UNITED NATIONS – The United States delegation walked out of the United Nations speech of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday after he said some in the world had speculated that Americans were behind the September 11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel’s survival.
He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the United States wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel and is deeply at odds with the United States and European allies over its nuclear programme and suspicions that it is designed to produce an atomic bomb. Iran says it is only working on technology for electricity generation.
The United States delegation left the hall after Ahmadinejad said there were three theories about the September 11, 2001 attacks:
•That a “powerful and complex terrorist group” penetrated United States intelligence and defences.
• “That some segments within the United States 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.”
The Americans stood and walked out without listening to the third theory: that the attack was the work of “a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation”.
Mark Kornblau, spokesman of the United States Mission to the world body, issued a statement within moments of Ahmadinejad’s attack.
“Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people,” he said, “Mr Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable.” (AP)
