Should Ahmadinejad have been invited to speak at Columbia University?

[KimberlyH]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/nyregion/26columbia.html

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Do I think he should have been invited? Well, that''s not for me to decide, it was Columbia U''s decision and the article didn''t touch upon their reason for the invitation. However, as an admitted (publicly) enemy of the US, I don''t think he should have been allowed to enter our country.

My reasons for this are personal, so I''m not going to continue to write. I''m interested to hear the opinions of others though.

 

[KimberlyH]

My husband and I had a great discussion about this last night and I''m still unsure how I feel about it. None of the articles I''ve read, have stated the reason he was invited, just that it was "practice" for the speech he was to deliver at the UN meeting. The decision to invite him was made by Bollinger, the school''s president.

A secondary question, do you think it was correct for police to block him from visiting the site at which the attacks on September 11th occured?

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/26/2007 9:33:05 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
I don''t think he should have been allowed to enter our country.

100% agree!!!!

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/26/2007 9:52:28 AM
Author: KimberlyH

A secondary question, do you think it was correct for police to block him from visiting the site at which the attacks on September 11th occured?

I didnt find that part of the story but he should not have been allowed in the country in the first place but once he was here depending on why he wanted too go he should have been allowed.

 

[Kaleigh]

I don''t think he should have been allowed to come here either. And am glad he wasn''t permitted to go to ground Zero. The more I learn about him, the more I cringe. My son and I had an interesting discussion about this last night.

 

[marvel]

IMHO... by allowing him into the country to speak at Columbia it exposed him, and his warped views, to a lot of people that otherwise would not have known much about him. It''s great to let these students form their own opinion by letting this guy fall on his face and be laughed at, rather then letting the media influence their opinions.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/26/2007 2:29:31 PM
Author: marvel
IMHO... by allowing him into the country to speak at Columbia it exposed him, and his warped views, to a lot of people that otherwise would not have known much about him. It''s great to let these students form their own opinion by letting this guy fall on his face and be laughed at, rather then letting the media influence their opinions.

that is the only good thing about it.
Hard for the media to spin it this way.

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 9/26/2007 1:33:32 PM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 9/26/2007 9:52:28 AM
Author: KimberlyH

A secondary question, do you think it was correct for police to block him from visiting the site at which the attacks on September 11th occured?

I didnt find that part of the story but he should not have been allowed in the country in the first place but once he was here depending on why he wanted too go he should have been allowed.

That was information from a different story I read and didn''t post. Participating in the UN convention gave him the right to travel in a 25 mile radius of where the meeting took place (on Manhattan which is 13 miles long and 2 miles wide so he could also go to the other 4 burroughs of NY as well as New Jersey, if my mileage and destination calculations are correct, it may be a bit further than I''m estimating) but police refused to let him near the sight. He said his reason for wanting to go was to pay respect for those who lost their lives.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/26/2007 11:32:53 PM
Author: KimberlyH

He said his reason for wanting to go was to pay respect for those who lost their lives.

Then he should have been allowed too and if he did something disrespectful there someone should have shot him in the head for it.

 

[diagem]

Date: 9/26/2007 1:31:32 PM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 9/26/2007 9:33:05 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
I don''t think he should have been allowed to enter our country.

100% agree!!!!

I think he

should have been allowed to enter the country...., then he

should have gotten a free tour to where the WTC stood
(was it 6 years ago???), and from there he should have gotten arrested and put in jail (with out trial

)


Oops..., I am sorry..., but Democracy does not allow that..., right

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Its sad that a tyrranical dictator gets to benefit from a democratic society. We should treat him the way he treats others...

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 9/27/2007 7:01:03 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Its sad that a tyrranical dictator gets to benefit from a democratic society. We should treat him the way he treats others...

a democractic society doesn''t get to pick and choose....and once a society begins to pick and choose, it is no longer democratic. while it may be sad that he got to exercise free speech here [and which he doesn''t allow in his own country], it is on the otherhand a tribute to democracy itself. to do otherwise would mean that terrorists have already won and destroyed our way of life.

movie zombie

ps my answer to the original question posted is NO.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 9/28/2007 4:55:26 PM
Author: movie zombie

Date: 9/27/2007 7:01:03 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Its sad that a tyrranical dictator gets to benefit from a democratic society. We should treat him the way he treats others...

a democractic society doesn''t get to pick and choose....and once a society begins to pick and choose, it is no longer democratic. while it may be sad that he got to exercise free speech here [and which he doesn''t allow in his own country], it is on the otherhand a tribute to democracy itself. to do otherwise would mean that terrorists have already won and destroyed our way of life.

movie zombie

ps my answer to the original question posted is NO.

exactly,
That''s why he should have been free to travel.
He was here as a legal guest and in America legal guests should have the same travel rights as anyone else.

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 9/28/2007 5:23:36 PM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 9/28/2007 4:55:26 PM
Author: movie zombie

Date: 9/27/2007 7:01:03 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Its sad that a tyrranical dictator gets to benefit from a democratic society. We should treat him the way he treats others...

a democractic society doesn't get to pick and choose....and once a society begins to pick and choose, it is no longer democratic. while it may be sad that he got to exercise free speech here [and which he doesn't allow in his own country], it is on the otherhand a tribute to democracy itself. to do otherwise would mean that terrorists have already won and destroyed our way of life.

movie zombie

ps my answer to the original question posted is NO.

exactly,
That's why he should have been free to travel.
He was here as a legal guest and in America legal guests should have the same travel rights as anyone else.

agree.

movie zombie

 

[HollyS]

Date: 9/26/2007 9:33:05 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Do I think he should have been invited? Well, that''s not for me to decide, it was Columbia U''s decision and the article didn''t touch upon their reason for the invitation. However, as an admitted (publicly) enemy of the US, I don''t think he should have been allowed to enter our country.

My reasons for this are personal, so I''m not going to continue to write. I''m interested to hear the opinions of others though.

Ditto. If he was invited or requested a state visit with the President - fine. But not a personal agenda visit. We should have met him at the airport, with a show of force, and sent him packing. Period.