This will not be a popular position I'm sure.
From the link above:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been denied a request to visit the World Trade Center site of the September 11 attacks, New York police said on Wednesday.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my teenage son a couple years ago. Listening to the news on the car radio and a story about Cuba came on. Some actor or activist or whatever was in trouble for having violated U.S. law and visited Cuba. They were facing some fine. My son asked what's up with Cuba. I gave him a quick history - Castro, revolution, communism, etc. I explained that Cubans were not free. I told him how Cubans could not leave their country and many chose to take a chance by jumping in a raft and paddling to Florida.
My son thought for a moment and responded, "So Cubans are not free to travel from Cuba and Americans aren't free to travel to Cuba. Why is one considered a dictatorship but the other isn't?"
Granted that's an oversimplification of the issue, but he had a great point. We need to be very careful we don't become what we are trying to stand against. Would Ahmadinejad use his visit as propaganda? Probably. Will he use his denial as propaganda? Absolutely.
Several presidential candidates have weighed in on the issue. They claim Ahmadinejad's presence at Ground Zero is offensive. Supporting freedom includes supporting the freedom to offend.
1 comment:
Granted that's an oversimplification of the issue, but he had a great point. We need to be very careful we don't become what we are trying to stand against.
Hell, it may be too late already. I'm real uncomfortable with a bunch of things going on in the name of "protecting the American people".
As far as the Iranian president is concerned I would have let the guy come, I know many say his country sponsors terrorism but to the best of my knowledge his country had nothing to do with 9/11.
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