Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Iran's
Ahmadinejad: America's New Pen Pal
Thursday, Nov. 30,
2006
WASHINGTON –- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
followed up his 18-page letter to President George W. Bush earlier
this year with a five-page missive to the American people.
In the earlier letter, which left the Bush White House shaking
their heads with wonderment, the Iranian leader invited Bush to
embrace Islam. That is a well-established Islamic tradition when
dealing with an enemy just prior to war. If they refuse, then the
Muslims are "justified" in destroying them.
The letter released today follows a similar pattern. In it,
Ahmadinejad lays out his case for America's "injustice," using the
term no fewer than 12 times in the five pages.
The concept of Justice lies at the very center of the Islamic
faith. Justice is considered the backbone of all creation, handed
down by the Almighty. The faithful should strive to achieve justice,
to "secure justice," as Ahmadinejad puts it. Those who pursue
injustice, on the contrary, are spitting in the face of Allah.
Ahmadinejad claims that America, under Bush, is pursuing
injustice.
In making his case, he does not position himself as president
of Iran, but attempts to set himself up as a spokesman for all
Muslims. Thus, Iran itself barely figures in his letter.
Instead, Ahmadinejad focuses on America's support for Israel,
the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and the Bush administration's "moral
corruption," or as he puts it, the administration's pursuit of
"darkness, deceit, lies, and distortion."
Students of recent Iranian history will recall that the "crime"
most often used to justify a death sentence by Islamic Republic
revolutionary courts during the early years of the revolution was
"corruption on earth." This was how the regime simply eliminated its
opponents or those who rejected absolute clerical rule.
Media commentators in the U.S. are likely to pick up on the
"public relations" side of the letter. Ahmadinejad calls on the U.S.
to bring the troops home from Iraq, to cut off support for Israel,
and to stop "kidnapping presumed opponents from across the globe" and
holding them in secret prisons.
He even has some advice for the new Democrat majority in
Congress: Bend to the Muslim agenda, or you will be tossed out of
power.
Ahmadinejad repeatedly tries to appeal to Americans as people
of faith, who share Islamic values. "We, like you, are aggrieved by
the ever-worsening pain and misery of the Palestinian people," he
drones. "Persistent aggressions by the Zionists are making life more
and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of
Palestine."
And he trots out his old anti-Semitic saw, claiming that "the
Zionists" control America "because they have imposed themselves on a
substantial portion of the banking, financial, cultural, and media
sectors."
But to focus on these parts of his letter, however silly and
objectionable they may be, would be to miss the main point. Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad is not the Hugo Chavez of the Persian Gulf. He knows that
soon he will have his finger on the nuclear trigger.
Citing from the Quran at the close of his letter, he says that
if Americans "repent" of their "injustice," they will be blessed with
many gifts. "We should all heed the divine Word of the Holy Qur'an,"
he says.
The context of this particular verse (28:67-28, Sura
"Al-Qasas," or The Narration), is very clear. It follows a graphic
description of destruction and devastation that will befall those who
fail to repent of their injustice.
It also sets out the terms of the tradition Muslim warning to
the enemies of Allah. "And never will your Lord destroy the towns
until He sends to their mother town a Messenger reciting to them Our
Verses." This is is precisely what Ahmadinejad is doing in his
letter.
Dump Bush, allow the Muslims to destroy Israel, and adopt Islam
— or else you will be destroyed. This is Ahmadinejad's
message.
Kenneth R. Timmerman is president of the Middle East Data Project,
author of "Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with
Iran," and a contributing editor to NewsMax.com.
Original
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