Via LGF:

Ward Churchill Puffs Out His Chest

Colorado University professor Ward Churchill refuses to back down from his disgusting statements, and is enlisting the local America-haters to back him up: ‘I do not work for taxpayers,’ prof says.

CU officials said they decided to proceed with the event after student organizers admitted they had overstated the nature of security threats in conversations with officials on Monday. [Say it ain’t so! Whining, ranting lefties overstated the extent of the “death threats” they received? Shocka! —ed.]

Churchill, in a black leather jacket and jeans, was engulfed in a phalanx of supporters, fellow leaders of Colorado’s American Indian Movement members and security personnel. He arrived 20 minutes late for his appearance.

But when Churchill stepped to the podium following ceremonial American Indian drumming and singing, plus a fiery introduction by AIM activist Russell Means, it was clear the crowd wasn’t going to punish him for the delay.

“Bill Owens, do you get it now?” he asked, following the 40-second standing ovation with which he was greeted. That cued another strong wave of applause.

“I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado. I do not work for Bill Owens. I work for you. . . . The Board of Regents should do its job, and let me do mine.”

The battle lines were drawn and underscored repeatedly, in overtly political colors.

Churchill, his voice strained at times and keyed to a fighting pitch for most of his talk, said “there is not an inch of give” in his stance, and that “This institution needs to be protected from the ravages of the rabid right wing” elements that he perceives to be behind the attacks on his credibility and his scholarship.

A primary reason for Tuesday’s speech was so Churchill could explain the reasoning behind his essay. He insisted he never advocated or endorsed the nearly 3,000 deaths occurring Sept. 11, but only meant to explain that America’s foreign policies - such as the support for U.N. sanctions against Iraq, which many have blamed for deaths through starvation and disease of 500,000 Iraqi children after the first Gulf War - can yield disastrous payback.

“What you are putting out will blow back on you, and that’s what happened,” he said [...with no sense of irony whatsoever. —ed.]

“We’re worried about weapons of mass destruction, in a country that has the largest inventory (of nuclear arms) in the world, the only country that has used them on civilian targets, and intentionally used them on civilian targets.”

Presumably he is referring to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as possibly what was debunked in the essay two posts ago. However, since then, the US has worked to ensure that nuclear weapons were not actually used, something which terrorist sponsoring states do not. (In fact, Iran has said that if it acquires nuclear weapons it will wipe Israel off the map.)

I also would note that he claims the US is the only country that has used (nuclear) weapons of mass destruction deliberately on civilians, as opposed to Iraq, while in fact Saddam used chemical (not nuclear) weapons against his own civilian population. See the State Dept.'s web site.