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On Tuesday, The Body Politik argued that “the media controversy surrounding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s address at Columbia University bolstered the stature of the “increasingly isolated” Iranian leader” and empowered American war hawks.
Iran’s top reform politicians agree. ABC News reports that Mohsen Mirdamadi, “one of Iran’s top reform politicians said Wednesday that demonizing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad such as in this week’s Columbia University forum only strengthens hard-liners’ hand as Iranians rally around their otherwise unpopular leader.”
“The remarks by the Columbia University president were like an indictment against the Iranian president. Ahmadinejad’s opponents don’t support this,” he said. “The blistering speech against Ahmadinejad only strengthened him back home and made his radical supporters more determined,” Mirdamadi said during the hour-long interview in his central Tehran office.
During Monday’s question-and-answer session, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger gave a tough introduction to Ahmadinejad, including telling him that he resembles a “petty and cruel dictator.”
Many Iranians found the comments insulting, particularly because in Iranian traditions of hospitality, a host should be polite to a guest, no matter what he thinks of him. To many, Ahmadinejad looked like the victim, and hard-liners praised the president’s calm demeanor during the event, saying Bollinger was spouting a “Zionist” line.
According to Mirdamadi, “Western powers have to stop any talk of war if they want democracy to succeed in Iran. The threat of an attack “helps Ahmadinejad’s political agenda.”
Any U.S. military action against Iran will only boost radicals within Iran … Military action will set back democracy in Iran for a decade or two.
Unfortunately, since Ahmadinejad’s disingenuous and disgraceful address, the Senate passed Cheney’s fondest pipe dream, the Lieberman-Kyl resolution on Iran, the Fox News network stepped up its efforts to promote regime change, and today the Wall Street Journal opined that the President “has an obligation to do whatever it takes to stop [Iran].”