September 25, 2010

The silver lining in the comments to the U.N. General Assembly by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? In which he said that most people the world over believe that “some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the [9/11] attacks”? Well, on the plus side at the very least, President Obama’s angry response was carried on Persian TV, unedited, and viewable by several million Iranian citizens:

“It was offensive. It was hateful. And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of ground zero, where families lost their loved ones — people of all faiths, all ethnicities, who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation — for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable.

“And it stands in contrast with the response of the Iranian people when 9/11 happened, when there were candlelight vigils and I think a natural sense of shared humanity and sympathy was expressed within Iran. And it just shows, once again, the difference between how the Iranian leadership and this regime operates and how I think the vast majority of Iranian people, who are respectful and thoughtful, think about these issues.”