Mohammad Khatami was president of Iran five years ago, but his regime had no more to do with the events of that momentous day than had Saadam Hussein.

However, both Iraq and Iran are predominantly Muslim countries, and rich in oil. Osama Bin Laden is also Muslim and from an oil-rich country. What worries some, and excites others, is that these may be pretexts for military action.

President Khatami’s remarks at Harvard’s Kennedy School were largely repetitions of what he already said earlier in the week in Washington and New York.

The pro-Israel crowd of around 200 outside was nothing new, either. This protest was cosponsored by the Boston area’s biggest Zionist group, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), and Harvard's young duopoly clubs, the Republicans and Democrats.

Between 3:00 and 6:00, while Khatami was speaking and the Zionists were protesting, there were lots of television crews to report all of the above to us.

There had been no cameras present at around 11:30 that morning though, when several tintwindowed black armored limousines pulled up to the nearby Charles Hotel. A platoon of "Men In Black" hopped out with automatic weapons at the ready: Secret Service. They must have stayed in town from Vice-President Cheney’s Saturday fundraiser in Boston.

Some agents took up positions and pointed their weapons in the general direction of the Sunday shoppers at the farmers’ market outside the hotel, while others rapidly ushered someone—apparently Mr. Khatami—in, probably to the same secure suite occupied by that Saudi princess and her retinue for several years in the 1980s.

From this alone it is clear that the Bush Administration decided to facilitate Mr. Khatami’s trip the the U.S. The question is why. No one in the crowd, of whatever political persuasion, seemed to have any real idea.

The point most often seen and heard made from the JCRC crowd was that Iran, being controlled by men with insane religious views and a propensity to violence, must be stopped by any means necessary from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Opponents thought that the U.S. and Israel had to be stopped for the same reasons.

Little noticed among the crowd of protestors was a quiet group of around forty men and women who appeared to be Iranian. They carried no signs and were not eager to talk. An Iranian man watching from across the street said they were with the People’s Mujihadeen organization.

In the 1980s, women from this group were a familiar sight in Harvard Square, where they displayed anti-Khomeini posters and collected money.

This group was welcomed to Iraq by Saadam Hussein, who assisted them and let them maintain an armed base there. The U.S. occupation regime still allows them to do so.

A smaller number of people came to Harvard to protest preparations by the U.S. and Israel to attack Iran militarily. Their largest banner read, “No more wars for Empire, Oil and Israel.”

They were occasionally cursed and threatened by people in the pro-Israel crowd, with remarks like, “You need a bullet in your head.” A young man with a T-shirt proclaiming membership in the “Republican Club,” said he was "ready for a revolution” to “get rid of… people like you who support Islamo-fascists” like Khatami.