Leaders walk out during Ahmadinejad’s speech

Diplomats from dozens of Western nations walked out of the UN General Assembly on Thursday after the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivered a scathing attack on the US and Western Europe. Ahmadinejad accused the US of planning the “mysterious” 9/11 attacks to justify the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. He added that the US and its allies see Zionism as a sacred ideology. Ahmadinejad also accused the US of putting sanctions on anyone who questions the holocaust or 9/11. He claimed that the US and the Western powers were “arrogant”, ruled by greed and eager for military adventurism. Mark Cornblo, the spokesman for the US delegation at the UN condemned the Iranian leader’s speech. “Mr. Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people’s aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories”, Cornblo said in a statement. Ahmadinejad barely spoke about Palestine and did not comment on the UN statehood bid. He also failed to address the Arab Spring or events taking place in Syria.