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New York snubs Ahmadinejad

Citing security concerns, New York City authorities yesterday rejected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request to tour Ground Zero, the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Ahmadinejad's plan had angered critics, who were outraged at the idea of the leader of a country Washington considers a state sponsor of terrorism visiting "hallowed" ground during his trip to the UN General Assembly next week.

New York police said his request was rejected on security grounds as well as because construction is taking place at the site, where the World Trade Center's twin towers stood until they were struck by hijacked airplanes.

The al-Qaeda-orchestrated attacks, which saw two jets hit the World Trade Center, a third strike the Pentagon and a fourth crash in a Pennsylvania field, killed nearly 3,000 people.

Officials from the city's police department, the US Secret Service and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site, rejected the request during a meeting, said New York police deputy chief Paul Browne.

"The site is closed to visitors because of construction there. That was the only request. Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be opposed by the NYPD on security grounds," Browne said in a statement.

New York police chief Raymond Kelly had earlier indicated that his department would be "prepared to handle" the visit "if in fact it does happen."

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani, who was New York's mayor at the time of the attacks, had urged city authorities to reject the request.

"This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring bin Laden's son and other al-Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons," Giuliani said.

"Assisting Ahmadinejad in touring Ground Zero -- hallowed ground for all Americans -- is outrageous," he said.

Another Republican hopeful, Senator Sam Brownback, blasted Ahmadinejad's request as "outrageous and unacceptable," describing the Iranian regime in a statement as "the biggest state sponsor of terror in the world."

US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said the US was against the Ground Zero visit.

"We do not support ... a site where some many people lost their lives be used as a photo op," he said.

Ahmadinejad is traveling to New York on Sunday and will give a speech at the General Assembly on Tuesday, the same day that US President George W. Bush is scheduled to speak.

Ahmadinejad's trip comes at a low point in relations between Iran and the US, which have not had formal diplomatic ties since revolutionary students stormed the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Iran's uranium enrichment program has prompted global concern that the Islamic regime is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, though Iranian authorities insist they want to exploit nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

Mitt Romney, a former US governor seeking the Republican Party's nomination to run for president in next year's election, asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday to revoke Ahmadinejad's invitation.

If Ahmadinejad "sets foot in the United States, he should be handed an indictment under the Genocide Convention," Romney wrote.

Ban on Tuesday made it clear that "all the meetings of the General Assembly are open to all member states. It is up to member states to decide who will represent their country," he said.
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