CHUD.com Community › Forums › POLITICS & RELIGION › Political Discourse › Ahmadinejad Says He Will Not Push To Visit Ground Zero
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Ahmadinejad Says He Will Not Push To Visit Ground Zero

post #1 of 53
9/21/07 at 1:27am
Thread Starter 
AHMADINEJAD SAYS HE WILL NOT PUSH TO VISIT GROUND ZERO; 'AMAZED' GESTURE WOULD INSULT AMERICANS
Thu Sept 20 2007 16:11:22 ET

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not press his plan -- just denied by New York City Police for security reasons -- to visit Ground Zero in New York City, he tells 60 MINUTES' Scott Pelley in an exclusive interview conducted today in Iran. The Iranian leader says he's "amazed" and skeptical that most Americans view his visit there as insulting as his intention was only to show respect. The interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday Sept. 23 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS television Network.

An excerpt from the interview follows:

PELLEY: Mr. President, do you intend to press your request to visit the World Trade Center site?

AHMADINEJAD: Well, it was included in my program. If we have the time and the conditions are conducive, I will try to do that.

PELLEY: But the New York Police Department and others do not appear to want you there. Do you intend to go there anyway?

AHMADINEJAD: Well, over there, local officials need to make the necessary coordinations. If they can't do that, I won't insist.

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: 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.

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

PELLEY: Well, the American nation--

AHMADINEJAD: You are representing a media and you're a reporter. The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there.



so he wants to visit ground zero, as much as he hates America, I don't see
this as a sign of disrespect, how does anyone else feel?
Reply
post #2 of 53
9/21/07 at 1:52am
I feel disgusted that I've entered this thread with the hope of real engagement on a topic and then I saw you got your link to the Drudge Report.
Reply
post #3 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:07am
Pfft, nice cop out, Chomsky.
Reply
post #4 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Volta
Pfft, nice cop out, Chomsky.
If that's directed at myself, then I consider it a compliment.
Reply
post #5 of 53
9/21/07 at 8:45am
What Would Jed Bartlet Do?
Reply
post #6 of 53
9/21/07 at 9:04am
His disgust is clearly aimed at the American media for what he feels is their portrayal of his nation as a terrorist one. I don't think he hates the American people themselves. Maybe you shouldn't assume all Arabs (or Persians) are terrorists. I'm sure that's his statement's meaning.
Reply
post #7 of 53
9/21/07 at 10:27am
The Media is interested, and quite obviously working the american public into thinking that indeed most people in countries like Iran are terrorists. After all, it sells newspapers, and gets people to watch the news.

Pretty much any intelligent person, and Irans President certainly is not dumb, can see that from miles away. Its the corporate media problem. You guys know it, we know it, he knows it.

I recently saw a funny bag in a shop. There was a slogan on it "I am muslim, but dont panic".

I thought that pretty funny.
Reply
post #8 of 53
9/21/07 at 10:30am
If he wants to see Ground Zero, I don't see the problem. Here's the thing - Ahmadinejad's a fucking loon. Anything that can educate him into other viewpoints and ideas is a good thing.
Reply
post #9 of 53
9/21/07 at 10:37am
I'm more insulted that Ground Zero is the biggest tourist attraction in New York right now. I'm waiting for the next time some tourist asks me where the World Trade Center is so I can say "Staten Island".

(That's a landfill joke)
Reply
post #10 of 53
9/21/07 at 10:49am
Yeah, I really can't see a problem with him visiting the site. If he wants to see it, let him see it.

However, I've been to NYC twice (three times?) since 9/11 and I've never been there. I could suggest many, many more useful ways to spend quality time as a tourist in NYC to Mr. Ahmadinejad than going to Ground Zero.
Reply
post #11 of 53
9/21/07 at 10:53am
It's just a big lot and a small, crappy memorial now! There's nothing to see.
Reply
post #12 of 53
9/21/07 at 10:58am
But, Alex! You can see all the suffering! Look at all the suffering! Isn't it patriotic?

Personally, I'd rather be up at Barney Greengrass, getting verbally abused by a waiter, but something tells me that wouldn't be Mr. Ahmadinejad's cup of tea.
Reply
post #13 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:13am
I work right there and am sometimes asked by tourists where the World Trade Center is (less often now than in the first year or two). Their mild disappointment when I gesture towards the giant empty space at the end of the block is amusing. Of course it's actually pretty embarrassing that there's still literally nothing to see.

