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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking during a ceremony marking the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war in Tehran on Saturday. (Reuters)
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N.Y. Mayor: Columbia can invite Ahmadinejad to speak, I won't listen
By Reuters

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that the city's Columbia University was free to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, but "personally, I wouldn't go to listen to him - I don't care about what he says."

The university said Friday that it does not plan to call off a scheduled speech by the Iranian president, despite pressure from critics, including the City Council speaker, who said the Ivy League school was providing a forum for "hate-mongering vitriol."

Ahmadinejad is traveling to New York to address the United Nations' General Assembly. He was scheduled to appear Monday at a question-and-answer session with Columbia faculty and students as part of the school's World Leaders Forum.

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In the meantime, the city of New York has mobilized security in order to protect the Iranian president from protests during his visit,

On Wednesday New York police said Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, had been denied a request to visit the World Trade Center site of the Sept. 11 attacks during his visit.

City Council speaker Christine Quinn called Thursday for the university to rescind the invitation, saying "the idea of Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our city is offensive to all New Yorkers."

Quinn said Ahmadinejad was coming to the city for one reason - to spread his hate-mongering vitriol on the world stage.

His planned appearance at Columbia also was condemned by Jewish groups including the Jewish Defense Organization, which described Ahmadinejad as the" Hitler of Iran."

Columbia spokesman Robert Hornsby said Thursday there was no plan to cancel the appearance, though the university dropped plans for an Ahmadinejad speech last year because of security and logistical problems. The decision came after a Jewish activist group expressed outrage over the invitation.

White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday that "Columbia made the decision on inviting Ahmadinejad, and I don't believe we had any play in it."

"This is a country where people can come and speak their minds," he said, adding, "it would be wonderful if some of the countries that take advantage of that here allowed it for their own citizens there."

Columbia President Lee Bollinger, in announcing Ahmadinejad's upcoming appearance, described the event as part of Columbia's long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate. He said the Iranian president had agreed to answer questions on Israel and the Holocaust.

Senator John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, recalled U.S. charges that Iran has been supporting militants in Iraq with weapons and explosives.

"A man who is directing the maiming and killing of Americans troops should not be given an invitation to speak at an American university," McCain said on Thursday, adding that Columbia should not be "rolling out the red carpet for the leader of a terrorist-sponsoring regime."

U.S. President George W. Bush, asked to comment on the decision not to allow the visit to the World Trade Center site, told reporters in Washington: "I can understand why they would not want somebody that's running a country who's a state sponsor of terror down there at the site."

In 2002 Bush labeled Iran as part of an "axis of evil" that also included Iraq and North Korea and has accused it of backing international terrorist groups.

The United States and other Western powers also say Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists it wants nuclear technology only for civilian electricity generation.

Ahmadinejad, who took office in 2005, railed against U.S. aggression in his speech to the United Nations last year, and then reveled in sparring with critics at the Council on Foreign Relations.

At that event, The New York Times quoted Ahmadinejad as repeatedly questioning evidence of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis.

