AHMADINEJAD'S SPEECH AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

I saw Ahmedadinejad's speech yesterday on the CNN channel which I almost never watch since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was presumably invited by Columbia, but before he spoke the Columbia U president 'introduced' him by launching into a rant about his alleged holocaust-denial, and his statements that 'Israel should be wiped off the map'.

Ahmedinejad's speech protested the 'insults' and misreports, and then proceeded to give (a typical Islamic) meandering speech about how science (nuclear technology - which the US doesn't want Iran to have) is God's creation and the right of all...how Iran has abided by the IAEA's regulations and is 'against nuclear weapons, period.'. He spoke of how '2 or 3 monopolistic powers' want to deny Iran its right of self-determination, and asked what right the US which itself possessed many nuclear weapons, had, to deny Iran nuclear energy.

He spoke of how Iran had been victimized by terrorism (terror bombings) aided by the US, and how the US had supported Saddam Hussein in an 8-year war which cost 200,000 Iranian deaths and 600,000 wounded. He explained that Iran is not opposed to Jews, and that many Jews live in Iran peacefully and are protected (he said Iranians were entitled to 1 representative in Parliament for every 150,000 citizens, but that number dropped to 30,000 in the case of Jews) and also spoke of the thousands of years of peaceful coexistence in the Mideast between Jews, Arabs and Christians, and that Jewish persecution was an European phenomenon, not a Middle Eastern one..

He asked why the Palestinians were being punished for the Jewish holocaust, when they had no hand in it....he talked about how for 60 years this people (some 5 million) have been refugees in exile suffering attacks from helicopters and bombs, and why the world isn't concerned about it....

On the holocaust he asked why research on alternative perspectives of the holocaust was discouraged, referring to the jailing of such researchers (presumably holocaust-deniers) in Europe....

I got the feeling his views on both the holocaust and Israel (Sen. HIllary Clinton called him a holocaust-denier and enemy of Israel that she would not have invited to speak, but defended his right to express his views) have been reported out of context. On Israel, his infamous statement that Israel should be wiped off the map was probably not a threat to Israel, but an affirmation that Israel was created by force for Jews alone, in the process evicting millions of Palestinians, and that therefore it ought not to exist, but be replaced by a new state representing the rights of all the Palestinians - Jews, Muslims, and Christians - through a referendum of all these people.

His speech was attended by heavy protest outside - presumably from people familiar with the reported US interpretations and depictions of him. And his explanations were given contemptuous dismissal by the CNN hosts covering the story.

I was left nauseated at how biased and arrogant the US media treatment of this politician has been.....

Harinder Jadwani.