Bollinger's Introduction Of Ahmadinejad Is a Hit (UPDATE: Video)

Apparently Bollinger did what he promised, in not making it easy for Ahmadinejad. Kathryn Jean Lopez writes that Bollinger introduced Ahamdinejad:

with a hard-hitting set of questions for Ahmadinejad — stating as fact that Iran is fighting "a proxy war in Iraq," hitting him for "def[ying] the U.N."...

Blasts him for "preposterous, belligerent statements."

To this, Jonah Goldberg adds:

If the video of Bollinger's statement is distributed throughout the Middle East in general and Iran in particular it could have a very positive effect.

Not that anyone in Iran will see it.

Charles Johnson was not impressed at all:

Lots of readers seem to think Columbia president Lee Bollinger deserves credit for his opening speech. I don’t. I think it was an attempt to redeem his reputation and keep the money flowing in from alumni, and does not even begin to make up for the atrocity of giving this creature a podium at one of America’s most prestigious schools.

He quotes a post from The Daily Kos, which makes the following point:

As an American, I was stunned and embarrassed by Bollinger’s harangue of Ahmedinejad. It was a craven and cowardly capitulation to political pressures, and unworthy of the academic institution that Bollinger represents. I know who and what Ahmedinejad is, but I also know that he was at Columbia at Columbia’s invitation. Bollinger’s speech was less a challenge to Ahmedinejad than it was an ambush, and it dishonered all of us as Americans.

Bollinger went ahead and invited Ahmadinejad--and got the guest he invited. There is something unseemly about using the opportunity to then attack him. The motives that can be ascribed to Bollinger's turnaround detract from whatever points he thought he was trying to make.

Lisa Schiffren goes so far as to write:

When A'jad began by complaining that basic Iranian manners precluded inviting a guest then lecturing him harshly, to inoculate yourself from press criticism, I did NOT join the other half of the students, who burst into spontaneous applause and cheering. But I thought A'jad won that round against Bollinger — who needs a haircut.

Michelle Malkin, on the other hand, is not jumping on either bandwagon, yet:

One CNN commentator is calling Columbia president Lee Bollinger’s introduction a “humiliating dress-down.” Bollinger chided Mahmoud for his “preposterous, belligerent statements.” Raves for Bollinger here. I’m withholding judgement.

Still, based on the account that Fox News gives, it does not seem that Bollinger held back:

After sitting through the blistering introduction by Lee Bollinger — in which he was lambasted for calling for the annihilation of Israel, denying the Holocaust and supporting the execution of children — Ahmadinejad said it was insulting to be spoken about that way.

"At the outset, I want to complain a bit about the person who read this political statement made against me," Ahmadinejad said. "In Iran, we don't think it's necessary to come in before the speech has already begun with a series of complaints ... It was an insult to me and the knowledge of the persons here."

In his scathing introduction to the much-anticipated on-campus event, Bollinger told the leader of Iran that he exhibits "all the signs of a brutal dictator."

Bollinger levied repeated criticisms against Ahmadinejad, calling on him to answer a series of challenges about his leadership, blasting his views about the "myth" of the Holocaust "absurd" and saying that he doubted he "will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions."

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger's opening was full of "insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully."

Ahmadinejad accused Bollinger of offering "unfriendly treatment" under the influence of the U.S. press and politicians.

He did not address Bollinger's accusations directly, instead launching into a long religious discursion laced with quotes with the Quran before turning to criticism of the Bush administration and past American governments, from warrantless wiretapping to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [emphasis added]

Bottom line though, Bollinger's sharp comments do not justify inviting Ahamdinejad in the first place. Surely Columbia University is not claiming that they invited him just so they could give him a piece of their mind--the claim was that this whole exercise was justified in the interest of free speech. Assuming this has anything to do with the free exchange of ideas, did Ahmadinejad actually respond in a meaningful way to any of the points Bollinger or others made? Not according to Fox news.

Ahmadinejad may have gotten more than he bargained for, but he still got what he wanted.

UPDATE: Here is the video (Part I)


Here is more video (Part II)


Meanwhile, how was Ahmadinejad visit to Columbia played in the Iranian Press?

Despite entire US media objections, negative propagation and hue and cry in recent days over IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's scheduled address at Colombia University, he gave his lecture and answered students questions here on Monday afternoon.

On second day of his entry in New York, and amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day, Ahmadinejad said that Iran is not going to attack any country in the world.

Before President Ahamadinejad's address, Colombia University Chancellor in a brief address told the audience that they would have the chance to hear Iran's stands as the Iranian President would put them forth.

He said that the Iranians are a peace loving nation, they hate war, and all types of aggression.

Referring to the technological achievements of the Iranian nation in the course of recent years, the president considered them as a sign for the Iranians' resolute will for achieving sustainable development and rapid advancement.

The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.

At the end of his address President Ahmadinejad answered the students' questions on such issues as Israel, Palestine, Iran's nuclear program, the status of women in Iran and a number of other matters.

So much for Bollinger's remarks.

Technorati Tag: Ahmadinejad and Bollinger and Columbia University.