New York rejects Iranian Presidents bid to directly honour Ground Zero dead

New York City officials have reportedly pulled out all stops to prevent The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from laying a wreath at Ground Zero during his visit here next week.

New York, Sept.20 : New York City officials have reportedly pulled out all stops to prevent The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from laying a wreath at Ground Zero during his visit here next week.

New York Police Department, Secret Service and Port Authority officials are reported to have told the Iranian Mission that no one is allowed in the pit because it's a live construction site and dangerous. They said that if a wreath was to be laid, it could be "shoved" from a distance.

For a few hours yesterday, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had City Hall and civic and religious leaders reeling with his remarks that talks were under way on a possible Ahmadinejad visit.

"They have expressed an interest in having the president do that [visit Ground Zero]," Kelly said at a news conference. "We are engaging in conversation with them right now as to that possibility. . . It is something we are prepared to handle if, in fact, it does happen."

In a terse clarification hours later, Kelly spokesman Paul Browne set the record straight.

"A request earlier this month to permit a visit by Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero during the United Nations General Assembly was rejected in a meeting which included NYPD, Secret Service and Port Authority officials," his statement said.

"Requests for the Iranian president to visit the immediate area would also be opposed by the NYPD on security grounds."

According to sources, City Hall had quickly and decisively intervened.

The source noted itineraries for U.N. leaders aren't ever the concern of City Hall - and that it might not have even known about the Sept. 6 request. The source noted that Kelly, too, may have been caught off guard by a radio reporter's question that prompted the reply - and that Kelly answered in general terms.

But when it became clear the remarks had touched off a firestorm, the mayor himself stepped in and spoke to Kelly.

According to The New York Post, they both quickly realized "it was not going to happen," this source said. "I think everyone got on the same page quickly."

New York politicos were outraged at the prospect of the Iranian stepping on perhaps the city's most hallowed ground.

"It is unacceptable for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who refuses to renounce and end his own country's support of terrorism, to visit the site of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in our nation's history," said Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani called the idea "outrageous."

"This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harbouring [Osama] Bin Laden's son and other al Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons," he said.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said an Ahmadinejad visit to the World Trade Center site "is a matter for the City of New York, but it seems more than odd that the president of a country that is a state sponsor of terror would visit Ground Zero."

ANI