President of Iran Ahmadinejad is Banned from 9/11 Ground Zero NY

The Iranian President is scheduled to be speaking to the UN and there has been a lot of talk about his coming visit. On the right, they are screaming for all kind of things. Yesterday on the radio, I heard them call for a public lynching, well, not really. But....it could get there if the sentiment in this country continues!

I am in no way trying to support the Iranian regime or government.  Yet, it does seem strange to let this whole episode be used to generate more differences and less communication. We saw just recently that the Iranians were reasonable in the release of the British Military men. As many people feared that we would be in a new Iranian Hostage crisis, we saw the soldiers, including the young lady, get treated fairly well.

All of them upon release made it clear that they were treated well and had a positive, YES, a positive impression of Iran. Whatever the truth may be, the fact remains that as a strategic move, Iran made a calculated attempt to avoid confrontation.

Why would it be necessary for Ahmadinejad to create conflict by going to ground zero? I believe when Time interviewed the President they asked him why he did not visit the site on his last trip. Perhaps it was misunderstood by the regime that it would be necessary to pay respects to the fallen at the ground zero site.

Is this the opinion of a crazy liberal? Pat Buchanan, one of the traditional conservatives, some may say Libertarian, even suggested that the request to visit ground zero by Ahmadinejad "may be a gesture". Buchanan went on to talk about the necessity for there to be talk and communication as a method to avoid war. Buchanan has been maintaining that he feels the administration is setting up to make a  strike against Iran. Without being specific, Buchanan suggested that the administration acts "more mature" with regards to dealings with Iran.

From a personal point of view, I find it interesting to see the fear that makes people believe there are those who are against them, are not people. We see it reflected in the way protesters get tasered and we see it in the idea that Ahmadenijad means nothing but disrespect if he were to visit the Ground Zero site. No matter how bad he may be in a political arena, he just may be personally touched by the site of destruction.

Everyone mourns their dead. It would be hard to believe that someone like Ahmedinejad, who when in public or during interviews always behaves in a gentlemanly way, could make a mockery of the site. Regardless of his policy points, this could have been a bridge-building opportunity if handled in another way.

President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will possibly be speaking at Columbia University. He is scheduled to talk to students, but many are calling for this forum to be withdrawn as well. Some are arguing that it is important for students to hear from the leader of Iran, especially since there is so much debate about our policy with Iran. What better opportunity than to ask the leader questions and hear him talk in person?

The opposition suggest that the very presence of Ahmadinejad in the city of New York is offensive to all New Yorkers. This is such a strange position. We have been trying to maintain that there is no connection between Iraq and 9/11. Even General David Petraeus said that there is no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. Now, we are supposed to think that 9/11 is also about Iran.

I agree with Pat Buchanan. American is militarily superior, so there is no need to act tough. It is time to stop "threatening War" as Buchanan says. It is time to talk!

Saleem Siddiqui is a Political Commentator and Consultant. He is a trained Mediation and Conflict Resolution Specialist. He conducts sermons and training for various religious and Non-profit organizations. Working towards an effort to increase Muslim and Islamic awareness in Communications, Public Relations (PR), Public Speaking, Political Strategy, Media, Marketing, and many other fields as they relate to the integration of Muslims in the United States of America and around the world.

Comments

[John S.]

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

[g]

Nobody is saying 9/11 was about Iraq or Iran. But, it's all about Islam.