Columbia sued to prevent access by U.S. military recruiters to their students. They banned the ROTC from their campus. And yet Columbia's administration talks in glowing terms about allowing diverse opinions and freedom of speach.

Somehow it's appropriate to give an official invite to someone who denies the Holocaust, hates Jews and wishes to see Israel wiped off the map? They'd like to hear the views of a man who presides over a government that oppresses its people, executes gays, hangs teenaged girls, and anyone else they decide they don't like?

The Iranian thug can say anything he wants. But why does a major university have to give him a forum? Is it impossible to render moral judgments against hate-filled murderers? Would they sanction a speach by a serial killer from the local prison?

Perhaps Columbia's administration believes that a man who favors executing children has something worthwhile to contribute to their students? Frontpage Magazine had a discussion three years ago about the slow hanging of a sixteen year old girl in Iran:

Execution of a 16 Year Old Girl

The president of Iran is an evil man heading up a vile government.

I'm sure people can find bad things to say about the U.S. and about Israel. But pointing out the faults of one group does not absolve the other group of their crimes or make them equivalent to the first. Pointing out that someone else has unpaid parking tickets does nothing to make the criticism of your murders invalid or make you any less a murderer.