“New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters Wednesday [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad has asked to visit Ground Zero when he is New York next week for the UN General Assembly. Police later issued a statement saying the request was being denied, but reports said the Iranian mission was still pursuing the idea.
Iran has never been connected to the attacks of September 11, 2001 but candidates from both parties say there’s plenty of other reasons not to allow it.” (CNN News)
I would have to agree with those who have already commented saying that this is “shockingly audacious”, for although they may not have physically taken part in the 9/11 attacks, they support terrorism worldwide financially and sometimes to a greater extent than that. Recently President Ahmadinejad commented that he wants peace for everyone… except Israel… who he still wants to push into the ocean. Not exactly a guy we want taking a photo op to memorialize Ground Zero.
Still, half of me is angered by him, and the other half wants to laugh. To ask such a thing is clearly a slap in the face, but the sheer audacity to think and especially make such a request in somewhat laughable. Obviously he wants to A) make his people think he is a good guy (a pretty easy feat), B) make the American people think he isn’t really an extremist (a much more difficult feat that can only happen if we look more ridiculous while condemning him), and C) anger the leaders of our country (a feat that I’ve found to be as easy as taking a bottle from a baby).
I hope our leaders know just how shrewd a man the Iranian President is, I doubt it though. Clearly the best thing to do now is to say no and move on. Sadly we know just how easy it is for Washington to move on when they’re insulted. Once again we make stronger the enemy of which we rebuke…
I’m definitely the one that said that it would be a “kick in the face”. I feel famous by association. And you’re right. They shouldn’t let him do that. It would be dumb.
Yep…
By: Kyley on September 20, 2007
at 10:02 pm
Yes, you do get props for the quote…
By: Politics In Moderation on September 20, 2007
at 10:20 pm
Remember How Iran Responded to the 9/11 Attacks?
With all the ruckus over the request of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s request to visit “Ground Zero” during his visit to New York to lay a wreath [1], it is somewhat worth remembering how Iran responded to the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Knowing how short American memories are and knowing how many Americans share President Bush’s habit of conflating all U.S. opponents and enemies into some sort of utterly fictional “united front,” like the now famous “Axis of Evil” (none of whom had anything whatsoever to do with the 9/11 attacks); I began preparing in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. It was fully predictable that there would be an Islamaphobic backlash in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and that people with a vested interest in promoting anti-Muslim hatred would later try to equate the entire Islamic world with the attacks in New York and Washington DC. So, beginning on September 12, 2001, I began compiling the actual responses to the attacks by all the countries of the world with a Muslim majority regardless of their political standing or relationship with the United States. Visiting and saving snippets from official government outlets for these states (embassy websites, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, &c.) as well as searching the media for relevant articles discussing the reactions of these states, I saved all this data for the fifty-two states in question and put it online in the “International Islamic Response” website. After several moves to different hosts, I kept all this data and it can now be found online at: http://iir.internetactivist.org/
So what was Iran’s reaction to the 9/11 attacks?
“On behalf of the Iranian government and the nation, I condemn the hijacking attempts and terrorist attacks on public centers in American cities which have killed a large number of innocent people,” President Khatami said in reaction to the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. … “My deep sympathy goes out to the American nation, particularly those who have suffered from the attacks and also the families of the victims,” he said, noting, “terrorism is doomed and the international community should stem it and take effective measures in a bid to eradicate it.” Khatami added that the Islamic Republic of Iran is treading a road to uproot terrorism and to this end, he noted, it will spare no efforts.
And related news stories included:
“Iranians Honor U.S. with Moment of Silence” (NY Post)
“Khatami Condemns ‘Terrorist’ Attacks on U.S. Targets (People’s Daily, Iran)
“US calls Iran’s response ‘positive’” (Economic Times)
“Terror attacks transform U.S. image in Iran’s media” (Gulf News)
“Powell sees hope in Iran, Syria response to attack” (Reuters)
“’Iran News’ deplores attacks on major US landmarks” (Iran News)
“Iran expresses rare sympathy for U.S. over attacks” (Reuters)
“Iran ayatollah says he is heart-broke over U.S. attack” (Gulf News)
“Iran seals Afghanistan border” (AP)
All of this was saved in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 at http://iir.internetactivist.org/020.html though of course many of the links are no longer valid, being six years old.
The point was – and remains – to show that contrary to whatever the Islamaphobic hate-mongers might say today, the vast majority of the Islamic world, even including states that the US has had difficult relations with, were sympathetic and supportive in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The whole supposition that there should be any problem with President Ahmadinejad laying a wreath at “Ground Zero” is just a statement of American ignorance, bigotry, and hated completely unjustified by anything Iran has done.
Anyway, to learn more about the response of the world’s majority Muslim countries in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, visit the International Islamic Response website at: http://iir.internetactivist.org/ Just click on any of the countries listed on the left to see how they responded. Just to save you some time, the ONLY majority Muslim states that were not sympathetic was Iraq (at the time under Saddam Hussein and suffering from US imposed sanctions that resulted in the death of over a million Iraqis [2]) and Afghanistan (then under the Taliban).
John S.
Notes:
[1] Pat Milton, “New York bans ‘photo op’ visit to Ground Zero by Iran’s president,” The Scotsman, 21 September 2007, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1509712007
[2] Peace Action, “End Sanctions on Iraq,” Peace Action Education Fund, undated, http://www.peace-action.org/camp/justice/iraqfs.pdf
By: John_S on September 22, 2007
at 8:43 pm