Mike, Mike … We know it’s great sport asking world leaders about their hobbies, kids, and taste in clothes. But why waste a breath on the fun stuff when people’s lives are at stake? For the benefit of life-loving inhabitants of Planet Earth, you might have asked Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about his role in the Office for Strengthening of Unity (OSU), ”which played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979,” according to the non-profit group Iran Focus.
(See: http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2605)
During a radio interview prior to your foolish appearance on “60 Minutes” last Sunday, you mentioned the reams of material you’d been reading. Did your homework include Ahmadinejad’s reputation for being a “ruthless interrogator and torturer?” Did you raise this minor issue with Mr. Ahmadinejad during the interview?
No Mike, you did not. Instead, your feeble preparations gave the torturer plenty of air time to complain about President George W. Bush and the alleged war-mongering ways of his administration. An accomplice to Ahmadinejad’s hypocrisy, you let him whine of western “outrages” like Abu Ghraib. A competent journalist without extreme left-wing political leanings would have reminded Mr. Ahmadinejad of his own experience with abuse, torture, and terror. But Mike, alas, you passsed on the chance en lieu of proving that you and Mahmoud could share a distaste for all things Bush.
Smiles. You and Ahmadinejad let your pearly whites sparkle for viewers worldwide. The camera focused on your smiles as if to imply that smiles are key to Middle East peace. Thankfully, some reporters are more committed to reality.
Iran Watch notes the following, which you sadly did not. “According to the state-run website Baztab, allies of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami have revealed that Ahmadinejad worked for some time as an executioner in the notorious Evin Prison, where thousands of political prisoners were executed in the bloody purges of the 1980s.”
But nevermind, Mike Wallace. Let’s talk about hobbies. You know, the fun stuff.
