Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.
What he had to say didn't go over to well with all in attendance.
Read the full transcript of Ahmadinejad's speech.
The Associated Press summarizes Ahmadinejad's remarks and reaction from UN delegates:
Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked yet another controversy Thursday saying a majority of people in the United States and around the world believe the American government staged the Sept. 11 terror attacks in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.
The provocative comments prompted the U.S. delegation to walk out of Ahmadinejad's U.N. speech, where he also blamed the U.S. as the power behind U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used as fuel for electricity generation or to build nuclear weapons.
Delegations from all 27 European Union nations followed the Americans out along with representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Costa Rica, an EU diplomat said.
Ahmadinejad said the U.S. has allocated $80 billion to upgrade its nuclear arsenal and is not a fair judge to sit as a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council to punish Iran for its nuclear activities. Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.
The Iranian leader — who has in the past cast doubt over the U.S. version of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — also called for setting up an independent fact-finding U.N. team to probe the attacks. That, he said, would keep the terror assault from turning into what he has called a sacred issue like the Holocaust where "expressing opinion about it won't be banned".
Here's the UN's translation of Ahmadinejad's comments about the 9/11 attacks:
It was said that some three thousands people were killed on the II September for which we are all very saddened. Yet, up until now, in Afghanistan and Iraq hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions wounded and displaced and the conflict is still going on and expanding.
In identifying those responsible for the attack, there were three viewpoints.
1- That a very powerful and complex terrorist group, able to successfully cross all layers of the American intelligence and security, carried out the attack. This is the main viewpoint advocated by American statesmen.
2- That some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime. The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view.
3- It was carried out by a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation. Apparently, this viewpoint has fewer proponents. The main evidence linking the incident was a few passports found in the huge volume of rubble and a video of an individual whose place of domicile was unknown but it was announced that he had been involved in oil deals with some American officials. It was also covered up and said that due to the explosion and fire no trace of the suicide attackers was found.
According to AP, after Ahmadinejad said that the "majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view," that 9/11 was orchestrated by the U.S. government, two American diplomats stood up and walked out, not listening to the third theory. Delegations from other nations walked out as well.
It's easy to say that Ahmadinejad is a lunatic, espousing wacko conspiracy theories. He's nuts. He's evil. He hates America, and he hates Israel and wants to wipe it off the map.
While the majority of Americans do not agree with the view that 9/11 was an inside job, there are some notable American citizens and others who share Ahmadinejad's theory.
Willie Nelson
Jesse Ventura
Janeane Garofalo
Charlie Sheen
Martin Sheen
Mark Ruffalo
Harry Belafonte
Michael Moore
Woody Harrelson
Ed Begley, Jr.
Rosie O'Donnell
Tommy Chong
Margaret Cho
Ed Asner
Heather Thomas
Christine Ebersole
Marion Cotillard
James Brolin
David Lynch
Michelle Phillips
Randi Rhodes
Erica Jong
Kevin Barrett
Van Jones
To my knowledge, no one on this list is a conservative.
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