Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is going to be in New York City today for the United Nations General Assembly. He was interviewed by 60 Minutes, Good Morning America and this afternoon will speak at Columbia University.

His speech at Columbia University has been particularly controversial. Some activists have said that he should denied the right to speak, as he preaches hatred towards Jews and other minorities. They call him the Hitler of our time.

In our country we cherish the right to freedom to speech. We believe that all people, even those with views different then our own, should be allowed tp speak. They should be able to express their ideas and allow each and every individual to judge their ideas on their merits. You have every right to disagree with President Ahmadinejad ideas, but respect him for the respect that many people in his own country give him.

We should give Mahmoud Ahmadinejad all the respect he deserves in our country. He is a dignitary, serving as the representative to Iran. We might disagree with his country's militarism, their support for terrorism in Iraq, or even his personal views on the holocaust, but those are no reasons to not respect him. We should instead be forceful with our own views, and try to discredit him and his country's actions in recent times in our world.

President George W. Bush was right in defending Ahmadinejad right to speak. If we set a high standard, maybe Ahmadinejad will be inspired to do the same thing in his country. When people in Iran are allowed to speak freely, then they will be able to debate the merits of their country's policies, including their militancy towards our country and the hatred of Israel. Maybe more hate speech will result, but so will moderating voices that will eventually put Iran on the right track.