Romney Refuses To Provide Security For Khatami

Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has refused to provide any state resources to handle security for former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami's weekend visit to Harvard. He calls the lecture nothing but propaganda and will not have anything to do with it. Federal authorities are providing security.

Khatami is due to speak on Sunday at Harvard University in Cambridge on the "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence."

Romney said Khatami will not receive a state police escort or any other state help. Federal officials will attend to his security.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the state normally provides a police escort to visiting dignitaries. He said U.S. State Department officials had contacted the state police's tactical unit, which typically coordinates traffic-stopping escorts, prior to Romney's statement.

Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, called the visit "a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who lost their lives at the hands of extremists, especially on the eve of the five-year anniversary of 9/11."

"The U.S. State Department listed Khatami's Iran as the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism," Romney said. "For him to lecture Americans about tolerance and violence is propaganda, pure and simple."

Frankly, he's quite right. Those who have left comments here that Khatami is nothing more than a private citizen, therefore there is no problem with him meeting with Jimmy Carter are caught in their own logic on this one. If he's a private citizen, he is not entitled to state resources for security. Can't have it both ways, though I'm sure there will be some who will try. Good for Romney for calling this lecture for what it most surely is.

UPDATE: Romney's press release is even more blunt than the AP article lets on. In fact, it is very harsh indeed.

UPDATE: The Boston Globe has an even more blunt statement from Romney.

Other Links to this Post

1. Gaius — Tuesday, 5 September , 2006 @ 6:43 pm

2. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Lectures On Tolerance By Thugs — Sunday, 10 September , 2006 @ 3:27 pm