The antics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are a reminder of how wonderful Rudy Giuliani was as mayor of New York.

When PLO chief Yassar Arafat attended a United Nations session, Giuliani ordered police to keep him confined to diplomatic functions. After all, who wants a terrorist roaming the streets of New York?

Chavez and Amadinejab were allowed to roam around, with the latter giving interviews to news organizations. It’s a shame interviewers didn’t ask him why his nation executes gays, and why it executes women who have been raped by older men. A followup question might have been why he imprisons dissidents and shuts down newspapers. A third question might have been, did he think his stated position that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth promotes tolerance?

Chavez, of course, embraced Amadinejab, so perhaps he will be instituting sharia law in Venezuela soon. Mr. Chavez should be asked, since he criticized capitalism in favor of socialism, how come the poverty rate in Venezuela is much, much higher than in the United States? Fifty percent of Veneuelans live below the poverty level. Can Mr. Chavez blame George Bush for that?

Mr. Chavez also claimed the United States ran a terrible empire that "oppressed the people of the South." One assumes the U.S. is oppressing Venezuela by buying its oil. A lot of other nations would love to experience such oppression.

One yearns for Giuliani. He would have told police to "keep those guys inside the U.N."