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  1.   Ahmadinejad Speech 20:05  |  P. J. Casey 20/09/07
  2.   Free Sppech 20:24  |  ahad aham 20/09/07
  3.   P. J. Casey 20:31  |  BOB KING 20/09/07
  4.   Yeah - Nothing to do with 9/11 20:35  |  Steve Mcgarret 20/09/07
  5.   Did Iran have some connection to 9/11? 20:36  |  GZLives 20/09/07
  6.   Mr.A`s speech last year at the UN.was a quiet dignified and 20:36  |  lakshmi 20/09/07
  7.   Ahmadinejad is a catch for Columbia 20:40  |  Natallie Durson 20/09/07
  8.   Application to Columbia 20:42  |  Ben 20/09/07
  9.   #1 Even that remains to be seen 20:44  |  Chick 20/09/07
  10.   Ahmadinejad 20:50  |  baba lalou 20/09/07
  11.   NEW YORK IS ISRAEL, YOU FOOLISH AHMADINEJAD !!! 20:56  |  JACKAL 20/09/07
  12.   Such a person who calls to wipe a member state of the UN 20:57  |  David Green 20/09/07
  13.   2, P. J. Casey 21:02  |  Harry 20/09/07
  14.   A-mad-man will speak at Columbia 21:03  |  Harry 20/09/07
  15.   Let him talk. 21:06  |  Ali bin Abu ibn Abd 20/09/07
  16.   Ahmadinejad 21:11  |  Shana 20/09/07
  17.   Like CU many german academics supported Hitler 21:12  |  bernard ross 20/09/07
  18.   A clear voice.... 21:15  |  Webster 20/09/07
  19.   David Green...lets not be silly now 21:17  |  UN MAN 20/09/07
  20.   Boycott Columbia U. 21:31  |  dyinglikeflies 20/09/07
  21.   9/11 was an inside job; Rudy also shouldn`t visit ground 0 21:32  |  Dan 20/09/07
  22.   Not in the land that invented freedom of speech 21:39  |  Ivar 20/09/07
  23.   True translation 21:44  |  Said 20/09/07
  24.   be subjective 21:50  |  zizo 20/09/07
  25.   DROP DEAD AHMADINEJAD 21:54  |  GZLives 20/09/07
  26.   Columbia University= DISGRACE 22:07  |  Tim 20/09/07
  27.   How`s this for an idea? 22:11  |  Harry 20/09/07
  28.   Ahmadinejad visit golden opportunity for the New York police 22:11  |  20/09/07
  29.   # 17 WAs THe Other killings In side Job 22:12  |  Tobia 20/09/07
  30.   Let the megalomaniac speak?! 22:21  |  akiva 20/09/07
  31.   Free Speech 22:25  |  Edward H 20/09/07
  32.   Iran 22:28  |  Alex 20/09/07
  33.   There is a greater chance of assasination if he speaks! 22:31  |  Murray of Montreal 20/09/07
  34.   "Hezbollah and Hamas were created by Israel",UN MAN 22:32  |  akiva 20/09/07
  35.   Censure the moron! 22:37  |  akiva 20/09/07
  36.   Shana 22:44  |  Jasmine Murphy 20/09/07
  37.   Unman 22:46  |  Jasmine Murphy 20/09/07
  38.   Gnatty Duhson and Catching Ahmadinejad 22:51  |  Gil 20/09/07
  39.   columbia "university ?" 22:53  |  Shmuelshachor 20/09/07
  40.   he kills AMERICANS 23:01  |  Come to China MUSLIM 20/09/07
  41.   Reply to #2 23:07  |  Said 20/09/07
  42.   Harry - Paybacks are a bitch...America 23:26  |  Very Harry 20/09/07
  43.   ahmadinejad never lied,the media did. 23:35  |  dave 20/09/07
  44.   Harry Harry, Ayatolla much worse 23:44  |  Avram 20/09/07
  45.   32Very Harry,not to mention the long horrific Iran-Iraq war which 23:47  |  lakshmi 20/09/07
  46.   Let Him `Appear` in the Zoo 23:48  |  Solon 20/09/07
  47.   #3 - Lakshmi - 00:01  |  Maurice 21/09/07
  48.   Re Natallie #4 00:06  |  Esther 21/09/07
  49.   Dave #40 00:33  |  judith 21/09/07
  50.   Ahmadinejad should be locked up when arriving in U.S. why???Read 00:34  |  Tim 21/09/07
  51.   Where is the Jewish Protest ? 00:45  |  Tod Zuckerman 21/09/07
  52.   No Speeches, No Tours, No Nothing! 00:48  |  MIKE 21/09/07
  53.   SAID ... you left out the rest of your fairie tale 00:52  |  GZLives 21/09/07
  54.   DAVE ... Ahmadinejad and DEATH TO AMERICA 00:56  |  GZLives 21/09/07
  55.   to #37 Chinese are weak 01:14  |  Thomas Bradshaw 21/09/07
  56.   #33 01:16  |  Shana 21/09/07
  57.   #39 Very Harry 01:18  |  Soraya 21/09/07
  58.   sum of all fears 01:19  |  david 21/09/07
  59.   If Carter is allowed to speak, so should be Ahmadinejad 01:20  |  Gene 21/09/07
  60.   #3 lakshmi 01:22  |  Sarah 21/09/07
  61.   LAKSHMI AND REGIMES 01:32  |  Brant 21/09/07
  62.   9/11 Connection #2 01:40  |  Aaron 21/09/07
  63.   Columbia University Crap 01:50  |  Brod 21/09/07
  64.   Ahmadinejad and NY Congressmembers 02:06  |  Alan Jay Gerber 21/09/07
  65.   Americans boo britney spears 02:14  |  T.O.JEW. 21/09/07
  66.   To Soraya 02:16  |  Persian Kitty 21/09/07
  67.   Tenure for Nadia Abu El Haj / Not surprised 02:19  |  Semsem 21/09/07
  68.   Canceled -- Good news 02:24  |  Gina 21/09/07
  69.   More Jews go to Columbia than any other IVY 02:33  |  Dave 21/09/07
  70.   TO GzLives 02:35  |  Persian Kitty 21/09/07
  71.   He should speak and be challenged 02:36  |  Sensible 21/09/07
  72.   lakshmi # 3 on the Jewish Lobby..... 02:37  |  Lynn 21/09/07
  73.   #44 Avram on Carter who forced the Shah 02:40  |  Lynn 21/09/07
  74.   Let him speak!! 02:48  |  a wandering Jew 21/09/07
  75.   Columbia: Nuremberg 02:57  |  Tony Anthony 21/09/07
  76.   Columbia University urged to cancel Ahmadinejad speech over Holoc 03:00  |  Mark Jeffery Koch 21/09/07
  77.   GZLives LIES 03:00  |  Omran 21/09/07
  78.   Zionists against Free Speech? 03:04  |  dan 21/09/07
  79.   Actually its at least 11.1 million 03:18  |  a jewish reader 21/09/07
  80.   Ahmadinejad 03:23  |