Politics and Medicine - He called the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks a "horrendous incident" and said that

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He called the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks a "horrendous incident" and said that

Kathleen

2006-05-10, 1:29 am

"Of course this is just an educated guess," Ahmadinejad wrote.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belle...cs/14539411.htm
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Posted on Tue, May. 09, 2006
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Iranian president criticizes U.S. foreign policy in letter to Bush
BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to
President Bush asks how Bush as a Christian can justify attacking Iraq,
holding prisoners without trial at Guantanamo Bay and at secret
detention centers overseas.

The letter was made available on Web sites on Tuesday, after the White
House received it on Monday. In it, Ahmadinejad also criticized U.S.
support for Israel and, in the only reference to his country's nuclear
program, asked why scientific advances in the region are portrayed as
threats to Israel.

"Is not scientific R&D (research and development) one of the basic
rights of nations?" he wrote.

The United States and its allies are trying to isolate Iran in an
attempt to persuade it to abandon a nuclear program that the Tehran
government says is to provide energy for the country. The White House
contends that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Although he's been openly hostile toward the United States and Israel,
the Iranian president opens his letter to Bush with a conversational
tone, saying he wants to raise some "contradictions and questions, in
hopes that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them."

The letter is full of quotes from the Quran and references to Jesus
Christ, whom Ahmadinejad calls the "Messenger of peace and
forgiveness." He notes in the letter that Muslims revere Christ as a
great prophet.

Some Middle East experts said the eight-page letter, the first to an
American president from an Iranian one since the two countries broke
relations in 1979, may contain some overtures to the U.S.

"You can find snippets, questions and comments that, if you choose to,
could lead to an opening," said John Calabrese, a scholar at the Middle
East Institute, a Washington-based think tank. "It's possible (Iran) is
looking for a compromise - a way to pursue the scientific and research
operations of its programs."

Other experts, however, said that Ahmadinejad might be striking a
reasonable pose in an effort to buy more time for Iran's weapons
program, divide America from its European allies and exploit Bush's
falling poll numbers.

Ahmadinejad's letter is heavy on religious themes. He asserts that
Western democracy has failed, and that the world is turning to religion
instead.

He questions how Bush, as a Christian, could invade Iraq, detain
prisoners without due process and back an Israeli government that he
charges "does not show mercy, even to kids" and "that announces
beforehand its list and plans to assassinate Palestinian figures and
keeps thousands of Palestinians in prison."

"My basic question is this: Is there no better way to interact with the
rest of the world?" Ahmadinejad asked. "Today there are hundreds of
millions of Christians, hundreds of millions of Muslims and millions of
people who follow the teachings of Moses (PBUH) (peace be upon him).
All divine religions share and respect one word and that is
`monotheism' or belief in a single God and no other in the world."

Administration officials dismissed the letter on Monday, and White
House officials declined to comment on the specifics of it on Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Tuesday said the letter
was an effort by the Iranian leader to change the subject rather than
deal with the nuclear issue.

"It's not an issue of whether we respond. It's an issue of whether the
regime will respond to the demands of the international community," he
said. "The international community is concerned about the regime's
pursuit of nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program."

Ahmadinejad takes Bush to task on Iraq, questioning whether toppling
Saddam Hussein was worth the money and the lives that the war has cost.

But he notes that while United States and coalition forces have found
no weapons of mass destruction, Saddam was "a murderous dictator" and
that "people of the region are happy" that he's no longer in power.

Ahmadinejad also raised issues beyond the Middle East: meddling in
Latin American politics and wealthy nations holding back development in
Africa.

He called the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks a "horrendous incident" and said
that the Iranian government immediately "declared its disgust with the
perpetrators" and offered sympathy to the families of those killed. But
he also asked how the attacks could have been "planned and executed
without coordination with intelligence and security services - or their
extensive infiltration."

"Of course this is just an educated guess," Ahmadinejad wrote.

The letter is posted on the Web site of the Council on Foreign
Relations at http://www.cfr.org or go directly to
http://www.cfr.org/publication/10633/

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