U.S. walks out on Ahmadinejad
By Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
Posted: Friday, Sep. 24, 2010
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Remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triggered a walkout by the U.S. delegation and its allies. CHRIS MCGRATH - GETTY
UNITED NATIONS Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a series of incendiary remarks in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, notably the assertion that the U.S. orchestrated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to rescue its declining economy, reassert its weakening grip on the Middle East and save Israel.
Those comments prompted at least 33 delegations to walk out, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica and all 27 members of the European Union and the union's representative, diplomats said.
The theme of Ahmadinejad's often flowery speech was that the capitalist world order was collapsing. He cited three examples: the 9-11 attacks, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.
He said there were three theories about the origins of the 9-11 attacks, including "that some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the ****** to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime."
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. swiftly issued a terse response.
"Rather than representing the aspirations and good will of the Iranian people, Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable," it said in a statement.
It was not the first time Ahmadinejad espoused the theory, but never before so publicly.
"The majority of the American people, as well as other nations and politicians, agree with this view," he said.
Ahmadinejad obviously delights in being provocative during his annual U.N. visit. He framed his comments about 9-11 as an examination of opinions, an approach he has used repeatedly in questioning the Holocaust.
But his assertion that most Americans agree with him surely lacked any factual basis, as did his assertion that reviving the U.S. economy was the motive behind the attacks; the U.S. economy declined significantly after the attacks. In his interviews with journalists, as during his debates with opponents in the disputed Iranian presidential election last year, Ahmadinejad has often been accused of making up statements wholesale.
