Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Writes A Letter

Posted on May 9, 2006

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surprised just about everyone by writing a hefty eighteen page letter to President Bush.

The letter (which was sent in English translation by the Iranian government via the Swiss Embassy) doesn't really say anything about dealing with the nuclear standoff. Nevertheless, it is a well-timed volley by Ahmadinejad at a time when the U.S. is desperately trying to get the U.N. to sanction Iran for its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Clearly, he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein and is trying to get ahead of the game politically. By sending out a letter to world leaders (Bush wasn't the only one who got a letter) he is trying to appear reasonable and ready to negotiate.

Which makes one wonder: is there someone from the West advising him? Because so far Iran has run circles around us in this diplomatic go-around. He sends a letter and George Bush tells the press that he didn't know anything about it (presumably he does now, although at eighteen pages (in a handy .pdf file from The Wall Street Journal) it seems unlikely in the extreme that our president has even read it.

What makes the Iran situation all the more infuriating is that many of our options for dealing with this repressive regime have been taken off the table by this administration's bungling of the Iraq war and its aftermath.

Update: The President says he has read the long letter from Ahmadinejad.

President Bush told the press he read the long letter. Bush says, "Well, I read the letter of the President and I thought it was interesting. It was, like, 16 or 17 single-spaced typed pages of -- but he didn't address the issue of whether or not they're going to continue to press for a nuclear weapon. That's the issue at hand."