| Iran Holocaust conference centers as much on ambition as belief |
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| Written by International Herald Tribune | |
| Thursday, 14 December 2006 | |
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But why would the Iranians invite speakers with so little
credibility in the West, including a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard
and disgraced European scholars? That question misses the point. The Iranian president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, portrays conference participants like David Duke, the
former Louisiana Klan leader, and Robert Faurisson of France, who has
devoted his life to trying to prove that the Nazi gas chambers are a
myth, as honest men who have been silenced by their governments.
Ahmadinejad seems to enjoy pointing out that countries like Germany,
France and Austria claim to champion free debate yet have made it
illegal to deny the Holocaust.
The two-day meeting in Tehran included no attempt to come to terms with the nature of the well-documented Nazi slaughter, offering only a platform to those pursuing the fantasy that it never happened. In addition, the organizers of the conference, a small circle around the president, have been building ties with neo-Nazi groups in Europe.
Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/14/africa/web.1214holocaust.php |
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