本文原貼者是普林斯頓大學威爾遜國際事務學院院長,曾任美國國際法學會會長

Ledeen演講的時間,據網上搜尋,是在2/15日晚上,由普林斯頓大學國際關係學會與普林斯頓以色列公共事務委員會合辦

http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/26922

"Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute bombed in his talk at Princeton University two nights ago. Although escorted on his arrival by an honor guard of apparently orthodox Jewish students, he was heckled and angrily questioned by Muslim young people from (I guessed from their accents) Palestine, Turkey, Pakistan and especially Iran ---- exactly the population that Ledeen was claiming would welcome U.S. covert action to rid them of their tyrannical rulers.  He ended up losing his cool completely --- calling them ‘children’ and suggesting that they were naive and ignorant of the real world.  There was one particular line of reasoning that most seriously antagonized these proud young people --- ‘The tyrants whom you passively allow to rule you are exhorting you to wage a terrorist war to the death against America. These reactionary despots do not hate America and wage terrorist war against America because of American policies (Israel, etc.), but because America's freedom and prosperity challenge their ability to oppress and exploit you. The United States should overturn and destroy all the corrupt and repressive governments in the Middle East --- starting with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia --- and then you (Muslim youth) will be free to create new, modern societies that emulate American cultural, economic and political values.’  (Paraphrasing)  It was fascinating to me to observe that this thesis, especially coming from a man with Ledeen's credentials, was deeply offensive to the majority of his audience.Interes tingly, I thought the most vocal and articulate critics of Ledeen were some young Iranian women, very Westernized and intellectually sophisticated, who were obviously deeply offended at the patronizing way that Ledeen told them what their hopes and ambitions should be.  There is an old and eternal lessen here for all of us (excluding Ledeen, who's too arrogant and self-assured to learn anything):  it is that nobody outside their culture, and especially not an American, can tell the young people of the Muslim and Arab worlds today what they should believe, how they should act, and what kind of society they should be building for themselves.  Attempts to do so will only turn them off, no matter what their personal beliefs and aspirations may be."