Letter from Iranian president: File under junk mail
By Greg Strange
web posted May 22, 2006
When the president of the United States receives his country's first formal communication from an Iranian "president" since the regrettable unpleasantness involving Iran's unlawful seizure of the American embassy and the taking of hostages back in 1979, one might reasonably expect a conciliatory tone. You know, at the very least, something along the lines of, "Hey, sorry about what happened, but can we just let bygones be bygones?"
Or alternatively, if he just couldn't bring himself to issue even the mildest apology, however insincere, then how about an offer to honestly discuss the issues that have Iran at an impasse with not just the U.S., but the entire civilized world?
Well, in your dreams, Great Satan! Instead, the letter contained a rambling diatribe against the United States, Western-style democracy and liberalism in general. Or in other words, all the things that make the West modern, innovative and prosperous, so clearly differentiating it whence this muddle-headed letter came.
In addition, there were the usual inferences that the Holocaust was a fairy tale and that there was something fishy about 9/11, as in, maybe, (wink-wink), the U.S. had something to do with it . . .
The letter itself was not overtly rude. It was just so . . . out there. By comparison, the Unibomber's manifesto, written in a dilapidated shack in the wilds of Montana by an obviously disturbed sociopathic loner, was far more organized and coherent. Granted, it might be that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Farsi didn't translate well, but that doesn't preclude the likelihood that this was simply a letter written by an irrational man who resides in an Islamic la-la-land.
Those who daydream of peacefully coexisting with this radical Islamic regime that is hell-bent on getting nuclear weapons were hell-bent on interpreting the letter as a long awaited diplomatic opening. But such an opening just wasn't there, short of us all converting to Islam and submitting to the will of the ayatollahs.
But let's examine a few of Ahmadinejad's specific complaints in his letter. Amusingly, he wanted to know why "any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime."
Well, for starters, You keep calling Israel the "Zionist regime." And then when you verbalize your rapturous reveries about wiping said Zionist regime off the face of the map, it's pretty much understood that your tone is threatening.
Now, about those "technological and scientific achievements . . ." What technological and scientific achievements? If you're talking about Iran's glorious nuclear program -- and what else could you be talking about? -- those are technological and scientific achievements created by Western infidels generations ago. Catching up with something 60 years after the fact is not much of an achievement.
But achievement or not, and being the devilishly clever infidels that we are, we see your rush to get nukes, we hear your talk about wiping Israel off the map, and we're able to put two and two together, which equals "threat to the Zionist regime."
Here's another issue raised in Ahmadinejad's letter: "Liberalism and Western style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology."
That's funny, I don't hear anything. So stop it already, you're slaying me. Considering where this is coming from, this is the mother of all knee-slappers . What have these bellicose, authoritarian ayatollahs ever done to "help realize the ideals of humanity?" Everything they do is designed in some way to quash free thought, free inquiry, free expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association, free anything that matters. In their fanatical minds, the only acceptable path for the realization of those "ideals of humanity" is through the strict adherence to not just Islam, but to their particular brand of Islam, by every last person on earth. Try something different and you're just an infidel with a target on your back.
Elsewhere in the letter, Ahmadinejad tried questioning how Bush can be a follower of Jesus Christ while at the same time telling lies, attacking countries, throwing people into Guantanamo, supporting the Zionist regime, etc., etc., ad nauseam. Then, after enumerating all the crimes and sins, he asked the question: "Is there no better way to interact with the rest of the world?"
How do you like the chutzpa of this guy? He's "president" of a repressive theocratic dictatorship that is universally recognized as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and he deigns to lecture Bush about morality and hypocrisy. He regularly rhapsodizes over his fondest wish, the destruction of Israel, but he's doling out advice on how to properly interact with the rest of the world.
After a whole lot of such filler, Ahmadinejad wraps up his 18-page missive with the following:
"We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point -- that is the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My question for you is: Do you not want to join them?"
How's that for a loaded question? It has been interpreted by some as a call to Bush to join Islam. Such a call is known as a da'wa and in one of the hadiths Muhammad instructs his followers to issue such a call before taking offensive action.
Whatever.
In summation, the letter from the Islamofascist Ahmadinejad is a crock, as is the idea that it provides some kind of opening for a useful dialogue between America and Iran. Those who were hoping otherwise need to realize that rational discussion with any of these radical, apocalyptic Islamic totalitarians is impossible as long as their global strategy remains the same, which is to establish Islamic dominion over the planet.
After his important work composing the letter to President Bush, Ahmadinejad went on the road, visiting Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, where university students greeted him like a rock star, declared him "the world's most charismatic leader," and carried signs declaring Bush the "world's #1 terrorist."
It's all in a day's work for the dashing Ahmadinejad, traveling around the Islamic world fomenting hatred for the Great Satan and its "terrorist" leader. And the global scale Islamic disconnect from all reality continues. 
Greg Strange's web site can be found at http://www.greg-strange.com. (c) 2006 Greg Strange.