Becuase Everything Else Sucks

Ahmadinejad Thinks More of the American People Than CBS Does

By Manila Ryce
Published Saturday, September 22nd, 2007, 2:56 am
Filed under: World: North America, World: Asia, Terrorism, World Issues, US Politics

In a supposedly “objective” interview, Iranian President Ahmadinejad told Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes that the American public is smarter than to believe the propaganda the media puts out. Pelley essentially reiterated the warmongering spin about Ahmadinjad’s visit to Ground Zero, saying it would be an insult to the American people. Not only did the President of Iran inform Pelley that he doesn’t speak for all Americans, but he told him to do a better job as a journalist. Now what does that say about the press when a supposed “terrorist” has more respect for us than our own media?

If CBS actually asked similar questions of our leaders, then they might have a leg to stand on by saying this interview was objective. Pelley sure is brave asking our next victim about his mind state and the actions of his government, but has he asked the same questions of Bush or Cheney? Would Pelley bring up the fact that our own country basically created the Taliban and al-Qaeda? These are the groups we claim attacked us on 9/11, not Hamas or Hezbollah. Would Pelley also point out that Bush has direct ties to the Bin Laden family? What ties to 9/11 does Ahmadinejad have?

I do encourage the media to finally start asking hard questions, but the following excerpt is not journalism - it’s a hit job designed to demonize Iran’s leadership. Criticizing the leader of another country does little but rally the American public against another common enemy. Why get the American public in an uproar over a country they don’t live in when our own nation is currently engaged in an illegal occupation? If journalists want to be tough, then let’s start at home with the actual criminals.

Asked if he intends to press his request to visit the World Trade Center site, Ahmadinejad tells 60 Minutes Scott Pelley, “Well, it was included in my program. If we have the time and the conditions are conducive, I will try to do that.”

“But the New York Police Department and others do not appear to want you there. Do you intend to go there anyway?” Pelley asks.

“Well, over there, local officials need to make the necessary coordinations. If they can’t do that, I won’t insist,” the president replies.

“Sir, what were you thinking? The World Trade Center site is the most sensitive place in the American heart, and you must have known that visiting there would be insulting to many, many Americans,” Pelley says.

“Why should it be insulting?” Ahmadinejad asks.

“Well, sir, you’re the head of government of an Islamist state that the United States government says is a major exporter of terrorism around the world,” Pelley says.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that what American government says is is the prerequisite here. Something happened there which led to other events. Many innocent people were killed there. Some of those people were American citizens obviously. We obviously are very much against any terrorist action and any killing. And also we are very much against any plots to sow the seeds of discord among nations,” Ahmadinejad replies. “Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects. And also to perhaps to air your views about the root causes of such incidents. I think that when I do that, I will be paying, as I said earlier, my respect to the American nation.”

“But the American people, sir, believe that your country is a terrorist nation, exporting terrorism in the world,” Pelley says. “You must have known that visiting the World Trade Center site would infuriate many Americans.”

“Well, I’m amazed. How can you speak for the whole of the American nation?” Ahmadinejad says. “You are representing a media and you’re a reporter. The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there.”

One big hat tip to The Raw Story for this one.

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6 Responses to “Ahmadinejad Thinks More of the American People Than CBS Does”

  1. […] Ahmadinejad Thinks More of the American People Than CBS Does Manila Ryce, J. Wharrison blog Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 […]

    Political Waves » Mirrors and Madness
    09/22/07 at 2:01 pm

  2. Hard Talk on the BBC is a great example of aggressive journalism. Unfortunately, I think the practice is dead here.

    akshunj
    09/22/07 at 5:43 pm

  3. Yeah, he seems pretty reasonable in this interview and makes some valid points. However, ask him about the Holocaust and homosexuals and then he is on the Bush side of lunacy. I know you are a fan of Chavez’s ideals too, but do you think he should be president for the next thirty years? like he thinks he should be. I think these guys are all nutjobs.

    ewogirl
    09/25/07 at 4:50 am

  4. @ewogirl
    Ahmadinejad are I are obviously not on the same page on a majority of issues. That’s not the point. The point is that we should be able to have honest disagreements without dehumanizing someone into an enemy. What Ahmadinejad thinks of homosexuality or the Holocaust is being used to justify an agenda of regime change in Iran. Regime change is what got us this hardline government in the first place. Nutjob or not, it’s really not our place to dictate what is acceptable when our intentions are not to help the Iranian people but to bomb them. With every threat we make, we simply empower the authoritarian government which crushes real opposition within the country.

    Manila Ryce
    09/25/07 at 5:05 am

  5. I think we are on the same chapter, if not page. My point is, that while we should be talking whoever is the leader of a country with basic respect when we have issues, and not take it upon ourselves to bomb the shit out of it, denying the holocaust and basic human rights is wrong. There is no moral relativism about it, it doesn’t matter who is using it to pad an argument to go to war, its wrong and it unfortunately invalidates whatever reasonableness (is that a word?) he might occassionaly demostrate. He is not my enemy but I dont think he is not going to be a player in the long term solution of the region. I hope that the Iranian people can have a say in all of this…

    Want a good cry..check out crooksandliars/bluegal post about the human art/project memorial for US soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

    ewogirl
    09/25/07 at 7:49 am

  6. @ewogirl
    I think we are in agreement. Denying basic human rights and the holocaust are obviously wrong, but our plan to get Ahmadinejad to change his stance is essentially to insult him and refuse discussions with him. Ahmadinejad has reached out several times to Bush and the international community, only to be rejected. Positive change can only come about through discussion. We’re as much to blame for the current situation in Iran as anyone.

    It’s not about moral relativism. We need to work with Ahmadinejad as the leader of a very important nation if we hope to ever change things for the better. Right now we’re telling him we can only talk once he meets a whole list of conditions. We know this hostile angle doesn’t work, and I doubt it’s meant to. I would support regime change in Iran if it came from the people of Iran and not the US. My point is simply that we need to communicate with this man as a human being if we truly want equal rights in his country. I’m not above punishing the government of Iran; just above isolating them to the point where punishment is inconsequential.

    Manila Ryce
    09/25/07 at 2:03 pm

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