timesofearth, September 23, 2010
http://www.timesofearth.com/Worldnews... - The US and other Western delegations at the 65th UN General Assembly have walked out in protest at the speech of the Iranian president. The American delegation was joined in its walk-out by representatives from 32 other nations - including all the EU countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

UNITED NATIONS — US diplomats and other Western delegations have walked out of a United Nations summit as the Iranian president said some believe the 9/11 attacks on the US was the work of Americans to save Israel.

Two US officials led the walkout as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the General Assemly in New York on Thursday. They were quickly followed by the British and other Western delegations.

Ahmadinejad said there was a theory that "some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.

"The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view," he said.

PJ Crowley, the US assistant secretary of state, told AFP news agency the statement was "totally outrageous".

"[Those killed in the attacks] were people of all faiths, all nationalities. They were killed by 19 people, a plot perpetrated by al-Qaeda," he said.

"We know who did it and they have admitted who did it. This idea that nine years later there is still some debate about who did it and why is outrageous."

About 3,000 people died when hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a fourth aircraft plummeted into a Pennsylvania field in 2001.

Ahmadinejad also briefly touched on the four sets of UN sanctions imposed on his country over Tehran's refusal stop enriching uranium and to prove Iran is not trying to build an atomic bomb.
Some members of the Security Council have "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs," Ahmadinejad said.

He accused the US of building up its nuclear arsenal instead of dismantling it and reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world.

The UN Security Council in June imposed a fourth set of sanctions against Iran and the European Union and the US have added even more extensive sanctions targeting its foreign trade.

Iran insists that its nuclear programme has only peaceful intentions.

About 800 people including many of Iranian origin protested outside the UN headquarters as Ahmadinejad was attending the General Assembly.

They chanted "Ahmadinejad is a terrorist" and staged a street performance depicting people stained with fake blood and scenes of hanging and stoning.

"It is time for the international community to stop dealing with Ahmadinejad and finally recognise and empower the opposition, so that the Iranian people can finally get the democratic change it deserves," Ali Safavi, a demonstrator, said.