He's not gay, he just has a "wide stance."

Seriously though, the Army's not welcome on campus because of "don't ask, don't tell" but Ahmadinejad is welcomed and he has a "tell and we stone you death" policy.

Can't you just imagine the discussion over the invite? "They kill homosexuals."
"That's bad."
"They deny the holocaust."
"Very bad."
"They are killing Americans in Iraq."
"Not good."
"He hates George Bush."
"Oh, great, let's invite him speak."

I am glad that they invited him to speak and challenged him to defend his policies. He showed himself to be a fool (if anyone had ever doubted that before the speech). Free speech is a good thing, DMZDave.

I agree, I don't have a problem with the free exchange of ideas, especially when Ahmadinejad had to defend himself and his idiotic policies, and makes statements such as the above which makes him an international laughingstock.

Before we sink into the morass of congratulating Columbia for their sneak attack on this guy by inviting him to speak and then ambushing him, lets recall the facts: Their claim to openess does not extend to ROTC or military recruiters. Nor does it extend to the leader of the Minutemen who was refused a chance to speak at Columbia. Lets also recall that they know full well Iran is killing American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan but invited their dictator anyway. Regardless of how rough they treated him, he should have never been there in the first place and Columbia is just another TV advertising night school stripped of its greatness when all is said and done.

I kind of agree with the Senator on this one. The free exchange of ideas is great, if such an exchange actually exists. There was no free exchange when the Minutemen headman was virtually attacked on stage. There is no "free exchange" when they prohibit ROTC and recruiters.

Should he have been allowed to speak? Sure. But is what Columbia University is offering really a "free exchange"? No. And they should be taken to task for it. No need to ban anything or punish them, but they deserve every bit of bad press they get.

Thank you Senator Douglas. I suspect we have similar views because we both served in the Army during those dreadful Carter years when Iran demonstrated their commitment to free speech and international diplomacy by seizing the American embassy and taking our diplomats hostage.

I don't have a problem talking with evil men. I have spent hundreds of hours in direct conversations with North Koreans at Panmunjom and it was a useful but I would not invite them to any US university as part of a distinguished speaker series and give them that honor. Columbia apparently has one litmus test for speech. If you are anti-Bush, all else can be forgiven. Do they let the CIA recruit on campus? No. The ROTC? No. The Minutemen speak on campus? No. Columbia does not for a minute believe in the free exchange of ideas.

Emboldened from his reception in NY, Ahmadinejad will likely return home and do even more horrible things to his own people and ours and if you are a soldier in Iraq on the receiving end of an IED manufactured in Iran, trust me, that speech wasn't free and it's not a good thing.

Everyone seems to be on the same page here. The Nutcase was not at Columbia for anything but propaganda. And as DMZDave said, the speech was not free.

To the idea I don't have a problem talking with evil men, I can add a few corollaries:

I don't have a problem placing