As the United Nations prepares to kick off another year of being .... um, well whatever they do, leaders from all over the world travel to New York City to participate and pontificate. Among them will be Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. He's a very charismatic, good-looking, and at times (when things are going his way) congenial fellow. Just the kind of guy you'd like to sit down and toss back a beer .... er, falafel with. (Sound like any other leader you know?)
He's a little self-centered at times and says crazy things to insight the support of his base. Bold-faced lies even, like the holocaust never happened, and Iraq has weapons of mass destruction -- OOPS! scratch that last one, it was one of the other leader's bold-faced big ones....
Anyway, we have a question regarding the Iranian president on the table: What is to be made of his request to visit ground zero? It's not really a question cause we already no the answer. "NO, you can't go."
I doubt Gordon Brown, or Andrea Merkel, or Ehud Olmert would have been told that it was "too dangerous". They'd have donned hard hats and had the photo-op of their dreams. But they are not the president of the last standing member of the "Axis of Evil."
Therefore the real question is, should that matter?
And that's where I have say, NO, it shouldn't. It's a mistake not to allow Mr. Ahmedinejad to visit Ground Zero. It's a mistake because it demonstrates to him and the world that the United States is acting like a hypocrite. It affirms that we have been acting more and more that way since 9/11. We talk about freedom, but we deny freedom left and right. We gut the Constitution one signing statement at a time. We hide formerly open information one government agency after another. We treat one another as guilty and in need of proof of innocence. We've turned freedom on its "Bushy" little pin-head!
London was hit. Madrid was hit. In both cases by bombings that scored relative to their populations damage and death on a par with the World Trade Center horror. Did either of these nations declare a war on global terrorism? Did either of their leaders seek to curtail or suspend tenants of the most basic rights of their citizens like trial by a jury or habeious corpus? Where those guilty of these acts apprehended by massively invading other countries and bankrupting their economies for generations to come? Did thousands, nay even hundreds, of their troop have their lives sacrificed in the effort? IF Spain and the United Kingdom can get it right, why can't we?
Under this despicable regime lead by the twice un-elected George-the-Lesser we humble Americans have fared far worse for the wear by comparison. And this latest jab at a tyrant is just one more spit in the eye of our precious ideals. Because you see, the very genius of our Constitution is that it favors no one. And when applied rightly everyone is protected and given freedom, and ESPECIALLY the freedom that is NOT available in Iran.
Now a word to you about the Iranian people. It's a personal word, and my experience is admittedly limited. I've never been to Iran. I'm sure Iran has it's fair share of idiots and despots; however, I've never met any of them.
I have met the families of boys and girls whom it has been my privilege to teach over the years: the Bhamini's, the Cherenghani's, the Rahimi's and the Kashani's to name but a few. And no other single ethnic group has been kinder, more supportive, or more generous to me. I have enjoyed lavish meals in their homes to celebrate the end of a school year, and have even been given gifts years after their children have moved on. At no time and in no way was I ever given anything in a way or at a time that could be construed to represent a bribe or an attempt to influence my assessment of their child's progress. What I have been given consistently is respect and support.
The carrot will win friends and change minds every time more effectively and profoundly than the stick. In my humble, American, and Freedom-loving opinion, we should have offered Ahmedinejad a carrot.
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