New York (CNN) – I had a rare opportunity to talk directly with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday at a press event he held in New York after he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.

By most accounts, Ahmadinejad’s views are way out there. He stuck to his favorite talking points on a variety of topics ranging from America’s troubles, Israel, the uprising in the Middle East and homosexuality. When faced with negative questions about Iran, Ahmadinejad knew how to quickly deflect them and turn the conversation back toward the flaws of the United States. In our one hour together, the Iranian leader was asked about several of those issues. Here are just some of them:
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(CNN) - The story in “The Wall Street Journal” is disturbing. The headline: “Iran Woos U.S. Allies as Troops Withdraw.”

It notes that Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is aggressively moving to cement ties with the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and clearly scoring points – at the expense of the U.S.

In recent days, Hamid Karzai, Asif Ali Zardari and Jalal Talabani went to Tehran as part of a continuing effort to improve their respective ties with the Iranian regime.
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