Iran Universities Denounce Bollinger

You have to love the spin from the state-controlled Iranian media, seeming parroting nutroots blather.

Iranian universities, MPs denounce Columbia U. president

TEHRAN -- Columbia University President Lee Bollinger’s insult to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad seriously lowered the status of the university, MP Kazem Jalali said here on Tuesday.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a Majlis session, Jalali said Bollinger was goaded on by the Zionists and the U.S. neoconservatives.

Ahmadinejad delivered a speech on Monday at New York’s Columbia University.

The school’s president used disrespectful epithets in his introduction of the Iranian president.

Ahmadinejad responded by saying that Bollinger’s remarks were an insult to the intelligence of the audience, adding that that he had fallen under the influence of hostile elements in the U.S. press and political scene.

I get the sense we may be seeing some riots soon. Probably Friday.

Meanwhile, the presidents of six leading Iranian universities wrote a letter to Bollinger, criticizing him for insulting the Iranian president.

“Your insult to the president of a country with a population of 72 million and 7000 years of civilization and culture in an academic milieu is shameful,” the letter said.

“Although it seems that you uttered those sentences, which were filled with hostile sentiments, under strong pressure from the media, what is regretful and surprising is the fact that the media’s owners and policymakers (were allowed to) determine the contents of the (introductory) speech of the president of a prestigious university.”

Here's a few questions they have for Bollinger. I wonder where I've heard this stuff before?

Why has the U.S. been unable to locate Osama bin Laden, despite all its sophisticated equipment?

What do you have to say about the longstanding friendship between the Bush family and the Bin Laden family and their cooperation in the oil industry?

What do you think about Bush’s efforts to undermine the 9/11 investigation?