Noble Americans

[Plane]

TEHRAN, Iran —  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a lengthy letter to the American people Wednesday, addressing "Noble Americans" and urging unity with Iran in spite of what the U.S. government says and does.

The letter was released in New York on Wednesday and seems to be an attempt by the controversial Iranian president to circumvent the Bush administration to directly reach Americans.

Click here to read Iranian President Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people. (pdf)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,232681,00.html

[Michael Tee]

<<We all deplore injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings.>>

This is about where I stopped reading.  Too bad it won't be read by the two fifteen-year-old homosexuals hanged in public from a crane for having sex with each other.  Too bad it won't be read by Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian journalist tortured to death in Teheran's Ervin prison, found with finger- and toe-nails missing, burns on her breasts and a torn-up vagina indicating large-object rape.  Tell it to the hundreds of Ba'hais tortured and murdered in jails across his country for no reason but their religious faith.

Fuck this guy and his hypocritical bullshit.  He's no better than the torturers and murderers of Abu Ghraib.  They deserve each other.

[Plane]

Even if we are all monsters we are better off talking than fighting.

[Diane]

Michael Tee,

while I agree with your post in regards to his bullshit... I still ponder your double standards.

I know you feel that the United States is evil and that the muslim nations are evil and yet ( as I recall) you give Castro a pass....

[Diane]

Even if we are all monsters we are better off talking than fighting.

Under most circumstances I would agree but honestly I have to believe that we will talk till we are blue in the face and while the turbaned heads nod, their mouths will still find a way to blame us, Israel or anyone else that does not agree with their segment of their religion.

War is not a battle... it is a way of life for them.

[domer70]

It's too bad that there's not someone in America situated to answer this letter, a "representative of the people" but not a government official. After pleasantries, if it were me, I'd lead with precisely the issues Michael raised as representative of (another) flawed and brutal country. If that gambit could be negotiated (handled), then I'd proceed immediately to Iran's intentions in the world (and the region) and why it needs "nuclear power" (sic) to accomplish them. Then, maybe, a game of dominoes.

[Plane]

It's too bad that there's not someone in America situated to answer this letter, a "representative of the people" but not a government official. After pleasantries, if it were me, I'd lead with precisely the issues Michael raised as representative of (another) flawed and brutal country. If that gambit could be negotiated (handled), then I'd proceed immediately to Iran's intentions in the world (and the region) and why it needs "nuclear power" (sic) to accomplish them. Then, maybe, a game of dominoes.

http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/iran_pres_letter.pdf


The letter and...


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,232826,00.html


....your reply.


Most of the posted replys so far are negative and I am sad to report , rude.

I wrote one that was negative but tactfull , it has not posted.

[Michael Tee]

 <<Michael Tee - I know you feel that the United States is evil and that the muslim nations are evil and yet ( as I recall) you give Castro a pass.... >>

He'll lose his pass when anyone can show me that he's committed atrocities even one-tenth as bad as those of the U.S.A. and Iran. 

[Michael Tee]

<<Under most circumstances I would agree but honestly I have to believe that we will talk till we are blue in the face and while the turbaned heads nod, their mouths will still find a way to blame us, Israel or anyone else that does not agree with their segment of their religion.>>

Well, that might be, but so far nobody knows, because the U.S.A. and Israel have steadfastly refused to talk to them.  First they were waiting for someone who "truly" represented the Palestinian people, and then when the Palestinians duly elected their leaders in an open election, the U.S.A. and Israel didn't like what they had to say and so refused any dialogue with them.  That's hilarious.

<<War is not a battle... it is a way of life for them.>>

Yeah?  It was a way of life for Edward Said?  It's a way of life for Sari Nusseibeh?  News to me.

[BT]

He'll lose his pass when anyone can show me that he's committed atrocities even one-tenth as bad as those of the U.S.A. and Iran. 

Either he has committed atrocities or he hasn't. Why weasel by trying to compare him to others?

[Plane]

He'll lose his pass when anyone can show me that he's committed atrocities even one-tenth as bad as those of the U.S.A. and Iran. 

Either he has committed atrocities or he hasn't. Why weasel by trying to compare him to others?

Wholesalers get a discount for volume.

[Michael Tee]

<<Either he has committed atrocities or he hasn't. Why weasel by trying to compare him to others?>>

Nobody's perfect, and in that sense nobody gets a pass.  But there isn't really an either-or gap between pass and no-pass.  The fact is that Castro's transgressions are practically non-existent in comparison to those of the U.S., Saddam Hussein and Ahmedinejad.  Accordingly my condemnation of Fidel is very minimal compared to my condemnation of Bush, Hussein and Ahmedinejad.

When Diane asked why I gave Fidel "a pass," I chose not to quibble over the definition of "pass" and whether or not it was absolute.  Using her terminology ("pass") and her assumption (that a pass is an either-or condition) as mine, I chose to answer what I thought was the essence of her question, which was why I condemned the U.S. and Iran but not Cuba.