Free Republic

OBAMA'S MONEY CZAR OWNS HOTEL HOSTING AHMADINEJAD Penny Pritzker, national finance chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, is the owner of the Hyatt, the hotel hosting the genocidal Hitler wannabee, Ahmadinejad. This is the latest in an assault on Israel and Jewish Americans. Obama and co. strong armed and bullied the craven organizers of the Anti-Ahmadinejad rally to disinvite Pro-Israel supporter Sarah Palin. Clearly Obama's chief fundraiser could refuse to host the Ahmadinejad at her hotel. Instead, she has rolled out the red carpet. It was bad enough that Obama would not send someone to represent him at the anti-Ahmadinejad...

TEHERAN - PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has struck a more moderate tone towards the United States ahead of a key meeting on Iran's nuclear drive, saying talks with its arch-enemy were possible in the future. 'It is possible that in the near future talks in different fields will take place with the United States,' the state news agency IRNA quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying in an interview with state television late on Monday. Washington broke off relations with Teheran in 1980 in the wake of the Islamic revolution, and ties have remained severed ever since amid increasing acrimony over the controversial...

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the country's economic woes can be solved by the "culture of martyrdom, the Mehr news agency reported. "If we want to build the country, maintain our dignity and solve economic problems, we need the culture of martyrdom," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a speech on Wednesday in the western city of Hamedan. He described martyrdom, dying or being killed for one's religious beliefs, as "a quick and shortcut way to reach the summit of salvation." He did not say how becoming a martyr would help the economy, which is struggling...

1. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAD) was born Oct. 28, 1956, three years after the CIA-sponsored coup that installed the pro-Western leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Iran's leader. A Shiite Muslim, he and his wife, a professor, have two sons and a daughter. 2. When he was an infant, Ahmadinejad's family moved from the village of Aradan to Tehran. It was at this point that the family changed its name from Saborjhian, which translates to "thread painter" (the lowliest job in Iran's traditional carpet-weaving industry), to the more religious Ahmadinejad ("race of Muhammad" or "virtuous race"). 3. Ahmadinejad is...

The Iranian whose name cannot be spelled gave a speech at the UN this evening but his speech differed quite a bit from the transcript.

Anyone know where I can find an audio or video stream of Ahmadinejad's appearance at columbia? Blan on blogging it I can find one.

Columbia University said it does not plan to call off a speech by Iran's president despite pressure from critics including the City Council speaker, who said the Ivy League school was providing a forum for "hate-mongering vitriol." Mahmoud 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. 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...

September 21, 2007 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address a forum at Columbia University on Monday; school President Lee Bollinger promises to ask tough questions. - News item BOLLINGER: Mr. President, you say the Holocaust didn't happen. That's very hurtful. Don't you know that hurts people's feelings? Ahmadinejad: The truth hurts, Bollinger. I hosted a conference at which it was conclusively demonstrated that 6 million Jews actually escaped Nazi Germany by journeying over the Alps into Switzerland, singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." snip... B: Wait, let me check my list of very tough questions for a second . . ....

TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday launched a new verbal attack against Israel, accusing Zionists of sowing conflict, publishing offensive cartoons and "lying about being Jewish." "Zionists are people without any religion," Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly predicted that Israel is doomed to disappear, told a news conference in Tehran. "They are lying about being Jewish because religion means brotherhood, friendship and respecting other divine religions," he said. He also said that "Zionists" were behind a cartoon in a Swedish newspaper depicting the head of the Prophet Mohammed on a dog's body that sparked an official protest by Tehran...

Ahmadinejad: U.S., Israel to blame for war KHARTOUM, Sudan, March 1 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking in Sudan, blamed the United States and Israel for "divisions and wars." Ahmadinejad made his statements at a meeting with Sudanese officials and university presidents, Arutz Sheva reported. "There is no place in the world that suffers from divisions and wars unless America or the Zionists' fingerprints are seen there," he said. A few days ago, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proposed a "neighbors' meeting" with Iran and Syria in mid-March in an effort to bring stability to Iraq. Ahmadinejad, who...

EHRAN - President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has advised U.S. officials to avoid making more mistakes in the Middle East which tarnish the image of Americans. The bullying and hegemonic powers are seeking to prevent the establishment of peace based on justice and spirituality, Ahmadinejad told the members of a religious delegation from the United States at a meeting here on Sunday. “Today, we need to struggle for the realization of justice, but only pious and self-disciplined people can walk on this path,” he added. The multi-denominational Christian delegation came to Iran to meet religious and political figures and the Iranian people...

One of America's most influential neocons says President Bush is prepared to use military force against Iran if he believes it will acquire nuclear weapons. This past Sunday, Richard Perle, speaking in Israel at the Herzliya Conference, said he had no doubt of President Bush's intentions. "President George Bush will order an attack on Iran if it becomes clear to him that Iran is set to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities while he is still in office," Haaretz reported of Perle's remarks. Perle, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, served as chairman of the Bush administration's Defense Policy Board. Perle...

Hands up if you've lost the plot By Gethin Chamberlain, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:02am GMT 21/01/2007Page 1 of 3 First, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad alienated the rest of the world with his religious extremism, nuclear ambitions and global grandstanding. Now, due to domestic failures and economic incompetence, he is doing the same to ordinary Iranians Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been blamed for Iran's woes Imagine you are the president of Iran. You awake to discover that a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is heading in your direction, as is a new anti-missile defence system to protect your neighbours from the missiles you plan...

TEHRAN, Iran --Prices for vegetables have tripled in the past month, housing prices have doubled since last summer -- and as costs have gone up, so has Iranians' discontent with hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his focus on confrontation with the West. Ahmadinejad was elected last year on a populist agenda promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty and tackle unemployment. Now he is facing increasingly fierce criticism for his failure to meet those promises. He is being challenged not only by reformers but by the conservatives who paved the way for his stunning victory in 2005...

In a shift from Iran’s traditional policy of limiting the number of children per family to two, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this week called on his nation to “be fruitful and multiply.” The Iranian leader made the statement in Tehran to several government ministers and legislators, saying that the country could support an additional 50 million residents, according to Reuters. Iran’s population currently stands at some 70 million. ~continues

The White House should exploit Iranian weakness In Iran, demonstrations are an art form. First, the government buses in state workers. Next, officials distribute banners with revolutionary slogans. Finally, state television reports a spontaneous rally in support of the Islamic Republic. Stage-managed demonstrations, though, mask weakness. On Dec. 11, a group of students interrupted a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with chants of "Death to the Dictator." On Jan. 2, a demonstrator in Ahvaz waved a placard condemning inflation, unemployment and crime. Recent elections rebuked hardliners. And unfortunately, rather than find a way to capitalize on such weakness, up...

With the United Nations deadline for Iran to comply with its demand to halt the nuclear fuel cycle or face punitive measures due to expire on Thursday, Iran's nuclear row has reached a critical threshold, given Tehran's comprehensive and conciliatory response to the package of incentives by the UN's five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany. Calling Iran's right to produce nuclear fuel one of the country's "strategic objectives", chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has at the same time gone out of his way to reassure the international community that his country's willingness to negotiate is serious and...

WASHINGTON - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blames the U.S. for growing violence in the Mideast, saying fighting has continued in Lebanon because the United Nations only serves U.S. interests. In an interview airing Sunday on "60 Minutes," Ahmadinejad said it was Hezbollah that had a right to defend itself in its war with Israel. Even so, he said Iran joined others in calling for an immediate cease-fire only to have it thwarted by U.S. support for Israel. "We are not at all happy with war," he said. "People, innocent people are being killed." Saying the U.N. has failed to provide...