President Ahmadinejad's Assertions: Loose Change?

Dear teacher and classmates,

I suppose we will not linger on the subject of President Ahmadinejad's UN speech too much longer in class; there is a big world out there to study that doesn't involve lonely middle children seeking international attention. But beyond what you hear in the classroom about conspiracies surrounding 9/11, I think we're all old enough to analyze situations and come to our own decisions on tough subjects, which is why we're in this class in the first place.

Check with your parents first, it's a touchy subject, but Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup is a documentary that you can watch or order on Netflix.com. It shows real footage and features interviews with engineers, pilots, and other people in the concerned fields and at the very least will provide you with better understanding as to why some believe that our government was involved in the attacks.

I don't want to talk about it either way; it bothers me. But if you are interested on the subject or want to know what the heck Ahmadinejad is asserting, I would highly recommend it.

See you soon,

Abby

A Conference on Counter-Terrorism: Iran's No-Lose scenario.

So: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presentation to the U.N. My my, what a controversy. For those of you who haven't glanced over the speech yet(Provided in full a few stories down, due to the contributions of our venerable Socrates), The Iranian President spends the first portion of the speech exchanging pleasantries such as sympathy towards Pakistan for the tragic flooding situation, congratulations and thanks to the President of the U.N. for it's 64th session, and well wishes to the president of the 65th session.

He then continues onward to explain global attitudes and beliefs, citing the excesses of capitalism and democracy as the root cause of religious collapse and the failure of human rights. Normally, this would be the section that draws all sorts of wonderful attention from pundits across the seas, but never to be outdone, President Ahmadinejad continues forth with comment on the infamous attacks of September 11th.

Possessing three view points, he further questions, with out coming right out and saying it, whether terrorists were really responsible for the attacks. He even goes so far as to say the majority of Americans actually believe that 9/11 was an inside job, a comment that would be incredibly hilarious if the matter wasn't so serious. This has been the portion of his speech that has drawn the most outrage. After all, he is accusing the U.S. government of committing a public atrocity against it's own people, and not just any public atrocity, but the one that is widely regarded as the worst tragedy this nation has ever seen. Some are questioning whether President Ahmadinejad really thought about the impact this speech would have. The U.S. delegation walked out of the U.N. rather than hear the rest of this controversial speech. But I have an alternative hypothesis to madness: perhaps that was the desired effect?

There has been much ado about President Ahmadinejad's comments about 9/11. But what I haven't heard anyone mention as of yet, is an equally perturbing announcement that was nestled into the midst of the speech. On it's own, the quote would be very curious indeed, but surrounded by such sensational material it has avoided attention. It is as follows:

"I wish to announce here that next year the Islamic Republic of Iran will

host a conference to study terrorism and the means to confront it. I invite
officials, scholars, thinkers, researchers and research institutes of all
countries to attend this conference."

What exactly does this mean? It means that Iran is inviting specialists on counter-terrorism from around the world to Iran to "study terrorism and the means to confront it." Somebody has been reading their Orson Scott Card.

Perhaps that last comment bears explaining: In the book "Empire" by Orson Scott Card, separatists who infiltrate the U.S. government use counter-terrorism as a pretense to get a report written on the best way to eliminate key targets, including the President, under the auspice of wanting to install counter-measures to stop them. I'm not saying that the only reason that President Ahmadinejad could hold a counter-terrorism conference is to collect secrets on how to be a better terrorist, but it is a plausible reason. With Afghanistan and Pakistan becoming less and less safe as havens for terrorism, and Iraq already under U.S. control, Iran is the next logical successor.

At best, this conference is a simple PR stunt to offset the fact that President Ahmadinejad has been saying a lot of things that could be seen as "pro-terrorist". At worst, it is an attempt to get leading experts together in one convenient bombing area. Or, perhaps it is a Cardian level of sinister plotting, but instead of trying to figure out how to beat counter-terrorism, he wants to use it to root out any terrorists that will not swear loyalty to him. Then again, perhaps I'm just a paranoid loon. I suppose only time will tell, eh?

