Fri, Dec 01, 2006 page7

• Iran's president writes Americans

  OPEN LETTER Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged US citizens and the Congress to work to reverse President George W. Bush's policies, which he said were hurting their country

  • AP
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  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran urged the American people in an open letter to demand the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and reject what he called the Bush administration's "blind support" for Israel and its "illegal and immoral" actions in fighting terrorism.

  Ahmadinejad's letter to "Noble Americans," which was distributed on Wednesday by Iran's mission to the UN, also accused US President George W. Bush of governing by "coercion, force and injustice."

  Ahmadinejad appealed to the American people to work to reverse Bush' policies, and called on the administration and the new Democratic-controlled Congress to heed the results of the recent midterm elections.

  US State Department spokesman Tom Casey called the letter "something of a public relations stunt or a public relations gesture" by the Iranian government, and said it was a shame Ahmadinejad did not allow people in his own country the opportunity to have a free and open debate of political ideas and views.

  Ahmadinejad urged Bush to put the US' "wealth and power in the service of peace, stability, prosperity and the happiness of all peoples through a commitment to justice and respect for the rights of all nations, instead of aggression and war."

  In a message to Democrats, he said: "You will also be held to account by the people and by history."

  "But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners," he said, adding that the recent elections did not reflect a victory but rather "the failure of the current administration's policies," he said.

  The letter also said the US invasion of Iraq has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, an exponential growth of terrorism and the destruction of Iraq's infrastructure.

  "I consider it extremely unlikely that you, the American people, consent to the billions of dollars of annual expenditure from your treasury for this military misadventure," he said.

  He suggested it would be beneficial for the US to withdraw its troops from Iraq and spend its money instead on domestic problems, citing the "many victims" of Hurricane Katrina who continue to suffer and "countless" Americans living in poverty.

  He also said the Bush administration's policies in its fight against terrorism were harming Americans directly.

  "The US administration's illegal and immoral behavior is not even confined to outside its borders. You are witnessing daily that under the pretext of `the war on terror,' civil liberties in the United States are being increasingly curtailed," he said.

  "I have no doubt that the American people do not approve of this behavior and indeed deplore it," he said.

  Ahmadinejad focused some attention on the past good relations between the US and Iran, and said both countries' people are "inclined toward the good, and toward extending a helping hand to one another, particularly to those in need."

  He accused the Bush administration of disregarding US public opinion by supporting "the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people" by Israel. He urged Americans to support the right of the Palestinians to live in their own homeland.

  His letter makes no mention of Iran's disputed nuclear program, which the US alleges is geared toward developing atomic weapons.
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