Letters to The Editor: KSG Reacts to Ex-Iranian President's Visit
Issue date: 10/4/06 Section: Op-Ed
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Editor's Note: In the last issue of The Citizen, we asked you, our readers, to share with us your views on the controversial Forum event with former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. The following is a sampling of the diverse responses we received.
The forum event former Iranian President Khatami, caused much debate. But, whether you agree with Khatami's opinions or not, it is for precisely this reason that the debate, one in which hard questions were put to the President and hard answers were given, was so important. The current situation with Iran is one of the greatest foreign policy problems that the world faces today. And, the best solution to that problem will be one built out of diplomacy. Without dialogue, effective diplomacy is impossible. As the Kennedy School works to educate the public policy leaders of tomorrow, what better way to do this than by debating the greatest problems of today? And, what better way to try to address these problems than by engaging in a dialogue.
Xenia Dormandy
Executive Director for Research
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Khatami's remarks at Harvard were generally more moderate than what I heard the next week when I met with President Ahmadinejad. I suppose that's why Khatami is called a "moderate", though that designation is relative in Iranian politics. But what most struck me in comparing the two is that in some of the answers Khatami gave to students' questions, notably his last response on the question of US-Iranian relations, he stated the Iranian position but then tried to point the way to a resolution. Ahmadinejad never seemed to be thinking solutions, but to explicate differences as if they were unbridgeable. If this attitude by the current Iranian president is more than temporary, it does not augur well for solving the many issues of concern to us.
Dr. Ashton Carter
Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs
The forum event former Iranian President Khatami, caused much debate. But, whether you agree with Khatami's opinions or not, it is for precisely this reason that the debate, one in which hard questions were put to the President and hard answers were given, was so important. The current situation with Iran is one of the greatest foreign policy problems that the world faces today. And, the best solution to that problem will be one built out of diplomacy. Without dialogue, effective diplomacy is impossible. As the Kennedy School works to educate the public policy leaders of tomorrow, what better way to do this than by debating the greatest problems of today? And, what better way to try to address these problems than by engaging in a dialogue.
Xenia Dormandy
Executive Director for Research
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Khatami's remarks at Harvard were generally more moderate than what I heard the next week when I met with President Ahmadinejad. I suppose that's why Khatami is called a "moderate", though that designation is relative in Iranian politics. But what most struck me in comparing the two is that in some of the answers Khatami gave to students' questions, notably his last response on the question of US-Iranian relations, he stated the Iranian position but then tried to point the way to a resolution. Ahmadinejad never seemed to be thinking solutions, but to explicate differences as if they were unbridgeable. If this attitude by the current Iranian president is more than temporary, it does not augur well for solving the many issues of concern to us.
Dr. Ashton Carter
Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs
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