Posted on 09/21/2006 5:12:00 AM PDT by TexKat
NEW YORK - Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad broke away from events at the U.N. General Assembly to hold an informal question-and-answer session with high-powered members of America's most prestigious foreign policy think tank — despite objections from some Jewish groups and the Bush administration.
The Council on Foreign Relations said afterward that Ahmadinejad had engaged in a "protracted punch and counter-punch" with 19 members for about 90 minutes in the conference room of a New York City hotel late Wednesday.
But it said the controversial Iranian leader had offered no new policies or opinions other than those he has aired widely on issues raging from his country's disputed nuclear program to the Holocaust.
"I'm not sure we learned anything new," CFR president Richard Haass said in a statement after the meeting. But Haass added that the Iranian leader may have learned about American attitudes from those who he sparred with — some of them Jewish panelists who had visited former concentration camps in Poland.
Ahmadinejad has engaged in a media blitz during his trip to New York to attend the General Assembly — giving interviews to Time magazine and CNN, among others.
But the trip to the think tank was controversial, provoking protests from Jewish groups and the Bush administration.
The New York Times, which had a reporter who is a CFR member at the private meeting, said Ahmadinejad spoke "with a tone that oozed polite hostility." He entered with "a jaunty smile, a wave and an air of supreme confidence" and ended the evening by asking Council members "whether they were simply shills for the Bush administration," the newspaper reported. It said there were no introductory handshakes before the talk began.
The newspaper also reported that the group's invitation to Ahmadinejad to talk had stirred objections from Bush administration figures and prominent Jewish leaders. It did not specify if the Bush administration had actively sought to stop the meeting.
Some Jewish leaders responded to invitations to the event by asking whether the council would have invited Hitler in the 1930s, and considered resigning from the group en masse, the Times reported. They decided not to resign after the event was changed from a dinner to a meeting, it said.
"It is more offensive to break bread with the guy," Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the Times. "I thought dinner was crossing the line."
Ahmadinejad has frequently called the Holocaust a "myth" and has demanded more research to determine whether six million Jews really perished in World War II.
CFR chairman Peter G. Peterson told him Wednesday that the majority of Americans — Jews and non-Jews alike — were "horrified" by his assertions, CFR said in a statement.
Ahmadinejad replied that he doubted that was the case for all Americans, it said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the General Assembly session that the international community must stand up against Iran, which she claimed is pursuing nuclear weapons to destroy Israel.
"There is no greater challenge to our values than that posed by the leaders of Iran," Livni said Wednesday. "They deny and mock the Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world."
The United States is embroiled in a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. Tehran claims its goal is to generate electricity, but the U.S. says Iran aims to produce nuclear weapons.
The U.S. was required to grant Ahmadinejad a visa to travel to the General Assembly in New York this week, under an agreement with the United Nations.
The foreign policy group is filled with the country's government elite: Haass worked at the State Department under President Bush's first term while member Brent Scowcroft served as national security adviser under Bush's father, and Robert D. Blackwill directed Iraq policy at the White House. All attended the event, the Times said.
Not sure what I think of this. It is probably good that folks like Scowcroft come face-to-face with the evil his foreign policy has ignored or dismissed for too long. On the other hand, it is offensive to me for this guy to visit here and be made the center of attention rather than arrested for his role in the hostage crisis in 79-80.
Well...If the Council on Foreign Relations finally understands what we are dealing with in Imagonnajihad, then this 'meeting' was not necessarily a bad thing.
I think in a perfect world our military would break up the meeting... take the guy prioner..... and we'd never hear from him again.
Nobody forced anyone to walk into the same room with him. Sounds like many consciences were pricked, but none became activated.
Leni
Was president Goober asking the questions? Why should these people entertain Abadabadoo??
Pray for W and Our Troops
CFR, interesting.
Must be like wanting to get a close-up view of the monsters at a monster museum.
I am sure he will be speaking before all the dummy groups before the end of the week, too. Oh, wait. They were the ones who drafted his speeches. Silly me...
LOL! You already know the answer to that.
It is important that this group, or any group he wanted to meet with, agreed to meet with him. How if he returned to his own country and said that he offered to speak with them and they declined?
At least this way, his own words can very justifiably be cast back in his face...(and it sounds like he continued to incriminate himself and his policies in the usual way).
Actually, this group ought to immediately publicize every word that came out of that guys mouth just to further expose his unreasonable and bloodthirsty posture… and just in case there is someone out there living under a rock and who is yet under the delusion that this creep occupies a position in any way equal to leaders in the West who sincerely seek a constructive exchange of ideas.
AND, when will the MSM catch on and call this guy what he really is???…. A BELIGERANT, LOUDMOUTH, INTELLECTUALLY AND MORALLY STUNTED JACKASS MASQUARADING AS A BON IFIED HEAD OF STATE!!!
I do, but why do we continue to allow ALL decisions and opinions to made out of the NY and DC media?
What a farce, we need our own country.
..."Rev. Al; Rep. Rangle; chucky cheese and the slime hag all had a meeting with cindy sheehag's bf while in N.Y."
Thats what this headline should read...
Have you ever read about a possible connection of the CFR to the NWO?
That'll disappear when the 12th imam fails to show up in the next couple of years, or when his nuclear ambitions go up in flames.
Hey Time magazine...how about making him your Man of the Year...better yet, contact the Nobel committee...shouldn't he be getting some kind of 'Peace' award?
Wouldn't surprise me.
When I was in college, I worked in a hotel and they'd hold meetings there about once a month I guess. From time to time, I'd ask the attendees about the group, and they always seemed kind of evasive in their answers. I could never tell if it was something nefarious they were up to, or if they just thought I was a car monkey and if they'd give me a nebulous answer, I'd just shut up.
Possible connection.......?/ there is an absolute connection between the CFR and the NWO.......still interested?
Actually, I could see this happening before Hitler invaded Poland.
I would have been appalled if the creep had been invited to the White House, but for some of the CFR lefties, the meeting might have been a good thing. Perhaps some who may have thought dialogue could work became convinced through the meeting that this guy will not respond to talk.
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