Ahmadinejad arrives at Columbia

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced a firestorm of harsh criticism from administrators, students and protestors yesterday during a visit to Columbia University.

In a speech in the university's Alfred Lerner Hall, he defended his government's pursuit of nuclear energy, denounced the creation of Israel in the Palestinian homeland and declared that homosexuality does not exist in his country.

Columbia president Lee Bollinger delivered a stinging introduction of the foreign leader, calling his guest a "petty and cruel dictator" and said that his denial of the Holocaust made him look "illiterate and ignorant."

Bollinger, who has been criticized for extending an invitation to the controversial president, defended his decision and argued holding the town hall meeting was the right thing to do, adding that it was required "by the existing norms of free speech, the American university and Columbia itself."

"In universities, we have a single-minded commitment to pursue the truth," Bollinger told a crowd of more than 700 people, most of them students. "We can only make minds, and to do this we must have the most fulsome freedom of inquiry."

Bollinger said the event was meant to showcase the rights of his students, not their guest.

"This event has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the rights of the speaker, but with our rights to listen and speak," he said. "We do it in the great tradition of openness that has defined this nation for many decades now. We need to understand the world we live in."

Ahmadinejad began his remarks by criticizing the university's president, saying Bollinger's speech was insulting and incorrect.

"I think the text read by the dear gentleman here, more than addressing me, was an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here, present here," he said. "In a university environment we must allow people to speak their mind, to allow everyone to talk so that the truth is eventually revealed by all."

Ahmadinejad then launched into a half-hour speech that touched on a number of topics ranging from the importance of science, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, his country's alleged support of terrorist organizations and the treatment of citizens inside Iran.

The Iranian president also invited Columbia faculty members and students to come and visit Iran and speak with college students following a request from Bollinger.

"You're officially invited," Ahmadinejad said to applause. "You're welcome to visit any university that you choose inside Iran. We'll provide you with the list of the universities. We'll give you the platform. We'll respect you 100 percent. We will have our students sit there and listen to you, speak with you, hear what you have to say."

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On the political front, Ahmadinejad said the United States has created nonexistent enemies and an insecure atmosphere in an effort to control everything for the sake of fighting terrorism.

"They even violate individual and social freedoms in their own nations under that pretext," he said. "They do not respect the privacy of their own people. They tap telephone calls and try to control their people. They create an insecure psychological atmosphere in order to justify their warmongering acts in different parts of the world."

Ahmadinejad next turned his attention to Israel and what he called its invasion of Palestinian territory. He said that for 60 years people have been displaced, civilians killed and schoolchildren tortured. The end result, according to the Iranian president, is that security in the Middle East is endangered.

"The Palestinian people had no role to play in it," he said, referring to the Holocaust. "So why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price of an event they had nothing to do with?" Though Ahmadinejad has previously denied the existence of the Holocaust, he said yesterday that the "historical event" warrants more research.

As Ahmadinejad spoke, thousands of protestors made their way through the streets of northern Manhattan around Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in protest of the speech.

Columbia officials faced harsh comments from across the spectrum last week, including comments from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, both of whom are seeking the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was another outspoken public official. "All he will do on that stage ... is spew more hatred and more venom out there to the world," she told CNN before the event.

In a 30-minute question-and-answer period following the speech, Ahmadinejad condemned the use of nuclear weapons and defended his country's nuclear energy program. He said Iran's program operates within the framework of the law and under the inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has found no evidence that Iran has deviated from the "peaceful path of its nuclear program."

He then took a direct shot at U.S. government officials. "If you have created the fifth generation of atomic bombs and are testing them already," he asked, "what position are you in to question the peaceful purposes of other people who want nuclear power?"

When asked whether his government sought the destruction of the state of Israel as a Jewish state, Ahmadinejad said that, "We love all nations. We are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran, living peacefully, with security."

Ahmadinejad even proposed his own solution to the continuing violence in the Middle East, suggesting that all Palestinians determine their own fate through a free referendum.

When asked about his country providing aid to terrorists, Ahmadinejad denied the allegation and said that Iran itself is a victim of terrorism.

Ahmadinejad's refutation of the existence of homosexuals in his country drew a loud dissent from the audience. "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country," he said to laughter and booing from the audience. "I don't know who's told you that we have it."

Ahmadinejad also said he was open to negotiate with all countries, including the United States.

"We want to have friendly, brotherly ties," he said. "We believe that in negotiations and talks, everything can be resolved very easily. We don't need threats. We don't need to point bombs or guns. We don't need to get into conflicts if we talk."

As he prepares to address the U.N. General Assembly today for the third time in as many years, Ahmadinejad reflected on the future relations between his country and the United States.

"We think that if the U.S. government recognizes the rights of the Iranian people, respects all nations and extends a hand of friendship with all Iranians, they, too, will see that Iranians will be one of its best friends," he said.