MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
World leaders are gathering at the United Nations in New York for this year's General Assembly. But the media circus was uptown today at Columbia University. That's where Iran's president gave a speech that was widely criticized before it even happened. In a tense address, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his questioning of the Holocaust and reasserted Iran's right to what he said was a peaceful nuclear program. We'll hear shortly about the protesters who dogged him outside. But first, what happened inside.
NPR's Michele Kelemen was there. And Michele, Columbia hosting the address was controversial from the start. I want you to tell us what the atmosphere was like inside.
MICHELE KELEMEN: Well, I'd say it was civil, but quite electrifying at times, really. The tickets were grabbed up immediately, so all the students who were there felt lucky to be there. And Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, really set the mood for this gloves-off, sort of, debate, when he went through a litany of concerns about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Rather than, you know, introducing the speaker, he went on and on about concerns about the Iranian leader, especially his questioning of the Holocaust. Let's hear a sample of what he had to say.
Mr. LEE BOLLINGER (President, Columbia University): When you have come to a place like this, this makes you quite simply ridiculous. You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated. You should know…
(Soundbite of applause)
KELEMEN: Bollinger really got a lot of applause throughout this. You know, he said he wanted to hear answers about why Iran is funding terrorist groups in the Middle East. He pointed out that a Columbia graduate, Kian Tajbakhsh, was one of several Iranian-Americans who was jailed recently for allegedly plotting this soft revolution in Iran. And he talked a lot about Iran's poor human rights record. Ahmadinejad really sat there smiling the whole time. But by the time he got up to speak, he said, you know, Iranians treat guests with respect, not with these sorts of insults.
SIEGEL: Tell us more about his comments on the Holocaust. He has, in the past, sponsored a conference, which was attended by, among others, the former Klansman, David Duke. In the past, he has denied the Holocaust ever happened.
KELEMEN: That's right. And he didn't really say one way or another whether he thinks it happened. He really tried to turn this on the head and say, you know, this is an area that there should always be more research. No historical event can be conclusive, you know, rather than going one way or another. Whether the Holocaust happened, he said, you know, given that it happened, why should the Palestinians even paid for it? Meaning that, you know, the state of Israel was created after the Holocaust. He spoke through an interpreter. Let's hear again what he had to say there.
President MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD (Iran): (Through translator) Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price of an event they had nothing to do with? The Palestinian people didn't commit any crime. They had no role to play in the World War II. They were living with the Jewish communities and the Christian communities in peace at the time.
KELEMEN: And he had this whole lecturing tone the whole time he was speaking, pointing his finger and gesticulating throughout. And again, you know, he was just defending the right to raise more questions about the Holocaust. And he didn't say, one way or another, whether he believed it happened.
SIEGEL: Now his speech comes as U.S., European, Russian, Chinese diplomats consider more sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. What did Ahmadinejad say in response to questions about that?
KELEMEN: He said what he always have said, that Iran's program is peaceful. And he also blamed the U.S. and other big powers of trying to deny Iran scientific research, the right to nuclear research. Why don't we just take a listen?
Pres. AHMADINEJAD: (Through translator) There are two or three powers that think that they have the right to monopolize all science and knowledge. And they expect the Iranian people, the Iranian nation to turn to others to get fuel, to get science, to get knowledge that's indigenous to itself.
SIEGEL: And then there was a moment that provoked laughter from the audience of Columbia students and faculty.
KELEMEN: That's right. It was when he was speaking that he was asked about women's rights, executions and about homosexuals. Why don't we just take a listen to that one?
Pres. AHMADINEJAD: (Through translator) In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country.
KELEMEN: You can hear, you know, there's booing and laughter. You know, I talked to students on the way out who said that was just bizarre, after the whole thing, and sort of undercut his credibility. Not that the people in the audience held him in much esteem to begin with, but that one was - came out very oddly.
SIEGEL: Well, thank you Michele.
KELEMEN: Thank you.
SIEGEL: That's NPR's Michele Kelemen in New York.
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