The Ahmadinejad Debate

Iran’s President Mahmoud “Mushoom Cloud” Ahmadinejad, now wants to come debate President Bush at the UN General Assembly in New York, so “world nations” can “hear the viewpoints.” That’s ridiculous. Bush already gets plenty of air time.

If Ahmadinejad is that eager to ascend the UN stage and trade views, why don’t we invite him to square off against Iranian dissident Ahmad Batebi? Of course Batebi would have to be released first from the Iranian prison where he was reported last week to be on hunger strike (scroll down past the news of two Iranian dissidents, Akbar Mahammadi and Valiollah Fayz-Mahdavi, who died in Iranian prisons this summer, and you’ll find the recent item about Batebi). Surely Batebi’s attendance could be facilitated by the same State Department officials who issued a visa so Americans could take in firsthand the views of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami– now on a U.S. speaking tour . Come to think of it, it was during Khatami’s presidency that Batebi was first imprisoned, beaten and tortured in Iran. Maybe the UN General Assembly should put them all together on a panel, right up there on that UN stage. So the world can hear.