Ahmadinejad Speech Triggers Western Walkout
September 22, 2011
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, September 22, 2011.
On the eve of the Iranian president’s speech, Iran released two American hikers imprisoned for two years in a move welcomed by the White House. But any goodwill generated by the gesture may have been swept away by the Ahmadinejad policy speech.
In it, he blamed Western powers for a catalogue of world ills including slavery, the two world wars, drug trafficking and the imposition of authoritarian regimes in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Ahmadinejad’s U.N. speech, his fifth since assuming power in 2005, was probably his most controversial and triggered what has become an annual walkout by Western delegates including the mid-level U.S. diplomats present when the speech began.
He made no mention of current policy issues such as Iran’s controversial nuclear program, instead attacking what he termed arrogant Western powers. He is heard through an interpreter.
“They tolerate no questions or criticism and instead of presenting a reason for their violations, they always put themselves in the position of a claimant," he said. "By using their imperialistic media network, which is under the influence of colonialism, they threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and September 11th with sanctions and military action.”
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