tomder55
Sep 21, 2007, 05:56 AM
The controversy surrounding the President of Iran Ahmamadjihad's request to visit Ground Zero in NYC recalls a time when Teddy Roosevelt was the Police Commissioner of the city . [hat tip the NY Sun which added this to the bottom of their article about his visit]
New York City Police Department officials said yesterday that the city would deploy thousands of its officers to protect Mr. Ahmadinejad, along with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan and other countries as they gather for the 62nd session of the General Assembly, which technically opens today. Streets will be blocked off to protect the dignitaries as they move through the city and also to accommodate dozens of protests.
The visits by the high-profile heads of state attending the U.N. meetings could set back city taxpayers millions of dollars that the federal government may — or may not — reimburse, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
"We'll do whatever we can, regardless of the cost, and then we'll try to get the federal government to pay the security costs, which they are obligated to do for U.N. visitors under an agreement in which they seldom do. But we're not going to spare any expense," he said.
The police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, called the General Assembly security task "a major operation for us, but it's something we've done every year for many years in the past."
The prospect of Mr. Ahmadinejad visiting the city recalled the famous reaction of Theodore Roosevelt to the visit of a German anti-Semite to the city back in the days when Roosevelt was police commissioner. In his autobiography, published in 1913, Roosevelt wrote about how he assigned to the anti-Semite an all-Jewish security detail.
"The proper thing to do was to make him ridiculous," Roosevelt wrote. "It was the most effective possible answer; and incidentally it was an object lesson to our people, whose greatest need is to learn that there must be no division by class hatred."New York Braces for Ahmadinejad - September 18, 2007 - The New York Sun (http://www.nysun.com/article/62814)
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/092107.jpg
New York City Police Department officials said yesterday that the city would deploy thousands of its officers to protect Mr. Ahmadinejad, along with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan and other countries as they gather for the 62nd session of the General Assembly, which technically opens today. Streets will be blocked off to protect the dignitaries as they move through the city and also to accommodate dozens of protests.
The visits by the high-profile heads of state attending the U.N. meetings could set back city taxpayers millions of dollars that the federal government may — or may not — reimburse, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
"We'll do whatever we can, regardless of the cost, and then we'll try to get the federal government to pay the security costs, which they are obligated to do for U.N. visitors under an agreement in which they seldom do. But we're not going to spare any expense," he said.
The police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, called the General Assembly security task "a major operation for us, but it's something we've done every year for many years in the past."
The prospect of Mr. Ahmadinejad visiting the city recalled the famous reaction of Theodore Roosevelt to the visit of a German anti-Semite to the city back in the days when Roosevelt was police commissioner. In his autobiography, published in 1913, Roosevelt wrote about how he assigned to the anti-Semite an all-Jewish security detail.
"The proper thing to do was to make him ridiculous," Roosevelt wrote. "It was the most effective possible answer; and incidentally it was an object lesson to our people, whose greatest need is to learn that there must be no division by class hatred."New York Braces for Ahmadinejad - September 18, 2007 - The New York Sun (http://www.nysun.com/article/62814)
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/092107.jpg