Skip to content or view screen version

The President and I (a *must watch* interview of President Ahmadinejad)

The Saker | 28.09.2010 21:43 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Other Press | Sheffield | World

Today I am truly delighted to post a really unique item: a 50min interview of President Ahmadinejad conducted by somebody who actually understands the issues and who wants to discover what this man is really like.

So far, all the interviews given by President Ahmadinejad to US reporters have inevitable resulted in idiotic questions, outright hostility, petty accusations and outright nonsense.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich interviews President Ahmadinejad
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich interviews President Ahmadinejad



Editorial note:

Today I am truly delighted to post a really unique item: a 50min interview of President Ahmadinejad conducted by somebody who actually understands the issues and who wants to discover what this man is really like. So far, ALL the interviews given by President Ahmadinejad to US reporters have inevitable resulted in idiotic questions, outright hostility, petty accusations and outright nonsense. As Roger Waters sang already many years ago, we have to "twenty channels of * on the TV to choose from". Well, now we have 2000 channels, but its still the same useless and offensive garbage.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich offers us an amazing opportunity to gain some insight into the personality of President Ahmadinejad. I am deeply grateful to her for allowing me to publish her interview on my blog.

One detail: I tried embedding the video directly on my blog, but at least on Firefox under Linux this did not work. I therefore simply placed a link to the page where you can either watch or even download the full video.

Kind regards,

The Saker

_____________________________________________________________


The President and I

(a *must watch* interview of President Ahmadinejad)

by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, 27 September 2010


I was pleasantly surprised when my request for an interview with Mr. Ahmadinejad, Iran's president was accepted. President Ahmadinejad has never shied away from being heard, but these interviews had been exclusive to prominent mainstream media personalities such as Larry King and Charlie Rose. However, it was the mainstream media's projection of Mr. Ahmadinejad that always remained questionable.

On September 21, 2010, on the occasion of President Ahmadinejad's participation at the UN General Assembly, I was given the opportunity to conduct a candid interview with Mr. Ahmadinejad. I had overlooked the fact that such a meeting would be conducted in the presence of the secret service and body guards. No sooner had this reality hit home than Mr. Ahmadinejad's down to earth and easy attitude made me forget the presence of others in the room as we began the session.

The time had come for me to verify or refute a research I had conducted as a Public Diplomacy graduate student while attending USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. At that time, I had examined the media's role in fashioning the image of Mr. Ahmadinejad. My research posited that though ‘some great men make history, and history makes some men great’, in an age dominated by the media-- internet, television, radio, and newspapers, the portrayal of Ahmadinejad is an artificial construct of the mainstream media. The image portrayed by the media had made him hero to some and a villain to others. Superstar or scapegoat, the Iranian President continues to dominate the news. With help and questions from university students and professors, I was eager to meet the real Ahmadinejad.

Although a full hour had been granted for the interview (more accurately Q&A), regrettably, given the number of questions and the fact that the translation was not simultaneous, many of the questions were left unanswered. To my amazement, President Ahmadinejad granted me a second, follow-up interview (the transcript of which will be forwarded to participating universities).

It is a rewarding experience to bring one's research to a practical conclusion. I firmly believe that Ahmadinejad is misrepresented by the corporate owned media. I leave it up to others to judge for themselves by watching the interview here:


 http://www.4shared.com/video/dgNdNIkK/Full__Interview_with_Ahmadinej.html

The Saker
- Homepage: http:// http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2010/09/president-and-i-must-watch-interview-of.html

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

President Ahmadinejad: Rest assured that Osama Bin Laden is in Washington D.C.

28.09.2010 21:51



excerpt from: Transcript: George Stephanopoulos Interviews Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

ABC News website, 5 May 2010

 http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=10558442


"Good Morning America" anchor George Stephanopoulos interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a day after Ahmadinejad spoke before the U.N.'s conference on the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Monday, claiming his country's nuclear program was not a threat to global security, but the United States' is.

The following is an excerpt from the transcript of the interview, which took place on Tuesday, May 4, 2010.

__________________

STEPHANOPOULOS: One final question. There's a new documentary out that says that Osama Bin Laden is living in Tehran. And the subject of the documentary, a man named Alan Parrot, one of the world's foremost falconers living in Iran, says he's spoken to Osama bin Laden several times since 2003. Is Osama bin Laden in Tehran?

AHMADINEJAD: Your question is laughable.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why?

AHMADINEJAD: The U.S. government has invaded Afghanistan in order to arrest Bin Laden. They probably know where Bin Laden is. If they don't know he is, why did they invade? Could we know the intelligence?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I think if they knew, they would find him. They would get him.

AHMADINEJAD: First they should have tried to find his location, then invade, those who did not know about his location first they invaded and then they tried to find out where he is, is that logical? Do you think this is logical?

STEPHANOPOULOS: What I think is that you didn't answer my question. Is he in Tehran or not?

AHMADINEJAD: Our position is quite clear. Some journalists have said Bin Laden is in Iran. These words don't have legal value. Our position towards Afghanistan and against terrorism is quite clear.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it true or not?

AHMADINEJAD: Maybe you know, but I don't know.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm asking you. You're the President of Iran.

AHMADINEJAD: I don't know such a thing, you are giving news which is very strange.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, let me ask it a different way. If you did know that Osama bin Laden was in Tehran, would you show him hospitality? Would you expel him? Would you arrest him?

AHMADINEJAD: I heard that Osama bin Laden is in the Washington, D.C.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No, you didn't.

AHMADINEJAD: Yes, I did. He's there. Because he was a previous partner of Mr. Bush. They were colleagues in fact in the old days. You know that. They were in the oil business together. They worked together. Mr. Bin Laden never cooperated with Iran but he cooperated with Mr. Bush--

STEPHANOPOULOS: I'll ask one more time and then I'll let you go. If you knew that Osama bin Laden was in Tehran, which you say you don't. If you knew, would you expel him? Would you arrest him? Would you show him hospitality?

AHMADINEJAD: Our borders, our borders are closed to the illegal entry of anyone. Anyone who that may be. Whether it's the three American mountaineers, Mr. Bin Laden or anyone else. The borders are closed. Our position is clear.

I'm quite surprised, to see that you adjust your daily lives based on the news that is being broadcast. I'm concerned that the government of the United States takes positions based on such news. If it is so, it is too bad. The news must be accurate and accountable, otherwise it will disrupt the relations between the nations. Just like this, did the government of the United States knew about the location of Mr. Bin Laden? And you said, "No, they went to find out." Well, first you locate--

STEPHANOPOULOS: They lost the trail.

AHMADINEJAD: --to find out they have invaded Afghanistan. First they have to find out his location and then invade. It's like for a judge to arrest someone and then go after the evidence.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But you deny categorically that he's in Tehran today? He is not-- Osama bin Laden is not in Tehran today?

AHMADINEJAD: Rest assured that he's in Washington. I think there's a high chance he's there.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don't agree.

Thank you for your time, Mr. President.

__________________

The video of this interview is available at:

 http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/iran-president-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-defiant-fac...

911blogger
- Homepage: http://911blogger.com/news/2010-05-06/president-ahmadinejad-rest-assured-osama-bin-laden-washington-dc

Thanks for the interview.

28.09.2010 23:13

Thanks for posting the interview. Its good to be able to hear the man in his own words without the filter of nonsense that usually accompanies him.

Thanks again.

Stephen W

The URL link to the article needs correction

29.09.2010 11:40



IMC editors, could you please remove the extra 'http://' in the URL link to the article? (copied below)


Homepage: http://  http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2010/09/president-and-i-must-watch-interview-of.html

reader