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Khatemi at Harvard ("disgusting")
N.Y. Sun via Iranvajahan ^ | August 31, 2006

Posted on 08/31/2006 7:05:17 PM PDT by nuconvert

Khatemi at Harvard

August 31, 2006

New York Sun

Editorial

The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, fresh from having established itself as a headwater of anti-Israel agitation, is choosing to mark the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in an astounding way — by hosting Mohammed Khatemi, a former president of Iran, an enemy state levying a terrorist war against America.

Mr. Khatemi has been invited to speak on, of all things, "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence." The title insults the intelligence of all those who would attend. What in the world is a man who presided over the July 9, 1999, crackdown on Tehran University, where hundreds of students were arrested and tortured, doing speaking about "tolerance" at a university?

What a disgusting way for Harvard to mark the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of a war that has claimed thousands of American lives and is still in full tilt. Not that Mr. Khatemi won't feel right at home at the Kennedy School. A professor there who had served as its academic dean, Stephen Walt, co-wrote a paper earlier this year that sounds pretty much like what Mr. Khatemi says. Here's a side-by-side comparison:

• Mr. Khatemi told CNN in January 1998, "The impression of the people of the Middle East and Muslims in general is that certain foreign policy decisions of the United States are in fact made in Tel Aviv, and not in Washington." Mr. Walt wrote, "The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress."

• Mr. Khatemi told CNN, "I regret to say that the improper American policy of unbridled support for the aggression of a racist, terrorist regime does not serve the United States interest, nor does it even serve those of the Jewish people." Mr. Walt wrote, "This extraordinary generosity might be understandable if Israel were a vital strategic asset or if there were a compelling moral case for sustained U.S. backing. But neither rationale is convincing."

• Mr. Khatemi told CNN, "Israeli intransigence and the course of the current peace process and its failure to honor its own undertakings has enraged even the United States' allies in the region." Mr. Walt wrote of "the obvious need to rebuild America's image in the Arab and Islamic world."

• Mr. Khatemi has spoken of "the criminal Zionist regime." Mr. Walt said: "the creation of Israel entailed a moral crime against the Palestinian people," and earlier this week, Mr. Walt appeared at the National Press Club in Washington at a forum sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and cited Human Rights Watch's reports accusing Israel of war crimes in Lebanon. Mr. Walt also cited a review praising his paper that appeared in Foreign Affairs, a journal edited by the vice chairman of Human Rights Watch, James F. Hoge Jr.

• In April 2001, the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Mr. Khatemi as saying, "As a parasite, Zionism is founded on the fallacious concepts of superiority and the transgression of human rights." Mr. Walt wrote, "Israel was explicitly founded as a Jewish state and citizenship is based on the principle of blood kinship."

• Mr. Khatemi, in Japan last week, said the West had nothing to fear from Iran's nuclear program. "We are seeking a peaceful kind of use of nuclear technology," Mr. Khatemi said, according to AFP. Mr. Walt has also written, "Iran's nuclear ambitions do not pose an existential threat to the United States. If Washington could live with a nuclear Soviet Union, a nuclear China, or even a nuclear North Korea, then it can live with a nuclear Iran."

The Kennedy name that sits on Harvard's Kennedy School was tarnished by Ambassador Joseph Kennedy's appeasement of the Nazis, but redeemed by the sacrifice of Kennedy's oldest son, Joseph, and by John F. Kennedy's heroism in the combat of World War II. In that war against fascism, Harvard itself was slow to realize the threat but eventually mobilized. In this war, the danger is the opposite: Harvard's president at the start of the war, Lawrence Summers, recognized the threat, but now that the war is under way, Mr. Summers has been ousted and Harvard is wavering and even inviting an enemy representative to speak on campus.

This tragedy couldn't come at a worse time, for we are at a moment when American needs, above all else, clarity of understanding. The comprehension that America is at war with Islamic fascists is not new. As far back as 1979, Michael Ledeen wrote about the fascistic nature of the clerics bidding for power in Iran; in the adjacent columns, we reprint, from the Wall Street Journal, one of his early, prophetic warnings. President Bush has recently been more consistent in using precise language in naming the enemy for what it is. It may be that Mr. Khatemi will surprise us all and defect while he is at Harvard. If he doesn't, he will have achieved a victory for enemy propagandists — one handed to him by an academy that once knew better.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: camelothigh; harvard; iran; khatami
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1 posted on 08/31/2006 7:05:18 PM PDT by nuconvert
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To: nuconvert
I don't know where the heck conservatives get the idea liberals are somehow against America.

Laughable. Sick, but laughable. Harvard sure knows how to mold young minds.

2 posted on 08/31/2006 7:08:01 PM PDT by Darkwolf377
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To: nuconvert
The US military is not welcome at Harvard but this former leader of a country which executes gays in public is invited?

Somebody please explain liberal logic to me.
3 posted on 08/31/2006 7:08:36 PM PDT by msnimje (What part of-- "DEATH TO AMERICA" --do the Democrats not understand?)
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To: msnimje

Thats it! My billions are not going anywhere near Harvard.(nor are my kids pre-revolution)


4 posted on 08/31/2006 7:11:30 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Somebody important make....THE CALL!)
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To: msnimje

"Liberal logic" is an oxymoron.

Liberals feel and emote.


5 posted on 08/31/2006 7:12:06 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Guns themselves are fairly robust; their chief enemies are rust and politicians) (NRA)
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To: nuconvert
We are seeing Harvard rot and decay before our very eyes.

What a shame.

