Ahmadinejad in America

Story: "Hatemonger Mahmoud Ahmadinejad landed in a hornet's nest of outrage yesterday as Columbia University prepared to welcome him with open arms today and stuck by a dean's outrageous assertion that it would let Adolf Hitler speak, too.

The Holocaust-denying Iranian tyrant jetted into New York as students, faculty and political leaders protested Columbia's decision to roll out the red carpet.

"It's a stain on the university," said sophomore Elizabeth Friess, 20. "You can't have an open debate with someone who wants to wipe out Israel. There is no reasoning with someone like that."
...

The moderator of the event, School of International and Public Affairs Acting Dean John Coatsworth, has sparked a furor by saying he would invite anyone for a little academic give-and-take - even the Fuhrer himself.

He stood his ground yesterday, telling the Daily News he was talking about the more palatable Hitler when he had "not started the war and the Holocaust hadn't begun."

"There's never a good forum for a dictator," said Coatsworth, "but the advantage of Columbia is he would have been challenged and criticized.""

1. Finally, someone outside the blog sphere and talk radio calls Ahmadinejad for what he his, a hate mongering Muslim anti-Semite. And yet, one of our esteemed universities invites him to speak on its campus. The Dean then has the intestinal fortitude to say, in light of intellectual honesty, that the holocaust creator, Hitler of the Third Reich, would be allowed to speak.

It is so outlandish, that I almost think he's luring Ahmadinejad into a trap, waiting for the vast numbers of Americans on campus to mob him out... But no. Its just one leftist accepting another dictator in the name of tolerance.

And in the mean time, Iran is rattling its saber towards the US.
Iran's version of tolerance?
" Iran’s judiciary has sealed off the offices of a popular news Web site critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies after journalists continued to update it despite official filtering, the Web site said.

Rights groups and diplomats say there is a broad crackdown on dissenting voices in the Islamic state, which is under growing Western pressure over its disputed nuclear programme. The authorities deny such moves, saying they allow free speech."

That is just about as tolerant ACLU towards prayer in school.

And the Bush Administration's response to the situation?
"White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday that the Bush administration had no involvement with Columbia's decision.

"This is a country where people can come and speak their minds," he said, adding, "It would be wonderful if some of the countries that take advantage of that here allowed it for their own citizens there.""