Boston Globe Editorial - A letter from Tehran
Boston Globe Editorial - A letter from Tehran
Copyright by The Boston Globe
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2006
President George W. Bush would be well advised to read the long letter sent to him this week by Iran's zealot president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has tartly observed, there is no offer in the letter to suspend Iran's enrichment of uranium or cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Since the letter was sent just days before the United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on a binding resolution demanding that Iran halt uranium enrichment and comply with IAEA requirements, it is safe to assume Ahmadinejad's intent was to make himself appear open to a certain form of dialogue without broaching a single Iranian concession.
Bush must know that, in diplomacy as in politics, it is always a mistake to underestimate one's opponents. This is all the more true when the opponent operates in a political arena that is utterly different from those in Texas or elsewhere in the United States.
Appealing to a domestic audience and to Muslims outside Iran, Ahmadinejad's letter evokes both real and alleged instances in which U.S. policies appear to contradict the values Bush claims to cherish. The letter reminds Bush that he is supposed to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, who is recognized in the Koran as a prophet of the Almighty. The letter's long list of American departures from such prophetic teachings includes the CIA-manipulated coup that installed the Shah in 1953, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, support of Israel, involvement in a coup plot to overthrow Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and even a conspiratorial suggestion that American intelligence agencies must have been complicit in the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11.
The veracity of these "grievances of the people around the world" is hardly relevant. They are meant to strike a chord with Ahmadinejad's intended audience. Above all, his self-righteous indictment of supposed U.S. depredations is crafted to make the former Revolutionary Guard officer appear the leader of a rising world power that justifies its ambitions by posing as the primary rival of America.
Concluding his letter, Ahmadinejad says: "Liberalism and Western- style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed." In their place, he suggests, Bush should accept "faith in God and the teachings of the prophets."
Somebody should tell Ahmadinejad that Bush is no stranger to the politics of fundamentalism. And somebody should tell Bush that he must not let Ahmadinejad change the subject from Iran's nuclear program to a clash of values between liberal democracy and Iran's Islamist theocracy.
Copyright by The Boston Globe
THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2006
President George W. Bush would be well advised to read the long letter sent to him this week by Iran's zealot president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has tartly observed, there is no offer in the letter to suspend Iran's enrichment of uranium or cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Since the letter was sent just days before the United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on a binding resolution demanding that Iran halt uranium enrichment and comply with IAEA requirements, it is safe to assume Ahmadinejad's intent was to make himself appear open to a certain form of dialogue without broaching a single Iranian concession.
Bush must know that, in diplomacy as in politics, it is always a mistake to underestimate one's opponents. This is all the more true when the opponent operates in a political arena that is utterly different from those in Texas or elsewhere in the United States.
Appealing to a domestic audience and to Muslims outside Iran, Ahmadinejad's letter evokes both real and alleged instances in which U.S. policies appear to contradict the values Bush claims to cherish. The letter reminds Bush that he is supposed to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, who is recognized in the Koran as a prophet of the Almighty. The letter's long list of American departures from such prophetic teachings includes the CIA-manipulated coup that installed the Shah in 1953, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, support of Israel, involvement in a coup plot to overthrow Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and even a conspiratorial suggestion that American intelligence agencies must have been complicit in the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11.
The veracity of these "grievances of the people around the world" is hardly relevant. They are meant to strike a chord with Ahmadinejad's intended audience. Above all, his self-righteous indictment of supposed U.S. depredations is crafted to make the former Revolutionary Guard officer appear the leader of a rising world power that justifies its ambitions by posing as the primary rival of America.
Concluding his letter, Ahmadinejad says: "Liberalism and Western- style democracy have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity. Today these two concepts have failed." In their place, he suggests, Bush should accept "faith in God and the teachings of the prophets."
Somebody should tell Ahmadinejad that Bush is no stranger to the politics of fundamentalism. And somebody should tell Bush that he must not let Ahmadinejad change the subject from Iran's nuclear program to a clash of values between liberal democracy and Iran's Islamist theocracy.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 7:14 AM
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