Iran Letter to Bush Criticizes U.S. Govt

Why am I not surprised?

NEW YORK - Iran's president declared in a letter to President Bush that democracy had failed worldwide and lamented "an ever-increasing global hatred" of the U.S. government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swiftly rejected the letter, saying it made no progress toward resolving questions about Tehran's suspect nuclear program.

"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way."

Rather than the important diplomatic opening Iran bragged of, it appears that it was just a more personal way to thumb their noses at the rest of the world. I see a distinct pattern to the rhetoric described in the AP article:

...it lambasted Bush for his handling of the Sept. 11 attacks, accused the media of spreading lies about the Iraq war and railed against the United States for its support of Israel. It questioned whether the world would be a different place if the money spent on Iraq had been spent to fight poverty.

"Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger?" the letter said. "And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever- increasing global hatred of the American government?

In the letter, Ahmadinejad says that people around the world have lost faith in international institutions and questions whether the Bush administration has covered up some evidence surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks.

Liberalism and Western-style democracy "have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity," said the letter, obtained late Monday by The Associated Press. "Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems."

The Iranian government spokesman who disclosed the communication did not mention the nuclear standoff and said the missive spoke to the larger U.S.-Iranian conflict. Gholam-Hossein Elham said the letter proposed "new solutions for getting out of international problems and the current fragile situation of the world."

Yet the document makes no concrete proposals and does not suggest new talks. Instead, Ahmadinejad suggests that Bush should look inward, saying there was an increasing hatred worldwide of the United States, and that history shows how "repressive and cruel governments do not survive."

"How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people's houses destroyed over their heads? Are you pleased with the current condition of the world? Do you think present policies can continue?"

I'm sure others will see it as well - this reads like a speech at an ANSWER anti-war rally combined with the latest Democratic talking points. The Bush administration is repressive and cruel, we've wasted our money in Iraq when we could have been solving third-world starvation, it's a failed administration, even a little bone was tossed to the 9/11 conspiracy theorists. The mention of Israel is hardly news, but makes for a well-rounded letter from a government that can multitask anything as long as one of the tasks is hating Israel.

While timed to coincide with discussions by the UN security council, it appears that Ahmadinejad is also trying to cozy up to the American left and Europe. Considering the constant drumbeat of negativity from the media combined with recent polls, it's not surprising. I suppose that Cindy Sheehan, John Conyers, and Ray McGovern will find their hearts warmed at the discovery of new friends, but the left will maintain an embarassed silence about much of the letter's content.

In the Iranian media, this is being billed as diplomacy - Iran is "reaching out" to the great Satan, and expects positive results. I expect that this is the only success Mahmoud will get from the letter, as the insults to the U.S. and Israel plays well to his own people.

AP claims to have the whole letter - I wonder if our media will publish the entire thing?