Columbia Students May Dine With A Dictator

Four years ago, on September 24, 2007, Columbia University invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address the campus.

Alumni threatened to remove their funding from the University and students and concerned citizens protested in uproar over the university’s decision to provide a public forum for a man who many say embodies cruelty, tyranny, aggression and intolerance.

Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel, denied the Holocaust and promoted the preposterous theory that the United States planned the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to launch wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. He is prosecuting homosexuals, blatantly violating human rights in Iran and is widely believed to be actively pursuing nuclear weapons and sponsoring al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. He rejects all forms of democracy and expels brazen, discriminatory dialect.

But Columbia University President Lee Bollinger defended his invitation to Ahmadinejad, arguing that providing Columbia as a forum for Ahmadinejad “is the right thing to do” because “it is required by the existing norms of free speech, of Columbia University, and of academic institutions.”

After a cold introduction from Bollinger, in which he referred to Ahmadinejad as “ridiculous” and a “petty and cruel dictator,” Ahmadinejad maintained his infamous reputation and made rash, hatred-filled comments about the state of Israel, questioned the extent of the Holocaust and denied the existence of homosexuals in the Islamic Republic.

“In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” Ahmadinejad said during that 2007 speech to Columbia students. “In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have this.”

Ahmadinejad then defended Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons by stating that the United States has developed nuclear capabilities so it’s only fair that Iran can as well.

Unfortunately, it seems that Columbia University has not learned from its mistakes.

Rumors have been circulating that the University’s President Lee Bollinger and 15 members of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA) may be attending a private dinner with Ahmadinejad on September 21 in Midtown Manhattan while he is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. 

According to Bollinger’s office, however, it is just a rumor.

“At no time has there been any University event planned or considered involving the president of Iran and President Bollinger, nor has there ever been any plan for a dinner involving the Iranian president on campus,” Bollinger’s office told TRNS. “Media reports to the contrary have no basis in fact and we hope they will be corrected.”

CIRCA’s involvement, however, was confirmed by the Columbia Spectator.

CIRCA vice president of academics Tim Chan told the Spectato that group members are “enthusiastic” about their potential dinner with Ahmadinejad and are “thrilled to have this opportunity.”

Chan, however, stressed that the meeting is still tentative.

In an op-ed published in the Spectator on Wednesday entitled, “Say No to Ahmadinedinner,” Columbia Junior David Fine argued that “the moral burden of our Columbia education and human dignity requires us to examine whether it is right for us to sit down to dinner with a man who facilitates, even encourages, such executions.”

“What will this dinner accomplish? Nothing, except a sating of the human urge to be in the presence of greatness, no matter how unbridled or pernicious,” Fine wrote. “Since no public report can be made, nor Ahmadinejad’s opinions changed, this intimate dinner is, at best, the moral equivalent of sitting down with Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson just for the “thrill.” At worst, it is a small, but useful, affirmation for Ahmadinejad that his thoughts deserve to be heard by the best and brightest that American universities can offer.”

CIRCA did not respond to TRNS’s request for comment.

McGovern calls for military options in Darfur

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

One week after thirteen international aid organizations were expelled from Darfur, and one day after President Obama named Former General J. Scott Gration as a special envoy to Sudan, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said that military options to stop the genocide should not be ruled out. These military options could come to fruition as a no-fly zone. McGovern hopes the Obama administration’s diplomacy can prevail, but went on to say that time is running out and that Obama should work with NATO, the African Union, and the Arab League to stop the violence immediately, since more people are dying each day.

The Congressman said, “What we have done up to this point has not worked.” He said that genocide, violence, and rape are continuing, and now the government is “going to starve people to death.” McGovern went on to say that the Sudanese government is “determined to kill the people of Darfur” and drew similarities between the situation and the Holocaust

The Save Darfur Coalition said that since the aid organizations were expelled by President Omar al-Bashir, approximately 1.1 million civilians have been left without food aid, 1.5 million without health care, and almost 1 million without drinking water. In the crisis at large, the United Nations states that since 2003 over 200,000 people have been killed, and over 2 million people have been displaced.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled the aid organizations after being indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.) charged, “this expulsion of aid workers further confirms the legitimacy of the indictment,” and that the president is guilty as charged.

Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) continued that he thinks there is no “political will” right now to send more troops into harm’s way considering America’s presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and feels that African Union forces should be left to do the job. African Union troops have unsuccessfully tried to quell the violence in the past. Smith said he believes a renewed effort by the African Union forces will yield better results.

Remembering Halabja at the Speaker's Dining Hall

Astonishingly, it has been 20 years since the attacks on Halabja, carried by the former dictator, Saddam Hussein.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Leadership Council of Human Rights jointly organized a commemorational ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the atrocities carried out by the former Iraqi dictatorship at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s dining hall.

The hall was filled with the soft sound of sez (traditional Middle Eastern musical instrument) echoing in the background, pictures of mothers holding their dying kids, bruised babies dead by the river; father’s crying on the side of their dying kids’ beds and the list goes on.
Kathryn Cameron Porter, founder and president of Leadership Council of Human Rights, and Qubad Talibani, son of the Iraqi President and representative of the KRG in the United States, both talked about the importance of remembering such a horrific day. Talibani mentioned that March is a bitter sweet month for the Kurds. It was in the same month that the world experienced the fall of the Hussein regime, that regime that killed thousands of innocent people.

Some 5000 Kurds were massacred at a small town, called Halabja, at the northern region of Iraq. The former dictator attacked the town with gas bombs, planning on eliminating the Kurds from “his” own territory. The country was in war against Iran then and the idea of killing innocent people would have been considered justifiable; yet another “we were in war” excuse. Most of the survivors fled to Iran and found shelter there.

Mohammed Aziz, a 43-year-old survivor explained the horrific activities of that cold Thursday in March. He was with his family eating lunch when six planes started bombarding Halabja. Their first reaction was to run to the basement, as did all the other families. This lasted couple of minutes; however they remained sheltered at the basement for another few hours. Thinking that the planes had gone, everyone started fleeing from their basements and running towards the borders, that is when the deadliest attacks happened. The planes were back, but this time filled with poisonous chemicals. People were losing their eye sights, were having chest pains and were acting hysterically. This was the start of the range of “slow deaths.”

Halabja is only one of the numerous massacres of the twentieth century. The Armenians, Ukrainians, the Holocaust, Kurds, Rwandans and now the people of Darfur have all experienced the non-humane acts of their fellow neighbors. When will the cycle of genocide end? History repeats itself no matter what the circumstances are; Darfur is a great proof of the latter.