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Ex-Iranian President Gets Diplomat's Treatment Kenneth R. Timmerman WASHINGTON, D.C. -– Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, who is scheduled to arrive in the United States on a 10-day visit today, is being given the diplomatic treatment by the State Department, NewsMax has learned. The State Department issued the former Iranian president a G-4 visa, normally reserved for active-duty diplomats, even though he is now a private citizen, officials said. "He qualified under the law for that visa because he is coming as the guest of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to participate in a United Nations panel," an official said. "So we just implemented the law." The type of visa issued to the former Iranian president is significant, because Khatami said before leaving Iran that he would not enter the United States if Customs and Border Patrol officials insisted on fingerprinting him, as is required of Iranian nationals under the National Security Entry and Exit Registration (NSEER) system. "With the G-4 visa, [Khatami] will get the same courtesy that is extended to a diplomat, which means no fingerprinting," a Customs official told NewsMax. "But others in his delegation who have ordinary visas will be fingerprinted," the official added. The State Department has issued more than a dozen visas to members of Khatami's entourage, which includes family members and aides. The State Department confirmed that they were issued B-1 or other visas, not the G-4 diplomatic visa.
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The former Iranian president was in power from 1997-2005, when key facilities to produce uranium enrichment feedstock and to manufacture enrichment centrifuges were built in secret. He also presided over an extensive crackdown on students, women, and the press, after an initial period of liberalization. Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who chairs the Senate Republican Conference, protested the State Department decision to issue Khatami a visa on Tuesday. "I am outraged to learn that former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami's request for a visa to visit the United States has been approved by the Bush administration," Santorum said. "Mohammed Khatami is one of the chief propagandists of the Islamic Fascist regime." Since then, Santorum has been joined by numerous colleagues in the Senate and the House in condemning the State Department decision.
In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sent Thursday, Sen. George Allen, R-Va., noted that Khatami will be giving public speeches in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and possibly a speech at the University of Virginia and a visit to Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello. "Instead of permitting President Khatami to travel without restriction in the United States, I urge you to press for the strongest possible sanctions at the U.N. Security Council," Allen wrote. "I believe granting this visa is a step in the wrong direction." Khatami is scheduled speak at the National Cathedral in Washington on Sept. 7, at the invitation of the cathedral's Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation. Both the Cathedral and the Center are administered by the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C. Khatami will also speak at a fund-raiser on Sept. 8 in Crystal City, Virginia, hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR. Iranian-American groups say they plan to protest the Khatami visit, and are organizing a mass demonstration on Sept. 7 in Washington, DC. Kenneth R. Timmerman is the Senior Middle East Correspondent for NewsMax.com and president of the Middle East Data Project.
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