CNN's king of the talk-show hosts and the icon of one of the major television networks, Larry King, hosted an interview on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 with the devil himself.  Many Iranians felt completely betrayed by Mr. King's line of questioning. They felt that Mr. King was missing key questions. I am not advocating a hostile interview here, but how could Mr. King allow Ahmadinejad to easily dance away. It seemed he was deliberately making Ahmadinejad look and act like a human being.

As the old saying goes, "There's no such thing as a stupid question." However, in the minds of many Iranians as well as many non-Iranians, there is such a thing, and Mr. King lost huge points with his line of questioning. Yet, valid questions remain about media performance and the role of public communication practitioners in shaping perception. The role of media is not to impose self-censorship and avoid critical questions.

It is hard to digest how the liberal media has singlehandedly, in a matter of three short days, managed to make Ahmadinejad look statesmanlike. Mr. Ahmadinejad was given a forum to reiterate his deception, repeatedly. Larry King would not even say that he himself is Jewish and that he supports Israel. He looked very mesmerized by the presence of this evil man who is responsible for the death and misery that exists in Iran. He did not contradict Ahmadinejad, did not show him up. He allowed him to make points to undermine the existence of the friendship between Israel and the United States.

Ahmadinejad’s utterance on Tuesday echoed the past remarks he has made, including calls to annihilate Israel and threats to the U.S. and other countries that support Israel. On September 18, 2008, he said, “the Zionist regime is a regime that will disappear.” But, I have news for him, most Iranians believe that the Islamic Republic is an illegitimate regime and must soon disappear. On February 28, 2007, he said, “Zionists are the true incarnation of Satan.” Ironically, most Iranians believe that Ahmadinejad is the Satan and does not represent the Iranian people any more than his turbaned-colleagues presently ruling Iran do. What needs to be understood is that in fact Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, above all else, are true Muslims and despise anything “Iranian” and its ancient “pre-Islamic” heritage. 

Westminster Journal this week was sent this email correspondence from a Hizb ut-Tahrir al Islami (HT) insider. It is an HT internal email to the "internal HT list".  In the email, HT congratulates itself on being able to raise 20,000 Bengalis to rallies in spite of the fact that a game of scrabble on the streets of over-populated Dhakar, Bangladesh would draw in more if all could see the board.

HT talks of a smear going on in Bangladesh against HT in spite of the fact that they were directly linked to violence as an organisation just last week in Bangladesh, as reported in this journal and by news agencies such as Reuters.

Should the comment "the Hizb and its work has indeed entered the political classes as well as the academic and societal atmosphere" worry you - fear not. A source in Bangladesh has confirmed to Westminster Journal that, as in all lands of operation, Hizb ut Tahrir is suffering from major defections from its executive in Bangladesh and that, if anything, is why there have been a series of recent arrests in and around the capital Dhakar.

The text of the email as written is as follows:

"Assalamu alaikum,

As you know the call for the Khilafah has been gathering pace over the last few years.  It is a work that now spans the entire globe and has struck a chord with the masses, as well as the elite and influential people.  Brothers, over several years the work in Bangladesh has been gathering pace.  The strength of the Hizb in Bangladesh is not only measured by the numbers we attract at rallies (sometimes over 20,000), but also in the ability to establish itself in the political medium.  The Hizb and its work has indeed entered the political classes as well as the academic and societal atmosphere.