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Columbia Dean Defends Ahmadinejad Invitation

Submitted by franck prissert, Sep 24, 2007 17:25

Please find below an email I just sent to Fox. The Dean could not have picked worse historical data to justify his position.

"

In your interview of Dean Coatsworth, I had heard him say he would have invited Hitler in 1939, before the Holocaust took place, but not in 1945, after he was branded a war criminal. I replayed part of the interview, but I could not find mention of these dates.

I did, however, find confirmation in Annie Karni's article in the New York Sun dated 9/24. This is important because, as you know, the Holocaust "officially" started on Krystal Nacht on November 9, 1938. Obviously, this was the culmination of a movement which had started in the early 30's – even Charlie Chaplin knew what was going on, releasing his movie The Dictator in 1936. Not to mention the various pogroms, etc.

So quoting the Dean accurately is essential. If he meant 1939, I can understand why he would need more research on the Holocaust and why he would think Ahmadinejad could help. But, contrary to his assertion, Franklin Roosevelt did not need more information from Hitler – all he had to do was watch The Dictator. At the time, Chaplin was one the country's richest man so what he knew, the Powers knew.

Then again, the Dean seemed a little confused as to the forum of the 30's – it was indeed the failed League of Nation. This befuddling probably also accounts for why the Dean would posit that Hitler would have been available in 1945. At the time, he was hunkered down in Berlin, where he died on April 30.

My point is this. We did not gain anything by hosting members of the Nazi party in the 30's, and we did not gain anything by hosting Ahmadinejad today. They both gained the same thing, however: free propaganda in their own country.

Ahmadinejad's next step: back in Iran, he will replay the rounds of applause he got at Columbia, this great University where many US Politicians are schooled. He will then ask the next theoretical question: why is the US Administration imposing sanctions on his free fellow countrymen? Oh, and I forgot, on his "free "fellow" coutrywomen?

We created a lose-lose situation for ourselves. What Dean Hubbard and Bollinger are doing is damage control, but the damage is done.

Please feel free to circulate this opinion letter.

Sincerely,

Franck J. Prissert

Columbia Business School – Class of '79."

C.E.O.

Capital Max, Inc.

S.E.C. Registered Investment Advisor

The Other Street ®


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Comment By Date

Please find below an email I just sent to Fox. The Dean could not have picked worse historical data to...

franck prissert 

Sep 24, 2007 17:25

Muslims Against Sharia condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the decision of Columbia University to provide a speaking venue for... [MORE]

Muslims Against Sharia 

Sep 24, 2007 13:15

Mr. Coatsworth presumes with extraordinary naiveté, that the President of Iran is actually open to considering ideas and opinions other... [MORE]

Sheri Clemons 

Sep 24, 2007 07:41

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