Response from Iranian President - Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Here are my free flow thoughts as the President of Iran responds...this is not always verbatim, but captures the essence of his speech as I understood it...live and direct...I think he did a great job. I was left impressed with how he handled the situation and the fact that he came across as a logical, and personable speaker, despite all of the negative hype. Kudos to him. He had a slow start, but quite a powerful finish.

Note: Blue text represents thoughts from Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, some verbatim, some capturing the essence of what he said.
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Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad felt it was not necessary before the speech was even given for Bollinger to come in with a series of claims. He felt the text read was an insult to information and the audience. Everyone should be able to talk, so the truth can be revealed. Bollinger took up the time I was allocated to speak, but that is fine by me. Many insults were in the speech, many incorrect claims. Bollinger was affected by the press, the media and the mainstream line.

Piety, faith and wisdom have been spread to all mankind. All the words of the divine prophets, delivered humans from ignorance, negligence, superstition and corrupted ways of thinking. In our culture, science is defined as illumination. The real science is the science that delivers the human being from ignorance.

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In the middle of the President's speech, CNN has cut out to Prof. Fawaz Gerges from Sarah Lawrence College. What on earth??? Ok, so what he is saying is heavy on religious themes and sounds a bit canned and not really addressing the main points, but still, does CNN think it makes sense to just cut out from his speech??

I am looking at a split screen, with a picture of the Iranian president speaking on the right (muted) and then a debate between the Sarah Lawrence College Professor and other CNN commentators on the left. Yes, they are more interesting, but is this fair??

Ok, we are back online with Iranian President.
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By using precise scientific methods, they begin onslaught on domestic cultures in other countries. They prepare ground to separate people from spiritual and material possessions. Teaching emulation, stripping people of their identity.

Some big powers create monopolies over science and do not want to see the progress of other societies and nations. They use economic sanctions to prevent other nations...all resulting from their move from human and moral values. They have not been trained to serve mankind. The biggest God-given gift to man is knowledge and science. Science has to combine with the purity of man's spirit, so that scholars can unveil the truth and guide humanity towards a better future. Big powers should not allow mankind to engage in monopolistic activities. Science is a divine gift from God and should be open to everyone and remain pure. Scholars and scientists should rule the world one day and take us towards justice.

My main job is a university instructor. As President, I still teach graduate and PHD courses on a weekly basis. Palestinians have been displaced and killed for 60 years. Innocent women and children are killed by helicopters for 60 years. Women and children tortured, imprisoned for 60 years. I asked two questions two years ago and I received a wave of insults and allegations against me from groups who claimed most to believe in freedom of speech. I will ask those 2 questions again today:

1) Given the Holocaust is a reality, why is there not sufficient research to approach the topic from different perspectives? Why don't we encourage more research on a historical event that has been the cause for many catastrophes during this age? Why are European academics put into prison for this? I believe the Holocaust happened in 1940s not 1930s. We need to find the right period.

2) Should the Palestinian people pay the price for an event that they had nothing to do with? They played no part in this event. It occurred in Europe. Jews, Christian and Muslims live in peace in many parts of the word. Isn't it a crime that 5MM people are displaced for 60 years?

Why should I face insults for asking these questions?

Nuclear Energy

Now, on nuclear energy. The bylaws says there is no pretext or excuse that can prevent member states the rights to explore peaceful nuclear energy. We cooperate with the IAA. They report that Iran's activities are peaceful and they receive open access . Yet 3 selfish powers want to force their word on the Iranian people and deny their rights. We allow inspections. Why should you have the right and we not have it? We want the right for peaceful nuclear energy.

Our nuclear program operates within the framework of law, under the inspection of IAA and are completely peaceful. It is below the 5% level. Solely for providing fuel to power plants. Iran's nuclear issues are political not legal. There are 2 or 3 powers who feel they can monopolize all science and knowledge. They expect Iran to humble itself. If you have created the 5th generation of atomic bombs and are testing them, who are you to question our peaceful activities?

You sanction us, you deny us technology. We want to be independent. You don't give us spare parts for civilian needs, so why should we believe you will give us [... ] for nuclear? We are a peace loving nation.

We love all nations. We are friends with the Jews. Jews get one independent member in the Parliament, despite the fact they are a minority.


Palestinian Conflict
Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians should determine their fate. Nobody should spend 10s of billions of dollars to arm one group. We should give this nation the right to self-determination.


Support for Terrorism
The Iranian nation is a victim of terrorism. 26 years ago, in a terrorist operation, the elected President and Prime Minister of Iran lost their lives in a bomb explosion. A month later 72 members of parliament died from terrorist attacks. All of this carried out by one terrorist group. This group is now operating freely and continues as is under the full support of the US govt. We were the first nation to go against terrorism. We need to address the root causes of terrorism and eradicate the root causes. We are a cultured nation, we do not need to resort to terrorism, we are a victim of terrorism.


Holocaust
Research on a phenomenon is never done. Different perspectives come to light after more research. There is nothing known as absolute. Man wants to approach a topic from different points of view. Especially for an issue that has been the underpinning of so many of the Middle Eastern problems. Why do you want to stop the progress of science and research? Why can't we further explore and research the Holocaust? I am not saying that the Holocaust didn't happen at all. I said granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?

Women
Freedoms in Iran are true freedoms. Women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedom. We have two deputy VPs who are women. They are present in biotech, in our govt. It is wrong for some govts, when they disagree with another govt., to spread lies. We have 90% participation in elections, over 1/2 of them are women. How can you say the people are not free?

It is not a crime to be a woman. Women are the best creatures created by God. They are respected in Iran. Families given girls...they are 10 times happier than having a son. Women are respected more than men.

Capital Punishment, Homosexuality
Don't you have capital punishment in the US? In Iran too, there is capital punishment... for illicit drug traffickers, for people who violate the rights of people. Some of these punishments, very few, are carried out in the public eye. In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we don't have this phenomenon.

9/11 Site Visit
In Iran when you invite a guest, you respect them. This is our tradition, required by our culture. I know American people have that culture as well. I wanted to go to the 9/11 site last year, to show respect, but our plans got extended and they said it would be difficult to go at that late hour. Regretfully some groups had a bad reaction. I want to show sympathy to the 9/11 families. This is my way of showing my respect. How will you manage the world and world affairs if you think this way? This pessimistic approach to a lot of people. This selfishness and self-absorption has to be put aside to allow friendships to grow and move towards peace.

Who was truly involved in 9/11?


Interactions with Other Countries
We announced we are ready to negotiate with all countries. 28 years ago we moved towards democracy away from a dictatorship put in place by Westerners. We want friendly, brotherly ties with all countries, except with the South African apartheid regime (now abolished) and the Zionist regime. We question the way the world is being run and managed today, we don't think it will work. We will negotiate with the US govt too, under fair, just circumstances with mutual respect.


Closing
University faculty and students are officially invited to Iran - to any university you want to visit. We will give you the platform and respect you 100%. Today in our universities we have many discussions like this every day, we welcome it.

Thank you to Columbia University - my deepest gratitude to the faculty and students here. Best of luck to all of you!