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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad


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From 60 Minutes last night:

 

Interviewer: "I asked President Bush what he would say to you if he were sitting in this chair. And he told me-quote-speaking to you, that you’ve made terrible choices for your people. You’ve isolated your nation you’ve taken a nation of proud and honorable people and made your country the pariah of the world. These are President Bush’s words to you," Pelley said. "What’s your reply?"

 

The irony here - the very same words could be used to describe the President himself.

 

Wait, you don't like Bush?

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Dealing with Iran is like dealing with a bunch of 12 year old boys. Yes his statements are ridiculous - but yet he is still the leader of 70 million people. Look at how uneducated we Americans are - maybe he really doesn't know the true history of what happened during WWII. Mahmoud attended "The Iran University of Science and Technology" not Oxford.

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Scott Pelley of CBS' "60 Minutes" got a chance to interview Ahmadinejad last night, and Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald provided some snippets (below).

 

I can't believe this pinhead Pelley is allowed to work as a journalist. Perhaps he should succeed Tony Snow as the White House press secretary.

 

Excerpts:

 

PELLEY: Sir, what were you thinking? The World Trade Center site is the most sensitive place in the American heart, and you must have known that visiting there would be insulting to many, many Americans.

 

AHMADINEJAD: Why should it be insulting?

 

PELLEY: Well, sir, you're the head of government of an Islamist state that the United States government says is a major exporter of terrorism around the world. [...] But the American people, sir, believe that your country is a terrorist nation, exporting terrorism in the world. You must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans, as if to be mocking the American people.

 

AHMADINEJAD: Well, I'm amazed. How can you speak for the whole of the American nation?

 

PELLEY: Well, the American nation [...] Mr. President, you say that the two nations are very close to one another, but it is an established fact now that Iranian bombs and Iranian know-how are killing Americans in Iraq. You have American blood on your hands. Why?

 

AHMADINEJAD: Well, this is what the American officials are saying. . . .

 

PELLEY: Mr. President, American men and women are being killed by your weapons in Iraq. You know this.

 

AHMADINEJAD: No, no, no.

 

PELLEY: Why are those weapons there?

 

AHMADINEJAD: Who's saying that?

 

PELLEY: The American Army has captured Iranian missiles in Iraq. The critical elements of the explosively formed penetrator bombs that are killing so many people are coming from Iran. There's no doubt about that anymore. The denials are no longer credible, sir. . . .

 

AHMADINEJAD: Very good. If I may. Are you an American politician? Am I to look at you as an American politician or a reporter? . . . .

 

PELLEY: Mr. President, you must have rejoiced more than anyone when Saddam Hussein fell. You owe President Bush. This is one of the best things that's ever happened to your country.

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Yeah, we should sit him down for a screening of Schindler's List.

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Yeah, we should sit him down for a screening of Schindler's List.

 

 

Thats a good idea.

 

We need to engage in this discussion and not ignore it (as stupid as it is) because if we don't, the people of Iran will just say "see, Mahmoud is right".

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I dunno. I am not terribly optimistic that the Iranians, or their Arab neighbors, are ever going to have a great deal of sympathy for the Jews.

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I dunno. I am not terribly optimistic that the Iranians, or their Arab neighbors, are ever going to have a great deal of sympathy for the Jews.

 

No, they will always hate Jews, but that's not the point. By ignoring him and pretending he is irrelevant only makes him more popular with his people (who are not to fond of him anyway).

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The most disturbing thing about all the hoopla surrounding his visit is seeing how ignorant most of America is when it comes to Iran, its politics and it culture, and even worse, the American media. I am by no means a scholar of Iranian culture, but ever since the war drums started pounding in the White House a few weeks ago, I have been reading as much about Iran as I can. The way the president and the white house speak about Iran, and the way the media continues to blindly take what they say about Iran as fact (SEE: Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes last night, he should be fired!) its Iraq all over again.

The ironic thing about the coverage of Ahmadinejad is that he is basically the Iranian version of george W: a right wing president, not very popular in his own country at the moment, apparently not too well educated (see Holocaust comments) who was elected because the Iranian people thought the hardliners could give them better homeland security. The Iranians traditionally (well, since the Islamic revolution) vote for more moderate canidates. Why did they feel they needed better homeland security? George Bush's including Iran in his "Axis of Evil" speech, the war in Iraq on one border, and the Pakistani's with the nuclear bomb on another...and they have the audacity to want nuclear capacity! And on top of everything I keep hearing the word "dictator" attached to Ahmadinejad, which is ridiculous because he is almost essentially powerless, since the clerics can override any decision he makes...what a fucked up world we live in!

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The most disturbing thing about all the hoopla surrounding his visit is seeing how ignorant most of America is when it comes to Iran, its politics and it culture, and even worse, the American media. I am by no means a scholar of Iranian culture, but ever since the war drums started pounding in the White House a few weeks ago, I have been reading as much about Iran as I can. The way the president and the white house speak about Iran, and the way the media continues to blindly take what they say about Iran as fact (SEE: Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes last night, he should be fired!) its Iraq all over again.

The ironic thing about the coverage of Ahmadinejad is that he is basically the Iranian version of george W: a right wing president, not very popular in his own country at the moment, apparently not too well educated (see Holocaust comments) who was elected because the Iranian people thought the hardliners could give them better homeland security. The Iranians traditionally (well, since the Islamic revolution) vote for more moderate canidates. Why did they feel they needed better homeland security? George Bush's including Iran in his "Axis of Evil" speech, the war in Iraq on one border, and the Pakistani's with the nuclear bomb on another...and they have the audacity to want nuclear capacity! And on top of everything I keep hearing the word "dictator" attached to Ahmadinejad, which is ridiculous because he is almost essentially powerless, since the clerics can override any decision he makes...what a fucked up world we live in!

 

 

Well said. Also 70% of Iran's population is under 30 years of age, and actually like us.

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After Iraq, I don't blame any country for trying to nuke up.

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We need to engage in this discussion and not ignore it (as stupid as it is) because if we don't, the people of Iran will just say "see, Mahmoud is right".

 

Pretty strange perspective. We're trying to win the hearts and minds of Iranians now? :yeaahh

 

The bizarre part of all this is that a head of state is 'visiting' with no recognition whatsoever from the US government (in fact, the US and Iran haven't had any formal diplomatic relations for quite a while if I'm not mistaken). He's supposedly an enemy leader (axis of evil) yet he can hit the big apple like anyone else. So basically, this guy's a loose cannon who's here to stir up shit. (a bit like Chavez, though by comparison Chavez is pretty entertaining, if not credibly sensible)

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UN headquarters being in New York means access is granted to people who normally would not be allowed into the country. Castro, Arafat and Guevara have all stopped in in the past.

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