Ahmadinejad talks to US students

Ahmadinejad portrayed himself yesterday as an intellectual and argued that his administration respected reason and science.

But the former engineering professor, appearing shaken and irate over what he called "insults" from his host, soon found himself drawn into the type of rhetoric that has alienated American audiences in the past.

He provoked derisive laughter by responding to a question about Iran's execution of homosexuals by saying: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country … I don't know who's told you that we have this."

Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, set the combative tone in his introduction of Ahmadinejad by saying: "Mr President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator."

Ahmadinejad retorted that Bollinger's opening was "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here".

"There were insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," Ahmadinejad said, accusing Bollinger of falling under the influence of the hostile US press and politicians.

Ahmadinejad drew audience applause at times, such as when he bemoaned the plight of the Palestinians. But he often declined to offer simple answers the audience sought, responding instead with his own questions or long statements about history and justice.

Ahmadinejad has in the past called for Israel's elimination. But his exact remarks have been disputed.

Some translators say he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" but others say that would be better translated as "vanish from the pages of time" - implying Israel would disappear on its own rather than be destroyed.

Asked by an audience member if Iran sought the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad did not answer directly.

"We are friends of all the nations," he said. "We are friends with the Jewish people. There are many Jews in Iran living peacefully with security."

He also said Palestinians must determine their own future.

Ahmadinejad's past statements about the Holocaust have also raised hackles in the West, and were soundly attacked by Bollinger.

"In a December 2005 state television broadcast, you described the Holocaust as the fabricated legend," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad said in his opening remarks. "One year later, you held a two-day conference of Holocaust deniers."

Bollinger said that might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this, it makes you simply ridiculous. The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history," he said.

Ahmadinejad denied he had questioned whether the Holocaust occurred.

"Granted this happened, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?" he said.

But Ahmadinejad went on to say that he was defending the rights of European academics imprisoned for "questioning certain aspects" of the Holocaust, an apparent reference to a small number who have been prosecuted under national laws for denying or minimising the genocide.

"There's nothing known as absolute," Ahmadinejad said. He said the Holocaust has been abused as a justification for Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians.

"Why is it that the Palestinian people are paying the price for an event they had nothing to do with?" he asked.

Asked why he had asked to visit the World Trade Centre site - a request denied by New York authorities - Ahmadinejad said he wanted to express sympathy for the victims of the September 11 attacks.

Then he appeared to question whether al-Qaida was responsible, saying more research was needed.

"If the root causes of 9/11 are examined properly - why it happened, what caused it, what were the conditions that led to it, who truly was involved, who was really involved - and put it all together to understand how to prevent the crisis in Iraq, fix the problem in Afghanistan and Iraq combined," Ahmadinejad said.

Bollinger drew strong criticism for inviting Ahmadinejad to Columbia and had promised tough questions in his introduction. But the stridency of his attack on the Iranian leader took many by surprise.

"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Bollinger told Ahmadinejad about the leader's Holocaust denial. "Will you cease this outrage?"

Bollinger's introduction was "very harsh", said Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University.

"Inviting him and then turning around and alienating and insulting an entire nation whose representative this man happens to be is simply inappropriate," said Dabashi, who also criticised Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad closed his prepared remarks with a terse smile, to applause and boos, before taking questions from the audience.

In Iran, Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia could be seen on Arabic satellite channels and state television's Arabic-language service, but it did not appear on channels that broadcast in Farsi, the language of Iran.

Asked about his country's nuclear intentions, Ahmadinejad insisted the programme is peaceful, legal and entirely within Iran's rights, despite attempts by "monopolistic", "selfish" powers to derail it. "How come is it that you have that right, and we can't have it?" he added.

US President George Bush said Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia "speaks volumes about, really, the greatness of America".

He told Fox News Channel that if Bollinger considered Ahmadinejad's visit an educational experience for Columbia students: "I guess it's OK with me".

But conservatives on Capitol Hill were critical. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said he thought the invitation to Ahmadinejad was a mistake "because he comes literally with blood on his hands".

Thousands of people jammed two blocks of 47th Street across from the United Nations to protest Ahmadinejad's visit to New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly session.

The speakers, most of them politicians and officials from Jewish organisations, proclaimed their support for Israel and criticised the Iranian leader for his remarks questioning the Holocaust.

Hundreds of protesters also assembled at Columbia.