US delegation walks out on Ahmadinejad UNGA speech

Iranian leader attacks US as root of evil in the world; says anyone who questions the facts of September 11th or the Holocaust is threatened with sanctions; casts doubt on US killing of Osama bin Laden.

NEW YORK -- At the United Nations General Assembly plenary meeting on Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prompted a walkout by substantial numbers of delegates when he yet again deemed September 11th a conspiracy theory and mentioned his skepticism about the Holocaust.

Many delegates got up and left the General Assembly hall ten minutes into the Iranian leader's speech when he suggested that European countries use the Holocaust as a pretext for giving aid to Israel.


In typically florid prose, Ahmadinejad's twenty minute speech bemoaned the world's inequities of wealth and power. He did not allude to the issue preoccupying most General Assembly attendees, specifically the Palestinians' plans to apply to the United Nations for statehood recognition.

Instead, he posed a series of rhetorical questions which implicitly posited that the United States is at the root of the world's ills due to its foreign policy decisions.

"Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories," United States Mission to the United Nations spokesperson Mark Kornblau said in a statement issued even before Ahmadinejad's speech had concluded.

"Can the flower of democracy blossom from NATO's missiles, bombs or guns?" Ahmadinejad asked.

The Iranian leader also cast doubt on the American killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in May of this year, saying that anyone who questions the facts of September 11th or the Holocaust is threatened with sanction.

"Instead of assigning a fact-finding team, they killed the main perpetrator and threw his body into the sea," Ahmadinejad said, then asked why bin Laden was not brought to justice at a trial.

"Is there any classified information that must be kept secret?" he asked pointedly.