Mike Wallace to Interview Iranian President

[Pangloss]

American viewers may wish to tune in to 60 Minutes tonight. Mike Wallace will be interviewing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

 

(No, I pasted it in from the Wikipedia, are you kidding?)

[abskebabs]

Should this man be interviewed on CBS, when he was a former ring leader of kidnappers of US citizens and probably played a major role in their torture? I'm all for free speech, and finding out what this man has got to say(I'm most surprised he's having an interview, I thought this was a joke), but won't the thought reach ppl's heads.

 

Should Ahmadinejad be treated as a guest or even allowed on the show, in light of the allegations made aganst him, and his activities in the past? If anything, Wallace should definitely press him on his alleged past crimes against Americans IMO.

[Saryctos]

Without a doubt this will be a aggressive interview, I can't imagine otherwise. I swear to all that is holy, that if this somehow turns into a 'understand my views I'm being oppressed!" kinda BS I will simply fire CBS from my channel presets.

[Pangloss]

Boy that guy is scary. Hitler reincarnate.

[Jim]

Boy that guy is scary. Hitler reincarnate.

 

I didn't come away reassured at all.

[Sisyphus]

'Fraid I missed it. What did he say?

[Pangloss]

It's more what he didn't say that was interesting. The main thing that impressed me was his intelligence and control. In terms of denial of reality and truth, picture Fidel Castro or Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf (you know, the former Iraqi Information Minister). But instead of a comic, table-pounding exterior and utter stupidity behind the mask, there is instead a vast intelligence and utter conviction and determination. Looking into that man's face is like peering into the gates of hell.

 

This is a man with a PhD in civil engineering, and he and his party identify themselves with science, reason and charity. They claim to believe in the power of education and helping their fellow man. But what do they do in reality? Carry out a religious pogrom on science, engineering and mathematics in universities across their country. If you're an educator in Iran these days, you'd better be properly connected and correctly religious. Or else. These guys are the Taliban with graduate degrees.

 

This is the kind of man that the Bush haters have been trying to warn us about for the last six years. They just had the ID mixed up. Seriously, when you look at a guy like this, and the danger he represents to the entire world, it's embarassing that we were so wrapped up in trivialities compared to what's happening in Iran. Over here our biggest worry is whether a scientist will be able to get federal funding for a politically incorrect project, and if he doesn't then he can always go on 60 Minutes and blast the administration! These people live in a whole other world.

[gcol]

Should Ahmadinejad be treated as a guest or even allowed on the show' date=' in light of the allegations made aganst him, and his activities in the past? [/quote']

 

Reminds me of the various bans on broadcasting the words of Gerry Adams, the front man for IRA terrorists. (remember them? All touchingly forgiven and rehabilitated now). I was in two minds about the correctness of it, but I dont like being accused of double standards. Pragmatism may be a political necessity, but it is certainly not a virtue.

[abskebabs]

Boy that guy is scary. Hitler reincarnate.

I saw bits of the interview on youtube. I think I agree, he is pretty creepy.

[Jim]

I saw bits of the interview on youtube. I think I agree, he is pretty creepy.

 

What was the deal with the jacket?

 

My guess is that the note said something else.

 

I only wish M. Wallace had some of his old horsepower. He really wasn't up to the job.

[Pangloss]

Wallace seemed a bit winded to me as well.

 

The jacket is apparently a trademark, and I've seen it described in a number of biographical sketches as ranging from "dilapidated" to "threadbare", or in more generous descriptions, "familiar" or "comfortable". The one he wore during this interview didn't seem threadbare to me, just a bit bland.

 

If you combine that piece of information with the part of the interview where they were discussing his appearance (after the aid handed him a note about adjusting that very same jacket), it seems clear that it's part of a visual package which he and his associates deem important to the exercise of power. I imagine it ties in with his public image as a common, humble, every-day Iranian.

 

That is, of course, far from the truth. But I imagine that it is more effective than the uniform he wore in the 1980s while he was putting political prisoners to death as the executioner at Evin Prison.

[Jim]

Wallace seemed a bit winded to me as well.

 

The jacket is apparently a trademark' date=' and I've seen it described in a number of biographical sketches as ranging from "dilapidated" to "threadbare", or in more generous descriptions, "familiar" or "comfortable". The one he wore during this interview didn't seem threadbare to me, just a bit bland.

 

If you combine that piece of information with the part of the interview where they were discussing his appearance (after the aid handed him a note about adjusting that very same jacket), it seems clear that it's part of a visual package which he and his associates deem important to the exercise of power. I imagine it ties in with his public image as a common, humble, every-day Iranian.

 

That is, of course, far from the truth. But I imagine that it is more effective than the uniform he wore in the 1980s while he was putting political prisoners to death as the executioner at Evin Prison.[/quote']

 

Heh, maybe the note really was about the jacket. I had assumed the note said something else and he lied when asked what it said.

[Sisyphus]

This is the kind of man that the Bush haters have been trying to warn us about for the last six years.

 

So Bush is Ahmadinejad lite? You know, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

[Pangloss]

Pfft, somebody would have made that comparison even if I hadn't said anything. At least this way I got to pre-empt some of the wind out of that sail. ;-)

[ParanoiA]

The interview done by Der Spiegel was more aggressive and no more comforting. I think this guy has tuned into the American psyche rather well, and if I was a religious man, I might call him the antichrist. He knows exactly how to sell himself to the pacifist side of humanity while the rest of us see this wolf for what he is.

 

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,418660,00.html

[Bettina]

I see cold black eyes...

 

Would you trust him with a nuke?

 

Bee

[Pangloss]

Thanks for the link. That was a fascinating piece.

[ParanoiA]

Thanks for the link. That was a fascinating piece.

Wasn't it though? He makes a good point about the Palestinians doing the time for Germany's crime. But I don't remember the reason why that area was picked, other than for biblical reasons.

[Pangloss]

I was especially interested in the blaming of the Iran-Iraq war on the US.

 

The man has just enough traction in what he says that I can see why it "plays in Peoristan". That's part of what makes him such a scarry guy.

 

But in some ways I'm kinda glad he's out there, front and center, for all the world to see. No more hiding behind collections of clerics and secretive student organizations. They're in the spotlight now.

 

(Is this 2006, or 1936? I forget....)

[abskebabs]

Wasn't it though? He makes a good point about the Palestinians doing the time for Germany's crime. But I don't remember the reason why that area was picked, other than for biblical reasons.

The area was picked by Zionist political movements long before either of the world wars. The holocaust perhaps helped gain a little momentum for the formation of the state of Israel, but was by no means what caused it to form(unlike how Ahmadinejad naively thinks it caused it). More specifically, it made the populaces of countries like Britain more sympathetic to the formation of Israel, causing its government to comply;, even when its embassies were being bombed and soldiers taken hostage and executed. Movements like Irgun certainly did not help the cause of the formation of Israel, but it carried on regardless.