This time New York City officials have gotten in on the Washington act of slapping Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the face by denying his request to visit the site of the World Trade Center upon his visit next week for the UN General Assembly. Apparently, politicians are possessive when it comes to ground zero, and are unwilling to let anyone else move in on the territory they were first to exploit.

On the day of the attacks in New York, 60,000 Iranians observed a minute of silence in Tehran’s football stadium for the American victims. The Iranian government is also an enemy of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and thus worked with the US in Afghanistan to topple the country’s regime and set up a new government. Weeks later, Bush made a potential friend into a foe by declaring Iran as part of the “axis of evil”.

President Ahmadinejad says he merely wants to “pay his respects” and lay a wreath at the site. Police spokesman Paul Browne said that if Iranian officials put any additional requests in to visit public platforms at ground zero, they too would be rejected for security reasons. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, “It is appalling that President Ahmadinejad, one of the world’s leading sponsors of terror, would find it appropriate to visit this hallowed ground.” The US considers Iran a state sponsor of terrorism.

It’s convenient for American politicians to define Iran as a terrorist state because it fits their agenda. Any compassionate action taken by Ahmadinejad, which is contrary to his evil “terrorist” label, is buried from the public. Iran does support resistance groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, but not the groups we claim actually attacked us on 9/11. Ironically, the United States is the nation with ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and is more responsible for their strength and inception than any other entity. President Bush himself, who has a strong relationship with the Bin Laden family, was even allowed to stand atop the rubble for a photo-op as it was still smoldering. The hypocrisy is outrageous.

Three presidential candidates actually applauded the decision to snap Ahmadinejad’s olive branch in half. Hillary Clinton, who is known for being pro-AIPAC, said, “It is unacceptable for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who refuses to renounce and end his own country’s support of terrorism, to visit the site of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in our nation’s history.” Clinton still strongly supports the Israeli policies of apartheid and ethnic-cleansing in the occupied territories.

Mitt Romney showed that Clinton not only stole his horrible healthcare plan, but his inability to tell Muslims apart when he spoke to a retirement community in Florida of all places. “Can you imagine the audacity, the shocking nerve, the chutzpah to suggest he would visit ground zero, the handiwork of terrorists of the very kind he supports?”

The all-time king of 9/11 exploitation, Rudy Giuliani, added his own touch of class to the already enlightening debate by simply making shit up about the Iranian president. “This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring bin Laden’s son and other al-Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons. Assisting Ahmadinejad in touring Ground Zero _ hallowed ground for all Americans _ is outrageous.”

Silly me. I would’ve thought that allowing the leader of one of the most influential Muslim nations in the world to pay his respects at ground zero would actually help bridge some gaps. Isn’t it reassuring to know that the presidential frontrunners of both parties are completely ignorant to the ideological differences between typical Muslims in the Middle East and terrorist groups, and that they already have such a vile disposition towards Iran?

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