Back on topic, the reaction to this is identical to the MoveOn ad nonsense. It's not even a coast/midwest issue, it's the entire country not giving a shit except for the press and politicians.
Reply
post #14 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissZooey
Personally, I'd rather be up at Barney Greengrass, getting verbally abused by a waiter, but something tells me that wouldn't be Mr. Ahmadinejad's cup of tea.
I heard that the service at this place is bad enough that you'll envy those stoned to death in Iran. It's that bad?
Reply
post #15 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:19am
He's a politician, and I think it's thrown a lot of people off that an actual politician is running Iran, a country that a lot of people still harbor memories of when it was being run by the Ayatollah and the hostage crisis. The guy tends to say what he thinks his current audience wants to hear, just like American politicians do. And if there's enough of an outrage, he'll back off his statements...just like American politicians do. I don't trust him, but I pretty much don't trust any American politician either. Stopping him from visiting the 9/11 site just gives more credence to the administration's brick wall stance on working or talking with Iran in any way, shape, or form. Condemn and attack. Condemn and attack. It's old hat by now, and hopefully won't get a whole lot more people killed before the 2008 Bush-whacking.
Reply
post #16 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Savage
I heard that the service at this place is bad enough that you'll envy those stoned to death in Iran. It's that bad?
No, it's not that bad at all. They'll just prod you a bit. It's a very small space and it's always packed, so the waiters tend to be pretty no-nonsense about crowd control. I don't think that they have a lot of patience for ignorant tourists (usually with really nasal Midwestern accents, God help me) pointing at the menu and saying things like "Lox? What's that? And what's that? No chocolate chip bagels? I'll have a plain one,then. Can I get bacon on that? Why not? You don't have it? Really?"
Reply
post #17 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:30am
And of course, if his visit to New York had not included a visit to the site, there would have been outrage over his disrespect for the victims and that his slight was a tacit approval of what happened.
Reply
post #18 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:34am
I don't see why any country that is on our current known sponsor of terrorism list by the State Department should be allowed inside our country (aside from the UN) let alone to that particular site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._li...onal_terrorism

Iran - Added in 1984. According to the State Department, "continued to provide Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian rejectionist groups—notably Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP-GC—with varying amounts of funding, safe haven, training, and weapons. It also encouraged Hezbollah and the rejectionist Palestinian groups to coordinate their planning and to escalate their activities."
Reply
post #19 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaieke
I don't see why any country that is on our current known sponsor of terrorism list by the State Department should be allowed inside our country (aside from the UN) let alone to that particular site.
Soon that list will also contain Canada and UK, so I'd take what's on the said list with a grain of salt.
Reply
post #20 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:39am
We let Arafat in the country.
Reply
post #21 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Savage
Soon that list will also contain Canada and UK, so I'd take what's on the said list with a grain of salt.
You can take it with a grain of salt, you can take it with an asprin doesn't change the fact that Iran is on the list currently and their president shouldn't be allowed to visit the site.

Also, to the other comment above you, when Ahmadinejad came to the US last time he didn't visit the site, no one was outraged.
Reply
post #22 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaieke
You can take it with a grain of salt, you can take it with an asprin doesn't change the fact that Iran is on the list currently and their president shouldn't be allowed to visit the site.
It's well-known that Ahmadinejad piloted both planes himself to the towers. Because he's fucking Nightcrawler, and he now works for the Brotherhood of Radical Islam. And Bush is Charles Xavier, right?
Reply
post #23 of 53
9/21/07 at 11:52am
I was unaware I was talking to a troll, my bad... <pats troll on head> sorry gotta take away the cookies now, not to feed the troll...
Reply
post #24 of 53
9/21/07 at 12:00pm
You're unaware of many many things it seems.
Reply
post #25 of 53
9/21/07 at 12:42pm
What's the matter with you people?

Ahmadinejad probably only wants to go to Ground Zero so he can masturbate and cackle diabolically. What if the bald eagle sees this and starts crying again?

