Former Iran president met by protesters

[democratic]

-I think next we should give Bin Laden a Tour of the US. This is ridiculous that he was allowed in.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060910/ap_on_re_us/harvard_khatami

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami condemned
Osama bin Laden and suicide bombing but also defended groups such as Hezbollah for what he characterized as resistance against Israeli colonialism.

"First, because of the crimes he conducts," he said, "and second because he conducts them in the name of Islam, the religion which is a harbinger of peace and justice." Khatami was met by protesters when he arrived at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Many angrily called on him to stand up for human rights.Police estimated that 200 were in the crowd that blamed him for failing to stop government crackdowns on student activists in Tehran during his two terms in office.

"His speech is on ethics and violence. It would be very bizarre if he came here to speak on ethics and violence and did not acknowledge and discuss his own record in Iran," said Eric Lesser, 21, president of Harvard College Democrats, which teamed with their Republican peers for the protest. "Students were arrested and thrown in prison for speaking their mind in the same way we're doing right now."

[ShortnFiery]

1. This is so shitty! At least the Iranian leaders want dialog ...

If it were not for the fact that we live in Dear Leader's Brave New World, it would be Our Country's leaders who would be globe trotting around pleaing for "dialog" instead of WAR.

This whole world has been turned upside down. I don't know if we can survive another two years of Darth Cheney, Rummy and Rice running our foreign policy. :scared:

[democratic]

6. Iran's 'unelected Supreme Leader'

Is the person in charge, the President has no power in Iran, even less so when it's the 'ex-president'. The position is a tool for the naive. Even though they have no power still all President candidates in Iran are vetted by an extremely hard-line group of 12 clerics, no one who is even mildly critical of the dictatorship is allowed to run much less win.

The people in charge of Iran certainly dont want dialogue, that's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and even more radical Ahmadinejad.

[ShortnFiery]

7. That does not matter as IRAN is a Sovereign country...

The irony is not lost on me that it's Dear Leader's delusional "axis of evil" nations who are the ones willing to come to the table with the USA. It cracks me up in a 1984 bizarro way that NOW the beacon of civil liberties and a model democratic republics is BLINDLY IGNORING requests to further discuss issues in order to avert a war ... "Jaw Jaw Jaw is better than War War War any day of the week.

Only in Bizarro "Brave New Bush-World" would we find ourselves in such an inane foreign policy situation. :thumbsdown:

[endarkenment]

2. Why is it ridiculous that he was allowed in?

Did Iran have something to do with the attack on 9-11? Are you aware that Khatami is a moderate?

[CollegeDUer]

4. Apparently anyone Bush doesn't like shouldn't be allowed on US soil

Or so this poster is saying?

[democratic]

5. I guess

Moderate compared to Ahmadinejad but he's still a fundamentalist compared to the Iranian people. Khatami needs to go have dialogue with the families of the tens of thousands of students who have been arrested, tortured, jailed and killed while he was in office.

[endarkenment]

8. Are we banning all similar persons?

For example, the reformist leaders of China, Vietnam and other post soviet communist regimes? The hideous theocratic monarchs of Saudi Arabia? Or just the evil Iranians?

By the way I think perhaps Khatami was not in office while tens of thousands of students were arrested tortured jailed or killed. I'd need an actual reference for that assertion of yours.

He was a reformist and a pretty good one. Of course under the theocracy ultimate power lies within the religious hierarchy and they continued to commit crimes against humanity while Khatami was the president. Khatami tried to do good within the system as it existed. For that he has my respect.

Perhaps you ought to do some research. Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Khatami

One of the many ironies of the Cabal's Iraqi Blunder is that it destroyed the reform movement in Iran and reconsolidated the grip of hard line Islamists. The end of the Khatami era was a sad footnote in the neoclown disaster.

[CollegeDUer]

3. I think you can both agree and disagree with what he does/points he's maki

He reneged on a lot of issues to the Iranians, but he also did do a lot of good -- and is a wise diplomat if nothing else.

I hope both the dissidents and more supportive students were able to discuss with him their feelings.

[dmosh42]

9. Yes, good point

We fall into the Bush trap by lumping all these Islamic countries together to be branded as 'terrorist. If the difference between Hezbollah and Al Queda or Hamas is noted as differences in Shia and Sunni, maybe we can start to understand how to deal with them. This difference has gone back past the days of the Crusades in 1070ad. In a way, I wonder if the reason Iran wants to be on a 'talking' stage with us, is because we have inserted ourselves in Iraq, and put their guys in power.(the Shia)But Bush doesn't want that point to be made, and would become a huge embarassment, and an enormous political blunder.