The discourteous reception given to the Iran president at the Columbia University where he was invited and the reaction of mainstream newspapers, has showed sections of American intelligentsia and their press in poor light.Firstly, if they didn't like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, they shouldn't have invited him for lecture at the University. And when he arrived there, the University president Lee Bollinger introduced the Iranian leader as 'a petty and cruel dictator' to the audience.
Bollinger's reportedly aggressive tone and the words he chose to describe Ahmadinejad were distasteful and beyond all civilised norms. If that was not enough, the newspaper reports reflected the feeling of concern that Bollinger's unwarranted aggression may help Ahmadinejad, who remained composed and reacted in a dignified way, earn brownie points.
Bollinger didn't stop at this and further said, When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous' and 'You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated'. The president of a leading University must know that you can't grow in stature by belittling somebody, especially your guest.
And when Ahmadinejad replied to a question on holocaust by saying that why should Palestinians pay for whatever happened in Europe, the audience applauded him. However, the newspapers were quick to write that 'they were a bunch of anti-Semites'. What a joke!
And what are they--Zionist stooges, those on the payroll of pro-Israel lobby! (I haven't used the Jew word yet). If Ahmadinejad is a dictator, what about American president? Who is responsible for killing millions in Iraq by telling the world blatant lies about Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction'.
Israel can disregard all UN resolutions but US foreign policy remains oblivious to everything. Anyway. I read many articles in American press online and there was a feeling of regret that maybe the insult thrown at him could bring more popularity and sympathy to Mahmoud Ahmadinijad [and more support to him back home]. Such is the American loyalty to the cause of Israel!
Do Americans have the right to take any moral high-ground, especially after the Iraq fiasco?
I am no fan of Ahmedjinejad but American arrogance perhaps need men like him, who can make them uncomfortable. And that's why a website report said, 'Ahmedinijad, the winner in the battle of nerves at Columbia university'.
[Photos on the top: Ahmadinejad on the left, Lee Bollinger on the right and the view of students on the campus listening to Iranian president on a big screen.]