Lost in all the hullabaloo over Ahmadinejad's request last week to visit Ground Zero is a question I haven't heard anyone ask: Would Mahmoud have been so keen to visit the site if it sported fresh, gleaming skyscrapers and represented a resurgence of New York's vibrant business community instead of a open wound we're still slowly struggling to heal? I doubt it.

But even if Ahmadinejad had still wanted to visit Ground Zero, that would have been the kind of photo op America could live with. Indeed, it might even have been one we wanted the world to see: a small, evil man surrounded by the backdrop of America's resilient spirit.

Part of the reason Ahmadinejad's request was so offensive is because more than six years after 9/11 it is shameful there is still a gaping hole in the center of Manhattan for the terror-supporting leader to try and exploit.

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