~Wesley F., self-confessed conspiracy theorist.

Ignore the facts why don't you.

"Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen" though I disagree with over half the things president Ahmadinejad said to the UN this week I must give him credit for how formally he said half the things he said, blunt, but formal. He said most of his arguments in way that that made you want to believe him even if you don't. it might be his charm, or good looks but president Ahmadinejad is "good". now we can get on to the impotent stuff.

First, addressing the point Ahmadinejad made about the 9/11 attack on the twin towers in 2001.

In a nutshell the president proposed that the American government was behind the attack. (a shock to all) he ignored the simple fact that Al-qaeda admitted that they had planed the attack for some time and that they were pleased with the outcome. Another point the President ignored is why we (the American government) would want to kill over 3,000 innocent people? On the other hand president Ahmadinejad is not the only one who thinks this. their are groups all over America. if you type in google "Who was behind 9/11 attacks" their our scads of blogs, opinion pages, groups, and just plane articles of people clamming the U.S. Gov was behind the attack, my point is he is for sure not the only one. One point I agree with him on, the point he made about how we are all so said that the 9/11 attack happened but that "in Afghanistan and

Iraq hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions wounded and
displaced and the conflict is still going on and expanding" and we don't seem to give much thought.

second, I will address the fact of him saying the United Nations is useless. I find it interesting that he said this to the UN.

It seems to me that this vary charming, blunt, and all around vary opinionated man has a knack for making people VARY mad. in the words of President Ahmadinejad him self "Praise to Love and worship, praise to justice and freedom, praise to the

true humanity, the complete human, the true companion of the humankind and
peace be upon you"

What drives Ahmadinejad's combative rhetoric - CSMonitor.com

What drives Ahmadinejad's combative rhetoric - CSMonitor.com

This is an interesting article that explain the president of Iran's religious beliefs which inform his rhetoric.

President Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN: The Narrative

Suprisingly, locating the entire text of the speech that President Ahmadinejad delivered to the United Nations September 24 proves to be difficult. Perhaps it is because it is long and it is more exciting to talk about his claim that most of the United States citizens think that the 9-11 attacks happened because of a conspiracy by the American government. . I am providing a link to it here: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=49445

This speech is a lesson in different narratives and the way a persons or group of people understand the world influences the way in which they solve problems and interact with others. Please consider reading the text critically and then make non inflammatory comments. Look for a glaring recitation of an event that did not happen.

For a interesting look at this event please see the coverage of it by Al Jazeerra: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/09/201092484215227248.html

The full text of the story is interesting, but if you are pressed for time, consider reading this quoted material:

"Bin Laden initially denied, but later admitted in a taped statement aired on Al Jazeera in 2004, planning the attacks....

About 46 per cent of the world's people believe that al-Qaeda launched the 9/11 attacks, while 15 per cent think the US government was behind the assault, and seven per cent blame Israel, according to a
2008 world public opinion study carried out by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which interviewed 16,063 people worldwide.

But Ahmadinejad views himself as a leader in the Arab and Muslim worlds. And, in these regions, surveys show significant sectors of the population believe that the US and Israel launched the 9/11 attacks to meet their own geopolitical goals.

In Jordan, 31 per cent of those polled by PIPA believe Israel was behind the attacks, while only 11 per cent blame it on al-Qaeda. Likewise, 43 per cent of Egyptians blame Israel, and 12 per cent
think the US was responsible, while only 16 per cent think al-Qaeda brought down the towers.

A 2006 poll from Scrippsnews says 36 per cent of Americans consider it "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that US government officials either allowed the attacks to be carried or launched the attacks
themselves.

'Last, a different narrative of the world given by Tony Blair in an interview to the Wall Street journal/ A very interesting but different narrative- one from the West- it is not in reference to the speech but is a different story and he comments on the importance of the narrative.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704523604575511453790276626.html