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Ahmadinejad not asked to speak at Columbia

NEW YORK, July 16 (UPI) -- Officials at New York's Columbia University say Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won't be asked back when he visits the city this fall.

Ahmadinejad caused an uproar when he spoke at the Ivy League university last fall, voicing uncertainty the Holocaust took place and debating "who truly was involved" in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

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Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, accused the Iranian leader of being a "petty and cruel dictator," the newspaper said.

Bollinger gave no comments regarding Ahmadinejad's declaration that he plans to visit New York in two months for the United Nations General Assembly.

"It has not been the practice to have any repeat speakers among those who have already appeared at the university's World Leaders Forum series," Columbia spokesman Robert Hornsby said.

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