Mr. Ahmadinejad's Visit

So were not going to allow President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran visit the site of the fallen World Trade Center when he comes to New York. Those opposing the visit point out that his government has opposed US presence in Iraq, has supported the militias that have struggled with American forces causing the deaths of many of our troops. Iran has even supplied the design and materials for the IED’s that are the major cause of American deaths. Besides Iran refuses to give up his program to develop atomic weapons (we don’t buy his claim he’s only trying to develop atomic fuels). He doesn’t have the moral credentials to make such a visit.
Let’s consider these reason for banning President Ahmadinejsad’s visit.
Is Iran really wrong for opposing America’s invasion of Iraq? I don’t think they’re so far out of line. Suppose some powerful country invaded Mexico; wouldn’t the United States oppose such an invasion in most cases. Or suppose that the invader was considered the representative of a religion that had a history of invading countries populated by members of your religion, wouldn’t you be right in opposing the invasion
A year after the invasion, Iraq was in bloody turmoil. Sunni Moslems attacked Sheite Moslems and vice versa. Many thousand innocent civilians were slaughtered. Various groups developed militias to protect their people, the Sheites among them. Iran being a Sheite country nearby where the carnage was taken place reached out a helping hand to their co-religionists. It seems to me this was a humane thing to do considering the United States was unable to control the violence.
The United States attacked the Sheite militias and armed conflict occurred. The militias faced a mighty enemy and were thus in a bad situation. Once again Iran reached out to help their brother Muslims against the Crusaders. I feel the situation was brought on by the unnecessary and unfair American invasion. I was appalled by it and I can understand how the Iranians must have been outraged by the deaths of so many of their fellow Muslims.
The technical proficiency of the American military leads the world. The militias engaging them had no advanced weaponry. Mortars were their most threatening weapons. The Iranians claim they supplied no weapons to the Iraqi’s, but if they did one could understand their motivation. If we didn’t want to face such weapons we shouldn’t have gone to Iraq in the first place.
The most dire accusation against Iran is that it is attempting to obtain atomic weapons. The US and its allies threaten to attack Iran if it does gain such weapons. I don’t want Iran to have atomic weapons, but I don’t want the United States or any other nation to have them either. I understand why Iran wants atomic weapons. Israel, a nearby adversary, has them. Also, the United States, a country that now has a history of attacking other nations unprovoked, has the mightiest atomic arsenal in the world. The United States has been making threats towards Iran. I don’t believe Iran should continue its program to obtain atomic weapons. Instead it should lead a planetary campaign to remove atomic weapons from our world. By doing so Mr. Ahmadinejad would solidify his claim to the moral right to visit the World Trade Center site.
Max Angst

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