Thursday, September 20, 2007

Bizarro world update: I agree with Josh Marshall

Talking Points memo: "Grow up"

A president with some dignity and sense of the greatness of his country would say, good he [Ahmadinejad] should go there. Maybe he'll learn something about us and our loss.

If we as a country were a person, I'd say grow up. Act like a man. Have some self-respect.
By golly, I concur. Ahmadinejad should be allowed to go to Ground Zero so we can show him the hole in the ground where his fellow Muslims murdered 3,000 people. Let him soak in the hard glares of hundreds of New Yorkers who have not forgotten. I don't see what "victory" Ahmadinejad gains by laying a wreath; quite to the contrary, it forces him to come to grips with how his religion is viewed by Americans and much of the world.

Some say it would be an insult to the memory of the 9/11 victims and their families and I don't presume to speak for them. But we should think about whether we have more to gain or lose with that crazy Iranian at Ground Zero. If he's turned away, I think he engineers himself a greater propaganda win. He'll return to Iran and stir the pot: "See how the Americans refused your President? They're filled with hatred!" Keep in mind that many Iranians are sympathetic to the United States; why give this guy ammunition?

Ahmadinejad's a nutter. Let's be the adults in the room and send the message that we're made of stronger stuff.

More - Sister Toldjah takes the opposite view. Respect.

And this - But Dr. T appears to lean towards my view.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

There was not a single iranian on the plane, why shouldn't he be allowed to come and condemn terrorism? We let Bush's Saudi boyfriend bandar visit and 15 of 19 were saudis...where was the outrage then you hypocrite?

Anonymous said...

In case the author does not remember, the government of Iran assisted the United States in the invasion and toppling of the Taliban after the September 11 attacks. It was the government of (still ally) Pakistan that was assisting the Taliban prior to 9/11.

It was only after President (erroneously) linked Iraq and Iran as part of an "Axis of Evil" that the lines of communication broke down and the hardliners in Iran, assisted by the demonization of Iran by the Bush team, came to the fore.

Or, are those facts too inconvenient for Conservatives to acknowledge?

Anonymous said...

I'm with you and Josh. The big whale doesn't rise to the small bait.

One of my teammates at work, though he was talking about something else, has often remarked that deciding to do nothing is always an option. This is one of those times.

This guy wants us to get mad over his peacemaking gesture, disingenuous as it may be. I say let him lay his little wreath, let him get grilled at Columbia, and let him get back on his plane and go home -- with no protest footage to show off on state TV.

Anonymous said...

Here's a scoop I just found out today. There are actually TWO different kinds of Muslims! Ahmadinejad, like most of Iran, is Shia. The 9/11 hijackers, like most of Saudi Arabia (and like all of Al Qaeda) were Sunni. To think Ahmadinejad will see ground zero as something that his "fellow Muslims" did is like a Catholic looking at the Murrah Federal Building and feeling responsible for the act of his "fellow Christians."

Anonymous said...

Using Ground Zero as a politcial prop? The very idea!

Anonymous said...

Tellling an Iranian that his fellow Muslims killed 3000 Americans is like telling a Protastant New Yorker that his fellow Christians killed Lord Mountbatten in England. Not untrue but irrelevant.

Sue said...

Ahmedinejad is a Shi'ite Muslim. As far as he's concerned, the hijackers, and Osama bin Laden, are Sunni infidels. If he visited Ground Zero and people glared at him and yelled things like "Die, terrorist," he'd be able to go home and tell his core constituency that Americans are not only warmongering, imperialist Crusaders -- they're also ignorant. Think it doesn't matter? Try calling an Ulster Protestant a "Catholic" and see what happens. Let's not forget that it took about 500 years and an economic miracle to get a Western, Christian country past that kind of religious warfare before we try to claim that we're better in that respect that Middle Easterners.

Anonymous said...

Viking Pundit, I, being more Viking than thee, challenge you. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York City and laying a wreath on Ground Zero isn't any more hypocritical than George W. Bush or Guiliani laying a wreath there.

Anonymous said...

The rest of the world was 100% sympathetic to America in the weeks following 9/11.
However we did not support going to war. Canada for one, stayed out and we are happy we did.
We want peace, rule of law, harmony and productive economies.
Bush and co. are ruining our prospects for a safe, secure and decent future. That doesn't mean,however, that we stop being vigilant; it just means that we need to stop warmongering and start exercising some common sense.