Iranian President's Visit to Ground Zero Denied

"That was the response today -- and weeks ago -- when the Iranian mission to the U.N. asked the NYPD and Secret Service if Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could visit Ground Zero and lay a wreath in the pit where the Twin Towers once stood.

The request was denied shortly after it was received, with officials pointing out that no one -- except for victims' families on the anniversary of 9/11 -- are allowed in the pit, because it's an active construction site that is simply not safe to visit.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly got tempers flaring earlier today when he brought the matter up, saying there were talks underway on the subject.

"They have expressed an interest in having the [Iranian] president do that [visit Ground Zero]. We are engaging in conversation with them right now as to that possibility. If it does happen he will not be able to go down into the site, of course. We are talking to them now.

"Yes, there has been some interest expressed in his visiting the area. It is something we are prepared to handle if in fact it does happen."

But Kelly spokesman Paul Browne hours later clarified that the commissioner was talking about ongoing talks about security in general during the Holocaust-denying president's visit to the Big Apple and that the Ground Zero matter had already been laid to rest.

Ahmadinejad raised an international furor in December 2005 when he described the Holocaust as "a myth."

"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," Ahmadinejad said in a speech. "The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets."

Kelly's remarks -- making public even the possibility of a visit to the hallowed site by the Iranian president - had Jewish and civic leaders up in arms.

Not to mention the Bloomberg administration.

"Any existing or hypothetical request by the Iranian president to visit Ground Zero will be rejected," a source from the administration told The Post. "The police will say the same thing."

Rep. Anthony Weiner was outraged at the prospect, telling Kelly in a blistering letter:

"Iran is a terrorist state and its president is a danger to the world. However despotic, I understand that the Iranian delegation is being welcomed to the United Nations, and thus, New York. This does not, however, mean that New Yorkers and Americans have to support efforts to use our city and our hallowed Ground Zero as a prop for photo ops."

Dennis McKeon, of the 9/11 support group Where to Turn, said, "One would think that this was a joke with all of Iran's ties to terrorism and the funding of terrorist attacks."

"The fact that the mayor would even consider allowing this visit is unthinkable. Considering the families had to fight to visit the site on 9/11 makes this even more ridiculous."

Of course Bloomberg considered it. This is the man who WOULD welcome a terrorist with open arms, because after all, they do have a lot in common, in particular a hatred of America, its people and President. Bloomberg believes the citizens of his city to be herd animals with no right to self defense and so does Ahmadimmerbulb.

And contrast the above story with the ASSociated Press version that tries to make it about security issues and nothing else.