I saw part of this speech on the news the other day.

It came across as impertinent, ungracious and thoroughly ill-tempered, as well as being incredibly bad-mannered.

There is nothing wrong at all with Bollinger holding the views that he does, but to use a forum at which President Ahmadinejad was an invited guest, for such an intemperate and vituperative expression of those views, is frankly inexcusable.

But that's America for you. It's our way or the highway, buster.

They really cannot see that in the eyes of non-Americans, the million or so souls murdered since the US invaded Iraq are real people. To Americans, they are just another bunch of towelheads who happened to get in the way of democracy's unstoppable march.

One of the defences against the reality of these casualties is that they "have been killed by their own sectarian squabbles" (squabbles, Boaz?), as if this excuses the US intervention in the first place. This blithely assumes that the chaos created by the American invasion had nothing to do with the faction-fighting - of course it did. They saw opportunities to use the presence of the serial invader as a cover for their own vendettas and power struggles.

But apart from all that, Bollinger very conveniently chooses to forget, not just the destabilizing influence of the US in its most recent invasion of Iraq, but the abject failure of every US policy for the Middle East in the past sixty years.

Motes and beams, Boaz?

I am unsurprised at the virulence of some of the comments so far. In essence the comments effectively supporting the Islamic Republic President give all the usual signs of being motivated solely by a loathing of the U.S.
It is my opinion that everything that was said by the academic were statements of fact. It seems more than passing strange that he should be criticised for speaking the truth.
It speaks volumes for the US - and Australia - that we can get 'stuck into' Bush or anyone else, whereas in Iran such comments are simply not allowed.
I do not see the US as perfect, far from it, but in comparison to theocratic Iran it is a haven of democracy and freedom.
It is hard to see what there is to be gained from a de facto defence of the Iranian theocrats. In particular I fail to see that to criticise the academic because he has not helped reconciliation is downright weird. In the context of the Iranian President the word 'reconciliation' is simply the modern equivalent of pre WW 2 'appeasement'. All we need now is someone important to get off a plane waving a piece of paper squeeking 'peace in our time'.
Sadly it has to be said that some OLO Forum writers have a very tenuous grasp of reality

great speech, though the idea of an american sermonising on iran's lack of human rights is a bit rich.

A great speech, and not before time.

Of course those who seem to side with the obnoxious little moron have completely forgotten that the same could not have taken place in Teheran.

For all it faults and double standards the USA, and its allies, including Israel are a more powerful force for good, than anything coming out of any of the Islamic realms.

I am certainly no fan of the Iranian leader but he was a guest. And a guest, no matter how unpopular ,should be shown levels of etiquette.
If your loathing of such a person is so great, do not invite him. Simple.
But to invite then in front of a crowd ,hold that person up to ridicule and critisism is very bad manners.
The American could have shown a natural sense of courtesy, as it is he let down his university, himself and his country.
The Iranian can now say,"Look! This is typical of the ignorant way the Americans treat their guests".

Bob Brown was branded as a lunatic for daring to question Bush in our parliament about David Hicks and the abuses in Gitmo Bay yet Bollinger is allowed to demonise the president of Iran by telling porky pies and forgetting all about the slaughter house of Iraq? Give me a break hypocrites one and all.

Now let's focus on the story of H. H is a homosexual man from Iran who spent 6 years in one of our lovely holiday camps in the desert because our own government said he would not be persecuted if he was sent back to Iran. On one occasion he was shackled to his bed for medical care, he was beaten, locked in isolation cells and driven insane. Our government have finally had to grant him residence after nearly 8 years of torment. H is not the only one.

1 million Iraqis are dead, it was the US who once supported Iraq to murder 1 million Persians and you clowns want Iran to bow to the US?

Give me a break and name one country that Iran has invaded, threatened,bombed or destroyed. And puleeeese don't give me the bull about wanting to wipe Israel off the map because he has never said such a thing. Like many millions of Jews and Israeli's he wants an end to the zionist rule that wants to steal all the land.