(And Mr. Savage, since you have been outed as a troll by someone obviously related to the species you are expected to cease posting here immediately.)
Reply
post #26 of 53
9/21/07 at 1:06pm
I thought we should have let him visit the site, but he was now interviewed and said he wanted to share his views and express the "root causes" of these events.

So yeah, he wasn't there just to lay a wreath but to spout his nonsense.

No, thanks.
Reply
post #27 of 53
9/21/07 at 1:10pm
Here's a thought -- let him visit the site and have nobody cover it.
Reply
post #28 of 53
9/21/07 at 1:34pm
Like Martianman said, he's a politician. He might want to visit the site partially out of curiosity. I think he's requesting the trip primarily to get a rise out of the US press and politicians. While the Iranians had nothing to do with 9/11, its ties to terrorism, either directly or through support of Hezbollah and sectarian groups within Iraq, are fairly well-known. Ahmadinejad's rhetoric against Israel and the US are also well-known. Ahmadinejad knows this and is using his request to push buttons. I think the US government should arrange a trip for him to the Holocaust Museum in DC instead.
Reply
post #29 of 53
9/21/07 at 1:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonvoight's car
I think the US government should arrange a trip for him to the Holocaust Museum in DC instead.
That, and, as long as he's in the neighborhood, send him on over to Brooklyn. I'm sure there are some people there who could tell him a few stories about that silly, imaginary Holocaust.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson
Here's a thought -- let him visit the site and have nobody cover it.
I like this idea. Though covering it probably wouldn't do much harm - the guy's such a wingnut that it's not like he's going to win over anyone who doesn't already see things his way.
Reply
post #30 of 53
9/21/07 at 2:03pm
Since when do we have the right to stop visitors from visiting public places? Am I missing something here?
Reply
post #31 of 53
9/21/07 at 2:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissZooey
However, I've been to NYC twice (three times?) since 9/11 and I've never been there. I could suggest many, many more useful ways to spend quality time as a tourist in NYC to Mr. Ahmadinejad than going to Ground Zero.
Yeah, like standing outside the windows to the Today Show all morning long.
Reply
post #32 of 53
9/21/07 at 2:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonvoight's car
Ahmadinejad knows this and is using his request to push buttons. I think the US government should arrange a trip for him to the Holocaust Museum in DC instead.
He's been pushing buttons all the time. Let him go to Ground Zero if he wants. But the Holocaust Museum suggestion is really good.



Quote:
Originally Posted by stelios
(And Mr. Savage, since you have been outed as a troll by someone obviously related to the species you are expected to cease posting here immediately.)
Don't you have a fire to be caught in? ;-)
Reply
post #33 of 53
9/21/07 at 2:13pm
As far as "Stinky" is concerned, let him visit ground zero. After all he totes a wreath for the pilots of 9/11 and not the victims.

The Holocaust is fictional? What a Numnuts.
Reply
post #34 of 53
9/21/07 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer
Since when do we have the right to stop visitors from visiting public places? Am I missing something here?
He's a foreign head of state. It's not like he's an average joe who can just take a stroll through Manhattan. There are obvious security issues the police would have to deal with. The police cited these security issues and the fact that the site is currently closed (I think), to deny the visit.

Edited to add: It's possible that the NYPD's statements are just pretense and the main reason is that they don't want to let the head of a state that sponsors terrorism to come to NY and use the WTC site as an obvious photo op. The right to shamelessly use the WTC site as a photo op is reserved for our politicians.
Reply
post #35 of 53
9/21/07 at 2:51pm
It's been noted a few times before, but Iran is a terrorist nation. That doesn't mean the people on the street are terrorists, but that means that their government supports Hezbollah, Hamas, the militiamen currently butchering Iraqi citizens (I'm sure they're enjoying those headlines, fuckin' Iraqis), and were supporters of the Taliban and thus probably Al Qaeda pre-9/11.

Before all the Iraq bullshit began I remember hearing many the politician angrily say that Iran, not Iraq was the real threat, and it plainly still is. You think those murderers in Baghdad are buying body armor and nightvision goggles with their own cash?

But all the support for fighting against Iran immediately deflated once we hit Iraq and realized what a horrible mess it was going to be. Everyone knows we can't fight them now and so most of the people who would have supported taking action* against them have convinced themselves that they were never a threat in the first place.

