The little guy (above) is A-jad, Iranian thug-in-chief, and he's congratulating an American professor named Robert G. Morrison of Bowdoin College for having written Islam and Science: The Intellectual Career of Nizam al-Din al-Nisaburi, which, it seems, was chosen by Iran as a 2009 International Book of the Year in Islamic Studies.

Jay Nordlinger recently noted the acceptance of this award--horrifying enough in itself--and also linked to the even more bizarro Bowdoin College webpage that trumpets the incident as though it were a garden-variety academic achievement to fly to Tehran and shake hands with a genocidal jihadist terror master who is committed to the destruction of Israel, who possibly participated in the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, and who certainly is responsible for killing scores of US troops in Iraq.

None of which seems to have penetrated Bowdoin, which boasts in its headline: "Bowdoin Islamicist Wins Top Iranian Book Prize." The story goes on to report that the award brought Morrison "face-to-face with one of the most provocative figures of the day: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

Lucky Morrison. Lucky Bowdoin. 

The prof put it this way: "Islamic studies is a big field and it was nice to meet other scholars within Iran and internationally," said Morrison, adding: "In spite of differences many Americans may have with the constitution of the current government, international academic exchange is a safe space."

It's always safe for stooges.

Update: Robert Spencer notes that Bowdoin's Morrison isn't the first American prof to beat a track to Tehran to cosy up to A-jad....