HOW NOT TO EASE TENSIONS IN THE MIDEAST
AP - A request by Iran's president to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site next week has been turned down by police and blasted by U.S. diplomats as an attempt to turn ground zero into a "photo op."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is to arrive Sunday to address the U.N.'s General Assembly, asked the city and the U.S. Secret Service earlier this month for permission to visit the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The request to enter the fenced-in site was rejected because of ongoing construction there and due to security concerns, police spokesman Paul Browne said Wednesday.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said a visit to ground zero "is a matter for the city of New York, but it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit ground zero."
Mohammad Mir Ali Mohammadi, spokesman for the Iranian mission to the U.N., said he was not notified officially that Ahmadinejad would not be allowed at the site, but said it was unfortunate.
"President Ahmadinejad intended to lay a wreath at the site of ground zero in order to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorists attack of Sept. 11, 2001. We are hopeful that we can still work something out with the police department," he said.
2 Comments:
"...it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit ground zero."
Why not? Chimpy Bush went there...
What did they have to lose?
If Ahmadinejad used the opportunity to gloat, or otherwise exploit the visit to advance an agenda, the net effect upon the general American populace would have been to galvanize an otherwise ambivalent people. In the aftermath the teeming hoards would be right on board with the administration's desire for war.
On the other, Ahmadinejad could seize the occasion and express empathy for the losses there, and, in doing so, open the channels for enlightened dialog of reconciliation.
Well, there you have it in a nut shell. Our administration does not want to take any chances of something interrupting their agenda of war and conquest. This has been ramping up for years, it is only a matter of time. The nut cases in the White House, along with the nut cases of the Christian Zionist/Apocalypse/Free-card-out-of-cosmic-jail/I'm-going -to-heaven-cause-I-know-Jesus crowd want this to happen. They'll probably get away with it because the rest of us are, for the most part, are too afraid to tell them to stop.
Let the man go there and speak. That was the real strength and glory of the United States---anyone, no matter how objectionable their views could freely express their opinions, anywhere.
Chalk up one more hit the our once revered Bill of Rights.
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