*by this I don't mean direct military attack necessarily.
Reply
post #36 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer
Since when do we have the right to stop visitors from visiting public places? Am I missing something here?
In order for him to come here he needs a Visa and we can simply revoke that Visa, not to mention there are limited Visa's that more or less prevent you from going anywhere but your intended meeting (U.N.).

So in short, yes we can indeed stop him from visiting a public place.
Reply
post #37 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:03pm
I'm all for making him visit the Holocaust Museum.
Reply
post #38 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:07pm
Fine, you people want to give him a public-relations coup, knock yerselves out. It just makes us look like idiots, yet again. Blustering tough-guy meaninglessness.

"I wanted to lay a wreath at the 9/11 site, but the Americans apparantly don't know the difference between Saudi Arabs and Iranian Persians."
Reply
post #39 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:18pm
He just admitted he wasn't going to just "lay a wreath" at the site.
Reply
post #40 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:23pm
I'm all for allowing him to go to Ground Zero, but Jacob, you gotta admit, the guy's two chickpeas short of a falafel.
Reply
post #41 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:26pm
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. As are half our own damn politicians. We have several presidential candidates who don't believe in evolution, and think our laws should be based on selected interpretations of a 2000-year-old book of myths. And yet they're still allowed to drive automobiles.
Reply
post #42 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:30pm
Good point.

I still say take him to Ground Zero via the Holocaust Museum.
Reply
post #43 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacob Singer
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. As are half our own damn politicians. We have several presidential candidates who don't believe in evolution, and think our laws should be based on selected interpretations of a 2000-year-old book of myths. And yet they're still allowed to drive automobiles.
creationists == holocaust deniers.

Wonderful comparison there!
Reply
post #44 of 53
9/21/07 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica
creationists == holocaust deniers.

Wonderful comparison there!
Well, both lives in a fantasy world filled with unicorns and public fountains gushing out molten gold.
Reply
post #45 of 53
9/21/07 at 4:09pm
I'm more interested to hear his speech at Columbia. If he gets up and says the Holocaust didn't happen and starts blaming Zionists for the world's issues in front of an American audience I expect the place to go apeshit.

And isn't he like 5'2" or something like that? I think his whole problem is a massive case of LMD. NEVER trust little men, especially angry and bitter ones who don't drink.
Reply
post #46 of 53
9/21/07 at 4:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica
creationists == holocaust deniers.

Wonderful comparison there!
When two different groups of people refuse to listen to facts and not only cling to their ideology, but want to make it policy, then yeah, it's a fucking apt comparison.

Not to mention, I bet there are a lot of American holocaust deniers who are also creationists.
Reply
post #47 of 53
9/21/07 at 4:31pm
The Holocaust, much like dinosaurs, was planted here by God to test our faith. Those who deny the holocaust are the true Chosen People.
Reply
post #48 of 53
9/21/07 at 4:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormin
It's been noted a few times before, but Iran is a terrorist nation. That doesn't mean the people on the street are terrorists, but that means that their government supports Hezbollah, Hamas, the militiamen currently butchering Iraqi citizens (I'm sure they're enjoying those headlines, fuckin' Iraqis), and were supporters of the Taliban and thus probably Al Qaeda pre-9/11.
You see, I have a problem with this whole labeling of foreign states "terrorist sponsors". I don't disagree that Iran sponsors terrorist groups but so does the US, Britain, and many other countries all in the effort to maintain their interests in a given region.

Ahmadinejad wanting to "visit" Ground Zero is no different than any other high-profile politician wanting to visit the site. They all know that they're going to get covered in the press when to go. I agree that the best way to handle this situation would be to let him go and not cover it, as suggested earlier. Unfortunately that's not the world in which we live.
Reply
post #49 of 53
9/21/07 at 4:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gravedigger
the true Chosen People.
Did you do that on purpose?
Reply
post #50 of 53
9/21/07 at 4:37pm
You guys who are saying "just don't cover it", how does that happen in a country with a free press?
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Political Discourse
CHUD.com Community › Forums › POLITICS & RELIGION › Political Discourse › Ahmadinejad Says He Will Not Push To Visit Ground Zero