Ahmadinejad To Give Christmas Address on Britain's Channel 4

I wish it was April 1st.

But this is no joke.

I was reading a post by Mark Steyn on NRO's The Corner. Tomorrow night Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to give the annual "alternative" Christmas address to the people of the United Kingdom on Channel 4. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3933345/President-Mahmoud-Adhmadinejad-t0-give-alternative-Christmas-day-message.html)

The BBC has long aired a Christmas message from the monarch. Since 1993, Channel 4 has been airing an "alternative" message from the likes of the late Quentin Crisp and The Simpsons. But in 2006, Channel 4 had the "alternative" message delivered by a fully veiled Muslim woman who criticized Jack Straw, then Leader of the House of Commons, who criticized the practice of women concealing their identities by wearing full bodied veils.

So I gather Osama bin Laden wasn't available this year?

Aside from his incendiary statements about Israel why would Channel 4 give airtime to a head of state whose elite troops captured British sailors and marines in the Strait of Hormuz and held them hostage last year?

But Dorothy Byrne, who heads up Channel 4's news and current affairs division defended the choice, "As the leader of one of the most powerful states in the Middle East, President Ahmadinejad's views are enormously influential."

Could you imagine the BBC selecting Adolf Hitler to wish Britons a Merry Christmas after bombing London? I'm sure a BBC spokesman would say, "As someone who has conqueored nearly all of Europe, the Fuhrer's views are enormously influential." Churchill would have had the persons responsible for such an idea sacked. He might have said, "How bloody daft."

Channel 4 gets the Christmas it deserves.