum.

Several Columbia students — even some who planned to rally against Ahmadinejad — said they supported the Iranian president's appearance.

"He's a leader of a large nation and what he says is important, even if it's wrong," said Dmitry Zakharov, 25, a Columbia University graduate student.

University officials did not return calls from FOXNews.com seeking comment on the school's public-speaking policies and decisions.

But John Coatsworth, the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, said in a weekend interview with FOX News that just about anyone would be welcome to speak at the university — except the leaders of countries with which the United States is at war.

As for Hitler, he said, prior to the invasion of Poland in 1939, "if Hitler were in the United States and wanted a platform from which to speak, he would have plenty of platforms to speak in the United States. If he were willing to engage in a debate and discussion, and be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him."

Click here to read the official Columbia statement about the Iranian president event.

Tensions are high between Washington and Tehran over U.S. accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, as well as helping Shiite militias in Iraq that target U.S. troops — claims Iran denies.

"Well, you have to appreciate we don't need a nuclear bomb. We don't need that. What need do we have for a bomb?" Ahmadinejad said in a "60 Minutes" interview aired Sunday, taped earlier in Iran. "In political relations right now, the nuclear bomb is of no use. If it was useful it would have prevented the downfall of the Soviet Union."

He also said: "It's wrong to think that Iran and the U.S. are walking toward war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing."

Before leaving Iran, Ahmadinejad said the American people have been denied "correct information," and his visit will give them a chance to hear a different voice, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad has appealed to the American people before, distinguishing between the population and their government. Recently, he told a television show that Iran wants peace and friendship with America. Since coming to power in 2005, Ahmadinejad also has sent letters to the American people criticizing President Bush's policies in the Middle East.

Washington has said it is addressing the Iran situation diplomatically, rather than militarily, but U.S. officials also say that all options are open. The commander of the U.S. military forces in the Middle East said he did not believe tensions would lead to war.

"This constant drum beat of conflict is what strikes me, which is not helpful and not useful," Adm. William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television, which made a partial transcript available Sunday.

Ahmadinejad's scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday was to be his third time attending the New York meeting in three years.

But his request to lay a wreath at ground zero was denied by city officials and condemned by politicians who said a visit to the site of the 2001 terror attacks would violate sacred ground.

Police cited construction and security concerns in denying Ahmadinejad's request. Ahmadinejad told "60 Minutes" he would not press the issue but expressed disbelief that the visit would offend Americans.

Columbia canceled a planned visit by the Iranian president last year, also citing security and logistical reasons.

Rallies were planned outside the university building where he was to speak and at the United Nations, prompting city and state officials to prepare a security detail for him. The city police and the U.S. Secret Service are charged with protecting the Iranian leader along with dozens of heads of state arriving for the assembly.

No threats have been called in, police Detective Joseph Cavitolo said Friday.

The Iranian mission has not disclosed Ahmadinejad's specific itinerary.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he wouldn't go listen to him. "I think he's said enough that I find disgusting and despicable," he said.

FOX News' Catherine Donaldson-Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
Cal said:
Ahmadinejad said that the religions of "Christ and Moses" as well as Islam are "all brothers. They all want the same thing."
Satan is working overtime trying to spread this lie. It's strait off the press in the pits of hell. Untrue!
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Ok..he came...we saw...he spoke.

The one thing that I think was not in good favor towards Columbia was that the opening intro for the Pres of Iran made by the school official was a bit offensive and the students were allowed to boo at the speaker.


This behavior lowers our standards and should not have been allowed by the university.

If the were gonna be rude and offensive, why even invite the man at all?

It makes no sense on behalf of the university if the students behave that way and puts an ugly face on us.

He can go back to Iran and say , " See I told you they ALL were a$$holes"...it just adds support to his side with behavior like that.


a$$holes---this is NOT what I typed.. I hate it when it does that!!
 

Larrry

Well-known member
Let's get this right. Are you worried about what a TERRORIST nation thinks of us? Let me tell you they could not think less of us than before he came.
 

loomixguy

Well-known member
In the late '77 and early '78, I was living in one of the dorms on the city campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Tensions were running high with the Iranians over the Shah.

My dorm floor was a duke's mixture of folks. Jamaican track stars, folks from NYC, a couple of cowboys, plenty of potheads, an extremely talented rock guitarist, and several vets from 'Nam, one of whom was in Special Forces and was involved in all kinds of covert operations all over SEA.

When the Iranians (and there were
PLENTY of them at UN-L at that time) had their march to protest the Shah and US policy with Iran, they happened to be marching right down the street in front of our dorm. Wearing masks so they couldn't be identified, armed with bullhorns so thei shouts of "Death to the Shah! The Shah is a US puppet!" could be heard, ALL of us on that floor swung into action, peeing into trash bags, filling water balloons, putting trash and all kinds of nasty things into trash bags, etc. When they were directly underneath us, the bombing mission began. Needless to say, the demonstration was "disrupted" and came to a screeching halt.

The rent-a-cops brought in Lincoln PD, and up the stairs they came, put us in a line and began to question us. 44 men neither saw nor heard ANYTHING. One of Lincoln's finest noticed the Special Forces guy's tattoo, and as they were leaving, he turned back, looked at us, and gave us a big old grin and a "thumbs up". At that moment of my young life at the time, I was extremely proud to be an American!

My thoughts concerning Iran haven't changed in the last 30 years, either.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Larrry said:
Let's get this right. Are you worried about what a TERRORIST nation thinks of us? Let me tell you they could not think less of us than before he came.


No...we should worry what the WORLD thinks of us.

Right now....it's not too good!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Red Robin-- I thought you'd be for this guy--Old Adumajug says he has a pure country--no homosexuals... :wink:
 
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