6 posted on 08/31/2006 7:19:12 PM PDT by Jorge
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To: nuconvert

He's also speaking at the National Cathedral.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran_visit


My question is, if we don't have diplomatic relations with Iran...how does this guy get a visa?


7 posted on 08/31/2006 7:22:12 PM PDT by dawn53
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To: nuconvert

Related news.

FORMER IRANIAN PRESIDENT TO SPEAK
AT WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL

WASHINGTON – Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will present an address at Washington National Cathedral on September 7, 2006 at 7:30 pm. Attendance at the address will be by Cathedral invitation only.

President Khatami served as Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005 and was the first reformist president following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Elected with the broad support of women and young adults, Khatami is credited with the promotion of the rule of law, democracy, and the inclusion of all Iranians in the political decision-making process. His 1998 U.N. statement calling for a dialogue among the world’s civilizations and cultures prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to declare 2001 the U.N. Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations. In February of this year Khatami founded the International Institute for Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures in Tehran...

For the full article on this travesty go to:
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/news/khatamipre.shtml


The Episcopal Church has fallen to a new low with this invite.


8 posted on 08/31/2006 7:24:56 PM PDT by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: nuconvert

"The title insults the intelligence of all those who would attend."

Those who would attend aren't as intelligent as they think they are.


9 posted on 08/31/2006 7:24:56 PM PDT by popdonnelly
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To: nuconvert

This photo shows the donkey's spawn at his favorite recreational activity. ( warning graphic)

http://www.geocities.com/iranian_rights/torture.jpg


10 posted on 08/31/2006 7:28:20 PM PDT by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: msnimje

When I find it you'll be the 1st to know.








I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.


11 posted on 08/31/2006 7:28:30 PM PDT by Valin (http://www.irey.com/)
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To: nuconvert

So this guy has Joe Bidenitis?


12 posted on 08/31/2006 7:31:10 PM PDT by toddlintown (IT)
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To: lastchance

I might send that photo to Harvard.


13 posted on 08/31/2006 7:38:25 PM PDT by navyguy
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To: lastchance
His 1998 U.N. statement calling for a dialogue among the world’s civilizations and cultures prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to declare 2001 the U.N. Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations.

And what a success that was... Kofi is the worst UN General Sec. ever, and he had lots of competition.

14 posted on 08/31/2006 7:38:55 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: nuconvert

At my school, we just held our beginning of the year convocation. Being a Catholic school we always hold it on Sunday. But this year we didn't--we held it on Saturday.

Now wait--the plot thickens.

We have always had great relationships with the Jewish community here. And there has always been a Rabbi and a cantor to make our services ecumenical.

But we are not going to get such if we hold the convocation on the Jewish Sabbath. A number of us commented on this and thought "gosh, what stupid planning."

Then, when we got in, I looked down at the program and saw--remember this is a Catholic school--"Readings from the Koran." And then I realized that an imam from a small mosque near the school was there. Said Imam then gave a mini-Sermon on the importance of education to Moslems(forget about readings from the Koran, this was a small speech.)

And then it hit me--the professor in charge of the convocation has publican praised students who fly the Palestinian flag and has had "teach-ins" about Zionist aggression. You couldn't pull off a stunt like this without the far-left wacko college president being part of it. So . . . .

Leftwing academics are despicable people.


15 posted on 08/31/2006 7:42:16 PM PDT by Ryde (Post-modernism: good only for those who sleep in soft beds.)
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To: Born Conservative; kenth; CatoRenasci; Marie; PureSolace; Congressman Billybob; P.O.E.; cupcakes; ..

Education ping list

Let Republicanprofessor, McVey, JamesP81, or eleni121 know if you wish to be placed on this ping list or taken off of it.


16 posted on 08/31/2006 7:44:04 PM PDT by mcvey (Fight on. Do not give up. Ally with those you must. Defeat those you can. And fight on whatever.)
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To: msnimje
Somebody please explain liberal logic to me.

All liberal logic is subjective, and therefore easily internally compartmentalized by special interest.

When talking about the war, Islamists are heroes for opposing America. When talking about the poor, Islamists need compassion because they've been ripped off by America. When talking about religion, Islamists deserve an equal place at the table because America is Judeo Christian. When talking about injustice, America is the only source, therefore Islam can be ignored. When talking about gays, Judeo Christianity is the source of evil, therefore Islam can be ignored.

Easy.

17 posted on 08/31/2006 7:46:17 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (Angelides v. Schwarzenegger is like deciding between ebola and cancer, respectively.)
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To: navyguy

That photo should be faxed to them.


18 posted on 08/31/2006 7:46:26 PM PDT by stbdside
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To: msnimje; Valin

They force out their president because they didn't like what he said about women, but they invite a man who was president of a country that tells women what they can & can't wear, requires women to have a permission note from their husband if they want to travel without him, and stones women to death.
Go figure.


19 posted on 08/31/2006 7:48:04 PM PDT by nuconvert ([there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: nuconvert

I know it might sound ridiculous, but could this guy be a double agent? If he's not, why is our government so stupid or such a pu,....I mean wussy to let this POS into the country?

I think we should just start killing a lot of our enemies here and abroad. Chavez, Kim Il Ding Don, Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, etc., etc., etc.

What would the world do? Organize a "protest"? Have a dialogue? Put together a committee? Have the UN censor us?

What could the world do? Have the French cut off our supply of cheese and truffles?


20 posted on 08/31/2006 7:54:39 PM PDT by garyhope (It's World War IV, right here, right now courtesy of Islam.)
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