Isn't It Time to Look in a Mirror for Once?

After Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently expressed interest in visiting Ground Zero in New York City during his current trip to the United States, many of the leading Republican presidential candidates immediately started to thump their chests. First and foremost, I do not support the thoughts and opinions of Ahmadinejad. With that being said:

• "Ahmadinejad's shockingly audacious request should be met with a vehement 'no'. It's inconceivable that any consideration would be given to the idea of entertaining the leader of a state sponsor of terror at Ground Zero. This would deeply offend the sensibilities of Americans from all corners of our nation. Instead of entertaining Ahmadinejad, we should be indicting him." -- Mitt Romney

Really, Mitt? You want to know what is shockingly audacious? The fact that more than six years have elapsed since the September 11th tragedy and the very first beam of the new Freedom Tower was not installed until December 19th of last year. The planning and construction of the Freedom Tower was previously described as then New York Attorney General (now Governor) Eliot Spitzer as an "Enron style debacle" due to various issues with the design, security, cronyism and fund mismanagement.

• "I think that the President of Iran should be physically restrained if necessary. I hope it doesn't come to that but we're not going to have that kind of desecration of what is sacred ground. Obviously, it is a propaganda ploy on his part and, if we allowed him to do it, it would just embolden some of his followers and give him the publicity that he seeks." -- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

How "sacred" can this area be if the Bush administration and numerous other Republicans constantly reference the phrase "9/11" on a daily basis to scare Americans and sell the Iraq War? If that isn't propaganda, then I don't know what is.

• "This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring Bin Laden’s son and other al-Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons. Assisting Ahmadinejad in touring Ground Zero – hallowed ground for all Americans – is outrageous." -- Rudy Giuliani

Finally! Giuliani, our Ground Zero expert. Wait a minute! Haven't White House officials admitted that, in the days immediately after September 11th, dozens of influential Saudis (including relatives of Osama bin Laden) were evacuated from the United States even though most commercial flights were still grounded? Didn't President Ronald Reagan and his administration illegally sell arms to Iran approximately twenty years ago and then use those profits to continue funding anti-Communist rebels in Nicaragua? Can't the United States be categorized as the first country in the world to successfully develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use those weapons against another nation and a country which still maintains thousands of nuclear warheads?