I actually don't have a problem with him speaking at Columbia University. While I think it is grossly hypocritical for Columbia to prohibit ROTC from operating on campus -- citing their policy on homosexuality -- while inviting a head of state from a country that actually kills people for being homosexual, I don't think that it is wrong for Ahmadinejad to have a platform to spout his views.
When you see him in the media he can sometimes come off as merely a head of state with a different, albeit perhaps equally valid perspective, from that of the U.S. But when he flatly states that Iran doesn't have homosexuals in its large population he makes himself a laughing stock, and does more to undermine his credibility than any U.S. propaganda effort ever could.
Update: Dana Milbank makes some similar points here.
When you see him in the media he can sometimes come off as merely a head of state with a different, albeit perhaps equally valid perspective, from that of the U.S. But when he flatly states that Iran doesn't have homosexuals in its large population he makes himself a laughing stock, and does more to undermine his credibility than any U.S. propaganda effort ever could.
Update: Dana Milbank makes some similar points here.
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