ahmadinejadAlways up for controversy, Bwog perked up this morning at a Spectator headline declaring that President Ahmadinejad of Iran had been invited to speak at Columbia. We soon e-mailed Public Affairs Director Robert Hornsby to see if he could save a seat for us, and minutes later recieved this response:

“Event was never scheduled. – Rob H.”

That confused us. Even more confusing is the recently posted Spectator web update, which tells of how SIPA administrators didn’t have time to check with World Leaders Forum staff before inviting the Iranian leader, and in fact de-invited him because they couldn’t mobilize enough security.

In the interim, a predictably indignant New York Sun article noted that the Columbia VP for Public Affairs denied last night that Ahmadinejad had been invited in the first place. And LionPAC posted signs all over campus inciting protest.

So, PrezBo. You could provide security at last year’s World Leaders Forum for the presidents of Iraq, Pakistan, and Venezuela (although Chavez bowed out), but not Iran? Why didn’t a normally media-savvy administration get its story straight?

And LionPAC, calm down. We survived when the Iranian foreign minister came a few years ago. Meanwhile, Bwog enjoyed this morning’s presentation by the entire government of Papua New Guinea…