Ambush flattens Ahmadinejad
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22482180-26397,00.html
David Nason, New York correspondent | September 26,
2007
A WEEK ago, Lee Bollinger was dismissed as a
terrorist-coddling liberal egghead whose invitation
for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at
Columbia University was a monument to everything wrong
in American academia.
Today, after his brutal and unexpected denunciation of
Ahmadinejad as a cruel and ridiculous tyrant, the
Columbia president has suddenly gone from a leftie
pariah to a rolled-gold American hero.
Carried live on cable TV around the world, Bollinger's
Charles Spencer moment was not just a surprise, it was
also one of the great political ambushes of modern
times.
Sitting alone under a spotlight on the darkened stage,
Ahmadinejad looked silly, vulnerable and under arrest
as Bollinger coldly and methodically demanded the
Iranian leader explain his Holocaust denial, his
support for terrorism, his crackdown on academic
dissent and his threats against Israel, the country he
wants "wiped off the map".
As much accusation as inquiry, the questions seemed to
go on forever, before ending with a putdown that was
the verbal equivalent of being beaten with a baseball
bat.
"Frankly, and in all candour, Mr President, I doubt
that you will have the intellectual courage to answer
these questions," Bollinger said.
"But your avoiding them will itself be meaningful to
us. I do expect you to exhibit the fanatical mindset
that characterises so much of what you say and do.
"I feel all the weight of the modern civilised world
yearning to express the revulsion at what you stand
for. I only wish I could do better."
Bollinger had promised to open Ahmadinejad's
appearance with "a series of sharp challenges" and had
been adamant that a critical premise of free speech
was that the dishonourable could not be made
honourable simply by allowing it to be heard.
But nobody had expected Bollinger to pre-empt
Ahmadinejad with such venomous language and in
universities across the US, questions are being asked:
Did the attack go too far? Was it so personal that it
became culturally insensitive? Did it compromise the
academic search for greater knowledge and
understanding?
The concerns resonated within Columbia's own academic
staff, with Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian
studies, describing Bollinger's comments as "very
harsh".
"Inviting him (Ahmadinejad) and then turning around
and alienating and insulting an entire nation whose
representative this man happens to be is simply
inappropriate," he was reported as saying.
Not surprisingly, this was also the view of
Ahmadinejad himself.
"In Iran, tradition requires that when we invite a
speaker, we actually respect our students and the
professors by allowing them to make their own
judgment," he said. "We don't think it's necessary
before the speech is even given to come in with a
series of claims and to attempt in a so-called manner
to provide vaccination of some sort to our students
and our faculty."
The debate lit up the blogosphere, where opinion was
divided between those applauding Bollinger for his
courage in confronting Ahmadinejad, and those scornful
of strong-arm tactics that have no place in academe.
"Was it rude? Can the truth be rude?" one asked. "He
IS a petty dictator. He DOES deny the Holocaust,
ridiculously. He DOES imprison dissidents, journalists
and scientists. Bollinger's speech proved to me that
the freedom of speech is alive and well in America's
universities."
Others were not so kind. "Afraid of losing
contributions and of being denounced from all sides as
'soft on terrorism', he (Bollinger) blinked as soon as
the first shot was fired," one wrote.
"Even if he believed what he was saying, his ad
hominem displayed a gross indifference to the
principle of academic freedom. Bollinger has disgraced
Columbia."
Another accused Bollinger of a disgraceful "bait and
switch" exercise aimed at appeasing US Islamophobes.
"Ahmadinejad reminded me of the Saddam execution, when
he was the only one to keep his dignity, while
surrounded by a pack of rabid dogs," he said.
But dignity is an elusive concept and any claim
Ahmadinejad had was probably lost amid the laughter
that accompanied his claim that Iran did not have any
homosexuals. "I don't know who's told you that we have
this," he said.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with Yahoo! Autos.
http://autos.yahoo.com/index.html
