Committee News

Friday, April 30, 2010

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Mack, Ros-Lehtinen, Meek, Diaz-Balarts Oppose Ahmadinejad Coming to U.S. for UN Conference

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, along with her colleagues, U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek (D-FL), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), and Connie Mack (R-FL), issued the following statement today on reports that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be granted a visa to visit New York next week to speak at a conference at the United Nations reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:

“It is an outrage that Ahmadinejad, yet again, will be able to preach hate and violence on American soil.

“This is the leader of a regime which calls the U.S. the ‘great satan,’ threatens to wipe Israel off the map, bankrolls violent extremists across the globe, and helps fund insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan which kill U.S. troops.

“Make no mistake: Ahmadinejad’s attendance will make a mockery of a conference meant to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It will also make a mockery of U.S. efforts to secure global support to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons pursuit, and it will turn the conference into yet another forum to attack Israel on a global stage.

“The U.S. must not allow this dangerous tyrant to use our freedoms and our obligations as a host country for the UN to force himself upon our country to spread his message of hate and violence.”