I’ve just been listening to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad answer questions from reporters at the National Press Club.

CNN.com carried it live on video.

He wasn’t convincing when he told reporters that Iranian women were free, or when he dismissed a question about abuses in Iran, about reporters and bloggers being detained and newspapers being closed.

Two of the journalists have been sentenced to death. When he was asked whether he would give his word that he would do everything in his power to keep the sentence from being carried out, he said the information was untrue and didn’t give an answer.

“This report comes from Reporters Without Borders,� he was told.
And again he was unconvincing.

Hundreds are outside Columbia University protesting his appearance there this afternoon. Hundreds have criticized the university for inviting him to speak — and I heard from some of them when I wrote over the weekend that I thought Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs was correct to invite him.

I still think that. There’s no substitute for seeing someone in person, to hear how they answer questions or avoid them as Ahmadinejad did. He’s the president of a country whose policies many of these students will be confronting.

Here’s what the university president, Lee Bollinger, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America�: It’s extremely important to know who the leaders are of countries that are your adversaries. To watch them to see how they think, to see how they reason or do not reason. To see whether they’re fanatical, or to see whether they are sly.�

Bollinger’s been reviled since last week for defending this invitation.

And here’s a quote from a student who was planning to attend the session.

“The students, by and large, want the forum here,� Michael Clyne, who is studying for a master’s degree in international affairs, told the Associated Press.
“The rest of the country doesn’t go to school at a unversity. They’re perceiving this as a platform for him to simply feed us propaganda, but we’re too intelligent for that.�

PHOTO: Columbia University senior Ari Gardner, left, New York City Council Member James Gennaro, center, and Rabbi Zev Friedman, right, speak to protesters gathered outside of Columbia University yesterday. The demonstration was organized by New York City Council Member David Weprin. (AP Photo/John Smock)